Sunday, August 24, 2014

Log Truck Low Rate Production Run

RAPID CITY, SD.   A prototype of a new vehicle/toy for the Rapid City Woodworkers Association Toy Program was rolled off the line this past week.  Pictures of the first revision of the new vehicle are shown below:




The current plan is to build twenty vehicles for the Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) phase of the program.  Several of these vehicles are slated for delivery as classroom toys at the main branch of  Youth and Family Services in Rapid City this fall.

After a couple of revisions to the original prototype, a pair of vehicles designated as LRIP No 1 and LRIP No 2 were finalized and prepared for testing.  The pair has been sent to one of our test facilities on the west coast where it will undergo several months of rigid testing exercises performed by real life kids.  One of the vehicles is equipped with a tow rope with the younger generation consumers in mind.



The LRIP log trucks are a take off from a vehicle currently in production by the Orange County Woodworkers Association in Tustin, CA as shown below.  Permission was given to Bob Buchanan to use the vehicle for developing a South Dakota version using local Ponderosa Pine for the truck body and birch for the trailer with poplar for the trailer trucks.


The log truck can handle a large variety of loads as shown below - including telephone poles, birch logs, rail road ties, ironwood logs, spruce/pine logs, laminated beams.  This versatile vehicle can actually handle just about anything you can stack between the six stakes on the flatbed trailer.


Basic Vehicle





Spruce Logs Hauler 



Birch Logs Hauler

 Ironwood Logs Hauler


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Detailed plans are located on our Toy Program Documentation page.

Milling of the parts for the production of the log truck requires a table saw, a scroll saw or band saw, a drill press, miter saw or miter saw jig on table saw, belt sander, router.  Wheels, axles, dowels, and an attaching screw are purchased.  A 1" Forstner bit, a countersink drill bit, and a 3/16" round-over router bit are very helpful as well.  An axle painting fixture, a dowel/stake locating jig, a wheel assembly press and two shims speed up the final assembly process.




Look for future updates showing test results and modifications if needed.



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Click on the link below to learn more about the Rapid City Woodworkers Assocation activities on the main page of the website:


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