building a wood post driver tractor mounted page 2

   / building a wood post driver tractor mounted page 2
  • Thread Starter
#11  
I was concerned about the drop speed as well, but did not have any problems with the drop speed, I am using a single acting cylinder.
 
   / building a wood post driver tractor mounted page 2 #12  
Very nice, I have a few questions

I understand you have a mast with another tube inside of this mast to extend the lenght, is your cylinder mounted indite the mast pushing the inner tube

Number 2 your weight is attached to a cable, and this is what I cannot picture, when you extend the mast I assume you are ony extending by the lenght of the cylinder, so if your cylinder is 60 inch long the mast only extemd by 60 inch, how dow the weight cable go up, the way I see it the weight will only go up 60 inch


If your post is 10 feet long and you want to berry 4 feet how does the 10 foot post fit under the weight if you are extending
only 60 inch, and then if I would like to berry it deeper how does it go lower than the cylinder

Just wanted to say it looks very good, if mine looks half as good as yours I wil be happy,
 
   / building a wood post driver tractor mounted page 2
  • Thread Starter
#13  
on a ten foot post one would not have full drop on the weight, but if I tried to put the 10 foot post under the driver with out the extension I would hardly get it under if at all with out the extension,

the "cable is a nylon rope to give some give if needed, one of the problems I see and know by other discussions is that they unless mounted on a loader a tall post is not easy to drive as the driver is not tall enough,

the only "problem" I have is if not paying attention one can shear off the stop at the bottom of the top mast one needs to lower it some and not let it hit bottom about 12" is min. IMO, because you may have a few hard hits with little movement and if there is some soft spot the next hit my drive it 12" down and if you do not have that much you will shear off the stop, (the stop is more for travel and to keep the follower on the mast. 4, 3/8" bolts.

the cylinder is inside the inside tube and pushes on a block welded in the out side tube, the cylinder had a welded ring that supports it, the first few pictures at the top show the mounting of the cylinder and the push block

first thread of the build is here, http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/289286-building-wood-post-driver-tractor.html
 
   / building a wood post driver tractor mounted page 2 #14  
No what I could not understand was the cable puller, But after looking and looking at your picture a light came on :) and correct me if I am wrong on your beam you have 2 "Pulleys" at the very top of the mass and from what I gather now, one of these pulleys is on a scissor, so this is how the weigh is brought up,

so you bring the mast to the correct height, with one cylinder. the one inside the mast, that's easy "telescopic" then you open the scissor, with another cylinder, and this pulls the cable and weight, and this is the cylinder that you release to drop the weight.

DCP_4928_zpsdfe48727.jpg

this triangular pivot is the way the cable is pulled, right? OK how do you stop the scissor from hitting - banging on the mast, did you simply adjust it so just before it its the mast it's at the end of the cylinder travel. cylinder bottoms out. and my next question How did you figure out how long to make the scissor so the cable would be pulled all the way up.

and it's just a nylon cable not a steel cable? thank you I to is the same as you" my normal design process, is to see what is out there, look at pictures and videos, see what features I think I need and what makes it work " I was not very good in school but If I see it I can build it, That's why I became an auto body technician.

One of the project I did last summer was to take and old 1970's 6 wheel dump truck that a buddy of mine had in his back yard, the truck was garbage but the rear box was decent,the guy gave it too me, he laugh when he heard my idea, now he said if I ever get rid of it he would be interested... I used the frame cut it behind the cab welded a hitch, installed a 10 hp gas motor on this hitch, with a hydraulic pump, and now voila I have a dump trailer to pull behind my tractor, I even left the rear axle on it, the cylinder was already in place.

Now if this snow can melt I will start working on this project. photo (1).jpg

Like I said once the snow melt's and that will not be until the start of May, that's a picture of my vehicle park on my concession road.

Thnx again for all the help.
 
   / building a wood post driver tractor mounted page 2
  • Thread Starter
#15  
Yes that is how he system works, the hydraulic cylinder, about 12" travel, the "A" arm is about 42" long and when extended it will double the pull on the nylon rope pulling up weight, the rope I used is a 1" diameter rope, I think a 3/4" rope would work fine as well.

actually I did not let the cylinders bottom out, I let the "A frame" hit a steel pad, first, and the cylinder is about 1/4" from bottoming out, normally the weight hits the post follower and the energy is dissipated and there is not a hard hit, as the pull is no longer the oil in the cylinder acts as some like a shock absorber, (yes there is some resistance in the cylinder) but the dropping of the weight will fall and drop very fast, it is hitting hard enough one wants ear protection and keep all body parts away,

I was going to do the same on a old truck but my son stole the box off of it for another project before I got to it,

yes I am looking forward to summer as well, we do not have the snow you have but I am enjoying the warmer weather were having now,
 
   / building a wood post driver tractor mounted page 2 #16  
Do have a video of the post pounder in action?
 
   / building a wood post driver tractor mounted page 2
  • Thread Starter
#17  
No I do not, If I get a video I will add it here,
 
   / building a wood post driver tractor mounted page 2 #18  
BHD,

I'm in the planning stages of possibly building a pounder. Did you ever add a side shift to it? If not, do you spend a lot of time jockeying the tractor around to get the post lined up?
 
   / building a wood post driver tractor mounted page 2
  • Thread Starter
#19  
No I do not have spent very much time lining things up, I can tilt it side to side and front to back, I usually put a flag in where I want the post, and can see it easily from the tractor, and usually do not have a problem and the drive plate is of fair size for line posts, and if needed I can usually move the post under the plate a little to get it where I want it,

yes a side shift could be nice, but mounting it on the side of the tractor could be nice as well so I would not have to back up to the fence and just along side and shift in and out,

I would most likely change the way the weight is lifted by just using a long cylinder and a pulley on top and not nessarly the knee type lever, I think it would have just been simpler,

when said and done there is few things I would change. it works well for me, and only wish I would have built 20 years sooner,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think about the only thing that could or would help at times a smaller tractor (in the 40 to 60 HP range, mine is in the 100 HP range) and cab less (and either reposition the controls so I could move things from the seat of the tractor in lining up things, and to reach the three point lowering from the seat,

I find it works better to lower the frame to the ground to pound the post in, and on my current tractor with the cab I can not reach the three point, and some times forget to lower and have to climb back in the cab to lower,
 
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   / building a wood post driver tractor mounted page 2 #20  
Thanks for the update. Sounds like overall its been working well for you. I appreciate you sharing the build!

I'm on the fence between a drop-weight design or a vibratory design like this. I'm in pure sand with no rocks anywhere. If I could go with a vibratory design on my skid steer then I wouldn't need to build any side shift or forward/back tilt. Only left/right tilt. I had a shaver HD-8 on my skid steer but it bounced around too much so I sold it. So then I was thinking a knocker on the 3-point on the tractor. But then it would require a ton more time to build versus a vibrator on the skid steer. I think the knocker would be the best at driving posts. Yet I watched videos of guys putting in 4" posts with a gas powered hand-held vibrator. So it appears the vibratory models work great too.
 

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