Bring on the weeds "Homemade Sprayer"

[powershop]

Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

Always needed a sprayer to do the fence row and spot spraying.Got tired of walking with the backpack sprayer, so here is what I came up with. Found a RV water pump at a yard sale for ten bucks and the rest of the stuff I had. Then so I could spray from the seat I made a scabard for the wand from a peice of electrical plastic conduit. Whole unit hangs on the quick hitch and to keep the bottom from digging into the ground as the mower deck lowers,I removed the lift arms and made shorter ones to pin the three point to the frame so it doesn't move with the deck. Works great

 

[powershop]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

Second picture of wand and check out the chain box!!

 

[Bird]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

Nice looking arrangement.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

Nice arrangement. I am in the process of designing and building a dual tank spray rig and I never thought of building a holster for the spray gun/spray wand. For my sprayer rig I am using a gun sprayer instead of the wand sprayer you used, but the arrangment you came up with is great, it puts the spray control right where you can reach it using while driving the tractor looks like it would be a piece of cake.

Nice job . . . and thanks for the idea!

 

[mathey]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

ah! I see you used the "hi-tech calibration method" like I did...you'd think they'd mold that stuff into the plastic...go figure...

 

[SPIKER]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

well that looks awfull! awfull good that is!! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif lol. I've already got my PUMP and the water tank (both out of the same RV)
I have a couple few questions.

what are you using for the pump switch? toggel or foot mounted

do you turn it on and let it run or only when you need to spray?

does it have built in pressure regulation of some type or do you let it dead head aginst the spray wand? and just squeeze the trigger after the pump is switched on? (I didn't see any wires attached to the wand which I was going to do.)

ok I think that is pretty good for now. probably revive the post and ask more questions later just to be safe when I'm buiilding.

mark M /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[powershop]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

Power is from a toggle switch in the dash. On the pickup side of the tank is a diptube that goes to the bottom of the tank.And if you look on the out side of the pump there is a tee and a small ball valve on a return line. I just set the valve for the best pressure and let it recycle the water (roundup)and spray as needed, but do not let it run for long periods.
The pump has a built in on demand switch but it surges and the spray is not consistent.

 

[chucko]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

Was there a reasion you did not use a pto pump? I am thinking of building (or buying) a boom type one and can't decide what type pump I want

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

Chucko, I can give you a reason not to use a PTO pump. Cost. For a small spray rig, like this unit, and like the one LAGEORGE built, as well as the unit I am building, the 12 volt pumps simply cost less yet seem to provide the necessary amounts of pressure to do the jobs.

Also, once your tank is pressurized you want the pump to shut down, I simply don't know how to do that automatically with a PTO pump. As you spray, you want the pump to cycle on, and off, to keep the pressure up so you don't have erratic pressures and so you have consistent flow volumes.

For a larger application, I would suggest tanks over 35(?) gallons, then it might be much more reasonable to consider PTO pumps. But for tanks that typically run 15 to 25 gallons, I just don't know that a PTO pump is reasonable?

 

[chucko]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

so in my case I am going for a 40 - 50 gl tank so I should use a pto pump?

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

SHOULD you or COULD you?

You probably could, but I have no idea if you should.

You need to think through your plumbing and pressure. If you are going to leave the PTO pump running then you have to make sure you don't overpressurize the tank or will you use the PTO pump to draw fluid out of an unpressurized tank and simply spray with pump pressure? If so then will you add a tank agitator to keep your chemicals mixes or allow them to settle and manually mix them periodically?


The same questions need to be asked no matter what type of pump you use, but I think a PTO pump may be a bit more problematical in some respects, especially with a small system.


So here is my question, why not just buy a 3pt spray rig that is already built? I know they have 3pt rigs of that size available.


In my case I don't have the need of a rig of that size, and I want DUAL tanks, so I can have an "organic only" tank for the veggies and I can have a "chemical" tank for spraying the ditch line, etc. I ended up buying 2 ATV tree sprayer rigs, and I will be making a custom 3pt carry mount so both rigs will be carried on the hitch. The more I looked into the plumbing & pressure issues the more I realized I did NOT know about how to properly design a system, so I simply bought the components and will modify them to suit my needs. My pumps are a little higher capacity, but still basically standard pumps, the sprayers are spray guns that are supposed to, when used with the pumps I got, spray up to 35', and are not the typical "wand type" sprayers that are often seen (nothing wrong with a wand sprayer, it is just not what I wanted -- we each have different needs).

I am hoping to have my rig done by late April (won't get started on it until after Easter because of work schedule & a week vacation).

 

[rockinmywaypa]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

the size of the tank has nothing to do with pump size. pump size is based on flow rate. if you have a handheld wand you don't have a very high flow rate so you can easily get by with these pumps. if you put a multiple nozzle boom on the back with large orifices in the nozzles you would need a high flow pump like the pto pump.don't forget about keeping the solution mixed. you cannot rely on the sloshing in the tank because it may not be sloshing when you need it to. tank size is based on how many acres or sq.ft you want to do at a go. I have seen sprayers in the old days that had a small propellor built into the tank, seals leaked terribly. the usual way is to have a large enough pump coupled to a release valve that adjusts and holds the pressure at a constant and the rest jets back into the tank to keep mixing.I hope I helped it's been 20 years since I was in the business.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

I didn't mean to say that you need a PTO pump for a large tank and not for a small one, I was trying to explain that based on the cost of the PTO pump, it didn't make sense to pay for a PTO pump with a smaller tank under most circumstances. Sorry if I was not clear.

 

[rockinmywaypa]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

I agree with you, I always hope that I'am not misunderstood because sometimes what's inside the head that seems clear doesn't always make it out the ends of the fingers.lol

 

[BeeFarmer]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

I've never thought about this.. pressure issue turning off the pump. I have three units right now 2- 15 gallon tanks and a 25 gallon tank. I am looking at moving up to a 60 gallon tank that runs off of a PTO pump. So what exactly happens when the pto pump is running and you don't squees the sprayer wand? What happens to the pressure. Does it just recycle through the tank?

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

That totally depends on the design of your system.

 

[powershop]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

Chucko, Bob hit the reason on the head! A 12 volt pump for $10.00 plus I can use it on other equipment if needed,4 wheeler,golf cart, small mower etc. I will only use about 15 gals of roundup all year so I don't need a big pump for spot spraying. So for me this worked, a good sprayer setup and I have under $50.00 in the whole thing.

 

[powershop]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

Chucko; 50 gal of water,tank,pump.hose,brackets!! Watch your weight on a BX 1800

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

Chucko. . . conservatively figured a 50 gallon spray rig will weigh 425 pounds for the liquid, another 100 pounds for the frame, pump, etc. for a conservative 525# and 550# or more would not be a surprise. I'd bet that you lift the front end of your tractor off the ground if you have a BX.

 

[sl3uth]

Re: Bring on the weeds \"Homemade Sprayer\"

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( once your tank is pressurized you want the pump to shut down)</font>

This is a different scheme than I have seen before. From the way I have my pump (Harbor freight 15 gal with wand), the tank is not pressurized. The hose between the pump and the wand is pressurized. I would think it would be this way in an RV as well...you would want your pipe pressurized and not the tank.

So, the way my pump works, it shuts off when there's enough pressure in the hose. When I release the pressure by openning the valve on the wand, it begins pumping. This works great for me.

The other reason I can think of for not pressurizing the tank is that the tank then needs to be airtight. Mine is ventilated to allow fumes/pressure to release in the heat...and to prevent a vacuum from building.

Sam