Dual action grapple

[IslandTractor]

What? Me? Love grapples? I don't know what you are talking about.

I have an idea for you. Consider rigging a grapple arm to join with a quick spade or set of forks. It would be narrow and have a four or five foot reach. Here is a photo of a quickspade on forks. You'd just need to rig the grapple part to the forks.

 

[J_J]

Here is the idea I am thinking about. The cylinder would push on the front claw and curl down as far as you design. When you open, the claw will open part way and contact the wedge and cause the back arm to raise.

 

[alchemysa]

Island.. No I don't take it as confrontational at all.. everyones ideas are important,, I see from your pictures that you have nice wide open areas.. I on the other hand live in Maine and my property is very tight..and being a "Maineack" love to build new things that not everybody else has...just because I can... I do understand how a grapple works,,, I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel...just make it work better for me,,

I've finely worked out how it should go together..what do you think...?? just cardboard for now...

I hate to keep sounding like a killjoy but this looks like a it could be quite difficult to operate. The double arm design will require good vision, but I presume its attached to a standard bucket so, unless its a huge rock, how are you going to see what you are trying to load into the bucket? And how will you see if the front tooth is coming down above, below, or in line with the bucket edge? Before you start building I suggest you sit in the tractor seat and take some 'line of sight' measurements.

And although this may help you pick rocks out from under trees I can possibly see that a simple job like securely carrying a six inch diameter log with this could be a little tricky.

 

[hr3]

alchemysa,,, It shouldn't be too much of a problem seeing over the bucket,,good point though..I just went out and sat in the seat,,,had the wife put a piece of firewood in front of the bucket,,and about a foot out i could see it... as for the 6" log..the grapple will close down on 2.5" buy the templet that i mocked up...and NO your not a killjoy,,,that is why i'm here asking and taking in all the good infomation...I just wish someone else had done this first to iron out the bugs,,,

Then there is always plan "B"....

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I just wish someone else had done this first to iron out the bugs...

That's why I'm so supportive and excited to see you get working on this. I'm a big fan of pure research. Building stuff purely for the fun and experience of building it is where the great ideas come about, and I'm eager to see where this little journey takes you and all of us watching this thread. Here's hoping all of the bugs are obvious and easy to work out.

 

[Ductape]

I hate to keep sounding like a killjoy but this looks like a it could be quite difficult to operate. The double arm design will require good vision, but I presume its attached to a standard bucket so, unless its a huge rock, how are you going to see what you are trying to load into the bucket?

Bucket / grapple camera?

 

[Berniep]

Here is a quick paint drawing that I made to show the basic idea of something I have been thinking of building to get a bigger bite on loose light material.
Your cardboard cutouts reminded me.
You would only use one cylinder and use a connecting link to actuate the tip of the grapple. The Red spots represent pivot points.
When it is open you can see where it would have a wider opening and as it is closed it would tend to pull in toward the bucket. The link would have to be as strong at the grapple itself because it is exposed to the material being picked up.

 

[IslandTractor]

Man, Rube Goldberg had nothin' on you guys.

 

[hr3]

Not too sure about the camera idea... But Berniep... that is something to think about... I'm dropping of the templates today to be cut out,,I'm thinking 3/8" flat stock.. not sure yet about the pivot points but I'm thinking 1.5" tube stock.. "outside dem.".. ?? What do you think?? I'll do a search for pictures of others to see if this is close...

 

[Berniep]

Not too sure about the camera idea... But Berniep... that is something to think about... I'm dropping of the templates today to be cut out,,I'm thinking 3/8" flat stock.. not sure yet about the pivot points but I'm thinking 1.5" tube stock.. "outside dem.".. ?? What do you think?? I'll do a search for pictures of others to see if this is close...

I would think 1/2 inch unless you are doing a whole bunch of gusseting, Even 1/2 will require some. I don't know about you but I found that I tend to pull a lot on stuff and that really stresses the grapple.