3pt blower

[Jay4200]

I want a 3pt blower to blast the leaves and sticks such off my driveway pre-winter. They are commercially available, but unfortunately cost about $4k. They look awfully simple from what I can tell. I think the innards of the things are a big flat-bladed fan (3ft diameter) - like a snowblower 2nd stage fan on steroids - mounted in a drum. The fan is belt drive off of the PTO with a 2-3x speed increase, so the mechanics should be fairly simple. I would think I could fab one for a tenth of the price of a commercial unit.

However, I wonder how critical balance on a big spinning wheel like that would be. Do you think an unbalanced 1500 RPM wheel that is 3' in diameter would rip itself apart? Any other thoughts?

JayC

 

[beenthere]

Give it a shot, as I think you have a good idea.
Do you have a fan in mind, or thinking of fabbing that as well?

 

[Jay4200]

Give it a shot, as I think you have a good idea.
Do you have a fan in mind, or thinking of fabbing that as well?

I'd have to fab that.

My other idea is to use 4 furnace blowers that are all ducted together. That would be trickier, since they would all have to belt driven from a common shaft, then be mounted such that their belts could all be independently adjusted. I was running with that idea until I saw what the fan on the Agrimetal blower looked like. Seems like is would be relatively simple to put something similar together:

JayC

 

[Marveltone]

As far as balance goes, I'd tend to think the greater the mass and the larger the diameter, the more critical the balance, as there is much more force to tear things apart. (Ever see an out of balance ceiling fan?) That being said, it shouldn't bee too hard to balance a fan in the first place, as it will probably be fairly light. Even hanging it from the center of the hub and doing a static balance would get you close.

Good luck on your build!

Joe

 

[JP35]

There are some other posts here about one of those, also some have used old sileage blowers converted to leaf/yard blowers that work quite well.

 

[Rustyiron]

Check out the farms, see if amy of the local farmers has an old silage chopper or silo blower that you could rape for a blower. Both of these items have a nice heavy blower on them, as well as gearboxes etc.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

I would think balance would matter at that size & RPM...BUT, how about designing the fan so you could mount it to a tire balancer and balance it that way? What I've got running thru my head right now would be to use something like the front hub off a front wheel drive car (not saying thats what I'd use, but I use that example to illustrate what I have pictured in my head)...Using a hub like that you could bolt your fan on..that fan could be mounted on a wheel balancer like a rim is...after a couple spin balances, drill holes here to lighten, weld a nut here, etc... and you could probably get it pretty balanced.

 

[zzvyb6]

I have a Woods leaf vacuum and a Toro Billy Goat style vacuum. The Goat converts to a blower from sucking if needed. The fan and shroud are identical for the two units. Why not get the blower housing and fan and rig up the shaft on some pillow blocks and run it at 4cycle motor speed (3000+ rpm). Or better yet, these bolt straight onto a small engine block. Forget the pto drive. Make a walker unit. Using a tractor to do this is way overkill.

But then, if you still think you need to mechanize it, buy the parts you need from Agrimetal and paint it up.

John Deere F935 diesel front mower w/ Agrimetal blower | eBay

 

[Duffster]

I want a 3pt blower to blast the leaves and sticks such off my driveway pre-winter. They are commercially available, but unfortunately cost about $4k. They look awfully simple from what I can tell. I think the innards of the things are a big flat-bladed fan (3ft diameter) - like a snowblower 2nd stage fan on steroids - mounted in a drum. The fan is belt drive off of the PTO with a 2-3x speed increase, so the mechanics should be fairly simple. I would think I could fab one for a tenth of the price of a commercial unit.

However, I wonder how critical balance on a big spinning wheel like that would be. Do you think an unbalanced 1500 RPM wheel that is 3' in diameter would rip itself apart? Any other thoughts?

JayC

I think you need a old silage blower. Remove everything but the fan and it should be easily 3 pt mounted and direct drive should give you plenty of velocity.

 

[Densleigh]

Hi, Done this using blower from industrial oil heater (Furnace I suppose to those in US of A)

Simple frame and pulley ratio to increase pto to about 1200 rpm - only pulleys to hand at time.

About 4 hours work in it including putting keyway in shaft.
Total cost about $30

It works very well and is easy to create large piles of leaves and beech husks

I have a couple of pictures somewhere if any one interested I can post them up.