loadermounted snow blower

[wrench monkey]

greets!

As a new member I've already made the mistake of dividing the project topic under hydraulics & snow removal but since it's more DIY than anything else I'll move it here, enjoy!

http://www.trixtar.org/3/tinkerings/blower/blower.html

 

[teg]

Photos are .OVG??? That's a new file type I haven't heard of... The project is extremely impressive.

 

[wrench monkey]

Photos are .OVG??? That's a new file type I haven't heard of... The project is extremely impressive.

As I write this it's snowing and that should end in a couple hours. With about 4" of new snow it's exactly the design range I had planned for. I'll get things warmed up and be on my way to clear my road and two neighbours. An hour later I'll be back.

.ogv sometyimes just .ogg (ogg therora). It's non-proprietary and I try to stick to those when I have the time or a choice. All players I know of can handle them but I use only linux.

I forgot, those are movie clips not photos, and not very good ones cause server space is limited.

 

[JohninCT]

Wow that is really an impressive build! How long did the entire build process take you? I had trouble viewing the photos/video too, so I really didn't get to see much. Maybe when I have a few minutes, I'll download something that can view them.

 

[wrench monkey]

Wow that is really an impressive build! How long did the entire build process take you? I had trouble viewing the photos/video too, so I really didn't get to see much. Maybe when I have a few minutes, I'll download something that can view them.

The photos are a mix of jpg & png, they should all work. You can also download the movies and maybe convert them to another format?

I worked about 6 months on it but the real production when you go apeshit and sleep 4 hours a day was only about two months. As you can imagine a LOT went into thinking, and interminable very late hours on the online Gates Belt-Simulator. When you look at the cost of 19" sheaves and 4" carbon belts you wanna get it right before phoning in that order. The snow contract was $1500/year and now in the 3rd season I'll be broken even in a couple of years. The gas consumptiojn is really negligible and the 426 was sitting around all winter anyway. Knock on wood, sofar it's been worth it.

 

[wrench monkey]

I put a video up on the youtube.com/watch?v=zsgvwMYn0N0

I really DO NOT want to start another, but if I were to it would be a 400 hp engine with an all-aluminum blower (except the impeller). I woud maybe clip steel leading edges and skids on it where wear would be greatest. I'd want to keep the total weight to 2,000 lbs or less.

I'm kinda curious why the market isn't there for mass produced units along these lines? All the powered blowers I've seen are for the big loaders that can carry 6,000 lbs like nothing and none of them do it without decoupling the bucket.

 

[600rider]

aahh its not gonna blow much snow.....its missing some vital parts!!!!!!:laughing:

 

[tlbuser]

WOW. Your self parking stand is a rather slick arrangement. Did I understand correctly that it was spring loaded? Any negative effect on the curl function from that?

 

[rankrank1]

Very creative build/engineering. I love how you can drop the blower so quickly and use the bucket if needed.

You and I do have a few things in common:
a) We have the exact same shop. (I actually love my shop when it is nice weather. Hate it though when dark, rainey, or cold - LOL).
b) Your improvised drill press is similar to set-ups that I have done. I have even went as far as using one of those clamp on drill press guide for hand drills in really tight areas. Would love to have a Jancy magnetic drill press (or 2nd choice would be a Milwaukee) but can not justify the expense for my infrequent needs.
c) I am a total hack of a welder too. That said my welds do not fail - they are just very ugly.