Rail Iron Smudger

[mjncad]

A lot of landplanes have the cutting blades angled a few degrees.

You might take a look at Land Pride's "grading scrapers" as they call them for additional ideas. Land Pride is one of the better implement manufacturers in the USA.

Grading Scrapers | Land Pride

[AussieJohn]

Finally I got to spend some time this arvo to mock up my landplane.
Insiration has come from tractorbynet member builds

Obviously I am using what materials I have on hand wherever possible, hence the rail iron.



If the top links don稚 cut for adjustment I will go for bolts as per orezok's design, hydraulics would be gr8.
The plan is to pivot the front edge of the rail iron up 25mm and down 25mm from level, which should allow for all gound and material conditions.
The final build will have gussets and reinforcement.

[AussieJohn]

Nearly finished, make four 1" pins tomorrow, tip it right way up and go try the theory.
Summer just finished here so ground is hard.

[Redbug]

That's pretty professional, John. I can see how you may get some orders over there. Is metal expensive over there like it is over here?

[AussieJohn]

One Mate donated the s/h channel and other the s/h Rail Iron, then scavenged flat bar off cuts from yet another mates scap bin (he has a Engineering Shop). He also gave me the MIG welder and a quick lesson last week, prior to that I have always welded stick.
The top links and wear strips are new. Every thing is expensive over here except the Chinese stuff.

John

[AussieJohn]

Finally finished today.

These things find the high spots on roads.

Blades were tilted back when leveling track. (Material relatively loose)
Paddock work required the blades to be tilted forward, but ran out of time as it was beer o'clock.
I have had planes before, adjustable blades seem to be the way to go.
Might consider front blade being controlled by hydraulic ram.

[Redbug]

What do you think it weighs? It looks like for that that size rail...it is about 300 pounds per 6 foot length. So...total weight around 1100 pounds?

[bcp]

If his rail is 4 1/2 inches high, 4 1/4 base (post 12), then it is about 60-70 pounds per yard.

Tee Rail Section Data | A&K Railroad Materials, Inc.

Bruce

[AussieJohn]

Never worked the weight out first as I have had 3 pt hitch smudgers (Landplanes) before.
Just piled the 3 lengths of rail well back on my rear forks and drove it around to see how well it steered and lifted the weight (MF35 with 3 cyl Perkins).
It is flat land here, but would build it lighter and longer for hilly country.
The Rail is 60 lbs per yard, 2 @ 6' and 1 @ 6' 6'' so about 370 lbs total for rail alone.
But after using it decided it could do with some weight on the rear so added a frame to hold 5 x 30 lb bricks from an old heater. Weight is comfortable when raised but will not go heavier.

The rear blade is now more effective and the hole thing less inclined to tip forward when the front blade digs in hard, note I am using a drop down top link. It is not really practical to lower the lower hitch point as the plane would lift of the ground when the front of the tractor dipped in a hole.
Cannot tilt rear blade down enough, need to cut off rear blade adjuster anchor post and move it forward 90 mm a mistake I made thinking the front and rear blades were exact mirror images.

[orezok]

Good build!