Backhoe An idea for a backhoe controller

[alchemysa]

My sketch attached shows an idea for a backhoe dipper/bucket control that uses a rotating handgrip to control the bucket instead of a left/right lever movement. Something like this would seem fairly intuitive to me, as the bucket would mimic the rotation of the hand.

Theres no great engineering required here. The rotating handgrip simply pulls the valve up and down, just the same as the existing lever does.

This idea seems so simple there must be something wrong with it. Has it already been tried and rejected?

An even simpler design would use a short lever on the end of the hand grip instead the gear arrangement. It would depend on how much force is required to pull the bucket lever up and down.

 

[denmansoft]

I finally got some coordination with the existing levers and you come out with a better idea.
My problem with you design really relates to having to use that much strictly wrist motion while operating the bucket. My wrists are bad enough from mousing on the computer too much, I don't think they would like this arrangement.
BTW I built some forks based on your design. Great !!. I left them as 2 independant forks for easy attachment. They wobble a bit but let me throw them on for quick jobs!
I'll be using them with 12' 2x4 for loading roof panels on my new garage.

 

[RayCo]

I'd be willing to try it. Perhaps it is the wrist issue that makes this not exist though, but who knows. I like the sketch.

 

[alchemysa]

I
BTW I built some forks based on your design. Great !!. I left them as 2 independant forks for easy attachment. They wobble a bit but let me throw them on for quick jobs!
I'll be using them with 12' 2x4 for loading roof panels on my new garage.

I hope they work as well for you as they have for me. Post a picture if possible. My only complaint about mine is they are probably way over-engineered. I could have made them a lot lighter. I made some lightweight extensions for mine, out of 1" square tube, to help lift 10x4 chipboard flooring up to the first floor of our shack. I put 3 sheets 'longways' on the forks then used the loader to lift and point one end up to first floor where a couple of guys could drag them up the rest of the way.

 

[gotcha]

My sketch attached shows an idea for a backhoe dipper/bucket control that uses a rotating handgrip to control the bucket instead of a left/right lever movement. Something like this would seem fairly intuitive to me, as the bucket would mimic the rotation of the hand.
Theres no great engineering required here. The rotating handgrip simply pulls the valve up and down, just the same as the existing lever does.
An even simpler design would use a short lever on the end of the hand grip instead the gear arrangement. It would depend on how much force is required to pull the bucket lever up and down.

It is a good idea, but they would have to offer the regular or this way as an option because of people with hand and wrist disabilities.
The Gotcha Man

 

[RayCo]

Here is something that I've wondered, similarly. Those ZTR mowers have two big sticks that you use to control them. Why? It seems like a waste of a hand if you need both. I'd like to see something like this crude drawing I did that could be held with just one hand. (This assumes that a true zero-point turn is a capability of the machine. I'd really like a dozer with this type of control actually, since I'm not a ZTR guy.)

 

[skipro3]

I've always wondered why someone never made a device that straps to your shoulder, elbow, wrist. Something that has sensors to measure the angles between them all. Then tie that into the BH operation. There would be an override switch, foot operated maybe, to turn it all on or off. Then just as you use your arm, the backhoe moves. lift your arm up, the boom goes up. Extend your elbow out and the dipperstick extends out. Curl your wrist and the bucket curls and uncurles. Turn it on and off with a deadman foot switch.

 

[RayCo]

I've always wondered why someone never made a device that straps to your shoulder, elbow, wrist. Something that has sensors to measure the angles between them all. Then tie that into the BH operation. There would be an override switch, foot operated maybe, to turn it all on or off. Then just as you use your arm, the backhoe moves. lift your arm up, the boom goes up. Extend your elbow out and the dipperstick extends out. Curl your wrist and the bucket curls and uncurles. Turn it on and off with a deadman foot switch.

Now you're getting ridiculous! That seems a bit too futuristic or something. Plus, you might feel kinda dorky just sitting there doing dance moves with one arm, wearing one glove. You'd feel like Michael Jackson from the 80s.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

Hustler had a simular control scheme for their ZTR's. Its really hard to drive.

 

[Grand_Pooba]

As you move the lever you will also be rolling the wrist control unless you roll your wrist with the lever...which might be harder than it sounds