technicfan Posted June 13, 2013 Posted June 13, 2013 I am looking to build a Komatsu D575A like Zbiczasty's. I have brought a second hand 8275 Bulldozer so will be using parts off that. I wan't to do the steering and drive the same as that so will be using the 2 XL motors, but I wan't to use 8 pneumatic rams for the blade and ripper and was thinking of running long hoses to a hand controller which will have all the switches and pumps on it. There is a few machines in the Heavy Machinery Collection thread that run pneumatics with a whole lot of hoses running out of them. Does anyone have any pics of the controller setups?. Quote
Alasdair Ryan Posted June 13, 2013 Posted June 13, 2013 Have you thought of adding electric PF valves and a pump to the inside of your dozer to power the functions? It would look a lot better than having a cord running out the back. Quote
Blakbird Posted June 13, 2013 Posted June 13, 2013 The very best one I know of is for Jennifer Clark's JS 220 excavator. Scroll down to the bottom of her page to see the controller description. Quote
technicfan Posted June 14, 2013 Author Posted June 14, 2013 Alasdiar Ryan that is not a bad idea, for 8 rams what would I need?, 4 pumps, 4 switches, 4 M-motors, 2 more controllers and 2 receivers, 2 battery boxes?. I might have to try and fit it all together. Quote
Alasdair Ryan Posted June 14, 2013 Posted June 14, 2013 Alasdiar Ryan that is not a bad idea, for 8 rams what would I need?, 4 pumps, 4 switches, 4 M-motors, 2 more controllers and 2 receivers, 2 battery boxes?. I might have to try and fit it all together. Yeb,that sounds about right.You may manage with 2 of the new grey pumps found in the unimog driven by a L motor/S motor. If you have a rechargeable battery box it will power the drive as well and the pumps. Quote
dhc6twinotter Posted June 14, 2013 Posted June 14, 2013 I would also suggest building a pressure regulator to turn the compressors on/off as needed. They are easy to build. I don't think you will need 2 battery boxes just for the pneumatics. As Alasdair Ryan mentioned, you should be fine powering the compressors and valve motors off of a single battery. The tractor I built used an m motor for the compressor (with a pressure regulator), 3 m motor auto valves, 2 XL drive motors, m motor for the PTO, and an m motor for the steering. All run off of 1 battery box. No problems at all. Quote
Alasdair Ryan Posted June 14, 2013 Posted June 14, 2013 (edited) My Pneumatic loader had 4 vales operated by S motors, a XL motor for drive, a pressure regulator ,S motor for steering and a S motor for the compressor. All was powered by a single Rechargeable battery box. Edited June 14, 2013 by Alasdair Ryan Quote
technicfan Posted June 15, 2013 Author Posted June 15, 2013 Dhc6twinotter what is the pressure regulator?. So it will have 2 xl motors for the drive, 5 m-motors for the pumps and pneumatic switches and 2 sets of lights. Will 1 battery box handle all of that?. To have 4 m motors individually controlled how many controllers will I need for that?, I am planning on using a Speed controller for the drive and steering. Quote
dhc6twinotter Posted June 15, 2013 Posted June 15, 2013 I've seen two different ways to build motorized pneumatic valves. One method has a single motor that operates the pneumatic valve and compressor. The compressor only only turns on when the pneumatic valve is moved. The other method uses a motor to control the valve and a separate motor to run the compressor. This is how I've always done it, and having a pressure regulator is almost necessary if you go this route. Either way works fine, and either way has its pros and cons. You can build a pressure regulator to turn the compressor on/off as needed so that the compressor motor isn't running all the time. The pressure regulator will "detect" a pressure drop and turn the compressor motor on automatically. Once the pressure builds back up, the compressor will turn off. The pressure regulator uses a pneumatic cylinder (preferably a small one) connected to a PF switch. A rubber band is used to keep the pneumatic cylinder retracted. Here is a picture of Jennifer Clark's pressure regulator, which was built before PF stuff came out: And below is what I used on my tractor. Sorry the picture angle isn't the greatest, but you can see the pneumatic cylinder on the right with the PF switch on the left. There's also a rubber band out of view. The 3 m motors you see control the pneumatic valves, and the clutch gears keep the motors from stalling once the valves have hit their limits. With the newer servo motors, you can do away with all these gears and make a simpler motorized valve. Either way works fine. To answer your question about the battery box, I would think one battery box will be fine for what you have planned. The motors running the valves wouldn't be running at all times, only when you move the blade or ripper on your bulldozer. If you plan on having a motor to run the compressor separate from the valves (as described above), the compressor motor can be connected directly to the battery box via a pressure regulator. So, it sounds like you will need 3 IR receivers. 1 receiver will operate the left and right XL motors, and 2 receivers will operate the 4 m motors that control your pneumatic valves. You can do all of this off of one controller, but you will have to switch the channel each time you want to operate a different function, and you would not be able to operate any of the pneumatic functions while driving the bulldozer. To make things easier, I would recommend having your speed controller and 2 additional controllers. Personally, I don't like the speed controllers and wouldn't use it, but that's totally up to you. Hope that helps. Sorry for being long-winded there. Quote
technicfan Posted June 15, 2013 Author Posted June 15, 2013 Wont I have to run 4 receivers?, I have 8 rams and want to only control 2 at a time, so 1 switch will only operate 2 rams and so on. The receivers will be hidden so I won't be able to change the channels on them. Quote
dhc6twinotter Posted June 15, 2013 Posted June 15, 2013 Each receiver has two outputs, which will let you run two different motors. So, 3 receivers will let you control 6 functions. Am I misunderstanding what you are trying to do? How many total functions are you trying to have? Quote
technicfan Posted June 15, 2013 Author Posted June 15, 2013 I think you understand, I am probably the one getting confused. If you have 1 receiver set on channel 1 with 2 motors hooked up to it and the controller set on channel 1 then does the left hand side lever on the controller only operate 1 motor and the right hand side lever operate the other motor so you can run 1 motor at a time on the controller without having to change the channel on the receiver. Quote
dhc6twinotter Posted June 15, 2013 Posted June 15, 2013 I think you understand, I am probably the one getting confused. If you have 1 receiver set on channel 1 with 2 motors hooked up to it and the controller set on channel 1 then does the left hand side lever on the controller only operate 1 motor and the right hand side lever operate the other motor Yup, that is correct. so you can run 1 motor at a time on the controller without having to change the channel on the receiver. You can run two motors at the same time with the controller. One channel can operate 2 motors, blue output and red output. It looks like the bulldozer has 6 functions: -left drive -right drive -blade up/down -blade tilt -ripper up/down -ripper tilt 3 receivers will cover those functions and allow you to operate each one independently. Quote
technicfan Posted June 15, 2013 Author Posted June 15, 2013 Yes that is correct dhc6twinotter thanks for your help. Quote
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