Simi truck Flat Bed Trailer

 

The cab for the truck is basically the same as the dump truck design. I shortened up the chassis and added a hitch.  That is the great thing about a simple design; parts cover multiple designs.

So I thought the flat bed trailer was going to be pretty easy design.  It is a flat bed, no big deal, right?  The rear wheels were going to drive me insane.  My original plan was to cut them out at a 45 degree angle and then figured that for a basic plan that would be a pain to do.  Then it was how to cut the recesses and then how do I cut the base?  I am a power tool woodworker so I really did not want to chisel out an angle.  So I settled on the current plan.  Looks good and relatively simple.

The semi cab is 12 1/2" long and about 7" tall.  The flat bed trailer is 26" long.  It will haul all the vehicles that are part of the construction design right now.  It should accommodate all of my designs. 

Bulldozer

This was one of the projects that I really wanted to bring in different thicknesses of wood.  I stayed true to the commitment of standard 3/4" thick lumber.  The hardest part of this entire design was the tread.  I was not expecting this because I knew how I was going to make it from the excavator design.  I was not expecting to figure out what size worked well.  My original plan was  to make the tread taller and not as long.   It would not work and did not look right.  I finally settled on the current size.

The next problem was how it was all going to fit together.  I would love to call it pure genius but in reality it was luck with a little bit of planning.  At first I was going to recess the wheel pegs into the tread, but leaving them out was a perfect location mechanism.  This guaranteed all the wheels the same distance from the ground.




Now the location for the tread front to back I was not so lucky.  First one I placed about a 1/4" from the front.  I added the pegs in the rail to limit the up and down movement.  It limited it too much.  So on the second I though I might get just as lucky with the pegs for the rake in the back.  So I pushed the tread against the tread in the pegs in the back.  The shovel now hits the engine.  I do not know if I am ok with this even though it far better than the first.  Everything else went together smoothly.

It was a fun build and my kids did not understand why they could not play with it after the first dry fit.  I am happy with the design and it is a good addition to the previous designs. 

City Trucks Redesign

So I finished the redesign of the city trucks.  I think they turned out a lot better.  Plans will be available on Etsy in the new future for these projects.  I will also be selling the redesign models.  I made these out of oak. 
The Flat Bed Truck

The first thing that  I did was increase the wheel base.  I did this by grooving the side panels and increasing the width of the chassis.  This pushes the wheels to the out on the side side so they do not look so small on the truck.  I also shortened up the bed.  The stakes in the stake bed are now 3/8" instead of 1/4".  I just thought 1/4" was a little too thin for rough play.

The Tow Truck

Similar changes to the flat bed truck.  The wheel base is widened pushing the wheels to the outside.  The tow arm also has more wood need the hook.  This is so it does not split when putting the dowel through the hook.
The Cherry Picker

This was in general too big.  Increased the wheel base and made it duel back wheels.  The bed was shortened and the boom lost about 5" of reach.  It is now more stable and looks better.  The bucket is now just a drilled hole.  This is much easier to cut out then the square it was originally designed.

Cut off Cart

I was kind of tired of my make shift cut off cart.  It was a modified tool cart that I used in my original garage and was no longer needed when I moved into a place with a slightly larger garage.  I was finally done with it and designed this one. 

This was probably one of the fastest projects I have ever done.  From start to finish it took about 4 hours.  It took me about an hour to draw and dimension it out, 20 minutes to program (yes, I used a CNC router), 40 minutes to cut and rout parts, and two hours to assemble.   This cart needed to hold all my small parts that are not yet destined to become blocks and all my dowels.  It serves most of the function I designed it for.  It does not work well with wide stock.  There were a couple of take away points from this project.
The first is that my garage shop does not need to look like a beautiful masterpiece of all that I can do.  Let's face it, I make toys and utility cabinetry.  Yes, some of my stuff is nice but it is nowhere near fine furniture.  This cart is made out of particle board. It is cheap and will will work.  I did not bother hiding grooves and glue squeeze out.
I was not looking for quality work.  I was confident that the CNC router did its job accurately and I did not have to worry about things fitting together.  I wanted to counter sink the screws but could not find my bit.  The joys of kids.  Screws stick out a little and that is ok.  I have found my countersink bit and am not going to go back through to sink the heads of the screws.
Material was not really a concern.  If I had my choice I would make it out of plywood.  I did not need to so why spend the money.  This was going to be for my eyes only anyway.  I needed it to support the weight so 5/8" particle board was sufficient.
I knew what I wanted this cart to do.  It was to hold off fall and my dowels.  It does that.  Looking back at the design I may have wanted to make it 2" wider to handle wider stock.  Not a big deal.  I am please with the way it turned out.
The last take away, more on the light side, was make sure there is plenty of glue in the bottle.  I had about a 1/3 of a bottle of glue and figured that was enough.  I was wrong, just barely.  I was gluing the sides to the partitions (last step) and on the last glue line and ran out.  I was shaking the bottle and trying to get every last drop out before the glue skins over.  The good thing is that I buy glue by the gallon so it was just a refill thing.  I was lucky.

Glad this project is complete.  Now I need to make a sanding cart (my next shop project).  This one is going to take a little longer.