Snowblower plans?

[MossRoad]

Looks like a polar bear in a snowstorm to me /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Inspector507]

Even hid the attachment button too.....

 

[hazmat]

<font color=blue>I am still undecided about how to turn the chute. I would like to use a hydraulic motor, but it would have to be a slow-speed one, and I think the cost is too extravegant. I may use an automotive electric window motor/gearbox, as these are almost free</font color=blue>

Window motor is a good choice.

Another option is to rig a double acting hydraulic cylinder & cable.

The cable is in an oval shape. The chute is centered on one axis of the oval. Pully on the other. The cylinder is on one of the straight sections. The cable is rigidly attached to the chute. operate the cylinder one way, chute rotates left, operate it the other way & it rotates right. You'll have to do some math to figure out how much throw you need in the cylinder. Depends on chute diameter & how much rotation you want.

If after your calculcations, the cylinder is too long to fit on one side, you can use two pulleys & make a triangular setup with the chute in the middle & the cylinder behind it.

 

[jimgerken]

Hazmat, thanks for the input, I have to draw out what you described and think it over a little. Maybe I will get the file attachment right this time.

 

[jimgerken]

Here'e another shot showing left and right flighting and the 1/2 x 3" grader blade.

 

[MossRoad]

That's better.

Where did you get that stuff? Looks great.

 

[jimgerken]

The main curved housing is from a scrapyard not too far from my home, the metal started life headed for a cement truck chute extension, but never made it for some reason. It is almost wide enough, I will be adding six inches for a 54 inch total width. The small cylinders I cut out of 14 gauge flat and had rolled by a small metal shop. Would like to have rolled them myself but my small chinese metal worker could not do the job. The flighting came from an Ag supply place in Kansas (forgot the name right now). The grader blade is new material rom the steel supplier. But the coolest parts are shown here in this attachment, the spiral-bevel right-angle gearbox and Lovejoy coupling. These came from Surplus Center.

 

[jimgerken]

FINALLY got back at this snowblower project! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Yes, it has been two years. Here's a photo of a welding fixture I cut on my NC plasma table, to help align the blower paddles onto the center tube.

 

[jimgerken]

,,,And here's a shot of the end of the tube, with hub welded in. Hub is shown with 1.25" diameter shaft inside, keyway still needs to be added (another thing to learn!).

 

[jimgerken]

Here's the entire tube assembly with both hubs supported by a shaft, setting on my balance checking setup. As parts are added, I keep checking that it doesnt go to far out of static balance. The small pcs of metal taped on are what it takes to counter the weight of the tube weld. So far, so good.