A "Shovel Ready" project!

[Gary Sweat]

OK bad news and good news on the Shovel project. Finished it up this eve, except for paint, though I would try it first before painting, that was a good idea, I was digging along fine, when I hit a small root, and bent the underside of the "floor" that was contacting the bottom of the bucket, like an aluminum candy wrapper. Was curling at the time, and it bent fast!. Bad news it is bent, good news is all the welds held perfectly!:thumbsup: The floor material is the scrap 3/8 thick construction steel I found. and welded 2 pieces together, which are down in the middle of the shovel area, and un-affected by this. I am thinking if I can get that large of a chunk hot enough with my #3 welding tip or maybe the cutting tip of bending it back (you can see the stress where the old red paint was and then popped off), and then getting a piece of angle iron to weld on the bottom starting about where the underside chain fastens on then extending at least half way down the shovel floor then the nose of the angle iron chopped into about a 30 degree angle as it meets the dirt. I am open to suggestions. I have my own ideas on how to fix this and carry on, but I would like to hear from others as well. Did I say that all the welds held perfectly?:laughing::laughing:
James K0UA

It will have to be a really thick piece of angle. I would get 2 pieces of 1/2" x 2" plate long enough to reach from the chain to the center of the bucket and weld them vertically evenly spaced apart under the shovel. Bevel the shovel ends at a 45 to 60degree. This will allow dirt to pass by them but give considerable strength to the bucket. I doubt you will bend them due to the thickness of the shovel plate and the flat bars together. There are probably other simpler ways to achieve the same strength.

 

[k0ua]

Yes, setting here watching TV and thinking about it, I came to the same conclusion, that some vertical strap welded to the bottom ( If I can get it bent back straight!) would strengthen it a bunch. Something else would have to give before it would bend again. I didn't think the 3/8 x 5 inch would bend so easy but it sure did. Hey this has been a good thinking and learning project, I shall carry on.:thumbsup: Thanks for you input.
James K0UA

 

[doall]

Yep, I thought I recognized them welds= gorilla welds, big and ugly but strong.

Hope it don't bend your bucket instead if reinforced too much.

 

[Willl]

on the "quality" of my welds, it might hurt my feelings

If it holds, who gives a rats butt what it looks like. That's what the grinders are for. :thumbsup:

Awesome job Koua.

 

[MikeD74T]

Another option would be to put a vertical post up from the top back of your shovel bucket for the binder to hook to. It could go all the way to the main bucket top edge. The leverage would keep the shovel & the bucket bottom aligned. Your connection geometry is inherently weak, even if you reinforce the bottom plate you'll probably just break the chain next. MikeD74T

 

[k0ua]

Ok here is what I am thinking, instead of trying to heat up and bend back the shovel bottom rear 5 inches that it bent, I have decided to chop it off and try to bevel it good, and weld in another piece of metal. Then put in the vertical strips of plate. I dont think there is a lot of stress on the chain, due to the way this thing wedges on the bucket lip. I believe the chain just mainly holds it tightly wedged, and doesnt have a lot of stress on it. The real stress is on the large bucket lip connection point. I am hoping that the main relief valve will relieve before any damage is done to the main bucket. I don't know why I didnt think to put the vertical reinforcing plate on to begin with, I was worried more about the 18 inch front section bending more than the 5 inch rear section. but the lever point is the bucket lip edge, and the 18 inch section is reinforced by the side wing sections and the small 45 degree triangle section I put in the middle. Of course the 5 inch rear section would bend like a pretzel if something has to give, It is so easy to see now. The curl function can probably generate well over a thousand pounds of force, let alone any forward movement. so there could be a lot of stress there.. This has turned into a real thinking project!
James K0UA

 

[MarkV]

If it bent that heavy of steel on the first try are you worried that once you make it strong enough the next weakest point is the loader bucket itself?

MarkV

 

[k0ua]

Yeah a little, but the bucket lip is pretty thick and strong looking. There is a commercial version of this, and their combo version chains on to the bucket lip, instead of going on forks. I saw a video of this on you-tube and this seemed to work pretty well. Their shovel weighs over 80 lbs. So it must have a lot of pretty thick steel in it.
James K0UA

 

[k0ua]

Ok. old metal cut off, new rear floor pan beveled and welded on, and new vertical stiffening bar stock welded on. Root pass on the bevel with 1/8 6011 and cap passes with 7018 3/32.. all else with the 7018 . Learned a few things. its hard to weld with vertical things sticking up in your way, when your rod gets short:laughing: Um. reposition rod in holder solved most of that. I am getting better at aligning, marking and welding things into place. Not good mind you, but better! I dont think the underside piece of metal will bend this time, Nor do I think the welds will break, We shall see. I havent put it on the tractor yet. It is pretty cold here today. maybe above freezing and a 20 MPH wind. here are some pix, and also the bandsaw that made it possible. and the handle I added to the bandsaw to move it around with which Grizzly seemed to forget.
I am going to have to get something to eat.. I worked thru and missed lunch, I am tired and hungry.
James K0UA

 

[k0ua]

Ok, some success this time, the shovel's first victim is speared on it, it was easy to pick it up by stabbing it with the shovel. Then went to play in the dirt and rocks. It dug well and fast, I did have to tighten the chain tho, as it loosened up. I think the reason was because the piece of 3/4 pipe is already starting to egg out, I should have used 1 inch round bar stock. And when the pipe finally collapses, I will cut it out and weld in a piece of 1 inch. The trench is about 9 or 10 inches deep and 9 inches wide, all I could do as there is bedrock past the 10 inch depth here, As it was I cut several good roots and several pieces of limestone rock came up. No bending on the shovel, other than the pressure on the 3/4 piece of pipe as the fulcrum. and no bending or damage of any kind to the bucket. The rear pry point as you can see is now been moved by the addition of the 1/2 inch rebar up closer to stay on the "meaty" portion of the bucket. It is at least 3/4 of an inch of good Japanese steel here. There is no real pressure on the chain, it just holds thing on, all the prying action is occurring on the bucket lip. I don't think I will have much use for the shovel until spring planting time, as it is supposed to be about 12 degrees here Sunday, and maybe some snow and ice. So I have learned some things here, improved my fab skills some, and had fun, and perhaps made a useful tool:thumbsup:
James K0UA