1/48-Scale Battery-Powered Shovel

1/48-Scale Battery-Powered Shovel FARM HOME recreation 32-1-41 I built this 1/48-scale battery-powered, working model of a Marion 5561, 45 cu. yard electric-powered shovel. Big Doug, as I call it, measures 36 in. high and weighs 28 lbs. The machine moves by means of its tracks, which are turned by friction from small wheels. The motors and primary gears are out of battery-powered toys. The bucket swivels just like the real thing. The track pads are made out of oak and are held together with pieces of copper wire. The main gear reductions for moving the machine are made from guitar string tighteners. The universal joints are made out of 1/4-in. copper tubing. The machine's center pin is made from a 1/2-in. bolt, with a hole drilled through the length of it to allow for electric wires to enter the revolving frame. Mounted on this center pin is a stack of pieces of 3/4 by 1/4-in. dia. copper rings with plastic washers in between. The rings are wired to a wire that goes down through the center pin. Beside the stack of rings is a post that turns with the house. The post is equipped with a bobby pin for each of the rings. The bobby pins brush on the rings, transferring power from the wires to the different motors and allowing the house to revolve without tangling the wires. The hoisting motor is out of a battery-powered drill. The hoisting gears are out of an erector set and a big gear out of a clock. (Glenn Dawson, 398 E. Fred Mummey Rd. N.E., McConnelsville, Ohio 43756 ph 740 962-5463)

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