Thread: Two trucks for a two year old

Really nice work mate!.
And a good looking rig.

Cheers
Trev.

Great work Charles

Well Done

Regards

Keith

Your timber jinker looks great Charles and good behind the cabover primemover...Cheers, crowie

Charles, it looks great! Sturdy and realistic, just like the truck.
In photo 12 I see you have a cap on the dowel to keep the wheel on the axle. Is it flat or does it have a small hole in it to accept the axle? I turn my axles on the lathe on exactly the size of the hole in the wheel, that way you can glue the axle flush with the outside of the wheel. I have also seen wheel pegs, but I have not yet seen your solution.

That has come together very nicely. A lot of good work gone into it included the redesign.
What do you think of the Dowelmax jig? I saw one being used in a YouTube video and it looked like a very good design and well made. Unfortunately we don't get them out here.

Thank you for the kind replies.


In response to Pogo02, the axle cap is drilled out. When I placed glue in it, and then inserted the dowel for the axle, some of the glue squeezed through the pores in the wood and exited on the surface, making it hard to finish it properly. I like your idea of gluing the axle to the wheel. After these truck/trailer projects, I will try your approach.

2016-05-24 Workshop 4.jpg

And Dallas, I like the Dowelmax jig very much. I have had it ever since the company began selling them, perhaps 15 or 20 years ago. As I recall from having met the chap who invented it, he was an engineer from Scotland who moved to British Columbia and, with a family, didn’t have a lot of money for furniture. So he began making some, and invented the jig to help with the process.

2016-05-24 Workshop 1.jpg2016-05-24 Workshop 2.jpg2016-05-24 Workshop 3.jpg

As you can see from the photos, I have two dowelling jigs, both of which happen to be Canadian in origin. Jessem is known for its well-engineered products (though it did have a hiccough when it moved manufacturing to the U.S., and beat a hasty retreat to Canada to solve its quality problems). The Jessem jig is relatively new.

Of the two, I prefer the Dowelmax jig because of its built-in clamping and the add-on parts which make it a bit more versatile in my opinion. For small things like these toys, I much prefer it to the Jessem jig, which requires the use of a separate clamping system. However, there are some local chaps who make furniture only, and they prefer the Jessem to the Dowelmax both because they want to use bigger clamps and because they find it easier for drilling into face boards.

I suppose it is rather like the vehicle you drive. I drive a Ford pickup, but I know people who own a Chevrolet (or is it a Holden?). They can reach their destination just as readily as I can reach mine.

Charles

You will have to forgive me… I think I’m getting a bit carried away here.

I decided it would be nice to hook the log trailer to the back of the stake truck, so I modified the proportions for a trailer dolly that came with the plans from aschiworkshop.com.

I milled and planed the parts to size. Hand tools are nice, as you can't inhale their shavings.

Trailer Dolly-1.jpg

Then I glued on the axle supports, then assembled the three pieces of the front section.

Trailer Dolly-2.jpgTrailer Dolly-3.jpg

After inserting a ¼ inch (6 mm) dowel to join the two parts, I turned a fifth wheel and glued it in place.

Trailer Dolly-4.jpg

Here are the top and side views.

Trailer Dolly-5.jpgTrailer Dolly-6.jpg

Then the trailer dolly in its completed form with wheels attached.

Trailer Dolly-7.jpg

Finally, here is the back of the stake truck (with its tyres now black), the trailer dolly, and the front of the log trailer.

Trailer Dolly-8.jpg

Thanks for looking.

Charles

very nice log truck

This is the video I watched with the jig being used in it and I thought it was a well thought out design.
That's a beautiful Veritas Block plane. Far nicer looking than the current offerings we have here at the moment.

Here is a gravel dump trailer to go with the two trucks. I think I need some sort of intervention. I have a wooden toy dependence. (“Hello. My name is Charles and I’m addicted to making wooden trucks.”)

This is the last chapter of these two trucks for a two year old, I promise.

The body of this gravel dump trailer began a couple years ago when a wind storm broke off the upper part of a Red Maple at its first branch point about 25 feet above ground. You can see the debris from the broken branches. Fortunately, the log had little centre rot. I think this is a 26 inch (65 cm) bar on my chain saw.

Dump Trailer 01.jpg

Just to show you the process, the logs are hauled out by tractor and loaded onto the mill. Here is a Red Oak about 14 feet long. My Deere 2355 can lift something over 2500 lbs (1+ tonne).

Dump Trailer 02.jpg

Not all trees yield a long, straight bole. Today I milled this Slippery Elm for a client who specializes in artistic woods. It wasn't fun, though the grain patterns were beautiful. My Wood-mizer bandsaw mill can cut 28 inches (70+ cm), which means that it can handle a 36 inch (1 metre) diameter log by taking slices off all four sides.

Dump Trailer 03.jpg

Ideally, I saw down to a cant and get consistent lumber. Here is a Black Cherry which yielded clear straight boards.

Dump Trailer 04.jpg

The boards are labelled, then stacked with stickers. I am embarrassed to show you this stack as it is not perfectly straight. But it bears a few of the various common hardwood species which I get, from Basswood on the bottom, American Beech, Slippery Elm, Black Cherry, to some Sugar and Red Maple, some of which was wormy and revealed striking patterns of spalting. And not uncommonly, I find copper-jacketed bullets from the logs from my back woods, such as this one embedded in a beech. Fortunately, these metals are sufficiently soft as to cause no damage to the saw blade.

Dump Trailer 05.jpgDump Trailer 06.jpgDump Trailer 07.jpg

And here are boards for the dump trailer, after the Red Maple was planed to thicknesses of 1/8, ¼, ½, ¾ and 1 inch.

Dump Trailer 08.jpg

To be continued…

Thanks for looking.

Charles

The plans for the gravel or dump trailer were from aschiworkshop.com. I made a few cosmetic changes, but largely stuck with Peter Aschenbrenner’s design.

The trailer is built in three parts: the box, the chassis and the three-axle bogie. Apart from wheels and axles, everything was made from Red Maple.

I started with the box, gluing up the sides. Because I wanted to have a red accent, I thought it would be easiest start by painting the board for the lower edge of the box, with lettering to be added at the end.

Dump Trailer 09.jpg

After the two sides were assembled, I built the bottom of the box. The boards were cut on the table saw and then planed to final dimension, with one end cut at 30 degrees before glue-up. (And yes, Treecycle, this block plane is a both a delight and my go-to tool — it feels like the hand plane equivalent of driving a Porsche. My kids give me gift certificates from Lee Valley for presents, and I save them up to buy special tools which I cannot otherwise justify.)

Dump Trailer 10.jpg Dump Trailer 11.jpg

Then the sides and bottom were assembled, with the front added afterwards. The hinge which holds the box to the chassis is the small block of end-grain wood in the middle at the back of the trailer.

Dump Trailer 12.jpg Dump Trailer 13.jpg

The chassis was simple, with two beams separated by four blocks. The second block form the right bears a pivot hole for the bogie.

Dump Trailer 14.jpg

Here is the bogie dry-fitted. I used 3/8 inch (9.5 mm?) dowels for the axles. I drilled out the hole for the centre axle to 7/16 inch (11 mm) so it would have the freedom to travel over uneven surfaces. After test fitting the ¼ inch (6 mm) dowel for the connection to the chassis, I decided it was too small, so I drilled a larger hole for a 5/16 inch (8 mm) dowel.

Dump Trailer 15.jpg

Brass spacers were used to keep the bogie centred on the chassis.

Dump Trailer 16.jpg

The box was then connected to the chassis. As with the bogie, I decided a ¼ inch dowel was insufficient, increasing it to 5/16 inch. Locating the exact position for the dowel was a bit of an exercise in trial and error, but eventually I found the spot which allowed the box to elevate completely.

Dump Trailer 17.jpg Dump Trailer 18.jpg

Then came more details, such as these diagonal braces. I gave up trying to calculate the width of the three spaces between these four braces — the imperial system of measurement does not encourage division by three (or any other odd number, for that matter). When I lay out dovetail joints, I use dividers rather than a rule, so I decided to do the same thing to space these braces. Sometimes, rules are overrated.

Dump Trailer 19.jpg

Here is the trailer after lettering, with parking supports and a rear bumper added. I connected the rear gate with 5/16 inch dowels. The trailer is about 16 inches or 41 cm in length.

Dump Trailer 20.jpg

The original plans called for a hydraulic ram at the front of the box, but I decided it was more important for a little boy to be able to pull up the box all the way without worrying about keeping the hydraulic ram intact. Hence, it was omitted.

Dump Trailer 21.jpg

And here is Tobias moments after opening his birthday present. I’ll take the smile as more than sufficient thanks.

Dump Trailer 22.jpg

Your comments and criticisms are welcome.

Charles

Wonderful work and beautifully finished.

Cheers
Trev.

That looks like one very happy little boy. I can see who his favorite person is going to be for a while.
It has come up a treat and you have got it done in no time flat.
Love the setup with the mill. Must be great being able to use your own timber (lumber) that you prepared yourself. You've got plenty more trucks in that stack.
Best you move on to the metric system, so much easier. I thought Canada was mainly metric?

What a great photo essay for the dump truck from start to finish.
The picture of Tobias says it all.
Well done!