Professor Boots 'Forky' Mast Re-design

Completely new design. Designed to fit existing parts (forks & body) of Professor Boots' RC ‘Forky’ Forklift. I got really tired of constantly fixing the string and unjamming the carriages/mast when my children ran the forklift… I needed a design which was reliable, straightforward and that plain down worked!

This is a single stage mast design. And the mast is rather tall (although only a little taller than Professor Boots' mast)

Recommended to print carriage and mast flat on build table (not upright! - direction of travel works best when parallel with layer lines!). Your choice of materials/colors - PLA & ABS are fine. Tilt nub on mast facing up. Large end (fork side) of carriage facing down. I did print mine with supports which are fairly easy to remove after printing.

You will  need:

  4x 2.3x6mm Screws: 2 for securing mast to base and 2 for securing the motor clamp to the mast.

  5x 3x8mm Screws: 3 to secure the nut to the Carriage and [optional] 2 to secure the forks to the carriage.

  1x N20 12VDC Motor with 5mm x 160mm threaded rod & nut. (source from aliexpress or your favorite chinese amazon seller. Select the fastest one you can find (400RPM is what I found - its not fast enough for my taste; I'm driving it at 7.2VDC, so that doesn't help either…)

Assembly:

  Screw holes are intentionally made smaller than desired. It is recommended to start screwing a screw in and then heat the head a little with a lighter and then screw them in the rest of the way. Less chance of them stripping out and melting the plastic also acts like a threadlocker for the screw and keeps it from backing out.

  Wires from motor get routed under and around the hinge as shown in image below and then through the existing hole in the body.

  I got tired of forks constantly popping off (this design allows them to drag on the ground), so I added screw holes in the carriage.

  If your motor isn't tight enough or moves up and down, add a small drop of your choice of glues or adhesives on the motor before assembly.