Is 3x3x3/8 angle ok for grader/plane build?

[jenkinsph]

I think the angled blades work better to remove the washboards. Ideally you would want a land plane long, 8' or more. By doing so it's not going to move up and down with the small ruts and such. But 8' long is way too long for a driveway with turns or hills. That means for road work most grading scrapers are around 4' long. If your blades are lower than the skids a straight blade can hit a washboard and rise over it if it's hard and then fall back down. The angled blades will cut better because all the weight is on just the section of blade (vs the whole blade on a straight bladed GS) that's touching the washboard.

My BEFCO blades are angled and it does seam to pull the gravel to the side. I guess that's a feature but I actually wish it wouldn't. Often I'm trying to pull gravel up back up the hill on the driveway. Because of this it ends up trying to put the gravel from one side to the other. It forces me to do things to counter it.

I think most of the landplanes manufactured today have the skids shorter than I like as most are about four feet. I agree that long skids are better for straight runs and think that somewhere around six feet long is a good compromise on a seven or eight foot landplane. Most landplanes are too light and have skids that are short I suspect it is a manufacturing cost issue above all else. I agree with Brian (MountainviewRanch) that a good design is about 100 to 150 lbs/ft of width.

With a good landplane washboards are no problem at all whether you have angled or straight blades.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I think most of the landplanes manufactured today have the skids shorter than I like as most are about four feet. I agree that long skids are better for straight runs and think that somewhere around six feet long is a good compromise on a seven or eight foot landplane. Most landplanes are too light and have skids that are short I suspect it is a manufacturing cost issue above all else. I agree with Brian (MountainviewRanch) that a good design is about 100 to 150 lbs/ft of width.

With a good landplane washboards are no problem at all whether you have angled or straight blades.[/QUOTE]

Agree. :thumbsup: IMO just about any type of grading implement works best with a minimum of 100lbs per foot and more is better as long as the tractor will handle it. Just seems to me that anything lighter and all you end up doing is bounce along the surface. Obviously this is not always the case, but in general you can pretty much count on not getting much done when you are below 100lbs per foot of width.

As far as the material moving sideways because of the angled blades, with both of my LPGBs, it is about an inch per blade at best. That would be under ideal conditions which don't happen for me very often.

As far as the side runners on the LPGBs, I believe that it is a shipping issue. Seems like the manufacturers don't like to get them longer than 60" anymore.


Just my :2cents:

 

[bcp]

The longest I've seen at dealers around here are the Priefert at about 7-8 feet.

8' Road Grader

Bruce

 

[Gordon Gould]

Mine is 5' wide and 4' 6" long and weighs 575 lbs. It works pretty well on hard packed gravel road surfaces.
If I built another one I would make it even heaver. It generally takes two passes before I get a good cut all the way across the blades when the road is really packed and dryish. So heavier would be better. But the size seems to be just about right to me (edit: For road work). If it were a lot longer some of my tight turns would tough to manipulate. I don't get a lot of washboard but it cuts what I do get just fine being only 4' 6" long. I do have my blades 3/4" below the skids. Talking aboult skids, Thats the other thing I would do - widen the skids. Mine are 2" X 3/8 and they wear fast on the abrasive gravel.

 

[94BULLITT]

Mine is 5' wide and 4' 6" long and weighs 575 lbs. It works pretty well on hard packed gravel road surfaces.
If I built another one I would make it even heaver. It generally takes two passes before I get a good cut all the way across the blades when the road is really packed and dryish. So heavier would be better. But the size seems to be just about right to me. If it were a lot longer some of my tight turns would tough to manipulate. I don't get a lot of washboard but it cuts what I do get just fine being only 4' 6" long. I do have my blades 3/4" below the skids. Talking aboult skids, Thats the other thing I would do - widen the skids. Mine are 2" X 3/8 and they wear fast on the abrasive gravel.

How did you weigh your lp?

 

[Gordon Gould]

If you look at technical data from a steel supplier they always give you a weight per foot or weight per 20feet for for each structural shape and thickness including pipe. So to be exact I didn't weigh it. I calculated the weight from the tech data which was pretty easy for my squarish design. I weighed the cutting edges on my bathroom scale.

 

[94BULLITT]

If you look at technical data from a steel supplier they always give you a weight per foot or weight per 20feet for for each structural shape and thickness including pipe. So to be exact I didn't weigh it. I calculated the weight from the tech data which was pretty easy for my squarish design. I weighed the cutting edges on my bathroom scale.

That is pretty much what I thought.

There are also online calculators that you can use.

 

[crazyal]

Mine is 5' wide and 4' 6" long and weighs 575 lbs. It works pretty well on hard packed gravel road surfaces.
If I built another one I would make it even heaver. It generally takes two passes before I get a good cut all the way across the blades when the road is really packed and dryish. So heavier would be better. But the size seems to be just about right to me. If it were a lot longer some of my tight turns would tough to manipulate. I don't get a lot of washboard but it cuts what I do get just fine being only 4' 6" long. I do have my blades 3/4" below the skids. Talking aboult skids, Thats the other thing I would do - widen the skids. Mine are 2" X 3/8 and they wear fast on the abrasive gravel.

My BEFCO is 6' wide, a little over 700lbs, and it's about 4' long. I don't think I would want longer than 5'. It's not just the corners but also the transitions between flat and sloped and I'm often turning around on the driveway so having an extra 4' sticking out the back would be very hard. I think it's different for each person.

 

[Willl]

Where you at jbwrangler ?

I've got 2 sticks of 5X5X5/16 approx 9' I'll donate.

They're heading for the scrap pile anyway.

 

[jbwrangler]

Where you at jbwrangler ?

I've got 2 sticks of 5X5X5/16 approx 9' I'll donate.

They're heading for the scrap pile anyway.

Willl,
Thanks for the offer, but I'm in Mississippi. You are probably as far away from me as you can get and still stay in the US!

Thanks again though.