Guess What This Is Gonna Be

[JoelD]

The miniboss has been involved some with the build. The more she learns mechanically the better.
I will be adding the rope guides Friday night and hope to test her out in the driveway this weekend.

We've got tons of snow, and if the driveway is completely melted I'll just have her use her skateboard.

I am anxious to see if it will first keep rope lined up on tire and second if it will have enough power.

I like the idea of a slight groove carved into the tire.

I will use some sort of pulley for a guide to get the rope dead center of the tire, I'll also have a pulley for rope returned out of machine. Finally braid rope together and set up pulley for bottom of hill and I should be good to go.

I plan to use three strand rope if I can find to make braiding as easy as possible.

I hope the little ones can hold on enough to get towed up.

I don't want to use some sort of nut cracker rope grabber.

I bet I could make some sort of simple rope grabbers though.

I will leave the set up on the blower so you need to hold the blower handle for the auger to spin as a safety, that way it is always attended.

Joel

I hope to have a video of it pulling something up a hill soon.

Thanks,
Joel

 

[jmc]

Joel,

What ratio of speed reduction do you have between the knobby tire and the gas engine? Just guessing the wheel diameter from the picture, you're going to be reeling in about 4 feet of rope per revolution of the tire. If that engine is running at about 1500 rpm and you want the rope speed at , say, 120 feet/minute, that would be a gear reduction of 50:1. Much less reduction than that and you're going to have some burnt gloves...

John

 

[lectro88]

Have a look at this pulling system. This is what I use in my industry.
It does the work of 20 men pulling at their best. LOL
You are in for a treat keeping the rope tracking between 2 tires.

Not saying this is what you need, just thinking the drum/pulley incorperated in your unit if the tires don't work like you want. A bare small mower rim could work as a pulley

YouTube - UT4 Demo Video Overview

 

[JoelD]

Have a look at this pulling system. This is what I use in my industry.
It does the work of 20 men pulling at their best. LOL
You are in for a treat keeping the rope tracking between 2 tires.

Not saying this is what you need, just thinking the drum/pulley incorperated in your unit if the tires don't work like you want. A bare small mower rim could work as a pulley

YouTube - UT4 Demo Video Overview

That is the capstan winch idea, really good idea, problem is, I'd not have tension on the non-pulling end of the rope.

I hope I can get the rope to stay in the middle, that will definitely be the toughest part.

Fingers crossed.

Joel

 

[JoelD]

Joel,

What ratio of speed reduction do you have between the knobby tire and the gas engine? Just guessing the wheel diameter from the picture, you're going to be reeling in about 4 feet of rope per revolution of the tire. If that engine is running at about 1500 rpm and you want the rope speed at , say, 120 feet/minute, that would be a gear reduction of 50:1. Much less reduction than that and you're going to have some burnt gloves...

John

I did a couple of very brief test pulls, it is not all that fast at full throttle and obviously slower at less than full throttle.

The tire is about say 10 inches in diameter. That makes the radius 5, the circumference would be 5 times 2 pi equals 31 / 12 = 2.6 feet per revolution. I figure it is somewhere around 120 revs per min which would equal 310 feet per minute. That puts it at around 3.5mph unless my math is screwed up, which is entirely possible. I don't know the exact dimensions of the tire.

I guess, if it is too fast at whatever throttle is necessary to pull people I'll reduce the size of the drive tire.

My guesstimate on rpm may be off also.

maybe 3.5mph is not too fast?? Would be funny if this ended up being some kind of torture device for the little ones that would be no fun, at least not for long.

Joel

 

[Mace Canute]

JoelD, you might have to make up an endless rope and setup like shown in the video brokenot posted. YouTube - Homemade Rope tow at Kevin Springs. Brookville, PA.

 

[JoelD]

JoelD, you might have to make up an endless rope and setup like shown in the video brokenot posted. YouTube - Homemade Rope tow at Kevin Springs. Brookville, PA.

Yes, I'll have a length of rope, with the ends braided together to make a loop.

there will be a pulley anchored at the bottom of the hill and the snowblower will be at the top of the hill.

I am looking forward to giving this thing a try.

I really need to get the guide pullies at the front of the snowblower correct to guide the rope into the drive wheel or all is lost.

The video is one of the ones I watched when researching. Some of the simplest are just lawn tractors, jacked up, with rope going around drive wheel and opposite wheel locked in place. Trouble is, it is not portable in the snow. On a sled, mine should not be overly difficult to transport.

Joel

 

[jmc]

Joel,

Sounds like you've done your homework. I was assuming a tire diameter of about 16 inches based on the mallet length in the picture.

The wild card here is how fast can you safely accelerate a kid and his sled, uphill, from zero to 3.5MPH without something equivalent to a clutch (rope or glove slippage), or bogging the engine too much.

Looking forward to your video.

John

 

[JoelD]

Well, here it is, she seems to work great, can't wait to get her to the hill.

The rope is just test rope, I spliced it, which I'd never done before, was relatively easy thanks to some youtube videos.

Here's the finished product. Maybe a couple of tweaks but here she is.

Here's the video I promised.

YouTube - Tow Rope Final.wmv

Thanks for the comments and pointers guys.

Joel

 

[looknlearn]

Well, here it is, she seems to work great, can't wait to get her to the hill.

The rope is just test rope, I spliced it, which I'd never done before, was relatively easy thanks to some youtube videos.

Here's the finished product. Maybe a couple of tweaks but here she is.

Here's the video I promised.

YouTube - Tow Rope Final.wmv

Thanks for the comments and pointers guys.

Joel

Looks like it works good. :thumbsup: