Most of us that weld have a scrap pile of drops, Some of the steel in my build came from my pile. For the benefit of other members I calculated the materials needed and came up with $850. The blades were the expensive cost for me and are 6"x96"x5/8" double edged bolt on, about $200 each.
I agree that keeping a large scrap pile of drops, and maybe even a steel rack full of pieces and full lengths can be a huge help when building some of these projects that we build, especially if we can get them at reduced prices!. Most of my projects are built from my scrap piles, or from things that I accumulate, for their value from what they are made of. Take for instance the sides of my Dava-Grader, they are 5/8 plate which is overkill, but they started life as a machine table that had two pieces of plate on it, as a subfloor. I was picking up half a dozen tables as a deal to ship one north in exchange for the whole lot. Most of the tables had 1" table tops on them, but one hit the truck with two thinner pieces, which ended up on the Dava Grader. The owner actually told me he was going to scrap that one since it didn't have a top and I told him to just throw it on the truck with the rest. Being a truck driver comes in handy every now and then...
My steel supplier has a minimum purchase requirement so I often have to purchase extra materials to satisfy this and usually figure this in when buying materials for a paying job. The extra materials try to be for a project for me, so I don't have to make my profit quite so much, keeping me inline with other options the buyer has.
Anyway, back to the grader questions...
My blades are not adjustable, and therefore don't have the benefit of knowing just how much fun having adjustable blades are, but I do know that building them and making them EASILY ADJUSTABLE and not a pain from sitting outside, getting dirt dragged over them all the time and just the time to get them right every time you have a minute for seat time, can't be easy. Since the depth of the blade's cut is determined by the horizontal angle of the whole unit, I can easily change my blade cutting depth by simply changing the level of the whole unit as it is pulled. Tilt is forward or backwards just a very little and it changes the blade's cutting depth, because the rear or front skid then becomes the pivot point.
As far as adjustable or replaceable skids, or going thru the trouble of making replaceable skids, why? Most of us that are capable of building one of these things can easily flip it over on it's back and run a series of welds down the worn skid, a lot easier than removing a removable skid that all the bolts have to be cut out because the heads are worn half off.
A little about blades:
Before you purchase new blades, consider the dual edge blades. I knew I would probably never wear out one side of my new blades, but wanted the option of having a replacement by just flipping the blade over. Something as simple as that I managed to screw up, lol. My blade bolts on, but the blade isn't symetrical in relation to the bolt holes, so although I did manage to get two edged blades, I can only use one side without having to completely redrill the mounting angle for the new bolt pattern when I need to flip them. My blades have Cat's name on them, but this could show up on anybodys blades. Watch for it.
David from jax
