How to make a plow device to bury plastic tubing ?

   / How to make a plow device to bury plastic tubing ? #1  

Wes Obie

New member
Joined
Sep 3, 2011
Messages
21
Location
White Bear Lake, Minnesota
Tractor
John Deere 4010 Compact Tractor
I am starting to design a plowing device that can feed plastic tubing or wire through the plow and bury it on the move. Not wanting to re-invent wheel, has anyone else went down this path and if so please share your solutions.
 
   / How to make a plow device to bury plastic tubing ? #2  
The phone utility is installing a new network of some sort and they are doing what think your wanting. They have what looks like a very heavy duty vertical knife with a "bullet" at the bottom that attaches to the coil of pipe that they are drawing in. It looks like they can go down some 6-8 feet deep. They are also pulling this device with a huge CAT on tracks. No easy feat I'm sure. If there was one around still i'd take a picture but the frost is in so I guess they won't start up again till spring.

Good luck with your project.:)
 
   / How to make a plow device to bury plastic tubing ? #3  
KennyD made one a few years back. I suggest you search for posts by him to see if he started a thread on it. It may also show up in his Picasa web albums he has a link to in his signature.
 
   / How to make a plow device to bury plastic tubing ?
  • Thread Starter
#4  
The phone utility is installing a new network of some sort and they are doing what think your wanting. They have what looks like a very heavy duty vertical knife with a "bullet" at the bottom that attaches to the coil of pipe that they are drawing in. It looks like they can go down some 6-8 feet deep. They are also pulling this device with a huge CAT on tracks. No easy feat I'm sure. If there was one around still i'd take a picture but the frost is in so I guess they won't start up again till spring.

Good luck with your project.:)
I have seen the utility devices that bury Power, phone etc lines and natural gas lines. I only want to go about 6-8 inches deep. Put in Irrigation tubes, low voltage lines etc. Probably cheaper to rent the machine, but I would like the capability to do projects a bit at a time and make more use of my toy tractor.
 
   / How to make a plow device to bury plastic tubing ? #5  
We call that a " mole plough " in this part of the world. Very simple to build. Do a google image search.
 
   / How to make a plow device to bury plastic tubing ? #6  
seen a picture of a subsoiler with a pvc tubing bent towards the rear for feeding cable; simple cheap and easy.
 
   / How to make a plow device to bury plastic tubing ? #7  
I've seen several homemade cable plows on this forum. Snoop around, I think you will get all kinds of ideas and great help.
 
   / How to make a plow device to bury plastic tubing ? #8  
Get a cheap sub-soiler from TSC for about $150 attach a tube down the back of the blade that bends out to 90 degrees. then add a pole the to ROPS to hold the spool of wire. Then just drive the wire to where you need it.
 
   / How to make a plow device to bury plastic tubing ? #9  
Years ago, I had a job plowing in cable. A subsoiler with a tube will work, but it would be better to have a very narrow plow. The ones we had were essentially a sharpened plate with a groove and removable bar in the back.

If I were making one, I would try to find a 1/2" plate, at least six inches wide (front to back) and as long as required to get the depth you want. Weld a tube to the back and a "shoe" to bottom to pull it down to keep depth.

I would also suggest that you dig it in and out at the start and finish to make sure you don't damage the tubing when you start or stop the installation.

As a side note, there are lots of variations for this. We had a "manual" version that was like a hand cultivator and we pulled it with a tractor or a winch. The best equipment mounted plows had hydraulic driven vibrators. The equipment we used usually had a "creep" gear. Slower is better. For large diameter cable going a couple of feet deep we used a Cat. Tractors just didn't have the traction.
 
   / How to make a plow device to bury plastic tubing ? #10  
The video explains a lot:

Fred Cain Tractor Subsoiler, 3 point hitch
 
 
 
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