Need advice on building roller

[Ruark]

A lot of people use Dawn dish washing soap. Maybe PM Mark at Everlast he does this all the time.:thumbsup:

Mark at Everlast? You lost me there.....

 

[LD1]

He is a member here on the board. He sells everlast welders and is in the welding forum frequently:thumbsup:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/members/mark-everlast.html

 

[Ruark]

Here are some pics. First pic shows the tank in back of my truck, well tied down. Second pic has the tractor holding it, payoff from the bucket hooks I welded on a couple of months ago. The third pic shows the threaded holes I was telling you about. For scale, the smallest one has about a 1" opening.

At first, I was agreeing with you that I could just screw in some plugs; it wouldn't matter for just rolling a pasture anyway. But that won't work. The roller needs to have a "scraper bar" going across the front of it, to scrape off mud and stuff that sticks to it while rolling. That won't work if those plugs are sticking out. That biggest one, on the left, sticks out almost an inch, and its walls are about 3/4" thick. I'm not sure how I'm going to get those things off, AND have some kind of pluggable opening for filling/draining water.

Any advice, comments, etc. would be welcome. Do you think I could grind those blasted things off with an angle grinder?

 

[Shield Arc]

It will take several zip discs but you can cut them off with your grinder. All the rollers I've seen have a NPT coupling welding in the end, almost at the top. Rotate the tank / roller where the coupling is on top to fill. Roll the tank / roller where the coupling is on the bottom to drain.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

That tank holds a lot of water; so, you need a good sized drain and vent. I would get a 2" steel pipe coupling, cut two holes a little larger than the outside diameter in the tank end at top and bottom opposite each other and weld in place. Use pipe plugs in the couplings. Will drain and fill fast. If you do not have a torch you can drill a 1/2" hole and use a sawzall to enlarge the hole. Grind off those top fittings and plug with pieces cut from plate with a hole saw, weld flush and smooth out with a grinder, scraper bar will then work.

Ron

 

[Tractor Seabee]

PS: Keep doing these type fabs and you will soon see the value of having a cutting torch. For this project I might even use a torch to weld rather than set up to arc weld. Using O/A, it is a one pass job with no leaks.

As I originally recommended I would use a pipe through the center with a short piece of shafting welded in each end for the axel. You could leave about 4" of the pipe out each end and weld some gussets to spread out the load on the tank ends when that water starts sloshing around. Leave some air space in top of the tank so when it sets out in the sun it doesn't split open from the expanded hydraulic pressure. It is amazing how much water expands when heated. Welds that didn't leak when first filling at 0 psi all of a sudden show up when the water heats up. Filling with water to drive out the gas will work, the steel tank is impervious to the gas but not the smell, just because the tank still smells does not mean the gas is not out.

Ron

 

[Ruark]

Seabee - that's a good point on the water expanding. In any case, it obviously wouldn't hurt to loosen the filling cap a little after using it.

If I'm using a hole saw to make 1 1/2" holes for an axle, I can use that same hole saw to make a hole for a 1 1/2" NPT fitting. It might not fit perfectly on that curve, but I should be able to fill in the gap with a high-deposition rod like 7014.

An alternative is to leave one fitting in place and grind down the others. Then cut a notch in the scraper bar so the fitting will pass through the notch when it rolls around. That might be simpler (and cheaper) than the NPT fitting route.

 

[brokenknee]

This looks like a project I would like try to build also. My question is how do you measure to the center on the ends of the tank that are rounded like a propane tank is?

 

[moored4]

This looks like a project I would like try to build also. My question is how do you measure to the center on the ends of the tank that are rounded like a propane tank is?

Several ways but i would use a large framing square.

 

[brokenknee]

Several ways but i would use a large framing square.

Not sure how I would use a framing square on a round end.