Goldberg's the name...Rube Goldberg...

cabover4us · Aug 24, 2017

PHPaul said:
I spent a lot of time trying to noodle out a way to do that and couldn't come up with anything that fit my budget. If I could afford a pump and a hydraulic motor, it'd be pretty straight forward.

I suppose top 'n tilt on the hitch would work to a certain extent before I ran out of flex on the PTO shaft.

Linear actuator 12volt variety, seen some on eBay for $25
Bought one with 6" extension for my deflector on my SB60 Woodmax Snowblower.

davedj1 · Aug 27, 2017

Looks good Paul, Mark 2 should have the gear box turned 90* and a shaft with a u joint running out to the trimmer head, a couple of gears to get the rpm's you want, then you could have it tilt down or up at the u joint, with a small hydraulic cylinder if you have rear remotes, if not go the linear actuator route.
I'm thinking out loud here so bear with me, is that an actual gear box? does it reduce the ratio? if so, could it be replaced with just a 90* unit with no gear reduction? Could it be turned around to use it as a speed up box if it is a reducer?
I've never seen one in person so these things just occurred to me.
At any rate, it does what you designed it to do. Nice job. need orange paint...lol

and this just occurred to me , it needs to be spring loaded so when you inadvertently slam it into something you won't break it.

I've always wanted to mount a weed eater on the front of a riding mower , have it spring loaded so I could just drive around and weed eat on the fly! LOL

BukitCase · Aug 27, 2017

This really well thought out trimmer sounds more like you're talking about -

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/356544-fence-line-trimmer.html

...Steve

PHPaul · Aug 27, 2017

The gearbox is off an old 2-wheeled Gravely tractor for the front mounted mower. It's actually a slight step-up. I haven't measured the ratio exactly but it's in the neighborhood of 1:1.5

Flopping the drive over on it's side would get a shaft pointed in the right direction, but I'd need a second right-angle gearbox to get the pulley in the correct plane to line up with the string head.

If/when I build the Mark II, I'm seriously considering putting a gas engine out on the end of the boom and driving the string head with that. Then I can pivot the whole thing anywhere I like.

I do have a rear remote, so all I'd need is a cylinder. I've got a nice 19 horse electric start Briggs, that oughta make 'er sing!

Budweiser John · Aug 27, 2017

PHPaul said:
Never know what the future will bring. Winters tend to be long and boring around here...

Grind, I see you're from mid-Michigan. I grew up West of St. Johns, over by Fowler. Brothers in St. Johns and Shepard, headed back that way for a visit in a couple of weeks.

Just a Tad off subject, but you guys ever been to South Riley?
Beer and great burgers just 1/2 mile from my east line fence.

BukitCase · Aug 27, 2017

"Flopping the drive over on it's side would get a shaft pointed in the right direction, but I'd need a second right-angle gearbox to get the pulley in the correct plane to line up with the string head.

If/when I build the Mark II, I'm seriously considering putting a gas engine out on the end of the boom and driving the string head with that. Then I can pivot the whole thing anywhere I like. "

Maybe not, 4 cycle engines don't like TOO much tilt - a 2 cycle shouldn't care -

Or, you might be able to do something like this pretty reasonable (kinda what I meant with earlier post)... Steve

Please excuse the crappy "paint" markup, it can't even do 45* for most stuff...