Opinions on FEL grapple bars

[dfkrug]

...my observation (by deduction only) is that they are just not needed...whatever they are helping to hold can't go anywhere anyway...

PINE, I think that in your example of "The Thumb", you are correct that the
teeth are not needed. What I think happens is that the designer adds
them to his CAD file since they look cool and it costs no more to make them
that way. The CNC plasma machine takes a bit longer and you need a
bit more steel to be the same strength, but no additional cost when subbed
out anyway.

I played around with teeth in my first backhoe thumbs and found that it was
far more important what was on the end of the bars. When I sent out to
have a bunch of the bars made in a shop, I added some small teeth to my
design. They don't do much.

 

[magicheater]

Here is a small grapple I made up out of box blade shanks, and some welding. Frame for the shanks is a hitch assembly

Very impressed with your ingenuity J J, using what you have and applying creativity is what sets those people apart from the others.

 

[ihuntbear]

I'm also building my own grapple.the whole thing is made with 1/2 x 4 mild steel plate and 2.5 "x 1/4 " tubing .the grapple is 48 inches wide and 24 inches high.One of my buddy's came over the other night to see it .He seems to think the 1/2 x 4 plate will bend when raking.I told him it would be reinforced and maybe put some teeth at the end of the rake and on the grapple