Grapple designs

[Halcomadam]

I'm undergoing project build of a grapple. I'm looking for cad drawings of some different styles if anyone can help. I have a the steel and hydraulic components needed for it but I'm struggling with drawing with a cad program. I would greatly appreciate any help.

 

[shaeff]

There was a thread a few months back for this exact purpose. I don’t have time, but if you dig around a bit you may be able to find it easily. He was doing it “open source” and taking many suggestions from other members. He was supposed to post the cut files when he completed it.

 

[shaeff]

Here it is:

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/387392-grapple-project-open-source.html

 

[Halcomadam]

Thanks

 

[metalbender]

Lots of pics on Google. My cad is cardboard aided design. Built mine from old rod weeder parts. A bit of sittn' n thinkin' is also required.

 

[Halcomadam]

That's my kind of cad but the guy at the water jet table was not impressed when I said I could make him templates

 

[tvman]

I would think that they would be able to make a cad drawing from your paper mock-up.

My fabricator used my drawings,the nice thing is that once they make a cad file, it's very easy to get replacements made if necessary.

I am replacing the lids on my grapple and had the fab shop pull up the drawings and they had them cut the same day.

 

[metalbender]

Just out of curiosity, what would a shop charge for the cad work? Being eternally frugal, paying for something that I can do myself is not in the cards. When all is added up, the cost might well be as much as purchasing a factory made one. Tvman, can you tell us how much the parts cost to have done?

 

[tvman]

My grapple is a 2 lid design, after seriously abusing this thing, one of the lids got terribly twisted. I went ahead and had them make me the 4 main ribs, these are about 19"x19"x2" and are 1/2" thick. This cost me $177 dollars. This was all done using the cad file they created 2 years ago,I had them pull up the file with all the parts and said make me four of these.They were done in about three hours.

Yes, they charged me for the original cad file when I first designed the grapple. I'm not sure what it cost me when I first built it but I think around $700, this was a 55" wide grapple with two lids, 1/2" steel for the lids and bottom tines and a ssqa plate. All hydraulics were extra. I just wanted to do the welding.

Don't know if I answered your question but the cad work was included in the price.

 

[metalbender]

Sounds pretty reasonable.

 

[BFreaky]

I did it as a bucket with detachable grapple. Sort of all in one... When you don't need a grapple it's simply removed by two people

 

[Smokeydog]

Interesting project and maybe designed for a specific task. You have rare skills and ambition. No mention of steel grade. Mild steel may work on small tractors but not on larger, tlb, or skid steer. Been using/abusing grapples for decades. I’m a Pretty good fabricator, but can’t compete with high strength steel manufacturers. A grapple made of T1, 50-60 steel would have be twice as thick, twice as heavy and not abrasion resistance if made of mild steel. Would really hurt performance.

 

[BFreaky]

Done. Wear parts are made of Hardox 500 steel, everything else is construction steel, pins are made of 4732.4 high quality steel

 

[Smokeydog]

Very well done. Good looking job. Like the welding and reinforcement design. Looks professionally built.

With the side panel extensions is there a specific material you plan on grappling?

 

[BFreaky]

Side panels are there to hold more volume when loading light materials, corn etc. They need to be removed in order to get more reliable log/branch/waste grab. The curved design of side plates ensures a good hold

 

[ovrszd]

Very nice work.

I bought a Bobcat LoPro bucket and built a two lid Grapple on it.

I really like the bucket plus Grapple concept. I very, very rarely swap the original Kubota bucket back onto the FEL.

 

[goeduck]

Any pictures of the back side with the cylinders? Sure looks great !

 

[BFreaky]

Ofcourse:

 

[ovrszd]

I'm a bit concerned about the strength of the four bolts that hold the claw. There's a tremendous amount of load at that point.

 

[BFreaky]

I don't expect any problems with that. Those are 4 M20 bolts, it's strong enough