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Wheel loader generator Pro

An articulated loader that steers by bending in the middle and tips its bucket on a linkage.

Open Wheel loader in the app Pro generator: explore its settings in the app; cut files come with the Pro plan (coming soon).
A laser-cut wheel loader with laminated wheels and a raised bucket

In short: Articulated wheel loader that steers by bending in the middle, with lift arms and a bucket tipped by a lever linkage, all on pins so it can be posed and rolled. Checked for collisions through the whole range of motion. No input drawing needed.

A wheel loader that works like the real machine: the front and rear halves are joined by a pin in the middle, so it steers by bending; the lift arms raise the bucket; and a lever on each arm tips the bucket through a linkage. It rolls on laminated wheels. Everything scales from the wheelbase; no drawing is needed.

Linkages are where hand-drawn designs usually fail: a pin that hits the arm halfway up, a bucket that jams against the frame when steered. This generator checks the assembly for overlaps through each joint's range of motion, and its own side and top views keep pins and axles clear of the parts that sweep past them.

In the 3D preview you can pose it with a slider per joint, play each motion, see through the plywood in x-ray, and ghost the arms and bucket across their whole range.

You need: plywood, dowel for the pins, rod for the axles, and glue.

A laser-cut wheel loader in the app's 3D preview: posed with the joint sliders, seen in x-ray, and with ghosted copies of the arms, bucket and front half across their lift and steering ranges

Settings

All of these can be changed in the app, and the 3D preview updates as you type. The name under each setting is its key in a share link, e.g. https://laserpuzzle.app/app/#/wheel-loader?size=…; a link only needs the settings that differ from the defaults.

Wheel loader

SettingDefaultWhat it does
Wheelbase
size		100 mmDistance between the axles; everything else scales with it. 100 mm makes a model about 22 cm long. From 70 to 400 mm.
Bucket width
bucket_width		0 mm0 = a little wider than the wheels. From 0 to 400 mm.
Bucket teeth
bucket_teeth		offTeeth on the cutting edge (rock bucket).
Wheel layers
wheel_layers		3Plates glued together per wheel, the outer one a blind cap: more = wider tyres. From 2 to 4.
Tyre tread
tread		onLugs round the wheels, offset layer to layer.
Cab windows
cab_windows		cutOptions: cut, engrave, none.
Engraved details
details		onHub caps, grille, louvres, cab door.

Pins

SettingDefaultWhat it does
Pin diameter
pin_diameter		4 mmMeasured diameter of the dowel or rod used for every pin and both axles. From 2 to 8 mm.
Press-fit hole offset
press_fit		-0.1 mmHole = pin + this, where a pin is fixed (and in the wheels). Find it with the fit-test hole strip. From -1 to 1 mm.
Pivot hole offset
pivot_fit		0.05 mmHole = pin + this, where a part turns. Small = stiff, holds its pose; larger = swings freely. From -0.5 to 1 mm.
Axle hole offset
axle_fit		0.2 mmHole = pin + this, where an axle turns in the frame: loose enough to roll. From -0.2 to 1 mm.

Plus the material and machine settings every generator has: material thickness, kerf, slot clearance, sheet width, sheet height, part spacing, engrave part labels, cut line colour, engrave line colour.

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