Land plane/ grading scraper

[john40981]

They are probably a straight cutting edge and a curved cutting edge would work best.

:thumbsup:

 

[thescubasmith]

Great looking design! I really like the hinged door on the back, and the chain in place of the toplink on he last pass seems like a good idea. Thanks!

 

[garc]

I was curious about Gordon Gould's DIY driveway grader/smoother that was featured in today's TBN eMail of 10 great 1-Day Tractor Projects. Elegant and effective piece of equipment !
I have attached a pic of the 200 lb 8 ft Train Rail Grader attached to my 400 lb box scraper for a 600 lb total. With Top & Tilt 3 point hydraulics it does an amazing job of maintaining my 1000 feet of driveways especially after the winter ravages of snow plowing.

 

[crystallake]

I know this is an old thread but i had this question. What welding method did you use, MIG or Stick and if stick which rod?

 

[woodlandfarms]

For what? To build a scraper? For me I use stick on my heavy metal.. #1 is that I am the worlds worst welder and stick on thick stuff gets good penetration for me... But if you got a big mig, why not right?

 

[crystallake]

Starting to gather materials for a build like Gordan Gould's grader. Found some old grader blades that are still in good shap..8" on one end and 4' on the other, tapered with square holes for bolts. Question: Should I cut them down with plasma cutter or just leave the taper? How hard is this metal going to be to drill ?

 

[jenkinsph]

Starting to gather materials for a build like Gordan Gould's grader. Found some old grader blades that are still in good shap..8" on one end and 4' on the other, tapered with square holes for bolts. Question: Should I cut them down with plasma cutter or just leave the taper? How hard is this metal going to be to drill ?

I cut mine with a O/A cutting torch and have used a chop saw before too. Good quality blades I would pick up the plow bolts needed and fasten them down as is.

Starting a new build I bought new blades that are reversible. Just makes more sense to use new blades as this is the most important feature of the tool. For mounting a 6" tall reversible blade a 4"x4"x 1/2" angle seems to work the best as it allows the correct clearance of the plow bolts. The equal leg angle also sets the 45 degree angle for the blade to wear properly. All of the blades I have used are drilled for 5/8" plow bolts. To drill the holes in the angle iron I used a 5/8" bimetal hole saw, clamped the blades in place over the angle iron and drilled through the blade holes without a pilot bit. I found that to be easier than fighting the drill press in this case.

Long skids with smooth leading edges are important, mine are 60" in length. I may build a new one soon and the skids will be longer. May build a 6' x 6' for a friend this summer.

 

[crystallake]

On your build did you angle the blades front to back or decide to weld the 4x4 straight across. My farm roads have little to no crown, but I also plan to use the grader for smoothing out some food plots for planting. Picking up the steel today. I will post my progress.

 

[jenkinsph]

On your build did you angle the blades front to back or decide to weld the 4x4 straight across. My farm roads have little to no crown, but I also plan to use the grader for smoothing out some food plots for planting. Picking up the steel today. I will post my progress.

Both of my lpgs use the blades set straight. Most of my use (75%) is for smoothing pastures when grading for flood irrigation. This week I am using the small 4' lpgs to smooth over a customer lawn area.

Here are the two lpgs , 3ph spike tooth harrow and roller that I have built for smoothing and rolling my jobs. About $2000 total in everything plus my time which is cheap.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Very nice roller you built Steve !!

gg

 

[jenkinsph]

Thanks Gordon.

 

[crystallake]

Afternoon #1 of grader project started with a visit to the steel yard where I picked up materials using Gordon's list. $460 which included probably $50 of extra materials for another project. Back to hangar to unload and begin. Pulled out the plasma cutter and first made the 3x3 triangle cuts on the side boards. Using a Hypertherm 1000 and a Miller 350P on pulsed spray for the welds (MIG), getting good results. Cutting and welding runners. This is going to be so useful. Mine will be 6' wide x 5' long, using used motorgrader blades. The upper structure I did not have to buy as I had scrap tubes for that. Although I was once told there is no such thing a scrap metal!! LOL

 

[clevalley]

Both of my lpgs use the blades set straight. Most of my use (75%) is for smoothing pastures when grading for flood irrigation. This week I am using the small 4' lpgs to smooth over a customer lawn area.

Here are the two lpgs , 3ph spike tooth harrow and roller that I have built for smoothing and rolling my jobs. About $2000 total in everything plus my time which is cheap.

Curious - where did you get the wheels for the roller and what are they called?

 

[Ford850]

Curious - where did you get the wheels for the roller and what are they called?

jenkinsph is a master of custom equipment to level and finish land, amongst other things. Here's a thread on that roller build. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...mented-3ph-roller-build.html?highlight=roller

Here's another thread he gave more details. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/370258-roller-attachment-3ph.html?highlight=roller

Jenkinsph, I hope you don't mine me posting these links.

 

[garc]

Theses projects are very impressive and a lot of work to build.
I am surprised that no one else has tried the ridiculously simple train rail solution to grading (see post #63).

Here is a picture of my driveways after yesterday's 'tune-up' of my hard packed gravel during some damp weather ...

The dark fines will be washed down during the next rainfall so the gravel will look like gravel

 

[bcp]

Theses projects are very impressive and a lot of work to build.
I am surprised that no one else has tried the ridiculously simple train rail solution to grading (see post #63).

Here is a picture of my driveways after yesterday's 'tune-up' of my hard packed gravel during some damp weather ...
View attachment 512842
The dark fines will be washed down during the next rainfall so the gravel will look like gravel

Please post photos of your train rail grader. Those I've seen are usually a single rail or several chained together, with no front-to-back structure. They do good work side-to-side leveling, but do little for full width direction-of-travel dips and bumps. They don't cut the high spots and fill the low spots in that direction, just sideways.

Bruce

 

[garc]

Please post photos of your train rail grader. Those I've seen are usually a single rail or several chained together, with no front-to-back structure. They do good work side-to-side leveling, but do little for full width direction-of-travel dips and bumps. They don't cut the high spots and fill the low spots in that direction, just sideways.

Bruce

As i mentioned, see post 63 for pics I have since added end plates to reduce the spillage off the ends of the rail.
You raise a good point regarding the dips and crowns. My driveways were already established when I started using the rial but I can still move crowns into the dips on the fly using my 3 point hydraulic top cylinder to tilt forward for digging/lowering and back for smoothing/filling.

Edit: Just figgured out how to post full image

 

[crazyal]

I use to drag a 5' section of I-beam. But that doesn't do a very good job on potholes and washboards. If I was building a GS I would make the blade height adjustable from about 1" below the side rails to about a 1/2" above them. I would also add rippers. Rippers may not be needed in other parts of the country but having them to break up packed gravel makes a world of difference for me.

 

[clevalley]

jenkinsph is a master of custom equipment to level and finish land, amongst other things. Here's a thread on that roller build. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...mented-3ph-roller-build.html?highlight=roller

Here's another thread he gave more details. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/370258-roller-attachment-3ph.html?highlight=roller

Jenkinsph, I hope you don't mine me posting these links.

Thank you very much!

 

[jenkinsph]

jenkinsph is a master of custom equipment to level and finish land, amongst other things. Here's a thread on that roller build. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...mented-3ph-roller-build.html?highlight=roller

Here's another thread he gave more details. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/370258-roller-attachment-3ph.html?highlight=roller

Jenkinsph, I hope you don't mine me posting these links.

Thanks for the compliment but I just enjoy building implements I can use on projects. Sometimes simple builds are cost effective and can save the tractor folks a lot of money. Gordon did a great job with his lpgs, I have been torn between adding a floating roller to the rear of mine and adding the tailgate like his. I have already purchased the 6" pipe for a roller to add and may try that first.

I did go back tonight and added to the roller build thread too. Thanks for finding the thread I had forgotten about it.