CAT 955 Tracked Frontend Loader For Logging

This is a new kit offered at my Shapeways store www.shapeways.com/shops/Micro%20American%20Rail%20Prototypes that was inspired by Walt. It’s based on an early 1970’s CAT 955 crawler loader. It’s a midsized crawler loader with an operating weight of about 15 tons with a 130 horsepower diesel power plant. It’s meant for moving around and loading logs in small to midsize logging operations. It has grapple attachment in the front, an aftermarket full seeps ROPS and a winch mounted on the rear.

Jon,
Thanks for this one, I really like! I've got four two on flat car load and two in the field loading trailers and log cars. They really turned out great!!! Cleaning is the hardest part soaking, cleaned with fine brush, cleaned again but still can't get rid of the small white particle left behind can only see them when taking close up pictures but still looks great! Looking for a better color. I've used yellow, Orange Yellow, But no! cat color. Decals hard to fine I have some other equipment that has decals for cats. I think I'm going to take a close up picture or try to take them off and make copies to use on other Pieces. They are made by Hot Wheels Mattel. I tried to look them up but no luck!

Hey Walt, those look great! And thanks for all your kind words. I really appreciate that. I think you got pretty darn close to the appropriate CAT color on the log loaders. Back in the early 1970's, the color was more of an orange yellow. Today its more of a brownish yellow. Personally I like the older color better... I also like the old logo better even though its quite dated... The yellow triangle logo of today means nothing to me.... But it will be tricky to get decals. Even custom made ones might not read so good being they would have to be so small.

I forgot to add the only thing I have found that gets rid of the white residue (which is the support material) is to actually scrape it off with a hard edge. I took some small exact-o knife chisels blades and ground them down to make them really narrow to get into small places.

You can even make them smaller then this. I have one that's down to .0545 inches wide...

Jon, have you tried soaking the items in Bestine?

Loren, I can find this Bestine! I have checked Lowe's and some hardware places no luck!

Walt,
We get ours at Michael's craft store. It is a bit expensive, but it is the best we've found for removing all that crud in the RP items. We soak for a couple of hours and then rinse well with water. Scrubbing with a brush also helps, but on very delicate items, just the rinsing with water is all you can get away with usually. Easy does it.

I've got a faster way that works even better then Bestine. I bought a small ultrasonic cleaner on E-bay for about $25. I use isopropyl alcohol and run the parts in it for no more then 10 minutes at at time. You have to keep an eye on the alcohol as it can heat up real fast in the ultrasonic cleaner and the heat can warp and damage the parts if it gets to hot. Also make sure to rinse the parts in clean water right after each 10 minute cycle and let them dry completely if you're going to run them again. The ultrasonic cleaner does a really good job in the nooks and crannies. BUt like Bestine, there will still be some scaring left behind from the support material. That's when I use my mcio scrapers.

If I'm cleaning really fine or delicate parts in the ultrasonic cleaner, I use Dawn dish washing liquid (make sure it does not have any skin softeners or bleach or other gimmicky additives)or baby shampoo and water (mostly water) in the ultrasonic cleaner. You can fill up the ultrasonic cleaner almost to the top with the soap and water mixture so it does not heat up. Plus you can run it many times in a row without worrying about degrading the parts. But you still need to rinse then in clean water when your done.

But the real problem is Shapeways. Don't get me wrong, its a great affordable service. But its the Walmart of rapid prototype job shops. You get what you pay for. In a real job shop I can tell them exactly the orientation of how I want the parts to be printed. That way I can keep the support material scaring down to a minimum on showing surfaces. But Shapeways crams as many jobs on the build envelope as they can, anyway they can, all at the same time. So part orientation is a crap shoot at best. But in all fairness, that's how they keep prices so cheap. They also need to calibrate their machine more often. I get stuff that is off all the time.

Shapeways also does a really horrible job cleaning the parts before you get them. I have found a vender (Moddler www.moddler.com/index.php)that uses the same printing process and material (FUD) and they do a superior job all around and they print my parts in the orientation I want them to. But they are also a professional shop so cost is 2 to 3 times that of Shapeways and there are no personal stores to sell your items to the public like on Shapeways. But if you have any questions or problems, you actually talk to one of the owners. At Shapeways, customer service is 100% email only and can take up to a day or so to get a response. Sometimes you get good customer service, sometimes you get not so good customer service..... But before I sell Shapeways down the river, they are the first real rapid prototype vender for the masses at a very affordable price.