Drag grader project

[jenkinsph]

Ron, all good points, my blades are directly mounted to 1/2" x 8" wide flat bar mounted at 45 degrees with 3x3x3/8" angle iron braces. I am considering adding a tailgate on the rear to feather and smooth the dirt. Top hinged and made of 8"x1/2" flatbar mounted on piece of 2 7/8 pipe. Would add an 8" floating roller if I found the right piece of heavyweight pipe or drill collar.


Steve

 

[Redbug]

Another cutter/blade question...I noticed the angles differ between the ones made. Ronmar's is 90 degrees and Steve's is 45 degrees. Some of the ones you can buy look to be about 25 to 30 degrees. What would be about the best angle when you are making one? An assumption...The greater the angle, (but not as high as 90 degrees), would allow more material to be moved towards the center of the road to add a crown. Is that right?

 

[J_J]

Just some more pictures for your consideration.

 

[jenkinsph]

Another cutter/blade question...I noticed the angles differ between the ones made. Ronmar's is 90 degrees and Steve's is 45 degrees. Some of the ones you can buy look to be about 25 to 30 degrees. What would be about the best angle when you are making one? An assumption...The greater the angle, (but not as high as 90 degrees), would allow more material to be moved towards the center of the road to add a crown. Is that right?

Redbug I have my blades set straight to use for field leveling, the 45 degree angle is from vertical and is matched to the design of the grader blades for proper cuting action.


Steve

 

[RonMar]

Another cutter/blade question...I noticed the angles differ between the ones made. Ronmar's is 90 degrees and Steve's is 45 degrees. Some of the ones you can buy look to be about 25 to 30 degrees. What would be about the best angle when you are making one? An assumption...The greater the angle, (but not as high as 90 degrees), would allow more material to be moved towards the center of the road to add a crown. Is that right?

Turning the blade farther to the side would move more material to the side. I don't think I have ever seen one angled as high as 45 degrees though. That might move too much material. What I am used to seeing is a more gentle angle, like that used in the first two pictures JJ posted.

I think some of the angles mentioned here are blade cutting angles, or the ammount the blade is tilted back from vertical. Mine are about 45 degrees which is what you get when you lay a piece of angle iron with the open end face down on a piece of flat strap...

 

[alltoys]

There is a swing down gate over the rear blade. With this down, the grader fills and moves material like a box blade, so I made mine this long also for that purpose.

Sounds like an excellent idea. I have an old feed lot, where there are mounds of manure/straw piled up on what would have been a fence line ( piles dumped over the fence theoretically forgotten about ). I was looking for a mini soil mover/land scraper but this may work just as well and for a fraction of the price.

 

[J_J]

Just some more graders.

 

[Scotty370]

"The side rails are made from some old seats from a school food service lunch table. They're 10 ga and I welded them together to form a hollow cavity. I added a 1/4"x3" wear rail on the bottom. They are designed to hold water for additional ballast, 100# by actual measure."

Finally a good use for a school "Food (?) Service Table"! I'm sure they're better now, but 55yrs ago......... ~S