Had the printer going in the background today, and had it make a sample dipper bucket for the shovel. The little square stub I'm holding on to would be the end of the dipper stick - this print is to the same scale as the model, so it will give me a reference when making one out of metal later on, as well as a double-check now that the sizes look right with the model so far. Looks like a grinning muppet, sorta?! Or a big version of those RockEmSockem Robot toys from when I was a kid!
The door on the bottom is a separate piece, as are the struts holding the dipper stick on. Looks like it should work out fine for the model.
Another angle:
Going to be interesting to make one of these in metal. I wonder - would printing it in solid PETG be strong enough? This was done in PLA, with only 5% infill, so its very light and not rigid enough, but PETG with 100% infill might work. The struts would have to be metal, and the dipper stick will be made from some 5/8" square steel bar that I have. Hmmm... Can't hurt to try, could always make it from metal if the plastic doesnt work out. This prototyoe doesn't have the mechanism on the door for the tripper bar, might be good to make at least the door from metal so it has enough weight to swing back shut when the bucket is lowered down - they are a gravity closed door, which is why the hinge is so far up the back wall. Maybe I'll add some horizontal ribs across the back wall between the vertical ones too.
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