So my Kelly controllers and motors have arrived. In the mean time I've taken the side arms off the chassis and painted them, as well as painting the gearboxes. Now it's a matter of getting some idea how the motor and gearbox will line up.
The right side arm and gearbox are upside down on the bench.
The laser helps line things up.
I'm using universal joints to hook things up. A favour from another kind neighbour (not the ones who donated the machine) results in some short drive shafts with keyways each end.
The motor mount isn't the most complex thing. It's just tacked in place for the moment.
And drive shaft hooked up.
Now it's a matter of wiring up the motor and conrtoller and seeing how she goes!
I wasn't sure how to get the main lift ram out of the chassis - it's pretty heavy and in an awkward position. In the end a set of forks made the task pretty darn simple.
The aim is to get rid of all the internal combustion related bits, so first, off with the engine.
There's oil and grease everywhere - once converted the machine will be much cleaner...
You can see in the above shot that the machine has a thick steel plate beneath it, which is basically dead weight for machine stability. Seeing as the batteries will weigh 240kg, there won't be much use for it.
The machine really hasn't been maintained as well as it might have over the last 36 years - pretty much everything leaks, including the oil seals on the gearbox. While I was pulling it to bits I thought I'd grab a shot of the internals.
The neighbours who have so kindly donated the machine to me to convert also happened to have a collection of 12v deep-cycle batteries out of a telephone exchange which they offered as well. At 150 amp hours capacity, they'd be ideal for this machine. The only catch is that they're huge, and very heavy. This is the hydraulic pack wired up on the bench with the batteries next to it:
To start with I connected one 12v battery using 4 AWG cable and a 100A circuit breaker.
The wiring was a little tricky as while the motor was being supplied with 12v, the solenoid valves on the pack need 24v, so I used a pair of small gel-cells to supply the 24v - you can see them tucked in between the pack and the big batteries in the first pic.
With a bit of hose hooked up to the output and a lot of spilled oil, the thing works.
Next job was to remove the old engine-driven hydraulic unit:.
And fit the new unit along with batteries:
The little grey box with a switch is my control for lift or drop. The 12v supply worked well, but not as fast as I'd like, so I installed the second battery and adjusted the wiring:
It'll get some cable ties added to keep everything in place, despite this battery location being an interim measure - ultimately they'll be located where the engine is now, but I want to keep the machine as operational
as possible during the conversion. The downside with this location is the weight of the battery - I mentioned they were heavy: 60kg each, so that's 120kg sitting on the front.
The video below shows the hydraulic lift in action, with the difference between 12v and 24v:
