Lawn Roller

[goldenwings]

Disclaimer: I in no way condone this activity nor do i consider it overly safe by any means.. but i am still here. Proceed at your own risk. Also, safety police please don't bother, i am not interested as i already knew the risks before i went ahead with this. I saw many pictures and videos of what can happen if things go wrong.


Just wanted to post some pictures of the lawn roller I am in the process of building. Started with a 320 gallon used propane tank. I originally wanted a 250 gallon given its shorter length but could not find one to purchase. The diameters of the two were very similar, thus ground pressures would have been fairly similar. I thought the 500 gallons may be a bit much, also seeings that my FEL probably would not even lift an empty 500 gallon cylinder to load onto a trailer (should it need to be moved in the future, pulling frame removed).

I started by initially filling the cylinder with water letting it run until clear, dumping, filling again, dumping filling part way & adding a few gallons of industrial de-greaser and pushing around the field with de-greaser in it. I then filled the rest of the way and dumped it out. After this, i plumbed a 1-1/4" shop vac hose hooked into a leaf blower and flushed fresh air through the tank for a few hours and while welding/grinding (to settle my nerves of keeping the LEL/UEL of the propane out of explosive range).

Anyhow... Pictures...

 

[goldenwings]

More Pictures

 

[upthecreek]

no safety police here. to each his own. thought about this same project but using an air compressor tank. what did you use for the "spindle"? keep us updated.

 

[goldenwings]

no safety police here. to each his own. thought about this same project but using an air compressor tank. what did you use for the "spindle"? keep us updated.

For the spindles plural I used 5" sections of 2" solid round bar welded onto the centers of the ends. Well as close as I could get to center using a flexible tape measure in about 6 or 8 spots acrosss the dome portion. I used 7018 rod so hopefully these hold up under load, I guess I will find out soon enough. The frame when bolted on will allow the tank to roll by hand so it doesn't bind enough to matter from what I can tell. I guess that means my measuring was fairly accurate?

 

[wrangler6831]

Where you from? I just happened to drive by one of these very similar to yours on Sunday up at Lubeck, WV. Nice design.

 

[goldenwings]

Where you from? I just happened to drive by one of these very similar to yours on Sunday up at Lubeck, WV. Nice design.

Wasn't me im located in the upstate region of ny. Guess I need to update my profile. Thanks for the compliment though.

 

[SandburRanch]

Nice job.

I know a farmer that got his wheat ground moldboard plowed late because of weather conditions so there was know way with unpredictable rain it would ever be ready to plant any time soon using the traditional farming methods. He did just what you did and rolled a quarter section. Best wheat crop he ever had on that ground.