Ideas for auger on snowblower

[Hooked_on_HP]

I am thinking about building a 2 stage snow blower. I just can not think of a easy way to make an auger. I want it to be what I am going to call an open auger. . Here is a pic of what I want.
Bill

 

[GPintheMitten]

There was a thread on a home built blower about a year or two ago. He did a great job. I'll see if I can find it.

 

[GPintheMitten]

Here it is
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums//showthread.php?t=17523

 

[jimgerken]

Fun to re-read that old thread! Post #33 lists the auger flighting sales place I used. I believe they also sold the flighting type you want. Hopefully they are still in business. Check it out and let us know here.

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

Jim, that was a great build. I thought I needed a 2 stage, but now I think a properly built single stage works fine and is easier to design. How did you balance your auger. If you were building one for a TPH would you build it heavier. Now that I have found out that I need flighting to build an auger I can search and see what I can find. Thanks for the info.:thumbsup:
Bill

 

[hddnis]

In the thread, IIRC, Jim talked about balancing using a knife edge track. It is fairly low tech, but works well.

Some metal fab shops with a roll bender can make ribbon flighting, you'll have to ask around as many of them just order it when they need it for a project. Depending on the size you want to make you might be able to use the infeed auger out of a combine.



Mr. HE

 

[Scooby074]

Not to discourage you, but snowblowers are a relatively cheap attachment. Might be much cheaper to rebuild a used one or even buy new over fabbing one from scratch.

Less fun i know, but by the time its all done, id bet your close to the cost of a new one and well over the cost of a used one. Consumables and steel prices are getting ridiculous. Its getting to the point where you cant build anything anymore.

 

[jimgerken]

Not to discourage you, but snowblowers are a relatively cheap attachment. Might be much cheaper to rebuild a used one or even buy new over fabbing one from scratch.

Less fun i know, but by the time its all done, id bet your close to the cost of a new one and well over the cost of a used one. Consumables and steel prices are getting ridiculous. Its getting to the point where you cant build anything anymore.

This is true. Steel and stuff is way more than it was a couple years ago, almost disouraging built-it-yourselfers from trying. And if you want a TPH snowblower, in say the 60 inch size, you should be able to buy that new for around $1700-$1800. I would suspect you'd have most of that much money in materials cost to build one now.

In my case, I wanted a front mount, which is more expensive and so much easier to compete with in my home shop, plus the materials were cheaper then, even quite a bit of surplus stuff, so it worked out economically for me. I enjoyed the experience of building the blower, certainly one of the top ten coolest things I have constructed, but it does take a lot of time away from other things in your life.

All that said, sometimes a guy has to do something bigger in life than the reason would suggest. Be sure to document well, and we love pics. First thing on the list: a digital camera for the workshop.

Knife-edge balancing works fine for simple balancing of low speed stuff. In this case, 1000 rpm max, so fairly low speed, and knife edge proved very adequate. It runs with no noticeable vibe, at any engine rpm.

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

As of now the blower build is off. The price of the steel makes it cheaper to buy a used one. I will keep my eyes open for a deal on a sheet of steel. Now the new steel prices are close to double what they were when Jim built his. I hate building somthing out of used rusty steel.
Bill

 

[babypp2]

Depending on the size you want to make you might be able to use the infeed auger out of a combine.