Great progress    and still a lot more to make and install 

Per       

Runs really nicely Chris. Love those extra lightweight rods and cylinders on the chain hoist engine! 

The cylinders polished up very clear, didn't  they?   

Earlier today I had silver soldered up the blocks for the boom base onto the mounting plate. After a soak in the pickel solution, here it is mounted on the shovel platform, with the boom set in place. The three axles on the main boom have brass bearings. A piece of the 'cable' that will be used is holding the upper end of the boom in the air - it will be able to tilt with one of the motors to adjust the angle like the original did. For cable, I have a spool of gray 250 pound test braided fishing line (synthetic fiber, not metal cable, for flexibility). On the table under the boom you can see the plastic prototype bucket, for a sense of size of it.


Lots more to do on the main boom - sets of pulley sheaves, axle support extensions, and the dipper shaft assembly still to go, but its looking more and more like an excavator!   

Wow, I didn't expect to see you place an order. But as you say, time, effort and materials for something that large plus the never ending risk of something going wrong near the end makes it an easier decision.

Looking forword to seeing the result.

gerrit

Oh, yeah...4"x3"x3" is a lot bigger than I'd been imagining.  And the counterbalance effect would go against the PET shovel as well.  Cool to see it 3d printed in steel, I've looked into that a couple of times for work, but have never pursued it.
 

Going to be interesting to see how it goes.  Latest is that they f8nished production and it is  ready to ship.