sleepyhollow
Silver Member
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2001
- Messages
- 155
- Location
- Connecticut
- Tractor
- JD 4310, eHydro - R4, dual SVC, speedmatch/cruise, rear floods
Hi Folks,
My JD 4310 hasn't been delivered yet, but I'm already planning to build my first implement. The tractor is coming with a JD 48 hoe, JD 59" snowblower, and 430 FEL. I need to move lots of leaves, but I can't afford to buy a commercial 3 pth debris blower from Agri-Metal, Toro or Buffulo Turbine.
The heart of implement is obviously the blower and housing. I have considered several options for procuring the blower. These include buying it from a place like Grainger, scrounging one out of some junkyard or scrapyard or buying a walking behind model and mounting it on a 3 pth frame.
Of the three options I like scrounging the junkyard best on a cost basis, but it will take luck and time to find an appropriate blower in salvageable condition.
Buying a walk behind model with a 5-8 HP engine is kind of expensive and wasteful when you consider that you're paying for the engine, when I have a much more capable power plant in the form of the 25 HP rear PTO.
I'm trying to replicate as closely as possible, the performance of the <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.agrimetal.com/framed_turf.htm> Agri-Metal BW 240 blower </A> After looking around, it seems the proper blower type would be a radial fan or high pressure blower.
Buying the blower assembly (radial, pressure blower 13" diameter) from Grainger looks like $400+ and then there are the belts, pulleys, steel angles and plate, pto shaft, universal joint etc.
I saw another by ns_in_tex that showed a mower deck converted to spin a squirrel cage blower 12" or so in diameter. Here is another picture of that <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/forumfiles/5-187168-4_drivewayblowerdischargeand2x4.JPG> blower
According to ns_in_tex in his <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=implement&Number=187168&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1#Post187168> post </A>, he could blow that 2x4 from 8ft away at 1/2 throttle. All that from an old furnace blower? Of course, he has to run the blower at 3 times the speed it was designed for. I'm a little worried about the safety margin there, but it looks fairly low cost.
Maybe a squirel cage blower is the way to go? Anyone have an engineering background or first hand experience building one of these to get the most bang for the buck? I've got 25 PTO horse power, I just need good blower ideas and sources other than Grainger. Ideas anyone?
Sleepyhollow
My JD 4310 hasn't been delivered yet, but I'm already planning to build my first implement. The tractor is coming with a JD 48 hoe, JD 59" snowblower, and 430 FEL. I need to move lots of leaves, but I can't afford to buy a commercial 3 pth debris blower from Agri-Metal, Toro or Buffulo Turbine.
The heart of implement is obviously the blower and housing. I have considered several options for procuring the blower. These include buying it from a place like Grainger, scrounging one out of some junkyard or scrapyard or buying a walking behind model and mounting it on a 3 pth frame.
Of the three options I like scrounging the junkyard best on a cost basis, but it will take luck and time to find an appropriate blower in salvageable condition.
Buying a walk behind model with a 5-8 HP engine is kind of expensive and wasteful when you consider that you're paying for the engine, when I have a much more capable power plant in the form of the 25 HP rear PTO.
I'm trying to replicate as closely as possible, the performance of the <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.agrimetal.com/framed_turf.htm> Agri-Metal BW 240 blower </A> After looking around, it seems the proper blower type would be a radial fan or high pressure blower.
Buying the blower assembly (radial, pressure blower 13" diameter) from Grainger looks like $400+ and then there are the belts, pulleys, steel angles and plate, pto shaft, universal joint etc.
I saw another by ns_in_tex that showed a mower deck converted to spin a squirrel cage blower 12" or so in diameter. Here is another picture of that <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/forumfiles/5-187168-4_drivewayblowerdischargeand2x4.JPG> blower
According to ns_in_tex in his <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=implement&Number=187168&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1#Post187168> post </A>, he could blow that 2x4 from 8ft away at 1/2 throttle. All that from an old furnace blower? Of course, he has to run the blower at 3 times the speed it was designed for. I'm a little worried about the safety margin there, but it looks fairly low cost.
Maybe a squirel cage blower is the way to go? Anyone have an engineering background or first hand experience building one of these to get the most bang for the buck? I've got 25 PTO horse power, I just need good blower ideas and sources other than Grainger. Ideas anyone?
Sleepyhollow