Skid Steer Loader from Construction Series of Wood Magazine with some modifications!

[crowie]

I've started a new project for myself and of course something for the grandsons to play with!!

A Skid Steer Loader [a Bobcat as most know them] from Construction Series of Wood Magazine with some modifications I'm sure!!???....

It's smaller than I imagined from the plan photos and I had to run a number of sticks of timber through the thicknesser to get the imperial sizes correct.... the plan doesn't work very well if you just convert imperial measurements to metric [been caught before].....

Just working through the cutting list but have already changed out a couple of the blanks for different timber to give a nice colour mix...
[Huon pine, Tassie oak, Spotted gum and some of that 100+ year old Boston organ]

Cheers, crowie

PS - Handy was needed to put to work before he got up to any mischief.....lol....

[Matador]

Hi Peter,

Great work on your Bobcat so far. Looking forward to seeing the final
finish.


Cheers Graham.

[Treecycle]

Good to see you into another build. I will be keeping an eye on how you are going. Nice variety of timbers being used for colour variation.
Are the plans for all the vehicles shown in the photo of the magazine, in that edition?

[crowie]

Good to see you into another build. I will be keeping an eye on how you are going. Nice variety of timbers being used for colour variation.
Are the plans for all the vehicles shown in the photo of the magazine, in that edition?

G'Day "Treecycle", I've sent a "pm" to you to answer your question,
but generally speaking Wood Magazine have put the Construction Series plans out over the past 6-8 years in various issues.
Cheers crowie

[artme]

Who is going to have the most fun Crowie - You building the thing or the kids playing with it?

Watching with interest.

[A Duke]

Who is going to have the most fun Crowie - You building the thing or the kids playing with it?

Watching with interest.

And the winner is HANDY.

[fozzy767]

I'm glad to see you building this. Wood magazine has some really nice toy plans in their magazine

[Dalboy]

Looks like you have made a great start Peter should be a great toy when finished. I see Handy is ready for work

[crowie]

Firstly THANK YOU one and all for the encouragement..... I really enjoy the camaraderie on the forum.

It has been a frustrating few days of first not getting back into the shed, then having to remake a number of the parts due to mistakes & error....

I changed the blade on the bandsaw to a finer tooth blade then had to a full re-setup on it as i noticed a couple of issues....cuts well again now....

Here's the progress thus far!!

The bucket arms end split as I attempted to drill the pivot holes in the end....very disappointing...
On the remake of the bucket arms I increased the timber size from 1/4" thick to 3/8" and instead of using the Boston organ timber, I used the side of a very old drawer which came from my father-in-law many years ago [fine tight grain]. I went diagonally across the grain to try to increase the arm strength plus increased the width of the lower part of the arm from 3/8" to 1/2".

The counter weight /back of the bobcat has been remade in "spotted gum" as I'd originally cut the grain the wrong way....

The cabin roof is now some other sort of gum tree timber I found in my "u-beaut box".....

The floor of the cabin & the mudguards have been remade [Tassie Oak] as I undercut the cutout in the counter weight....

I'll use the old floor piece to glue to the inside of the roof to provide a location plus strength for the top of the cabin sides....

I cut the blanks for the cabin sides out twice but have only done the shaping once....

I didn't waste too much timber, I used the offcuts from the original arms to make the bucket parts....

I've increased the thickness of the bucket pivots from 1/4" to 3/8" in Tassie Oak...

All in all a calamity of errors but a load of fun, you can't beat a day in the shed working with timber and making a wooden toy....

Here's a few photos with muck-up's included....lol...
Cheers, Crowie

[Treecycle]

All in all a calamity of errors but a load of fun, you can't beat a day in the shed working with timber and making a wooden toy....

Can't argue with that statement. Wish I could do that but it's back to work tomorrow.
Does the plan give any advice on the bucket arms? Doesn't seem like a good design trying to cut them out of solid timber with weak short grain. I would think that ply would be a good option if they still fail.
Good to see you persisting and not giving up in disgust. Keep the photos coming.

[Keith_1]

Pete,

Part of the fun is making the mistakes and then fixing them up !!!!

Keith

[artme]

Good progress there Crowie!!

[Matador]

Hi Peter,

You didn't make mistakes just a error. When I started out in woodwork I made a lot of mistakes because I still was green. Like an old woodworker toll me back than its not a mistake just an error. He said a mistake is when you walk out onto the road and hit by a car and get killed that a mistake. A error is when you cut a board too short or split it or glue it in the wrong place but you can fix it. Most woodwork project are frustrating specially toys. You have worked out how fixed your errors. You have to look at this way every time you make an error it teacher you how to become better woodworker and you just get that little bit more excellents. You learn how to get around the problems and how you can do it better next time. All the toys I seen you make and you have shown on the forum are excellent toys. The bobcat you are doing look like a great project. Looking forward seeing the finish bobcat.


Cheers Graham.

[fozzy767]

We all make mistakes. Part of being a woodworking is covering and hiding mistakes. If anyone looks at pics and criticizes someone else's work, maybe they should take a good hard look at their work. We all hide mistakes. Part of me making my own toys with no plans, I'm constantly messing up

[bj383ss]

Good progress Peter. I understand completely how you feel about the mistakes. We are our own worst critics. If you didn't mention the mistakes most likely none of us would have noticed. My dad told me once the road to becoming a craftsman at your trade is learning to hide your mistakes. He was spot on I think.

Good for you for continuing on. It is hard to remake something you just made over and wasting some wood. My 32' Ford body has about 3 days worth of work on it and it was a complete failure as there is no way for me to thin the body panels out to realistic scale now that it is all glued up. I am at a loss on how to continue with it so it got put to the side and I am off to work on the 64' Chevy. I have made several mistakes working on it just trying my best to hide them. LOL

Look forward to the next installment.

P.S. you could have blamed all the mistakes on HANDY!!!


Bret