Mostly scrap built (but still awesome) land plane

[MikesTractor]

Our local County Public Works Department uses double edge blades on their graders. They almost never turn them over when the first side wears out. They just replace them. The ones they remove still have 1 good edge. They will give the old blades away if you ask for them. I have several in my "scrap" pile.

You might check with your local public works. They may do the same.

Mike

 

[NS Gearhead]

Would just a plain old snow plow wear bar work?

 

[paulharvey]

Our local County Public Works Department uses double edge blades on their graders. They almost never turn them over when the first side wears out. They just replace them. The ones they remove still have 1 good edge. They will give the old blades away if you ask for them. I have several in my "scrap" pile.

You might check with your local public works. They may do the same.

Mike

It sounds wasteful, but here's why. When you clip shoulders, you rub the asphalt road with part of the cutting edge, wearing a crown in the edge, it also heats the cutting edge, which doesn't warp because it's got ~20 plow head bolts holding it. When you unbolt it, it goes to more of its natural warped state, and is very difficult to flip and rebolt the whole 14 foot edge. If you get one, and cut or break it into a 48" piece for your use, much easier then bolting up the entire 14 ft piece.

When I work for the county they absolutely would not give away anything like that. To the point that if they caught someone taking it out of the dumpster they were supposed to report it. They replaced 4 of my tires on a truck and two of them were at least 40 percent tread I asked if I could buy them and they said that even if they cut them in half they couldn't give them to me and if they caught me getting them out of the dumpster I would be fired

 

[CNC Dan]

Would just a plain old snow plow wear bar work?

Yes, yes it will. That's what I used on my pull behind grader that I built.

 

[Sodo]

Nice work. Good job grinding the welds off, reduces the chatter.

WRT the wear edge, I would drag it around and depending how fast it wears (in your usage) evaluate which is more efficient:

1) Gather up the hardfacing eqpt or edges and go that route
2) Flip it over and simply add a bead with the MIG

If #2 becomes troublesome you have plenty options as the guys above offered

 

[M E Race]

I currently work for our district road commission. We use a JD670 road grader with 12 ft blade. It uses 2 6 ft blades which we have to change out normally after two days use on limestone roads. The blades can't be turned over because the bolt holes are off set to the top edge. The top edge has the same bevel as the bottom so I take them and trim the worn edge straight to make tools for my small Yanmar. New blades are not light when you are bent over under the machine. But we do it so often we can change a full set in about ten min. After you wear off about 3 inches the used ones get a lot lighter.

 

[ovrszd]

It sounds wasteful, but here's why. When you clip shoulders, you rub the asphalt road with part of the cutting edge, wearing a crown in the edge, it also heats the cutting edge, which doesn't warp because it's got ~20 plow head bolts holding it. When you unbolt it, it goes to more of its natural warped state, and is very difficult to flip and rebolt the whole 14 foot edge. If you get one, and cut or break it into a 48" piece for your use, much easier then bolting up the entire 14 ft piece.

Hmmmm,,, I've never heard of that. I've ran a grader for 25 years and have flipped cutting edges hundreds of times. Never had that problem. :confused3:

 

[ovrszd]

I currently work for our district road commission. We use a JD670 road grader with 12 ft blade. It uses 2 6 ft blades which we have to change out normally after two days use on limestone roads. The blades can't be turned over because the bolt holes are off set to the top edge. The top edge has the same bevel as the bottom so I take them and trim the worn edge straight to make tools for my small Yanmar. New blades are not light when you are bent over under the machine. But we do it so often we can change a full set in about ten min. After you wear off about 3 inches the used ones get a lot lighter.

Yep, I rotate or flip my blades very often in the Summer when roads are hard. If you put the blade into the bank position and set it with the front edge up along the right side of the machine you can rotate them standing up with the bolts about waist high. Makes it much easier. My moldboard is 14ft with two 7ft blades. I use 8"x15/16". They are very heavy. Our current machine (JD770G) ran 550 hrs before I had to replace the cutters.

Sorry for the hijack. Us Grader guys tend to wander......

 

[paulharvey]

Hmmmm,,, I've never heard of that. I've ran a grader for 25 years and have flipped cutting edges hundreds of times. Never had that problem. :confused3:

I know taking them off they where warped. They typically had heavy bluing from heat. Could have been cheap cutting edges?

 

[ovrszd]

I know taking them off they where warped. They typically had heavy bluing from heat. Could have been cheap cutting edges?

Oh I'm not doubting you,,, just never had that problem. Learn something every day.