I, along with other members, would be interested in seeing some pictures of your crane here on this thread. I have four of them and like the idea of using radio control. Perhaps a separate thread on your crane would be nice, along with a "how I did it".

Thanks for responding to this thread.

Bernd

More progress on the motorized crane.

Time to drill the hole in the center of the frame for the motor shaft. I used my mini-mill and centered the ring.

Test motor for fit in hole.

Drilling a hole in the swivel base.

Parts for a jig to help cut a square hole the size of the motor.

Bushing used for line up.

Pipe with a piece of styrene the size of the motor is placed on the swivel base.

Styrene glued to both sides of the swivel base. This is a template to help accurately cut out the square for the motor.

This method produces a nice clean and square hole.

Motor and swivel base assembled for test fit. Nice fit, looks good.

Added two 1/8" square pieces to get rid of to much side play.

Next I made a brass plate for the motor's D-shaft to fit in.

Next the plate will be screwed to the frame with 00-90 screws.

That's it for now. More to come.

Bernd

How did you make the "D" hole?  Was it a bushing you had on hand already, or did you have to make it?

By the way, I like the way you're showing your work.  It's one thing to show off the finished product, but another thing entirely to show things like the jigs and intermediate steps.  Excellent work so far!

First, thanks for the compliments, much appreciated.

Tell ya' what I'll do. I'll make a little write up and take pictures of how I made it. Would work much better and be clearer than trying to explain in words.

BTW that whole assembly is three parts. I'll let you sleep on it and see if you can figure it out. It's quite easy once you see how it's done. But, there's always a but, I used a lathe and mill to make that part.

Bernd

The way I would make it, given the tools mentioned, would be to cut the side off of a tube (or bore a hole in a piece of rod and slice the side off, same difference), and then cut a matching side off a piece of solid rod.  Both would then be soldered together in a hole in the mounting plate.

That's 3 pieces, avoids the need for special broaches, and achieves the desired and illustrated properties.  Did I get it right?

Yes, that's what I did. I used a piece of solid stock, drilled a hole a bit bigger than the dia. of the shaft. Milled off a section to "silver" solder a flat piece on it. Then back to the lathe to turn a nice round looking part. Drilled a hole in the small square piece then turned down the female part of the D shaft to fit into the square part and soft soldered it in.

I hope I can get a tutorial together before the weekend. I've also come up with a way a person can do it with out a lathe and mill. It might take a bit of time, but I will show how it's done.

Bernd

I have absolutely no interest in a motorized crane, or even a static one for that matter.  I have a Tichy crane kit which may well be sold unbuilt.  But this thread and the article which inspired it are perfect examples of good modeling being interesting regardless of the subject.  I get a lot of pleasure out of seeing other people's work, and this is first-rate work.  Carry on!

As the old McDonald's tag line goes, I'm lovin' it!

George

Thanks guys. Appreciate the comments.

Stay tuned more to come.

Bernd

I'm loving it too!