Homemade lawn vac

Graftongrump · May 26, 2012

I would like to build my own lawn vac out of a 4' trailer. I would take three metal wall studs and bend them for a frame, then use 25 gauge sheetmetal for the body. I already have a bagger top from an old lawnmower, I need to locate the fan and housing to fit a horizontal engine. Anyone have any suggestions?

Agent Blue · May 26, 2012

Sounds like your really on the ecomony kick. Someone mentioned a snowblower fan and modified housing would work out well. Besides they are easy to find and reasonable containing the shaft / bearing you will need. Good luck on your project and post some pictures. It will give others incentive to build a machine they normally would not buy due to the high cost of a very specialized task.
I am building a PTO version lawn vac for pine needles. So far $62.00 in material ( bearings, belts, steel, ) with the major expense remaining in 8" flex hose. It is taking a while as I develope a plan as I build and have made several changes along the way. I want it as compact as possible. The bin or debris container will be designed when the blower and MMM adopter transition are complete. Actually a fun project.

chad22 · May 26, 2012

That's an interesting project. I might have to make one of those.

Chad

Taylortractornut · May 26, 2012

If you live near cotton country look for an old cotton picker fan. Its a suction fan for the stripper heads. Its already got the fan and housing, bearings and pulley. I have afriend that has one his late brother made from such a fan. Im looking for one now.

boggen · May 26, 2012

i have been eyeing, those cheap little "shop vacs" at local hardware stores. the ones that are like 1/2 gallon to 2 gallons in size.

been thinking of tossing a piece of plywood over FEL (front end loader) bucket. and using some pipe insulation (stuff is cheap) as a gasket between bucket and plywood. and then using some ratchet straps to snug plywood down. and perhaps get a cheap PTO generator, or perhaps double check the amps/watts for the shop vacs. and see if i can just pickup some cheap 12volt to 110 volt converters you can pickup at electronic stores. to run the shop vacs.

figure out a place to strap the shop vacs onto the loader arms, and run hose from each shop vac into the plywood going over the bucket. and run another hose or two perhaps cut a slit into plywood to have a multi shop vac bucket vac.

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what would happen if you ran a PTO shaft to trailer, and then used large pulley coming from PTO shaft, and then smaller pulley on fan blade. to get the RPMs up on the fan blade?

would a 3pt hitch "carry all" as the main bottom frame and then just build you a plywood box on top of the 3pt hitch carry all work?

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word of caution plz make some sort of metal cage or like on both sides of the fan blade. stuff can really get a moving and do some pretty good damage to yourself, someone else, or something else.

NHmitch · May 27, 2012

This guy actually has a great idea, and I am building an identical one right now. The whole project is under $50. It looks like it works great, and I will let you know how mine comes out!

Leaf catcher 2000

Graftongrump · May 27, 2012

Hey Boggen, That PTO idea is great, but I'm pulling this trailer behind a ZTR mower, so I don't have a PTO to interact with. That could be an idea for yours tho'. Use a 3pt hay fork on the back, then enclose with plywood or sheetmetal instead of using your bucket? What you think?

boggen · May 27, 2012

Graftongrump said:
Hey Boggen, That PTO idea is great, but I'm pulling this trailer behind a ZTR mower, so I don't have a PTO to interact with. That could be an idea for yours tho'. Use a 3pt hay fork on the back, then enclose with plywood or sheetmetal instead of using your bucket? What you think?

possible as well! i could see more of a creating a "pallet" bottom. and then build up off that for sides and a roof. that you could just back up with pallet forks and lift up. then a chain or strap to hold the the entire thing to forks.

Agent Blue · May 27, 2012

NH.... Does the 50 bucks include the trailer and tractor

. ? I doubt the MMM has the vacuum to blow the leafs all the way up to the top of the trailer inlet. The saging corrigated tube doesn't provide the best of slippery surfaces.
If it works for him great. I know it wouldn't transfer my pine needles the distance.

NHmitch · May 27, 2012

Agent Blue said:
NH.... Does the 50 bucks include the trailer and tractor. ? I doubt the MMM has the vacuum to blow the leafs all the way up to the top of the trailer inlet. The saging corrigated tube doesn't provide the best of slippery surfaces.
If it works for him great. I know it wouldn't transfer my pine needles the distance.

Good points, I am not sure how it will work, he had photos of pretty packed grass, however I guess I will find out. I have an existing metal trailer so the wood was inexpensive for me, and the pipe was only about $4. I will let you know if it works, if it dosen't, I'll have to rethink the project. I know that the baggers that they sell push the grass through the tube, but it probably has less resistance, and a shorter distance to travel. I'll let you know if it works, ar is a flop.

NHmitch · May 27, 2012

Agent Blue said:
NH.... Does the 50 bucks include the trailer and tractor. ? I doubt the MMM has the vacuum to blow the leafs all the way up to the top of the trailer inlet. The saging corrigated tube doesn't provide the best of slippery surfaces.
If it works for him great. I know it wouldn't transfer my pine needles the distance.

Good points, I am not sure how it will work, he had photos of pretty packed grass, however I guess I will find out. I have an existing metal trailer so the wood was inexpensive for me, and the pipe was only about $4. I will let you know if it works, if it dosen't, I'll have to rethink the project. I know that the baggers that they sell push the grass through the tube, but it probably has less resistance, and a shorter distance to travel. I'll let you know if it works, or is a flop. This is the picture he had posted from the grass, and leaves that were blown into the box from the lawnmower.

jenkinsph · May 28, 2012

I think the build your own cart is a good way to go for grass clippings and will follow this thread, good luck with it.:thumbsup: I recently bought a new MC 519 blower and cart for the Deere but think I would have been better off making my own cart and buying the blower.

For pine needles the pinestraw rake works flawlessly though. With no moving parts and nothing to stop up it is fast, simple and effective.
Here is a pic of my 72" rake behind the x749.

Graftongrump · May 28, 2012

Well, I don't have pine needles to deal with, but a 3/4 acre field that hasn't been mowedin several years. The clippings are so tough that they just build up and lock up my deck. I have an old bagger that I plan to utilize in the process of building. Found an old chipper on Craigslist for $50 that will work great. Pics to follow on forum as I'm building.

jenkinsph · May 28, 2012

Graftongrump said:
Well, I don't have pine needles to deal with, but a 3/4 acre field that hasn't been mowedin several years. The clippings are so tough that they just build up and lock up my deck. I have an old bagger that I plan to utilize in the process of building. Found an old chipper on Craigslist for $50 that will work great. Pics to follow on forum as I'm building.

Maybe just repeated mowing will do the job if you give the clippings time to break down. Rain and some fertilizer usually does wonders along with the mowing.

Agent Blue · May 28, 2012

Steve;
I had the regular 6' rake with wide tines. Due to the contours of the lawn it did not work well for me. I thought it would be the answer but it found a new owner on cl. The hay rake tines you are using seem to work much better. In fall I get up to 1 1/2" of needles on the ground and I can usually break a hand rake making piles to fork on a trailer. I have a 6 x 11 trailer stacked three feet tall ... usually two loads will be removed.
If my vac works the way I want it to, two large garbage cans will be easier to off load and hopefully packed tighter. Also new areas of tall grass will easily transfer to the compost pile.
Any project using a bandsaw and mig welder is a great experience and gets the mind to exploring alternatives.
I like the four wheel steer your picture shows. I missed that option when I purchased the 4110. I planned on building the loader for it so I was more interested in the heavy frame and pump output. It turned out great !

jenkinsph · May 28, 2012

Agent Blue said:
Steve;
I had the regular 6' rake with wide tines. Due to the contours of the lawn it did not work well for me. I thought it would be the answer but it found a new owner on cl. The hay rake tines you are using seem to work much better. In fall I get up to 1 1/2" of needles on the ground and I can usually break a hand rake making piles to fork on a trailer. I have a 6 x 11 trailer stacked three feet tall ... usually two loads will be removed.
If my vac works the way I want it to, two large garbage cans will be easier to off load and hopefully packed tighter. Also new areas of tall grass will easily transfer to the compost pile.
Any project using a bandsaw and mig welder is a great experience and gets the mind to exploring alternatives.
I like the four wheel steer your picture shows. I missed that option when I purchased the 4110. I planned on building the loader for it so I was more interested in the heavy frame and pump output. It turned out great !

Agent Blue,
I have a 5' landscape rake for the mower for that very reason, too wide and it cant follow the ground contours. Most of the landscapes I build are easy to maintain with smooth rolling edges. Everything Attachments has a new rake with replaceable tines that I would recommend. Plan on ordering a 6' model before the summer is over. I have the MC 519 cart with blower but I haven't had a chance to try it on newly faller pine needles yet. Still think that raking them would be a lot faster anyway.

Agent Blue · May 28, 2012

I looked up the 519 cart. I was hoping to incorporate an add on 2' section of square tubing ( bolt on for storage purposes ) to contain two large garbage cans or a mounted trailer with swival wheels. The part that is a hang up is one has to shut down the pto drive to keep the engine running when you dismount to empty the container. I have a feeling they will fill up very fast, very quickly. I had an Easy Vac blower / trailer system and the needles really packed tight. The problem was maneuvering around the trees and backing in tight places.
I can always take the dive and buy JD implements but I would like to try my ideas first. That rake looks like an easy project also that has alot of merit.

jenkinsph · May 29, 2012

For about $400 bucks delivered I wouldn't bother building my own.

Agent Blue · May 29, 2012

Yes, your right. Free tines from a side rake, used piece of angle iron... $00.cost.
I will use the four hundred for steel / glass when I build a cab. Life is an adventure, ordering on line.... not so much. Interesting choices.

johnees · May 30, 2012

I'm the one that started that link, or at least I believe it's the one you are referring to, but I cannot find it either...tried to search under my screenname to no avail, won't go back far enough. I don't know why the search wont pull it up either....does this site delete threads after so long? I can post pics again if we cannot find it.