PTO Lawn Vacuum Completed

[Agent Blue]

Done just in time for the falling pine needles. I realize the capacity isn't going to be great but I only do the areas under the pine trees, not lawn clippings. It is designed to come apart easily with minimal bolts, mostly slip fittings. The combination of lawn mower blades and the fan produce an amazing amount of air movement. I can retire the leaf rake at last.

[boomer1025]

Looks nice, how did you make the blower unit.

[Bob77064]

Looks good.

[Agent Blue]

The drum came from a friend that had a walk behind unit he disassembled. The rotar is pretty aggresive, 12" diameter, 4" wide paddles that taper to 2" in the center, ( 4 of them ), and spins in excess of three thousand rpm. The tube is eight inches in diameter. Total investment of $149.00 with some parts in stock. Wood structure may be temporary as it can be duplicated in light sheet metal. Metal parts to be painted after it is a proven design.

[sixdogs]

That is really an amazing build. Congratulations.
Any photos of the build process? How does it work so far?

[dieselpower2010]

Very nice build.

[Agent Blue]

I have an area approximately 9" x 18" with window screen to release the air the fan produces to the holding area. This is clearly not enough venting as air is forced out by the containers holding the leaves as well. The metal fan does a good job of grinding up the maple leafs compacting them in the holders. It doesn't pickup a hundred percent so I am going to try a set of high lift or gator blades to see if it increases the vacuum under the deck. Overall I think it works good for the intended purpose. If one was doing an entire lawn ( like mine 6 plus acres ) the storage bins would definately have to be increased. The mobility is the plus side of the attachment not having to worry about a trailer striking trees / fences in close proximity to the deck while making sharp turns. I thought the fan would take a notable amount of power to operate but it is not noticable in normal grass trimming.

The next project will be fabing a mount for a 59" snowblower to the 4110. I already have a counter weight constructed for this purpose.

[Don87]

I have an area approximately 9" x 18" with window screen to release the air the fan produces to the holding area. This is clearly not enough venting as air is forced out by the containers holding the leaves as well. The metal fan does a good job of grinding up the maple leafs compacting them in the holders. It doesn't pickup a hundred percent so I am going to try a set of high lift or gator blades to see if it increases the vacuum under the deck. Overall I think it works good for the intended purpose. If one was doing an entire lawn ( like mine 6 plus acres ) the storage bins would definately have to be increased. The mobility is the plus side of the attachment not having to worry about a trailer striking trees / fences in close proximity to the deck while making sharp turns. I thought the fan would take a notable amount of power to operate but it is not noticable in normal grass trimming.

The next project will be fabing a mount for a 59" snowblower to the 4110. I already have a counter weight constructed for this purpose.

Very nice build.


I'm not sure of your disposal area, or your needs for that. But just a thought......... would building a frame around the plywood area, with the back as a door (for cleanout), lining the inside with winow screen, give you the airflow you need.

[Agent Blue]

I have a clean out door on the top that is hinged. I opened it about 3/4" and it did seem to solve the air movement problem. I do have to nominate myself for " Dummy of the day ". It seems I was so zeroed in on the rear vacuum ( and the howl of the fan ) I hardly noticed the mid mounted mower was not engaged. It seems the deere has three positions for the PTO, mid, mid and rear, and rear. I had the selector on rear for testing and while noting it was only picking up approximately sixty percent of the pine needles the mid mounted mower was not assisting in the task. To my surprise when the PTO lever was shifted to the center position it was like adding a supercharger. It leaves no pine needles behind and cuts them in fine pieces packing them in the drums. Below 2000 RPM it will back up in the pipe and eventually plug. At 2500 they arrive in the drum at supersonic speeds. No need for high lift blades ... just a little check of the operators manual in ones head to position the correct lever placement.
Now that I know the basics are operating properly I can design some guards for the moving parts. I am leaning towards expanded metal so it can be viewed while operating and removed by several bolts in one piece. Sorry about the brain lapse.......... I guess concentration and trouble shooting out weighed common sense.