Posted 7 years ago
jpzank
(30 items)
Had a crazy idea to build a Tonka Pile Driver Truck. I had no idea how much WORK it would be! I began by fashioning the pile driver base out of two Nylint bulldozer platforms, but from there it just became an engineering nightmare. I had to drill two extremely-close-tolerance holes into the base, top and bottom, to hold the 18" upright poles in as close to a perfectly vertical and parallel position as possible. Turns out, from top to bottom I ended up only 0.02" off. I'm pretty happy with that percentage of error as I only have a Dremel tool, drill press and hand-held caliper with which to fashion all this high-end engineering!
The finished piece will be in all-over Tonka State Highway Dept. orange and will include some creosote-stained bridge pilings transported on the upper side racks. My brother is cutting the pile driver weights, and when it is completed, the mechanism will actually work much like a real pile driver. I have some experience with driving actual bridge piling as I worked on a bridge and spillway building crew for three summers while in college.
I'll post more photos when this Tonka truck project is finished. Thanks for viewing!
James
