Building A Rock Bucket

[burtrl]

Over the winter I am planning on building a rock bucket for my FEL. I have designed it so that the bulk of the components will be laser cut. If any of you might be interested, I could have parts for additional buckets cut, bringing overall cost down.

I have attached a rendering of my design. Bucket is designed for skid steer style quick attach. Tines will be on 3" centers. My design is for a 72" bucket, but any width can be easily accomidated.

Let me know if you have any interest.

 

[Renze]

The retired (and coming back for hobby) welder at work, threw me a torched out bottom of a worn loader bucket in the corner.
He rebuilt it with a new blade, teeth and barred lower end, as the old bottom was worn down to 1/4 of the original thickness.
Having a 3/4 inch blade and half inch bars, cut out like a giant haircomb, would make a dirt cheap and perfect base for a frontloader rock bucket. The material is worn down evenly and has enough strength to stay apiece with my 4 ton tractor pushing, but is light enough to utilise the 1200kg lifting force of the loader..


Having things laser cut saves a lot of hassle, because of the accuracy: Just remember that every single blast through, to begin a hole, costs as much as about a foot of straight cutting. To save costs, reduce the amount of holes and cut as much as possible in a continuous contour.

 

[have_blue]

I have attached a rendering of my design. Bucket is designed for skid steer style quick attach. Tines will be on 3" centers. My design is for a 72" bucket, but any width can be easily accomidated.

Let me know if you have any interest.

It's a beauty!

Keep in mind that multiple leaves are inherently prone to twisting forces. The rods holding all the leaves together are great for alignment, but have no resistance to twisting. It will be necessary to have plate stock at 3 points on the loader to prevent twisting. I'm guessing some plate stock is in the design, but hidden.

Fascinating project! Good luck, and take plenty of pictures!

 

[jinman]

I have attached a rendering of my design. Bucket is designed for skid steer style quick attach. Tines will be on 3" centers. My design is for a 72" bucket, but any width can be easily accomidated.

Let me know if you have any interest.

Have you calculated how much that bucket will weigh? The reason I ask is that I also have a TC45D and my S-Houle rock bucket is quite heavy. It's only 5' wide and I would not want more. The bucket weighs about 600 lb with the quick attach adapters. With my grapple added, it's about 750 lb. That only leaves about 1000 lb for rocks. I find the 5' bucket to be sized just perfectly for my uses. I would not want a 6' bucket.

Here's a link to the S-Houle site. They have some delicious looking stuff. My bucket was $1595 on sale as a demo from my NH dealer. I know there are similar buckets from other manufacturers for less. Just know what you are building and make sure it will not overload that TC45D.

S-Houle Rock Buckets

BTW: I love your design. I particularly like the webbing you have designed between the tines, but bear in mind that the more you put between the tines, the more problem you will have getting dirt to clean out of the rocks. I shake my loader pretty violently to clear the dirt even when it is dry. Getting rocks only is the goal of the bucket. You want the dirt to drop out and clear. Everything is a tradeoff.

 

[burtrl]

Thanks for the feedback. Here's a rear view of the bucket.

Jinman, I haven't calculated the exact weight since finishing the design, but initial calculations were around 600lb. Your point is well taken regarding the weight issue. I will definitely consider limiting width to 5'. The openings in the bottom of the bucket will be approx 2 11/16" x 5-6". Based on a wire mesh screen, with 2 x 4 spacing, that I've been using to screen topsoil, I think the bucket spacing will be ok. I will probably only tack the 1/2" rods in a couple of places until I try the bucket out. That way if the rods cause too much restriction, I can easily cut them out.

 

[jinman]

Thanks for the feedback. Here's a rear view of the bucket.

That's a nice looking bucket. What I would do is look for any place to reduce the amount of metal where stress will not be high. You might even remove some metal from the solid skid steer plates. If you save a few pounds here and there it will add up. Of course, I recommend adding a small grapple. The functionality of your bucket will be increased by a factor of 5 or more if you do that.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

Let me know if you have any interest.

If shipping to Maine werent an issue, I'd say count me in for at least 1 bucket's worth of parts....if price were right (incl shipping), maybe even 2 sets of parts.....

 

[joes_427_vette]

Keep us in the loop as far as costs for cutting and material. Doesn't Vermeer ( or something like that ) have a similar design ? Seen a couple at area dealers, 6' model about $1200.00 I think my TC 55 would handle the 6 foot bucket.

 

[burtrl]

There are several on the market with similar designs. Up here they go for upwards of $2000. I will post pricing when I get the cutting quoted, probably in the next couple of weeks.

 

[2manyrocks]

Does it damage the tractor hydraulics or the cylinders when you really shake a bucket to get material out of it?

 

[jinman]

Does it damage the tractor hydraulics or the cylinders when you really shake a bucket to get material out of it?

That's a very good question because shaking is just part of using a rock bucket. I have seen no damage to my loader or hydraulic cylinders other than wear in the pivot point bushings. The wear must be normal because I lube my loader like crazy and you can tell by the old grease oozing out at every joint.
I try to be sure and not bottom out my cylinders when I'm shaking the bucket. Sometimes it works best to just tap the bucket on the ground or roll the rocks to the back of the bucket and then forward to the ridge built into the bucket. Sometimes, you just get some dirt with the rocks and you have to live with it. It's not a perfect system, but I have seen absolutely no external oil leaks in my cylinders.

 

[2manyrocks]

Thanks. I have raked more than my fair share of rocks up here. 2manyrocks

 

[Arkaybee]

That's a nice looking bucket. What I would do is look for any place to reduce the amount of metal where stress will not be high. You might even remove some metal from the solid skid steer plates. If you save a few pounds here and there it will add up.

Maybe consider the possibility of making the rear vertical portions of the tines/fingers of lighter weight metal. It seems the stress there is much less than the ground-contacting parts. Just thinking of ways to reduce weight.

Every step in His presence.
Arkaybee

 

[john_bud]

So, are you making a dxf file of the individual parts so that a shop can cut it out with a water jet, plasma, flame etc?

And if so, would you care to share that file with us lesser mortals?

(I hope!)

jb

 

[Philscbx]

Does it damage the tractor hydraulics or the cylinders when you really shake a bucket to get material out of it?

Not at all, same thing is done to moving snow. A quick rattle of bucket confirms it's empty.

It will also indicate sloppy pins that needed grease.

 

[burtrl]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all of your input! I have modified my design to lighten it up... it was a little on the heavy side. New specs are:

3/8" Steel tines spaced on 3 3/4" centers (3 3/8" clearance between tines
1/2" rods (optional) on ~4" centers
Overall width ~ 68"
Weight 604 lbs
Webbing between tines is now 1 solid pc, making it easier to cut & assemble.

Here's a couple of renderings as well.

The best price I could get up here for laser cutting would run around US$1000, including steel plate. For me this is a good deal since a bucket like this is over $2000 up here. I suspect that you guys would probably be able to get the cutting done in the US for much less. Anyhow, if anyone is interested to have parts cut, let me know. I could also just provide the plans & .DXF files for a very modest fee.

 

[joes_427_vette]

[,


I could also just provide the plans & .DXF files for a very modest fee.[/QUOTE]

Maybe things are more expensive in your part of the world but I saw a 6' Vermeer rock bucket at a local dealer and I was quoted 1200 dollars for it . I believe they had one come back. the buyer felt the tines were too close and the dirt would not fall through properly.

Taking a advertised machine design.... writing it to a computer file .... and charging a modest fee. Times are tough, but not that bad................. yet !

 

[Pulse]

sent you a pm burtrl

 

[WranglerX]

For the little guy with sub or just compact tractor and small plot of land a grizzly may be more practical...

Dale