LandPlane,, My DIY

[CADplans]

I was watching too many YouTube videos during the hot weather,
and I ran across a video of a LandPlane,,
THEN, I got to reading the DIY's of LandPlanes on TBN,

OK,, I am hooked, I gotta HAVE one!!

If I didn't have the material, I would run out and buy one,,,
but,, I happen to have all the material setting in a field.

Right now, I am predicting my out of pocket costs to be some gasoline for the welder.

I was gonna build one 6 feet long, and 8 feet wide,,, but,,,
if something happens to my current tractor, I would probably replace it with the next size smaller.

So, I have changed my plan to be a 5 feet long,, 7 feet wide one.

Today, I spent some time "tuning" my 9x16 saw,,,
then I "guessed" what material to use, and started selecting it from my stockpile.

My drill press does great up to 7/8" and struggles with 1" and beyond (small inverter), so I will make it CAT I.

The sides will be 1/2" X 12",, other than that,,,, Hmmmmmm,,,

Any and all recommendations of what to include in the design would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[seaneastok]

Nice press..I have been looking for a Clausing found a few but were all 460 three phase..(no wonder they were so cheap) Have fun!!
and keep the pictures coming. Land plane will probably be my next build myself..:thumbsup:
Sean

 

[roadhunter]

Sounds like a great project. Can't wait to see it.

 

[Fallon]

What are you going to pull it with? From what I hear a 8' wide one will have to be noticeably over 1k lbs to dig in properly. Combine that with the length & you might be pushing Cat1 specs a bit.

Are you looking at smoothing or leveling? The longer it is the better it will level (same reason road graders are so long).

Subscribing. I've been slowly acquiring parts to build my own at some point. Have a few grader blades so far. Selling the L3200 here soon & getting a cabbed machine, so likely looking at a 6' one for my future machine rather than my current 5' track.

 

[CADplans]

What are you going to pull it with? From what I hear a 8' wide one will have to be noticeably over 1k lbs to dig in properly. Combine that with the length & you might be pushing Cat1 specs a bit.

Are you looking at smoothing or leveling? The longer it is the better it will level (same reason road graders are so long).

Subscribing. I've been slowly acquiring parts to build my own at some point. Have a few grader blades so far. Selling the L3200 here soon & getting a cabbed machine, so likely looking at a 6' one for my future machine rather than my current 5' track.

I think I got the "pull" end of the LP covered,,, (pic with old tires)

I even JUST put new tires on the back, I replaced the fronts a couple years ago,,, (pic with all new tires)

The minimal use of the LP will be to smooth some "speed bumps" in my SIL's lawn,,
The major use will be to maintain my 1/4 mile driveway,,, which also has "speed bumps".

A rear scraper blade, box blade, landscape rake with wheels, nor the loader
have ever been great at making the driveway perfect.

 

[CADplans]

Today, after moving some more material,,
I decided to cut the 1/2" X 12" X 120" steel bar in half.
The steel bar will become the 2 sides of the LP.
The steel weighs 20 pounds per foot, so I would have to use the loader to move the bar into the saw.

The bar could be torch cut, but, my 20+ year old saw would make a nicer cut.
After spending 30 minutes getting the bar positioned in the saw,,,
the actual cut took just over 60 seconds.

Success,,, :thumbsup:

I have about 7 parts ready,,, this is taking time,
because part of what I am doing is moving a rack, and some of the steel into the shed.

I could get a little more done each day,,, if it wasn't 90+ degrees outside,,, :confused2:

 

[Handloader109]

Nice press..I have been looking for a Clausing found a few but were all 460 three phase..(no wonder they were so cheap) Have fun!!
and keep the pictures coming. Land plane will probably be my next build myself..:thumbsup:
Sean

Get a cheap (about a hundred $ or less used) VFD to power a 3ph motor from single phase power.....
Sorry hijack

 

[CCWKen]

If I didn't have the material, I would run out and buy one,,,
but,, I happen to have all the material setting in a field.

Right now, I am predicting my out of pocket costs to be some gasoline for the welder.

I don't care how well you fertilized, I know that iron didn't grow in the field.

I need one too! But all I have for starter stock is a 10' length of 10" I-beam and some driller's pipe so mine will be 5' long and probably 6' wide. I'll need to open the dead cow and spring for some 3" angle and hitch material.

 

[CADplans]

I don't care how well you fertilized, I know that iron didn't grow in the field.

I need one too! But all I have for starter stock is a 10' length of 10" I-beam and some driller's pipe so mine will be 5' long and probably 6' wide. I'll need to open the dead cow and spring for some 3" angle and hitch material.

A business was closing,, I was there at the right time,,,
I would guess I hauled 10K pounds of steel, the saw, the drill,,, PLUS more..
Timing is everything!! :confused2:

"I'll need to open the dead cow and spring for some 3" angle and hitch material,,,"

AND at least two grader blades??

I have one grader blade, I am gonna "shop" early next week for another,,
if I can not get a second, I will use a piece of 1/2" X 6" for the second grader blade.

 

[jwmorris]

I built one not too long ago but after adding up the price of blades and rippers I decided to just use an extra box blade I picked up from Craigslist because it was so cheap and used it as a parts donor.

It turned out narrower than I thought I might want at first but if you want a crown in your road, you only want it half as wide as your road. So the skid is riding in the center. If your blade is at the center you will have a flat road with no drainage. At that point I suppose you will have a lot more hours of use from it though, as it washes out with every rain.

 

[CADplans]

I did some cutting today,,, but, I cheated!!
Rather than making the first cut first, I made the last cut first.
I needed eight parts 9" long, so I made the first cut at (8x9=72) 72".
Then I cut that piece in half. then both parts were cut in half,,, etc,,,

The saw will cut through four 3/4" thick parts just about as fast as one.

Then, I needed to make eight parts out of 1/2" thick, so I repeated the process,,,

This saw sure makes steel projects FUN!! The chips are piling UP,,, :laughing:

Did anyone see my box of clamps??

 

[seaneastok]

Get a cheap (about a hundred $ or less used) VFD to power a 3ph motor from single phase power.....
Sorry hijack

Yeah the vfd is no problem..But by the time I add a transformer to step up my 220 single phase to 460 then add a VFD ..Not quite cost effective..:thumbsup:

 

[jwmorris]

Yeah the vfd is no problem..But by the time I add a transformer to step up my 220 single phase to 460 then add a VFD ..Not quite cost effective..:thumbsup:

You might look in to them, you don't need a step up transformer, they do that too.

You can run 240v 3 ph motors on a regular 110v outlet.

For 460 3ph you would connect it to 230v single ph.

https://www.automationdirect.com/static/specs/gs2drive.pdf

 

[CanDo]

Love this build! :thumbsup:
Thanks for sharing it with us. Can't wait to see pictures of the finished product put to use.

 

[CADplans]

Love this build! :thumbsup:
Thanks for sharing it with us. Can't wait to see pictures of the finished product put to use.

Thanks for the comment,,,
I found my clamps,,,:laughing:,, and did some welding,,,
The wife drug me out of the shop at 3:00 PM,, it was 90 degrees outside,,
I got one side pretty much fabbed,, maybe I will get the other done tomorrow.

I timed this project for September, because it is usually cooler,,
not so cool in 2016,, the heat has really slowed me down.

I used some Forney 6011 rod today, it is amazing, compared to the 6011 I used in the 1970's,,,
The 6011 ran a lot like MIG welding,, even the "sizzle" sounded identical.

I will mostly cover the 6011 with 7018.

Maybe more pics tomorrow??

 

[parvodog]

Following you build!
It's part of my research to eventually build my own.
You know, right after I do the other 43 projects on my list...

Tim

 

[CADplans]

Well, I got up early today (a rarity for a retired guy!! ) and went shopping at the local CAT graveyard.

What do you know,,, there were four 7 foot grader blades setting in the graveyard.
Two were 3/4" thick, two were 5/8" thick,,, oh well,, not Identical, but close enough.

These blades are through hardened, and made out of a material CAT calls DH-2.
Since they were setting out, rusting in the graveyard,,, I got them for a song!!

Then, I had to go back to the new parts counter,, and get the matching bolts.
These blades are held on by some BIG bolts,,,,

I guess motor grader blades will work better than a big piece of A36 steel bar,,,

 

[dragoneggs]

Nice find. If you don't mind... How much was the song?

 

[rswyan]

Judging by the condition of the paint, they look new ...

In any even, nice score :thumbsup:

 

[Fallon]

I've got a similar 7' grader blade in my pile, along with several shorter ones. Maybe 20' of blade in total for under $70 via a few auctions.

The grader blades seem a bit tall for a LPGS build & I was thinking about cutting mine in half or something. May just lay em way back so they aren't as tall for material to flow over.