I have been monitoring the DHS site for a YCC 250-2 25 ton load block that always seemed to be out of stock. The other day, it was finally in stock so, I ordered it. The description did not say what scale it was so I assumed it was 1:50. When I got it, I was very surprised that it was considerably smaller than I thought it was going to be. The only crane in my collection that I could put it on was my Bucyrus Erie crane. The block needed some modification to allow rope to be reeved through it. I took it apart and enlarged the spaces between the sheaves and the body of the block. I reassembled it and rigged it on the crane, It looks really nice and, at 25 tons, it's not too large for the little crane.

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Tom
It's pretty sad when the only modeling tool you own is a box cutter.

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you start to see every problem as a nail. Abraham Maslow

RI, I got one just like that only in red with white stripes. I had to do the same thing with mine, pull it apart, file it so the sheaves worked, clean up the shive sides and put it back together. I also used a touch of Wahl hair trimmer oil for some lube. I wound up doing one thing different though, I had to drill and tap the spindle for a 00-90 bolt to hold the side on as you really can't glue it after all the work done. I use mine either on my Liebherr 1045-3.1 or my Terex RC45, the smallest cranes I have to use them on.

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Dain

I'm a kid at heart, so I will play with any model construction vehicle from 1:87 scale to 1:1 scale!!!!

Age is a state of time NOT a state of mind!!

Hi RI CRANEMAN


No they are spray-painted quite thick because the basic material is a bit rough structure.
It is not the easiest material to put a decent layer of paint on but it's the cheapest and strongest material at Shapeways.

At the moment I am drawing some more Johnson blocks , next in line will be a 100 ton 3 shaeve.

I keep that in mind , i am not gone make promises but do you have a particular model in mind for chain and cable slings ??

Eef

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***Flickr American cranes group***3D printed crane parts at I.materialise

Hi RI CRANEMAN

First step i need to explain is the choice of material and the limitations.

material 1 = White strong and flexible , i use this a lot for 2 reasons , it's strong and it's relative cheap.
Big limitation is the resolution of the printed material ( quality of detail and how small parts can be ) i am designing here on the edge of the specifications.

material 2 = Frosted Detail Plastic , i use this sometimes for myself if some parts need high detail levels.
Big disadvantage it is far from strong , so not so handy for crane hooks and related parts.
If i would make models for sale from this material i think some people will be disappointed with results in terms of strength.

Some interesting reading here : Materials shapeways

The above answers your other questions : the clevis type slip and grab hooks can only be printed from Mat 2 but would be very fragile.
Maybe ok for personal use but i am not gone put them online for selling.


Bit of the same story , by using Frosted Detail Plastic i could be done , but again i will not sell them for reasons named before.
Design wise it's no problem , have a look at the picture.
At the moment there are limitations in 3D printing that we scale modelers don't like , but it is developing very quickly.
So what we want is almost there , i think in another 3 or 4 years resolution and materials will be better and closer to what we want.


More and better than i could do : 3D Printing & Design Tutorials


I will give that a try for you , but for now not make it public for sale , so that must be something that you are a sort of beta tester for that type of print.
If you are interested drop me a PM

Hope this whole story make some sense , it's not always easy to express yourself properly in other language.

PS have you seen the 100T Johnson ?? , no real picture available because it's not printed yet only digital renders.

Eef

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***Flickr American cranes group***3D printed crane parts at I.materialise

Hi Cat420

Yes i do sometimes print in high definition resin for personal use , problem is Shapeways does not sell this.
But Shapeways has this nice option to create a sort of a web shop to sell your products to others , and other company's don't.
I can figure out why they don't sell high definition resin because it's labor intensive to remove the support.
But you are right high definition resin is closer to our needs although strength can be a bit of a problem.
For drawing i use autodesk inventor.

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***Flickr American cranes group***3D printed crane parts at I.materialise