Landscape Rake Build

[EddieWalker]

I painted my rake with a can of Rustoleum Primer and paint. They have the cheap stuff and their premium brand. Cost is about double for the premium spray paints, but still well under $20 for both. I didn't spent much time prepping my rake, I just cleaned it up a little and sprayed it.

It spends all day outside in the elements and a year later, it still looks great. If it starts to rust or have some issues, I can just sand it down and spray it again. With all the damage that it goes through, spending allot of money on the finish didn't make any sense to me.

I've broken two tines so far. When they break, they go a flying!!!!!! The first one I saw fly off, the second one I found on the ground when I got to that area. I had no idea it had broken off until I found it.

Eddie

 

[GuglioLS]

Larry,

Would you be willing to make several more of those bending units, at a reasonable cost?

J_J, Thats very flattering of you.......

Well maybe not at cost, but, for a reasonable price. BTW What's your definition of "several" and "reasonable"? If a professional machine shop were to make one like mine, at I'm guessing somewhere around 65.00 / hour. I suppose they could whip one out in half the time or less, so 2.5 hours X 65.00 = 165.50 ea. plus about $15 in material. Usually deals like this go south. I once got a PM and sob story for a job from someone saying I was their "last hope". I must have put 10 hours into it. The guy said "If you take this on, I'll make it worth your while" for payment I got a container of spiced bread crumbs for fried chicken I guess it's all relative. After that, I vowed to never take on jobs like that again. If your really serious about wanting "several" of these, PM me to work out the details offline. Hope your not wanting them before I finish my rake!

Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

I painted my rake with a can of Rustoleum Primer and paint. ............It spends all day outside in the elements and a year later, it still looks great. If it starts to rust or have some issues, I can just sand it down and spray it again. With all the damage that it goes through, spending allot of money on the finish didn't make any sense to me..........
Eddie

Well said Eddie,
Thanks for bringing the finish on my rake down to earth. No way could $225 be justified powder-coating a tractor implement that gets dragged through dirt and rocks. It was fun checking into it though.
Larry

 

[Renze]

Renze, did you hear your "credits" in that last video?

I did look at the pictures yesterday, but now i had to watch the video too !!

 

[tlbuser]

Great info, OK here is a (dumb?) question - what happens if say you heat the metal first, attach the electrode, then start spraying hot metal? Would that work? I am imagining me being able to heat all the parts up with a weed burner, use my IR temp gun, when it gets to 250 - 300 *F then spray it. Is that a bad idea? Has anyone ever tried that? Sounds like an experiment in the making or don't try this at home?

Larry

I doubt you"d be able to get enough powder on to give suficient coverage. The object being coated needs to look "very fuzzy" prior to heating. "Very fuzzy" is when the surface looks like velvet. As mentioned earlier, heat lamps can be used instead of an oven, the weed burner might be a tad bit of overkill.

 

[3RRL]

Hey Larry,
Just wanted to tell you what a fantastic job you are doping in the construction, and especially the bending of that metal.
That video is super cool. BTW, if you are going to make some extra bending dies, make one for me too. I know exactly what you mean about donating your time or charging for it. I did this project for a buddy of mine (not too long ago) which I knew would involve hundreds of design and machine hours. So instead of trying to charge a fair amount, I opted instead to do it as a return favor, so cost was of no concern to me or him and everything turned out much better that way.
Now we are life long buddies.

 

[GuglioLS]

Hey Larry,
Just wanted to tell you what a fantastic job you are doping in the construction, and especially the bending of that metal.
That video is super cool. BTW, if you are going to make some extra bending dies, make one for me too. I know exactly what you mean about donating your time or charging for it. I did this project for a buddy of mine (not too long ago) which I knew would involve hundreds of design and machine hours. So instead of trying to charge a fair amount, I opted instead to do it as a return favor, so cost was of no concern to me or him and everything turned out much better that way.
Now we are life long buddies.

Rob, thanks my life long buddy.....

Generous compliments from the master machinist himself sure are appreciated. That project story of yours for your buddy sounds awfully familiar what a lucky guy he is. Your story reminds me how this 360* rotating blade project became reality. That 3RRL dude sure was nice to take on that monstrosity. OK I owe you for life. I too remember doing a few projects for a buddy and sending him two round trip tickets for a well deserved "vacation" , that "vacation" turned out to be busting his butt replacing dozer track rollers and cutting a road on a steep grade. Thanks again Rob! When I finish up this rake project, I'll see what I can do about making a few spare anvils and dies.

Saturday I got a little more done on the rake, by now all you guys must be getting sick and tired seeing pics of drilling, and band saw cutting. Here are the last you will have to endure before this thing finally gets welded up and assembled. I still have a few more small parts to make, but am on the home stretch.....




The cylinder on top will control the swing / offset the one on the bottom will control the rotational angle. A 1/4" spacer was made for one of the cylinder clevis mounts. The metal I had was 12.25" wide, 1/4" beyond the official capacity of the band saw, I squeezed it in there anyway to cut out a 3"x3"x.25" spacer.





Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

A 1" thick bushing for the offset pin was needed, I drilled a 1.375" dia hole for the hardened chrome pin, that chrome rod you see through the bushing is from a Hydraulic cylinder off my dozer. Last year I replaced the rods in the hydraulic cylinders and kept the old hardened chrome rods. It will come in handy for this project.





The band saw needed cleaning bad - I got quite a few shavings out and replaced the blade.




Sunday I got to spend some quality time with my 81 Y/O Mom and Dad for Fathers day. That was a great time and a welcome break from the rake.




Larry

 

[J_J]

Well said Eddie,
Thanks for bringing the finish on my rake down to earth. No way could $225 be justified powder-coating a tractor implement that gets dragged through dirt and rocks. It was fun checking into it though.
Larry

Larry.

I saw this website for epoxy one part paint for industrial use, and thought you might be interested.

EPOXY GUARD 1 PART EPOXY COATING EPOXY ALKYD RESIN ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY SCROLL DOWN FOR COLOR CHOICES CLICK CHIP FOR COLOR SWATCH (ON WHITE BACKGROUND)

 

[mjncad]

This epoxy paint may be a good alternative if it is an alkyd epoxy/enamel. We use to spec alkyd enamels for all sorts of structural steel items where I used to work at.

 

[GuglioLS]

J.J.

Thanks for that epoxy paint link, looks like tough enough stuff and the price is right too. I'll have to check around here and see if I can get something like that local. Maybe even find some in a rattle can?

Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

Today I was hoping to do some welding, but before that, I wanted to do some sandblasting to remove mill slag from all the rake parts. I got everything ready - sand, sand blaster, hose, hood, goggles, respirator, gloves etc...When I flipped on the breaker for the air compressor...... BUZZZZZZZZZZ.....SNAP, the breaker blows I don't understand, it was working fine just last week. Now my 20 Y/O 5 HP Ingersoll Rand compressor motor does not want to start. not good.
After removing the belt between the motor and compressor, I tried again, same thing, motor buzzes - no go. It turns freely by hand so the bearings are not frozen. So now I take the motor off and take it apart. Fortunately I found the starter winding contacts burned and pitted. After sanding them down and putting the motor back together...... Viola - she starts and runs smooth again - whew.....





I was hoping to post some serious progress, I was lucky to get the compressor back up and running.

Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

After getting the compressor back on-line, I did get to do some sandblasting of rake parts after all:






LOL - I used a kiddie pool to help catch and recycle some of the sand, I think I captured maybe 25%, good thing too because I only had about 50 #'s of sand and used every bit. When I was finished, I took the shop vac and sucked up the sand dunes laying on the ground. Then ran it through a flour sifter to be used till it turned into dust. Esther's going to pick me up some more sand tomorrow so I can finish playing in the sand and start welding. What do you think? The parts look pretty clean now. With any luck, tomorrow, the welder will start.

Larry

 

[mjncad]

I'm looking forward to seeing the completed rake.

 

[Renze]

Larry,

I bought a used compressor last year, it had an allmost new 3 cylinder pump, a used wind vessel and an electrical motor coming off a worn out pressure washer.

I took the chance for the allmost new 3 cylinder pump. 2 months ago the motor burnt. Its a 4 hp 3phase 400V

A new motor would be 190 euro. Could you explain me what exactly are the parts that you ground smooth ? Maybe my compressor motor suffers the same, and i could fix it myself instead of buying a brand new motor.
I'm not really into electrical devices...

And: How long did it take you to make the sandblasting progress you show in those pictures ? I might want to buy a sandblasting pistol for my compressor too, but only if its worth doing, time-wise.

 

[GuglioLS]

I'm looking forward to seeing the completed rake.

Me too!!! Seems like it's taking forever. So far I think I have less than a month of Saturdays and a few week day evenings into it. I guess that's not to bad.

Could you explain me what exactly are the parts that you ground smooth ?

Renze - I'm not sure of the wiring on a three phase motor, but on my 220 single phase capacitor start motor, there is a set of starter windings that are momentarily energized to get the motor going, after the motor starts and begins to spin, centrifugal force opens a set of contacts that de-energize the starter windings. On mine the starter winding contacts were burnt, so there was no current going into the starter circuit, only the run windings. I sanded the burnt carbon and pits off the internal contacts that open and close the circuit to the starter field windings. The contacts I sanded are shown in the pictures above. Only pics of the burnt contacts are shown as no pictures were taken after sanding them. Not sure if a three phase motor has starter windings or not. Maybe some three phase motor guru will chime in and explain that.

And: How long did it take you to make the sandblasting progress you show in those pictures ? I might want to buy a sandblasting pistol for my compressor too, but only if its worth doing, time-wise.

Getting the mill slag off some parts was super fast, like those arms I bent in the press, those only took a few minutes to clean off. The plasma cut index plates were another story, I spent at least an hour on each one. The metal on those was in bad shape, they had mill slag, rust , and pits. Is a small handheld sand blaster worth i?, for occasional small home projects I think so.

Larry

 

[EddieWalker]

Larry,

That's a pretty cool sand blaster that you have there. I've never seen one like it and would appreciate any info you can share on it. Where did you get it, how much and your impressions of it's performance? Did you use any special type of sand?

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[J_J]

Larry,

That's a pretty cool sand blaster that you have there. I've never seen one like it and would appreciate any info you can share on it. Where did you get it, how much and your impressions of it's performance? Did you use any special type of sand?

Thanks,
Eddie

Eddie,

Harbor Freight has these. $15.99, $12.99

 

[J_J]

Larry,


Did you happen to notice any differences in the plasma cut holes from top side compared to the bottom side. The reason I ask is that a plasma stream cuts in a small cone. A laser cuts better, and straighter. With plasma cutting the thicker the metal the worse it gets. I had some holes cut with plasma , and I noticed some difference. Anywhere from 1 to 5 degrees. On 3/4 thick metal, one side of the hole might be 1 inch, and the bottom might be 1 1/8 On thin metal, you will not notice much difference. This is just something to think about. It all depends on the cutting tip, whether it is new or well used.

 

[GuglioLS]

Larry,

That's a pretty cool sand blaster that you have there. I've never seen one like it and would appreciate any info you can share on it. Where did you get it, how much and your impressions of it's performance? Did you use any special type of sand?

Thanks,
Eddie

Eddie,
The sandblaster is the 15.99 Harbor Freight one that J.J. posted. The sand I use is "Play Sand" from Wal-Mart 2.39 for a 50# bag. Sometimes I get bagged sand from Home Depot, if there are grains in the sand that are too coarse, it will not feed through the gun. If that's the case, I use a flour sifter to sift out the larger granules. The gun works great, the only drawback is on large projects, the hopper is too small and I have to keep filling it often. Oh and the sand must be bone dry to feed properly.

Larry