Help us design on our Mulcher Attachment

[bubenberg]

Thank You for your input! Some great ideas and you demonstrate you have an excellent grip on the mulching business. Like some of your ideas and will bring them to the design development table next week (pencil and paper at first).

We are looking to get the optimum loading capacity, optimum dimensions, but for starters a unite that could fit through a 48 inch gate would be desirable. Another goal we hope to achieve with the help of all your inputs is to keep the cost down and use locally purchasable hardware whenever possible.

Later evidently we will look into a larger type of mulcher attachment to accommodate you guys with larger tractors. larger properties and bigger beds, to power IT! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[J_J]

A 4x8 trailer with 4 ft sides will hold 4.7 yds of mulch. I use a 42 in Dixie Chopper to pull trailers, or a larger lawn tractor with hydrostatic transmission, and the deck removed would make an excellent power wagon, you could even mulch after dark with head lights on.

One yard of mulch 4 in thick, will cover about 126.8 sqft, roughly an area about 12 X 10.5

 

[KiotiJohn]

It's only a thought, but have you ever seen the machines they use for doing blown in insulation? I'm not that familiar with how they work, but thought that plus something for chopping it up may be something to investigate. John

 

[bubenberg]

Thank You too for your reply. Very good idea! You definitely have a point about chopping up the mulch. I wonder if the consistency of insulation is anything near what woodfiber (mulch) is? Let's investigate that.

The price on those machines is not exactly what we expected. With all your inputs we are looking to come up with an ingenious, inexpensive way to render mulch in measured amounts to the proper location.

The minute one looks at a blowing capability, it seems the price goes way up!

Maybe some sort of a mechanical way would be less expensive, where are all these mechanical engineers, that normally lurk on this forum?

Our main goals are to make some sort of attachment that is selfcontained. Fits through a 48 inch gate, can carry between 1000-2000 and can be used by one operator to put mulch over large unencumbered beds. A bed with heavy vegetation one helper would be needed to direct the flow and amount to the proper location.

 

[Sedgewood]

How about a tweaked manure spreader with it's conveyor and "flinger"? /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Sedgewood

 

[bubenberg]

Hi Sedgwood,
As usual you are coming up with excellent ideas, hope you will have time to help us develop this "IT" & the "fling". Could you be more explicit about how you would create the fling aspect?

Thanks very much Sedgwood and Happy New Year to You! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[bubenberg]

Me again, do you think that rather than teeth would some sort of an arrangement of geared down internal beaters be a solution to control the flow of the somewhat hard to handle material (mulch)?

Your input is greatly appreciated! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[bubenberg]

That is fantastic, your idea of the trailer. The small tractor owner could use this contraption without any problem. How do you envision to power the distribution of the mulch, could you be a little more specific please?

Thanks /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[bubenberg]

Hi again, i had the opportunity to see one of these contraptions at a customer of mine this morning. He is very happy with it, but he indicated that it works best with dry material. He was also concerned about the weight of the mulch we would need for this machine to be economical (more than the capacity of a dual wheeled wheelbarrow of 10-12 cubic feet.

The cyclonerake concept is great , we sucked up trash in his barn area. but it did not do too well with the wet leaves under some of the bushes in his yard.

The humidity level of the material to be processed, we think has to be taken into consideration, because the mulch is not always very dry.

Do you have any ideas how to overcome the wetness/sucking problem? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[shoppintractors]

<font color="blue"> Do you have any ideas how to overcome the wetness/sucking problem?</font> /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

More Power! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

'DRY' material is the key word. When working damp material vacuums have a tendency to want to plug up. They take a lot more 'finesse' ..... taking smaller amounts of material to avoid clogging. I would be looking at nothing smaller than a 6" hose.

Take a look at www.trac-vac.com They have Vac's up to 16 HP and also PTO powered units.

For this to be a one man operation....you will need some type of agitator/auger/aerator in the trailer to direct the mulch toward the pick up hose.

A truck loader might be adaptable........
http://www.littlewonder.com/truckloader.html

Don