Thumbing around behind the barn, picking up "treasures". The thumb I made has already proven itself immensely useful and got a coat of black paint on top of the primer.
Bunch of big rocks there, some concrete, some weird garden railway track and a lens of bitumen, I think.
Not sure what to do with the latter. Make a road? 🤷
Been thumbing around some concrete beams and then played some jenga.
The firewood store got expanded a little and some of the beams had sunk into the soft soil under the weight of the firewood stacked on them and needed rebedding.
The new thumb was extremely useful doing this and I managed to do it without either knocking over the stacked firewood or the roof.
Then stacked the split pile onto there so it can finish drying.
China excavator upgrade: Hinges and latches for the rear door.
Because in order to get to the engine you had to unbolt four big bolts, two of them from underneath, then lift off the door. Then lift it back on and fiddle in the bolts. Made it super annoying to check the oil level or hook up a battery booster in winter.
I ordered these parts just after getting the machine last year and finally got around to installing them.
Fits nicely, the door swings open wide and can be lifted off the hinges if need be.
Now the oil can be checked as often as it should. And it saves precious time.
#Excavator #MiniExcavator #ChinaExcavator #DIY #Hinge #Tap #Homestead
Du suchst einen neuen Minibagger, der auch durch enge Durchgänge kommt und dabei sauber und präzise arbeitet? Der MIVA VA13 (Baujahr 2025) ist genau dafür
#ExcavatorThumb progress:
Clamped and aligned the thumb sides with the help of two bricks that happened to be the right width, then tack welded the tubes on.
Next part was the adjustable support leg. Figuring out the length of both parts was easy, swing the thumb up and down, measure distance between pins and copy it to the two parts on the workbench.
Making the inner part slide smoothly into the outer took ages as I had to grind down the thickness of the entire outer surface, then polish it smooth.
Solved the problem of the outer tube having a seam weld inside by hammering on the inner one until it bowed inwards just enough to allow space for that seam.
Fits very nicely now and almost no play.
#DIY #MiniExcavator #ExcavatorThumb
#SalvagePunk #Homestead #Metalworking #Welding
Thumb update:
Made the thumb wider so it fits better between the bucket teeth, which required cutting new reinforcements. Cut the ones for the support leg as well and decided where to attach it to the thumb.
Then worked on the adjustable support leg. A cylinder each welded to the end of a box section. The lower fitting was easy, just an approximate half-circle with three shallow cuts of the angle grinder and then bend it back and forth until it breaks out.
The upper fitting having the added challenge of being narrower than the box section, so it got tapered a bit by cutting some wedges out and banging on it with a hammer.
#DIY #MiniExcavator #ExcavatorThumb
#SalvagePunk #Homestead #Metalworking #Welding
Always keep your hole saw plugs, in case you need to Ctrl-Z a hole you just cut so you can make it bigger 😆
Sure wish there had been room for the drill press in the car last time we went to the old place!
Four biggish holes were cut through 10mm plate, eventually. Of the right size this time.
#DIY #MiniExcavator #ExcavatorThumb
#SalvagePunk #Homestead #Metalworking #DrillBabyDrill
Slides, more or less.
The outer one has an annoying seam inside, so we'll see what to do about that when I've figured out the lengths.
#DIY #MiniExcavator #ExcavatorThumb
#SalvagePunk #Homestead #Metalworking
Today's progress on the thumb:
A tube section and restored pin for the support. Since the pin is kinda long, I could make some more tube sections on the outside as well.
And two beefy pieces of thick plate with a hole in them for the thumb, plus two more tube sections for reinforcement. One with a groove to keep the quick-release pin from rotating and sticking out.
That's it. Recycling is slow work. Spent a lot of time running around looking for two pieces to fit inside of each other for the support.
#DIY #MiniExcavator #ExcavatorThumb
#SalvagePunk #Homestead #Metalworking
Next project: A thumb for the mini-excavator.
Because I've been kinda needing it for a while and now I do even more.
In case you don't know what it is, it's the same as yours - an opposable thumb for gripping things. Try lifting a pencil without using your thumb. Or a concrete beam or a log.
The cardboard mockup I made last year, but I wasn't really happy with it and with some more excavator experience under my belt I did think of several improvements, like making it adjustable.
Sifted through my scrap metal and found some suitable steel.
#DIY #MiniExcavator #ExcavatorThumb #SalvagePunk #Homestead #Metalworking
Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar
ITO Germany