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From YouTube: Review of MicroTrac
Description
Design/build review of MicroTrac. See documentation at https://wiki.opensourceecology.org/wiki/MicroTrac_v17.10
A
Here
is
a
brief
review
of
open
source
ecology,
Micro
tractor,
which
is
a
16
to
32,
horsepower,
micro,
sized
tractor
with
tracks
and
a
loader
bucket
and
quick
attach.
What
do
you
see
here
is
we've
got
quick,
attach
implemented
well,
I'd
like
to
discuss
what
has
been
built
and
what
hasn't
and
this
version
here
we've
got
2
power
cubes
one
is
a
small
power
cube
in
the
back.
The
second
power
cube
has
not
been
implemented,
yet
what
we
have
instead
is
the
driver
platform
where
the
drivers
stands
on
top
of
this.
A
So
let's
remove
the
power
cube,
which
adds
to
32
horsepower.
That's
not
there,
yet
the
main
changes
through
the
build
were
that
what
happens
here?
Let's
point
to
some
details:
the
frame
that
turned
out
that
the
hydraulic
motors,
which
are
right
there,
where
the
cursor
is
pointing
they
were
wider
than
in
a
CAD
because
of
an
accurate
CAD.
We
didn't
have
the
actual
file
and
therefore
what
we
had
to
do
in
order
to
fit
the
motors
while
keeping
42
inch
machine
width,
which
is
the
current
width.
A
How
do
we
resolve
that?
We
need
to
mount
the
motors
or
use
different
motors
or
somehow
well.
Actually,
no,
we
do
have
an
option.
The
way
we
mounted
the
drive
sprocket,
we
can
push
the
drive
sprocket
in
on
the
on
the
shaft
and
still
retain
the
42-inch
machine
with,
while
allowing
the
motors
to
be
light
here
and
allowing
the
arms
the
arms
that
hold
this
is
called
here.
The
tensioner
there's
the
part
here.
A
This
is
the
actual
tensioner
you
screw
down
this
bolt
here
in
order
to
tension,
the
tracks
and
the
whole
thing
and
the
whole
assembly
of
the
motors
moves
up.
So
the
tracks
are
tensions,
so
that's
the
tensioning
there,
but
we
can
retain
this.
The
position
of
the
vertical
arms
if
we
remount
the
idler.
A
Accordingly,
that's
the
first
major
change
and
the
actual
as-built
configuration
there
was
a
few
little
changes.
So
let's
take
a
look
at
the
actual
arm
geometry.
We
end
for
these
cylinders
here,
the
curl
cylinders.
They
were
not
mounted
here.
They
had
to
be
mounted
up
a
little
bit
because
of
the
length
of
the
cylinders
that
geometry
didn't
work
out:
inaccurate
Catalan
one
more
time
or
think
the
idea,
the
issue
there
was.
A
We
didn't
have
accurate
CAD
for
the
actual
cylinders,
so
we
had
to
actually
move
them
up
in
order
to
make
the
curl
of
the
bucket.
Actually,
the
the
bigger
issue
was
the
curl.
The
CRO
was
only
going
down,
maybe
like
30
degrees
or
so
so
by
remounting,
the
the
arms
up.
Sorry,
the
remounting,
the
curl
cylinder
up.
We
were
able
to
get
more
like
a
60
degree.
A
Dump
of
the
bucket
Wow
fully
extended
an
upper
position
for
the
arms.
So
when
you
extend
the
arms
up,
we
now
get
60
degree
dumped
by
remounting
that,
but
that
has
to
be
reworked.
Since
we
don't
want
to
have
this
additional
piece
sticking
up,
we
want
to
basically
raise
the
arms
higher
just
simply
higher,
so
that
the
mounting
point
for
the
cylinder
is
included
in
the
main
arms,
and
here
we
have
a
closure
of
the
top
top
arms.
A
Here
we
didn't
actually
use
that
that's
left
open
and
then
the
cylinder
mounting
was
modified
slightly,
as
you
can
see
in
a
pictures
of
the
as-built
in
the
documentation.
Otherwise
the
tracks
and
the
track
geometry
worked
really
well
the
idlers
and
tracks
work.
The
traction
is
good
that
there
is
an
issue
on
a
torque
of
the
of
the
hydraulic
motors
which
currently
we
have
about.
According
to
calculations,
you've
got
2500
pounds
of
pushing
torque
using
the
drive
sprocket
size
that
we
see
here
and
right
now,
it's
a
little
bit
difficult
for
the
machine
to
turn.
A
So
what
we
want
to
do
is
either
increase
the
system,
pressure
or
decrease
the
size
of
this
drive
sprocket
or
change
it
to
a
different
hydraulic
motor.
That
has
more
torque,
but
the
turning
is
a
little
bit
limited
right
now,
with
all
the
way
to
the
bucket,
especially
if
you've
got
soil
in
the
bucket
or
a
load
that
you're
carrying.
It's
not
that
easy
to
turn,
and
you
can
see
the
video
for
how
how
it
turns
it's
reasonable,
but
it's
not
not
a
really
acceptable
for
high
performance.
A
As
far
as
the
mounting
bottom
mounting
of
the
hydraulic
cylinder
here
in
a
CAD,
we
have
this
cross
shaft.
We
did
not
end
up
using
that.
We
ended
up
mounting
using
a
different
mount
system
by
extending
these
these
blocks
here
and
making
a
custom
mount
for
that
one
on
each
side,
so
that
mounting
is
a
little
different.
Otherwise
the
power
cube
is
largely
the
same.
A
The
issue,
one
big
issue
is
that
we
cannot
run
the
cooler
fan
so
the
machine
overheats
up
after
about
an
hour
so
run
because
it
turns
out
this
type
of
engine
that
we're
using
does
not
have
sufficient
current
charging
to
run
a
fan.
A
cooling
fan
using
the
cooling
fan
to
heat
the
hydraulic
system.
That's
a
hydraulic
cooler
under
the
fan
there.
A
You
look
at
the
fan
what
more
to
say
about
this:
the
the
clamps
here
this
mechanism
here
allows
you
to
mount
so
these
clamps
both
of
these
allow
you
to
mount
the
the
main
shaft
without
using
any
key
ways.
This
is
just
a
clamp
on
clamp
made
of
1/2
inch
three
inch
inner
diameter
pipe
drawn
over
mandrel
tubing
with
welded
on
arms,
little
wings
like
that,
but
that
works
well
to
hold
this
in
place.
A
A
Right
now,
the
machine
is
driven
by
pool
start.
The
pool
the
pool
cord
is
on
the
right
hand,
side
here.
So
actually
it's
on
the
it's
on
the
left-hand
side
here,
so
you
pull
it
from
the
front.
We
intentionally
eliminated
a
start
starter
motor,
so
we
don't
have
to
use
a
battery
in
the
system,
but
once
again
we
are
in
trouble
because
we
don't
have
enough
charging
power.
So
we
get
a
revisit
the
mounting
of
the
hydraulic
cooler,
so
we
can
use
passive
cooling
from
the
engine.
A
The
air
intake
for
the
cooling
of
a
hydraulic
hydraulic
system,
there's
a
little
bit
of
some
details
about
how
so
here
you
see
the
hydraulic
fittings
in
a
hydraulic
motor.
The
way
we
have
them
right
now
is
they're
a
little
heart
to
reach
like
when
you
actually
do
the
all
the
fittings.
Here,
it's
close
to
the
tracks
close
to
the
wheels
so
so
hose
routing.
There
is
a
little
tricky
and
we
can
simplify
that
so
there'll
be
good
future
work,
the
tension
mechanism.
A
We
like
it
right
now
right
now,
we
have
by
turning
this
this
bolt
here,
you
tension.
That's
a
one-inch
bolt
here
by
turning
that
ball
to
you
tension
this
entire
system.
This
entire
assembly
here
outlined
moves
up,
tensioning
the
tracks
and
that's
a
nice
mechanism
avoiding
any
kind
of
complexity
on
the
drivetrain
here,
where
these
are
just
fixed,
idler
wheels
about
the
fixed
idler
wheels.
They
are
clamped
together
so
once
again,
no
key
ways:
super
simple
mounting
just
a
mount
plate
with
a
hole,
and
these
clamps
with
three
quarter
inch
bolts.
A
Six
of
them
shown
here
that
hold
the
shafts
in
place.
The
idlers
themselves
are
big,
three-inch
bearings
one
on
each
side,
so
they're
on
both
sides,
the
shaft
goes
through
them
and
just
a
welded
metal
cylinder,
a
10-inch
cylinder
that
we're
using
with
round
plates
around
it
so
very
simple
to
make
idler,
and
that
works
very
well,
no
issues
with
that
over
time.
We
want
to
address
abrasion
issues.
None
of
this
is
hardened
steel.
A
The
tracks
here
they
may
get
worn
out,
because
this
is
metal
on
metal
contact,
so
that
might
be
something
to
improve
in
future
iterations.
But
for
now
it
works.
The
toothed
bark
works
its
treatment
removable.
Here
it's
not
shown
in
detail,
but
the
toothed
bar
is
a
separate
bar,
that's
clamped
on
with
three
bolts
or
so
what
else
is
notable
here?
The
hydraulic
reservoir
is
here
easy
filling
one
thing
I'd
like
to
see
for
tensioning
and
service
tensioning
of
the
tracks.
You
have
to
turn
this
bolt
here.
A
That
means
you
got
to
get
a
wrench
around
that,
and
that
takes
time
it
would
be
much
more
convenient
if
that
the
vault
were
used
for
tensioning
would
be
up
on
top
here
so
that
you
can
take
an
impact
driver
or
a
regular
wrench
that
you
can
turn
turn
rapidly
by
hand
here.
A
ratcheting
wrench
would
work
well,
but
if
you
have
this
piece
of
shaft
sticking
out,
it
would
have
to
be
a
deep
socket,
so
it's
not
easier
to
access,
especially
if
there's
a
driver
platform
or
another
power
Kuban
in
the
back
here.
A
This
would
become
literally
impossible
to
get
to.
If
you
have
the
second
power
cube
on,
so
that
tensioning
the
tracks
would
require
taking
off
the
second
small
power
cube.
Therefore,
if
we
put
that
tensioning
bolt
up
on
top
here,
that
would
allow
for
access
much
more
easily
without
taking
off
the
second
power
cube,
but
that
would
mean
drilling
through
the
whole
three
inch
shaft,
which
is
a
heavy
drilling
operation,
which
requires
a
heavy-duty
drill
of
some
sort.
So
that's
definitely
an
extra
piece
of
fabrication
that
needs
to
happen
other
than
that
very
satisfactory
results.
A
We
call
this
about
95%
done.
It
works
well
pending
just
a
little
bit
of
the
torque
increase
on
the
on
the
drive
system,
and
then
you
can
have
a
very
functional
high
high
performance
chain
already.
This
thing
is
I
mean
it's
pretty
heavy-duty,
weighs
about
2,000
pounds
or
so
and
can
do
some
good
work.
We've
been
field
driving
it
field,
testing
it
with
satisfactory
results,
and
then,
pending
a
few
of
these
refinements,
we
can
take
this
to
product
release
and
avail.
A
This
for
sell
and/or
for
production
for
training
other
entrepreneurs
to
build
these
in
different
locations
around
the
world.
If
you're
interested
in
our
immersion
training,
we
just
started
in
2018
our
first
ever
immersion
training
for
OSD
fellows,
so
we're
offering
the
first-ever
ose
fellowship
where
you
can
learn
to
build.