I ran construction crews for more than 35 years and found that what some of the architects wanted done on the plans did not work in real life. This is where luck and ingenuity come into play.There is usually a way to make things work. You seem to take it all in stride.Keep up the excellent work and I'll keep watching.
Agreed on going with a double pitch spacing. As you said the grouser has more snow to push against until the shear pattern hits the next grouser. Since the pitch is doubled maybe keep your original sprocket pitch and go with a hunting tooth sprocket. If it is an odd tooth number it will alternate teeth engagement doubling wear life just like on a dozer sprocket. Looking forward to your machine in action!
Okay cool! Thank you for the input. Exactly! Oh I gotcha that makes so much sense. Keep the same number of teeth and it yea alternates allowing me to adjust the sprocket size perhaps more accordingly but also makes better use of the urethane surfaces as a whole. That makes so much sense. Oh awesome! I can’t wait to finalize my sprocket design. But I will wait until tracks are complete. Learned to not assume hahaha
Great video Young Man... So so so nice to see a father and son working together. Thank you for the entertainment.. Cleaned up the concrete mixer too!.. Great.
Hind sight is a wonderful thing as they say ! Go with evry other hole it just looks right and be careful of the clearance track to frame, great videos really enjoying these from the UK PS keep in mind your going to have to make some master links on the ends to join the belts together
Thank you! Yea I was nervous of clearance but it looks good! I have some belting links that I may use to join them or overlap the belt. We will see. Thanks for watching from so far away!
I love what you guys are doing here. I’d like to offer that if there’s one thing I learned working in my workshop over the years that if you watch one of these videos, you’ll see that you spend most of your time walking between the bench and the press, for example. A couple of rolling carts that could be moved over next to a tool like that would really save you a lot of time. Seems trivial maybe but get yourself a janitorial cart maybe 2‘ x 3‘ and work with it for a weekend I think you’ll like it.Keep them coming. Can’t wait to see this thing in the snow.
I could not agree more! 100% I honestly have been thinking about that lately. It is definitely on the list. I have a few major shop flow projects I want to complete. Buying a couple nice carts isn’t a difficult one. Hmm I guess I need to move it up the list. Thank you so much for the support. I really had a good time int this video even though things didn’t go as expected.
Agreed. First thing I thought of when I saw you walking back and forth from the welding table to the press. Ditto when finishing a grouser and walking them to the ground by the belts. Eliminate those literal steps: get the supplies and *finished* piles within arms reach.
@@CenterLineDesigns think Henry Ford/mass production. I am a contractor and I know that I can build things like cabinets in my shop about 4x the speed vs on the job site because I can eliminate 90% of the walking between tools/benches. Seems crazy but it really makes a huge difference. Janitor carts are cheap too.
The double spacing will work much better, better grip, less weight, less work, all positives! Like others have said make your sprocket an odd number of teeth, based on the original spacing and it will last a very long time. Only downside could be ride quality on hard surface, more spacing means the idlers have more space to fall in between each grouser, and if the spacing happens to magically line up where all the idlers fall in between grousers at the same time it will rattle your fillings out. I know the rig is meant to be on soft terrain, but sometimes it’s a bit of a drive to get to the soft stuff. The squishy tires you have will soak some of that up, but you will inevitably switch to a sturdier tire, or even a foam filled as most snow cats run, and that will only exasperate the chatter. The tires on my rig are foam filled because fixing air filled tires in the woods gets old real quick. Lastly your all in one grouser, tire guide, backing plate set up is slick…..but if you ever need to replace a cleat assembly in the woods I don’t know if you will be able to remove or install one once the tracks are fully assembled. May never be an issue, but something to think about. Also you will want to do a track overlap where you join the tracks into a loop, don’t mess with the hinge style with pins, they wear out quite quickly. A 3 or 4 cleat overlap give you piece of mind that your tracks will not come apart out in the woods, there is nothing worse than trying to get a track back on and put back together in a more than likely less than ideal situation. Remember to account for double belt thickness when building your cleat assemblies that will be used at the splice section. Keep up the good work 👍
Thank you so much for the comment! So much info in here. I also agree with the tires. I do ultimately think that I’ll be switching to a different tire. But I want to see how this works at least. Good point about changing them in the bush. Perhaps I’ll have a slightly different style for emergency repair. Thank you for the not about the belting I currently have the rigid style for flexco splices but was wondering about the hinge ones. I agree just a good belt over lap is simplest. I’ll do some thinking on that. I love all the input it’s very useful! Cheers!
Absolutely agree with spacing when I first saw how close you were going to put them together. I thought you may know something. I didn’t 😂 seemed really excessive. It looks great now.
Yea I can’t really explain what I was thinking. Something said it seemed okay. But with actually seeing the width of the square tubing I just had to question myself. Good thing I only bought a half batch of steel to start. Wow was that lucky.
I ran Foremost Nodwells in northern Alberta. Evey 4 or 5 will work fine. The spacing at 25:00 is great, less weight and stronger drive sprokets. check out the Formost Nodwell 110 tracks. We hated them, cold in the winter hot in the summer and tracks would come off. Also if you didn't keep the belly pans clean they would burn down lol. They had manual transmissions back then.
Lower cost and man hours are both good, but if I remember correctly, those belts are also intended as ballast for when floating. Will there still be enough weight down low to keep the center of gravity far enough below the center of buoyancy to remain safely upright?
You can use the extra holes to join the tracks to form a loop! FYI we got snow here in Hamilton so I know you do have snow up where you are! Winter Is Coming! L0L!
You know your welders! It’s a 253 DPI by everlast. Single and dual pulse mig push pull ready. Very nice unit. Just picked it up not long ago. Still have lots to learn
I like the double spacing better and if you start your first grouser at the 2nd set of holes you could use the first set to bolt your belts together if the spacing lines up at the other end.
I thought all along your spacing was tight and agree with at least double spacing, I on the other hand never thought of downsides to the closer spacing such as increased weight, flat track as you called it, I was just thinking of extra work. Now to the flat track problem you have raised, the very pronounced grouser on hard surfaces such as rock or trailer deck actually worry me now, I lost a brother when the dozer he was operating slid off a steel deck trailer when unloading it, so I know this phenomena can approach skates on ice. Please be careful.
OMG I am so sorry to hear that. Tracks are great but also dangerous. Safety is something I am conscious of. My day job requires a safety mind. Thanks for commenting and sorry about your loss
How or why at 2:30 is the cut slowing for the corners and fast on the straights? Is that a parameter in the cam software you select? If so what’s the benefit?
Yes is in the CAM program. Honestly I forgot that was on in the program. It’s a setting that slows for radiuses under a specified diameter. I believe it’s to help keep more of a square cut on a radius. I think it’s more important with thicker material. Probably not much benefit for the 1/8”. I just loaded the cut file from a while back and forgot that’s how I exported it. I just went with it. Cheers!
It's great that you have your dad there to think things through with. What is your plan for the ends of the square tubes? Would it make any sense to fill the square tubes with spray foam to get some boyancy?
Well honestly I haven’t planned on doing much. I want to galvanize them. Not sure if that amount of buoyancy would be significant but I guess it all helps. I’ll let that idea percolate! Thanks for the support Kevin!
I mentioned this in another reply to a comment. I’m no expert on calculating center of buoyancy and center of gravity, but I don’t think you want buoyancy on those tracks, I think you want weight.
I agree. I think with how low I managed to get the engine and the stepped shape of the hull should help bring that center of gravity down. The weight of the tracks definitely helps with that. I guess I’ll find out in testing
Very interesting dilemma, to me the 4 lug spacing looks too big a gap, 3 looked right. Will this change affect the wheel hubs spacing so that the grousers meet the lugs on the next wheel?
I agree. 3 was probably the best. It probably will. I am not all to worried about the center wheels I think they will more or less just find their place. But at the end of the day if I need to buy new tires and belting down the road to get it better I can and probably will. But for now I guess we have an experiment on our hands!
I will try too. It might not be the next video but soon I will probably to a prototype 3D printed one or wood template to check the fitment. It should be coming though. But everything takes longer than I think haha.
I am currently working on a similar project.I have a prinoth br 350 snowcat That I am wanting to build a set of dirt tracks for. Where did you source your rubber belt
You know I am not even sure. But yea sounds about that 40-50 hz range. When this is in synergistic mode it doesn’t tell me all the details. It’s an Everlast 253 Dpi. Nice machine I am still learning it
Now looking at your Track set up, it's kind of like the old Polaris 250 Free Air Sled, they had Suspension and still a Ruff Ride with Flat Cleats, while you have those Bumps....Gonna be a Rough Ride Sonny!
I ran construction crews for more than 35 years and found that what some of the architects wanted done on the plans did not work in real life. This is where luck and ingenuity come into play.There is usually a way to make things work. You seem to take it all in stride.Keep up the excellent work and I'll keep watching.
Thank you Karl!! I think it’s going to work out well. Sometimes you just have to think in the moment as you say!
Agreed on going with a double pitch spacing. As you said the grouser has more snow to push against until the shear pattern hits the next grouser. Since the pitch is doubled maybe keep your original sprocket pitch and go with a hunting tooth sprocket. If it is an odd tooth number it will alternate teeth engagement doubling wear life just like on a dozer sprocket. Looking forward to your machine in action!
Okay cool! Thank you for the input. Exactly! Oh I gotcha that makes so much sense. Keep the same number of teeth and it yea alternates allowing me to adjust the sprocket size perhaps more accordingly but also makes better use of the urethane surfaces as a whole. That makes so much sense. Oh awesome! I can’t wait to finalize my sprocket design. But I will wait until tracks are complete. Learned to not assume hahaha
Took the words right away from me!! I was going to say the same thing. Like a dozer sprocket. Almost doubles the wear life!!
Yes! I love that idea!
I agree, double pitch spacing and an odd tooth number on the sprocket.
Totally agree!
Great video Young Man... So so so nice to see a father and son working together. Thank you for the entertainment.. Cleaned up the concrete mixer too!.. Great.
Thank you so much sir! Yea that was a bonus!
Cheers
Hind sight is a wonderful thing as they say ! Go with evry other hole it just looks right and be careful of the clearance track to frame, great videos really enjoying these from the UK
PS keep in mind your going to have to make some master links on the ends to join the belts together
Thank you! Yea I was nervous of clearance but it looks good! I have some belting links that I may use to join them or overlap the belt. We will see.
Thanks for watching from so far away!
@@CenterLineDesigns keep up the great work I cannot wait to see it working 👍
Oh neither can I. It’s still a long road ahead but I am determined to get it working! Thank you!
I love what you guys are doing here. I’d like to offer that if there’s one thing I learned working in my workshop over the years that if you watch one of these videos, you’ll see that you spend most of your time walking between the bench and the press, for example. A couple of rolling carts that could be moved over next to a tool like that would really save you a lot of time. Seems trivial maybe but get yourself a janitorial cart maybe 2‘ x 3‘ and work with it for a weekend I think you’ll like it.Keep them coming. Can’t wait to see this thing in the snow.
I could not agree more! 100% I honestly have been thinking about that lately. It is definitely on the list. I have a few major shop flow projects I want to complete.
Buying a couple nice carts isn’t a difficult one. Hmm I guess I need to move it up the list.
Thank you so much for the support. I really had a good time int this video even though things didn’t go as expected.
Agreed. First thing I thought of when I saw you walking back and forth from the welding table to the press. Ditto when finishing a grouser and walking them to the ground by the belts. Eliminate those literal steps: get the supplies and *finished* piles within arms reach.
@@CenterLineDesigns think Henry Ford/mass production. I am a contractor and I know that I can build things like cabinets in my shop about 4x the speed vs on the job site because I can eliminate 90% of the walking between tools/benches. Seems crazy but it really makes a huge difference. Janitor carts are cheap too.
The double spacing will work much better, better grip, less weight, less work, all positives! Like others have said make your sprocket an odd number of teeth, based on the original spacing and it will last a very long time. Only downside could be ride quality on hard surface, more spacing means the idlers have more space to fall in between each grouser, and if the spacing happens to magically line up where all the idlers fall in between grousers at the same time it will rattle your fillings out. I know the rig is meant to be on soft terrain, but sometimes it’s a bit of a drive to get to the soft stuff. The squishy tires you have will soak some of that up, but you will inevitably switch to a sturdier tire, or even a foam filled as most snow cats run, and that will only exasperate the chatter. The tires on my rig are foam filled because fixing air filled tires in the woods gets old real quick. Lastly your all in one grouser, tire guide, backing plate set up is slick…..but if you ever need to replace a cleat assembly in the woods I don’t know if you will be able to remove or install one once the tracks are fully assembled. May never be an issue, but something to think about. Also you will want to do a track overlap where you join the tracks into a loop, don’t mess with the hinge style with pins, they wear out quite quickly. A 3 or 4 cleat overlap give you piece of mind that your tracks will not come apart out in the woods, there is nothing worse than trying to get a track back on and put back together in a more than likely less than ideal situation. Remember to account for double belt thickness when building your cleat assemblies that will be used at the splice section. Keep up the good work 👍
Thank you so much for the comment! So much info in here. I also agree with the tires. I do ultimately think that I’ll be switching to a different tire. But I want to see how this works at least. Good point about changing them in the bush. Perhaps I’ll have a slightly different style for emergency repair. Thank you for the not about the belting I currently have the rigid style for flexco splices but was wondering about the hinge ones. I agree just a good belt over lap is simplest. I’ll do some thinking on that.
I love all the input it’s very useful! Cheers!
You can use the extra holes for snowmobile track ice pics!!!!!!!! They are perfect for it. And would make that thing unstoppable.
Oh man would that be nuts! Hahaha
Absolutely agree with spacing when I first saw how close you were going to put them together. I thought you may know something. I didn’t 😂 seemed really excessive. It looks great now.
Yea I can’t really explain what I was thinking. Something said it seemed okay. But with actually seeing the width of the square tubing I just had to question myself. Good thing I only bought a half batch of steel to start. Wow was that lucky.
@ happy little accidents 😄
I ran Foremost Nodwells in northern Alberta. Evey 4 or 5 will work fine. The spacing at 25:00 is great, less weight and stronger drive sprokets. check out the Formost Nodwell 110 tracks. We hated them, cold in the winter hot in the summer and tracks would come off. Also if you didn't keep the belly pans clean they would burn down lol. They had manual transmissions back then.
Oh beauty! Thank you!!
I agree with where you are at, it makes more sense and many other benefits, lower cost, weight, and man hours.
Yes the more I let the idea sit the more I think it makes sense. I very much underestimated the work…. Haha which I always do.
Cheers!
Lower cost and man hours are both good, but if I remember correctly, those belts are also intended as ballast for when floating. Will there still be enough weight down low to keep the center of gravity far enough below the center of buoyancy to remain safely upright?
Yea good point. I suppose we will find out in some water testing!
👍🏼
You can use the extra holes to join the tracks to form a loop! FYI we got snow here in Hamilton so I know you do have snow up where you are! Winter Is Coming! L0L!
Good point! We sure do! Only about 4-6 inches but it’s coming and I am excited!
Is that an Everlast spray pulse machine? What model is that?
Nice video !!!
You know your welders! It’s a 253 DPI by everlast. Single and dual pulse mig push pull ready. Very nice unit. Just picked it up not long ago. Still have lots to learn
I like the double spacing better and if you start your first grouser at the 2nd set of holes you could use the first set to bolt your belts together if the spacing lines up at the other end.
That sounds like a plan! Cheers!
Best thing is, if u see the rubber start tearing dew to to far apart, u can add additional bar in between holes already punched
Very true!
G'day I find this build so fascinating because I have no experience with snow.
Thanks sir! I can’t wait to run it around and show what I “hope” it can do haha.
Cheers man appreciate you watching and commenting
More positives with plan B. Plan B is your better choice. Less is Best.
Awesome!!
Tank tracks are segments of 7 inch wide pads and bulldozer pads are 5 or 6 wide pads
Perfect thanks!
I thought all along your spacing was tight and agree with at least double spacing, I on the other hand never thought of downsides to the closer spacing such as increased weight, flat track as you called it, I was just thinking of extra work. Now to the flat track problem you have raised, the very pronounced grouser on hard surfaces such as rock or trailer deck actually worry me now, I lost a brother when the dozer he was operating slid off a steel deck trailer when unloading it, so I know this phenomena can approach skates on ice. Please be careful.
OMG I am so sorry to hear that. Tracks are great but also dangerous. Safety is something I am conscious of. My day job requires a safety mind.
Thanks for commenting and sorry about your loss
How or why at 2:30 is the cut slowing for the corners and fast on the straights? Is that a parameter in the cam software you select? If so what’s the benefit?
Yes is in the CAM program. Honestly I forgot that was on in the program. It’s a setting that slows for radiuses under a specified diameter. I believe it’s to help keep more of a square cut on a radius. I think it’s more important with thicker material. Probably not much benefit for the 1/8”. I just loaded the cut file from a while back and forgot that’s how I exported it. I just went with it.
Cheers!
It's great that you have your dad there to think things through with. What is your plan for the ends of the square tubes? Would it make any sense to fill the square tubes with spray foam to get some boyancy?
Well honestly I haven’t planned on doing much. I want to galvanize them. Not sure if that amount of buoyancy would be significant but I guess it all helps. I’ll let that idea percolate! Thanks for the support Kevin!
I mentioned this in another reply to a comment. I’m no expert on calculating center of buoyancy and center of gravity, but I don’t think you want buoyancy on those tracks, I think you want weight.
I agree. I think with how low I managed to get the engine and the stepped shape of the hull should help bring that center of gravity down. The weight of the tracks definitely helps with that. I guess I’ll find out in testing
@@firefighter4443 Like a keel, I suppose.
Very interesting dilemma, to me the 4 lug spacing looks too big a gap, 3 looked right. Will this change affect the wheel hubs spacing so that the grousers meet the lugs on the next wheel?
I agree. 3 was probably the best. It probably will. I am not all to worried about the center wheels I think they will more or less just find their place. But at the end of the day if I need to buy new tires and belting down the road to get it better I can and probably will. But for now I guess we have an experiment on our hands!
@@CenterLineDesigns Could you show a preview of how the sprocket will engage with the belt in a future video please.
I will try too. It might not be the next video but soon I will probably to a prototype 3D printed one or wood template to check the fitment. It should be coming though. But everything takes longer than I think haha.
That spacing looks like it would be better
Right on! I agree
I am currently working on a similar project.I have a prinoth br 350 snowcat That I am wanting to build a set of dirt tracks for. Where did you source your rubber belt
I sourced the belting from Canada Bearing. It’s a 3-330 conveyor belting rated for cold weather.
Are you welding at like 45hz?
You know I am not even sure. But yea sounds about that 40-50 hz range. When this is in synergistic mode it doesn’t tell me all the details. It’s an Everlast 253 Dpi. Nice machine I am still learning it
Put some cleats in the other holes
You know I was kind of thinking about that too!
go look at matts off road , he has a bombi and its spaced out pretty good
Yes I have seen that one. It’s sharp looking
Then u can keep the sprockets the same spacing
Yea not sure why I didn’t think that but the same sprocket with an odd number of teeth is actually better for wear!
Now looking at your Track set up, it's kind of like the old Polaris 250 Free Air Sled, they had Suspension and still a Ruff Ride with Flat Cleats, while you have those Bumps....Gonna be a Rough Ride Sonny!
It sure is! I remember those. Yes it will be interesting to see how it goes.
Or some of the umhw with teeth like dirt bike foot pegs the same width of your grousers
Oh true! So many ideas.
... your dumb welder wakes my girlfriend up! great project otherwise though
lol. Tell her she should be watching haha.
Cheers Ben!