Building boom sprayer w/foam marker

[PineRidge]

OK I freely admit it I'm my own worst critic. And as such I didn't like the idea of the removable boom tips for the foam delivery, nor did I like the way the placement of 7 TeeJet nozzles was coming out on the boom. I want the nozzle spacing to be 20 inches apart. I figure to be spraying with the boom 17-19 inches off the ground with the XR-80 degree nozzles that I'll be using.

So last night I had a Mike's Hard Lemonade (what else) and sat in a folding chair staring at the boom and just thought, and thought, and just when all kinds of complicated ideas were running through my mind as a fix the easiest and most logical solution hit me. (could have been the Mike's too)

So I got out the Sawzall and cut the boom right in the middle, and added 12 more inches of 1 X 1 square pipe solving both of my former problems. The modification added the width of the center boom section 12 inches giving me needed leeway.

Now the placement of the 7 nozzles works out very well and the replaceable boom tips won't be needed at all to distribute the foam. (more on that later.)

 

[rswyan]

Yup ...... like I was saying ..... waay too much time on your hands.

(BTW I had to go down to TSC in Massillon last night - their selection on sprayer stuff and fittings and so forth seems way better than Canton ..... just in case )

 

[PineRidge]

Here's the now widened boom with the new tips that I made up from 3/4 inch copper fittings. The foam tubes will connect to these tips.

Since the center section of the boom is now wider you can see when it's collapsed that there's plenty of room for the tips to clear without my having to remove them.

I also added a 19 inch chain on the end of each boom tip. I can put the tractor on a flat surface and level the boom from side to side using the chains. I then lift the boom travel to the spray area and lower the boom until one of the two chains just touches the ground. At that point it's at the perfect spray height.

BTW: Thanks Rswyan, I have been to the TSC in Canton and last night to the TSC in Wooster and I still need hose. Maybe I'll hit the Massillon store tonight since the wife wants to go out to Smiley's in Massillon anyway for dinner and a movie.

 

[7864]

Started building mine friday.80'' center boom with 80"ends.I`m going to use your hinge design and possibly spring mechanism too.Thanks for the help.Especially the photos. PS. making mine that size because I will be using it in some AG fields(about 10acres)as well as some food plots and the tractors I have access to are 76" to 92" wide.Thanks again.

 

[PineRidge]

Glad to help if you need any close-ups of the hinges just shout.

 

[7864]

thanks,yeah a closeup of the spring mechanism would be helpful, thanks again.

 

[PineRidge]

See if this helps.

 

[7864]

Thanks for the photos.I`m going to use a mill (at work)tommoro to acurately machine my hinges before I weld them on.Then I am going to make tabs (instead of buying boom clamps)for the nozzles and weld them on at the booms at the proper spacing.

 

[PineRidge]

Thanks for the photos.I`m going to use a mill (at work)tommoro to acurately machine my hinges before I weld them on.Then I am going to make tabs (instead of buying boom clamps)for the nozzles and weld them on at the booms at the proper spacing.

You're welcome!


Both very good ideas.

 

[PineRidge]

High here today of 96 degrees but still had a chance to finish the sprayer part of this project.

The first picture shows the boom working with the tractor engine at 1600 RPM and with the regulator set at 60 psi. I'm very happy with the pattern and overlap on the nozzles.

The second picture shows the coverage of the spray pattern as I traveled across our concrete apron. The pattern width is 12' at a nozzle height of 19" off the deck, As you can see the nozzles have a good overlap and it throws down a very consistent spray pattern overall.

Third picture shows how we used cam & groove connectors on the Hypro pump. I put a male connector on the intake and a female connector of the discharge side of the pump so they couldn't be accidentally connected wrong should I be hungover from the night before.

When the sprayer lines are pulled from the Hypro pump they can be looped together keeping the system clean. Notice the shower curtain hook that is used to hang the hose keeping it off the ground when the sprayer is not in use.

Once the Hypro pump has been flushed and removed from the tractor I add a 50/50 mix of anti-freeze and then put a cam & groove cap & plug on the connectors to hold in the anti-freeze and keep debris out of the pump. The pump chain suspends the pump on the spray carry-all to keep it handy for the next use.

The last picture is of the manifold that we fabricated. The lower valve controls the boom, the valve on the right controls the hand wand sprayer, and the T-handle on the regulator sets the system pressure and keeps it steady.

Now that the sprayer part of this project is finished I can devote my time to finishing the foam marker portion of the project. I am awaiting a switch from Carlton Switch and a trailer electrical connector from etrailer. Once the parts arrive I can get moving once again.

The air compressor that I had laying around had a meltdown on the 1st day that I was testing it. I looked around to see what else I could use as an air supply and came up with an old nitrogen bottle and regulator set that I used in the HVAC trade. I'm going to see if I can't incorporate it in the foam marker, we'll see.