smaller backhoe bucket

[Defective]

I'd try it without the teeth first. You may find that the narrower bucket likes to cut in on its own.

 

[patrick_g]

I'd try it without the teeth first. You may find that the narrower bucket likes to cut in on its own.

I agree with trying it without teeth.

Now for the brainstorm that this project instigated...

If you are familiar with a cheese cutting tool, not the one with a wide roller and a wire for slicing cheese but the one narrow one without a roller. It is used to cut a narrow but thicker ribbon of cheese off a larger chunk. It is similar to the citrus tool used for cutting a long ribbon of citrus fruit peel off of a piece of citrus fruit.

Anyway it occurred to me that a narrow bucket with stout sides and an abbreviated back (mostly just a cutting edge and a mostly open back) might slice through material that would clog a regular bucket with a back on it. You should be able to get a nice thick and long piece of "peeling" sliced off with it on each pass.

Then to clean up the debris that might accumulate in the trench because of the "backless" bucket design, you bolt or pin on your removable back and use it to scoop out the debris left behind by the use of the bucket in open back mode.

The idea being to be able to dig in really hard or sticky clay and such without constantly plugging up the bucket and requiring manual intervention to clear the bucket.

Anyway there it is...

Pat

 

[charlz]

I agree with trying it without teeth.

Now for the brainstorm that this project instigated...

If you are familiar with a cheese cutting tool, not the one with a wide roller and a wire for slicing cheese but the one narrow one without a roller. It is used to cut a narrow but thicker ribbon of cheese off a larger chunk. It is similar to the citrus tool used for cutting a long ribbon of citrus fruit peel off of a piece of citrus fruit.

Anyway it occurred to me that a narrow bucket with stout sides and an abbreviated back (mostly just a cutting edge and a mostly open back) might slice through material that would clog a regular bucket with a back on it. You should be able to get a nice thick and long piece of "peeling" sliced off with it on each pass.

Then to clean up the debris that might accumulate in the trench because of the "backless" bucket design, you bolt or pin on your removable back and use it to scoop out the debris left behind by the use of the bucket in open back mode.

The idea being to be able to dig in really hard or sticky clay and such without constantly plugging up the bucket and requiring manual intervention to clear the bucket.

Anyway there it is...

Pat

So basically a stirrup hoe for your back hoe? I would imagine the stuff that gets stuck in your bucket would get stuck there even if it was already loosened up.

Charles

 

[charlz]

Great looking work. There are lots of places to get the teeth as well as the cutting edge. I have never priced lengths of cutting edge, but I wonder if using plow shares (~$14 or so for 16" length) would work.

Well I ordered 3 feet of 3/8 x 3 cutting edge from discountsteel last night so..... Almost as much in shipping as in steel. There is a steel place here that makes cutting edges... but they said 3/8 x 3 is too small for their machine

 

[john_bud]

Charlz,

One thing could have been done differently (too late now). On smaller buckets, the sides are flared out. That is wider at the top than at the bottom. That is done so the bucket will empty more easily. It's real hard to get some soils to pop out and smaller buckets seem to grip like a crazy thing. I've spent many an hour with the bucket upside down 6' in the air while I shovel at it until the soil comes out. Hopefully, that won't happen.

jb

 

[patrick_g]

Draft. The sides of a mold, dirt bucket, or the partitions in an ice cube tray need DRAFT so the contents can more easily be gotten out.

What if there were a flap of steel shaped to nestle against the back of the bucket mounted on a hinge and hydraulically moved. When the contents of the bucket stuck you would activate this flap to eject the contents of the bucket. When digging it would be against the "REAL" back of the bucket so the flap wouldn't have to be as strong as the real back.

I think I read somewhere about having compressed air outlets that could be energized by a valve to help break loose the bucket contents. I think it was for muddy digging.

Pat

 

[charlz]

Charlz,

One thing could have been done differently (too late now). On smaller buckets, the sides are flared out. That is wider at the top than at the bottom. That is done so the bucket will empty more easily. It's real hard to get some soils to pop out and smaller buckets seem to grip like a crazy thing. I've spent many an hour with the bucket upside down 6' in the air while I shovel at it until the soil comes out. Hopefully, that won't happen.

jb

Yep, when I was reading old posts on here about building a backhoe bucket it seemed most people either wanted a really small one or a really big one. Couple people commented on the dirt sticking in smaller buckets. I figured I would just give it a go... pretty much the only way to find out

This is only my second welding project since high school welding shop (20+ years), I built MadReferee's clamp on forks and trailer mover a month or two ago. Redesigning a backhoe bucket to incorporate taper might be stretching my skills Makes me wonder though...

 

[charlz]

Draft. The sides of a mold, dirt bucket, or the partitions in an ice cube tray need DRAFT so the contents can more easily be gotten out.

What if there were a flap of steel shaped to nestle against the back of the bucket mounted on a hinge and hydraulically moved. When the contents of the bucket stuck you would activate this flap to eject the contents of the bucket. When digging it would be against the "REAL" back of the bucket so the flap wouldn't have to be as strong as the real back.

I think I read somewhere about having compressed air outlets that could be energized by a valve to help break loose the bucket contents. I think it was for muddy digging.

Pat

But to do a hydraulic 'flapper' I would have to add a diverter valve or rear remotes... and if I did that I might as well build a hydraulic thumb as well...

 

[patrick_g]

Chas, Yeah, so? Don't you need a thumb??? Maybe a clever guy like you wold be able to incorporate a manual valve arrangement or a manual change to the cylinder mount to let one hydraulic circuit/cylinder be configured either as a flapper or as a thumb since you might not need them at the same time of for the same sort of tasks.

Pat

 

[pycoed]

Draft.
What if there were a flap of steel shaped to nestle against the back of the bucket mounted on a hinge and hydraulically moved. When the contents of the bucket stuck you would activate this flap to eject the contents of the bucket. When digging it would be against the "REAL" back of the bucket so the flap wouldn't have to be as strong as the real back.
Pat

I have an 18" bucket on my backhoe that is just like that, but no hydraulic connection for the ejector flap - it works automatically when the bucket is opened fully. I'd go & take a picture, except its stuck in a shed down on my marsh & after 48hours of torrential rain is currently surrounded by 12" of water. If anybody thinks I'm putting waders on tonight they can think again! (besides I need the ducks to settle before I get at them on the weekend).
Its called an Ejector bucket,
"for continuous working in clay or very wet soils. an ejector bucket provides the most efficient way to remove a full bucket-load every time.
A mechanical paddle is moved into the back of the bucket as the bucket is crowded to allow a full bucket to be loaded. As the bucket is rolled back, the crowd link advances the paddle through the bucket, cleanly ejecting the contents."
Harford Manufacturing