Building starts

Bucket-wheel arm

Building of Bagger 288 model began in April 2011.  The first section to be built was the main frame which carries the bucket wheel itself. This is about 14 1/2 feet in length. Construction began in my study, after which, with the help of my son Andrew, the frame was transported to the garage for the addition of the bucket wheel itself:

The wheel has a diamter of 42 inches and has 19 buckets attached. The German prototype has 18, but as things worked out 19 gave me a convenient closed circle of plates, as you can see in the pictures:

At the centre of the frame is a conveyor belt, with a wide U-section created by putting 3 small rollers abreast.  The rollers were cut from 3/4 inch meranti dowels with stub axles epoxied in at each side.  There are over 1000 rollers in the whole model: