Landscape Rake Build

[Jersey]

Great projects! I just built a rake for my tractor which, by the way was my first project for the tractor. It's not as detailed as yours but its working good. Ill post some pics soon. I look forward to seeing your progress.

 

[3RRL]

Gee Larry, I feel left out.
Seriously though, what a great story this is going to be. Your rake looks like it's all ready to accept the hydraulics and even you gear box to me. I love how you spaced out the tines...they are perfect. Can't wait to see the rest of the build, paint, hook up and videos.
Thanks for another exciting project.

 

[EddieWalker]

Larry,

Nice to see a new twist on building a rake.

With all the abilities of your rear blade, did you consider a way to remove the blade and replace it with a rake? Maybe add the rake to the blade and just lift the blade a little higher?

Eddie

 

[jimgerken]

Larry, yup, combination of hole saw and boring bar. I tried hole saw alone (approx correct size), but the hole location and sloppy fit didnt suit me. So I drilled a locator hole, followed with a hole saw to slightly small size, then bored clear thru both surfaces to get final fit. Most of the joints then required the press to assemble, but a couple just slipped together, with very acceptable location and squareness. I guess it was worth all the boring time. I used the rake two weekends ago, man that thing works SWEET. Supposed to be in the next issue of Farm Show mag. Look for it.

 

[GuglioLS]

Gee Larry, I feel left out.

Rob,
I thought you would be thankful I'm doing all the AutoCAD design and machining instead of you (for a change).

Eddie,
I wanted a stand alone TPH rake as opposed to modifying the 360* rotating back blade. Interesting idea though.

Jimgerken,

Thanks for the come back on using a hole saw followed with a boring bar. Turns out that's exactly what I did. I took another look at your rake build, it made me want to duplicate the articulating motion you incorporated. I sure do like the way the angle of the tines stays square to the line of pull when offsetting the blade. I have decided to duplicate that feature. Of course that will set me back a few steps but no too bad (thanks allot man).

Here is an update -

I got back late Friday from a week long San Diego business trip. Saturday morning I was eager to get back working on this rake project. I only had Saturday to get anything done, so it was pedal to the metal. This is what got accomplished -
The basic rake tine holder was completed a few posts back. Next was to fabricate a stiff mount to attach the rake tine holder with a means of rotating the tine bar around a king pin. The holder is elevated 2" above the tine bar so as to be able to insert all the bolts through the tines. A scrap piece of 2" X 4" X 1/4" wall tube should do the trick.






The last few of photos show the parts mocked up prior to some additional machining and welding that will be detailed in the next couple of posts.

Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

Next was to bore a 2-7/16" hole for the king pin. The work piece was clamped onto the cross slide, index to center then drill a pilot hole. A press fit was desired for the king pin so the next smaller size (2-3/8") hole saw was used. After pushing the hole saw through both sides, a boring bar was used to get the ID under sized by .003" for a press fit.








Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

After completing the hole, one end of the king pin was sawed off to clean it up a bit. After pressing the pin, it was welded into place.





A short video pressing in the king pin:





Notice the "jack hammer" sound from the press? It was recently upgraded with an air over hydraulic actuated cylinder. What a pleasure to operate a press with a simple air valve connected to a compressor.


Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

With the King Pin welded into place, it's time to weld the assembly onto the tine holder bar.......








The index plate has not been welded at this time as there are additional fitting and machining operations yet to be completed. (hint - last minute design change order, thanks to Jim Gerken) In fact I may not even use that fancy schmancy index plate at all as the swivel and rotate will be controlled by hydraulic cylinders.

Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

Time to move onto boom machining operations. I picked up a 48" long 4" X 4" X 3/8" thick tube, it's a monster so a bit of a challenge fitting onto the mini mill / drill / lathe combo unit. Fortunately the drill press is strategically located behind the mill so the drill press table was used to level and support the boom onto the cross slide of the mill. An extra long drill bit was used for a pilot hole clean through both sides of the tube. For the swivel pivot pin, a 1-5/8" hole saw was used that was followed by the boring bar to get the hole ID to 1.660 for another press fit. No pics of that because it was kind of boring.





Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

Here are the operations taken to allow the king pin to fit through the boom. The pipe need to be cut, a grease fitting added then welded into place.





That bring the construction phase up to date. I have been experimenting with some cylinder geometry in AutoCAD. I am toying with the idea of having the blade stay at right angles as the boom is offset to one side or the other. Here is the concept of how that is going to work .....


[URL="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y299/GuglioLS/Rake%20Build/RakeConceptWGeometryreve.jpg"]
[/URL]


I have questions for those who have extensive real life experience with a rake.
Do you use it at an angle? If so how effective is it? I would think with the tines at an angle it would act more like a blade than a rake. What about side forces on the tines when they are angled? My thinking is the tines are really designed to operate straight on rather than at an angle, is that true? Do you turn the rake tines backward, then back your tractor raking? How does that work? is it effective? is it worth it to push your rake backward with the tines digging in?

Larry

 

[mjncad]

Ah yes the squeal of a hole saw on steel, I hope you have the ear muffs handy.

Anyway, the project is looking great and I look forward to seeing it completed and powder-coated before you head off into the dirt to make it earn its keep.

 

[EX3200]

Very impressive. After seeing what goes into building one, I don't feel as bad about the $700 I spent on mine.

Nice work!

 

[jimgerken]

Larry, your pics are great. Glad I could help too. Yes, the rake angled does wonders. It does a great job of sifting out soil and moving rocks, reluctantly, to the side. I have found that going in reverse, with the rake angled also works, even without turning the rake around. Mine does not turn around. As you rake a trail, for instance, lets say its ten feet wide, the first few passes everything flows toward the side pretty well, but then the material builds up and the action becomes sluggish. At this point, angle the rake the other way (do not turn it around though), and back up. It will not sort dirt out in this mode, but the big windrow you made sure moves to the side nicely. When you get to the side of the trail, you can now also offset the rake, and keep moving the rocks off the trail, even while keeping your tire away from the edge of the trail, for safety.

If you dont angle the rake, you are gathering stuff till you have to dump it in a big pile. If you are angling, you are sorting, grading the materials off to the desired side of the trail/road, removing large rocks and leaving inch-minus.

 

[SkunkWerX]

Larry,

wow! it's looking great! as would be expected of your projects.

As far as cylinder geometry goes, I like the shorter extensions.
Keep in mind the longer extensions are gonig to stress the cylinder rod more when fully extended.

Just my two cents, I vote for a shorter/beefier cylinder.

edit: **Larry, also, I may have missed this in your description, but definately keep in mind the ability to add/install height-adjustable gauge wheels at some point.

.

 

[rhett]

greetings Larry,

your project is awesome. one question though.

by welding the tine spacers, doesn't that keep all tines inline for 90 degree settings only?

the reason i ask is i just got a TSC 6 foot landscape rake. after turns with the unit not raised the tines would shift and misalign. though after a few passes all tines realigned.

therfore my question, if an angle is desired during raking, should not the tines be allowed to shift angle for proper spring action?

if pictures are desired to visulize my thoughts, just ask.

Thanks
Rhett

 

[GuglioLS]

Ah yes the squeal of a hole saw on steel, I hope you have the ear muffs handy. Anyway, the project is looking great and I look forward to seeing it completed and powder-coated before you head off into the dirt to make it earn its keep.

MJ - Yea the new camera with sound, got to love that. Powder coated? How much is that going to set me back? I was thinking more like the 96 cent deluxe rattle can finish from Wally World.

Very impressive. After seeing what goes into building one, I don't feel as bad about the $700 I spent on mine. Nice work!

EX3200 - No joke, this project is huge, plus it's starting to get a little on the heavy side. At least it's keeping me out of trouble.

Larry, your pics are great. Glad I could help too. Yes, the rake angled does wonders. It does a great job of sifting out soil and moving rocks, reluctantly, to the side. I have found that going in reverse, with the rake angled also works, even without turning the rake around. Mine does not turn around. As you rake a trail, for instance, lets say its ten feet wide, the first few passes everything flows toward the side pretty well, but then the material builds up and the action becomes sluggish. At this point, angle the rake the other way (do not turn it around though), and back up. It will not sort dirt out in this mode, but the big windrow you made sure moves to the side nicely. When you get to the side of the trail, you can now also offset the rake, and keep moving the rocks off the trail, even while keeping your tire away from the edge of the trail, for safety.
If you don't angle the rake, you are gathering stuff till you have to dump it in a big pile. If you are angling, you are sorting, grading the materials off to the desired side of the trail/road, removing large rocks and leaving inch-minus.

Jim - Great info about operating a rake and what to expect. I was hoping you would chime in with your first hand experience, it's much appreciated.

Larry,
wow! it's looking great! as would be expected of your projects.
As far as cylinder geometry goes, I like the shorter extensions.
Keep in mind the longer extensions are gonig to stress the cylinder rod more when fully extended. Just my two cents, I vote for a shorter/beefier cylinder.
edit: **Larry, also, I may have missed this in your description, but definately keep in mind the ability to add/install height-adjustable gauge wheels at some point.

SkunkWerX - Thanks for the feedback on cylinders, and making provisions for gauge wheels. Not sure I want gauge wheels yet or not, However it would be easy to add them in the future. I'll get the basic part of this working, and if it doesn't fall apart we'll see where it goes from there.

ALL- Thanks for your interest in this project and taking the time to post your positive feedback. I was able to work on the rake project for a couple of hours today, and made some progress. I have a few pics to resize, upload and post. There is an interesting addition where the rake pivots. I hope you all like it and it's not over the top. When I saw these things I could not resist temptation to incorporate them. I hope they work..........

Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

greetings Larry,

your project is awesome. one question though.

by welding the tine spacers, doesn't that keep all tines inline for 90 degree settings only?

the reason i ask is i just got a TSC 6 foot landscape rake. after turns with the unit not raised the tines would shift and misalign. though after a few passes all tines realigned.

therfore my question, if an angle is desired during raking, should not the tines be allowed to shift angle for proper spring action?

if pictures are desired to visulize my thoughts, just ask.

Thanks
Rhett

Thanks Rhett I appreciat that. I think I understand what you are saying / asking, I had the same question earily on in this thread.
Like you said, the tines on my rake are locked in place @ 90*. Take a look at JimGerken's home made rake, he used the two bolt tines and his are really locked into place. I do believe it is correct to have them locked in at 90*. Otherwise the spacing on them would be all over the planet. Does your TSC rake not have the tines locked in at 90*? in other-words, the tines wander and change angle and spacing as the tractor is turned? Would it not be preferable for the tines to always be at a predictable spacing and angle no matter what angle the rake is set at?

When the rake is set at an angle - JimGerken said - "If you are angling, you are sorting, grading the materials off to the desired side of the trail/road, removing large rocks and leaving inch-minus." I think that is what I am looking for when setting the rake at an angle with the tines locked in place, yes there will be side forces, but those tines are tougher than you might think. Now if there were a simple way to adjust the tine angle to always be at right angles to the direction of pull, no matter what the rake angle was set to, that would be way cool.

Larry

 

[mjncad]

MJ - Yea the new camera with sound, got to love that. Powder coated? How much is that going to set me back? I was thinking more like the 96 cent deluxe rattle can finish from Wally World.

Larry

Well, powder coating will set you back more than Mal-Wart paint; but it's not as expensive as one may think, and for all the work you've put into the rake, it deserves a durable finish to match the rake. Just my opinion mind you.

As for cost, I think I paid about $150 for the front posts, headliner, and misc. doodads (e.g. brackets) for the camera system. Although your rake is bigger and heavier than my projects mentioned above, it may be less if you only have one or two major assemblies. Now if you do the tines too, and they are separate, all bets are off since they have string up each part individually. I know I paid $40 for the red powder-coating on my waste oil transfer tank. For the effort I put into my projects, it's worth it to me to powder coat it.

A buddy of mine had his home made recumbent bicycle powder-coated at the same place I use for about $120. He was willing to go $200, so he was pleasantly surprised with the final cost.

If you are near Albuquerque, than there should be a few powder coaters around.

The guy I use gives me estimates via email since I send him photos.

 

[GuglioLS]

MJ,

Yes, I am 25 miles from Albuquerque. No way would I do the tines, but if it's not really all that much, it might be worth coating the main assembly. Does it have to be baked on? as in it goes inside an oven? There will be three main assemblies that can be separated - the rake tine holder, the Boom and the TPH mount. Sounds interesting, I will have to investigate, see who can do it and what's involved to get an estimate. What colors are available? How long does it need to cure?

Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

Progress report for todays work on the rake:
Slight change of plans, I found some big 2-7/16" flange bearings from surplus center. I bought them and proceeded to drill and tap four 7/8" x 9 TPI mounting holes -






What do you think? will it work? I've got to at least give it a try. I can always go back and use the 14 position index plate I had plasma cut (7 forward, 7 reverse).

Larry