PTO Grass Vacuum

[Agent Blue]

I am not worried about the PTO strength when the machine is running. Its the electric clutch that causes the instant starting motion on the small gears. Eventually it will cause slack in the bearings and transfer this to the gears which at one point will damage the wear surface. My 55 hp tractor engages the pto slowely with out a sudden jar. The 4110 starts the mid and rear PTO at the same time when your using the combination mower / vacuum together. Small tractors have lite components that carry a very high price tag.
My fan is 12 1/2" in diameter with 10 guage material and 4" blades. There is enough weight to put this in motion instantly to cause concern.
I may consider a replacement aluminum fan in the future if this combination pans out.

 

[Agent Blue]

Made the transition to blower hose from the mid mounted mower last evening. Used 20 guage material which should be more than adequate for durability. Next a matching 8" collar from the square 5"x5" square fan housing exit.

 

[jenkinsph]

Looks good so far, really interested in how this works with the pine needles.

Keep up the good work and keep posting your progress.:thumbsup:

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

I am curious about your choice of pully sizes. You have a large pully on the pto and a small pully on the jack shaft.This increases your pto speed. Then you have a small pully on the jack shaft going to a large pully. This slows the final drive back down. Did you check your final drive speed with a tach or just do the math.
Bill

 

[jenkinsph]

I am curious about your choice of pully sizes. You have a large pully on the pto and a small pully on the jack shaft.This increases your pto speed. Then you have a small pully on the jack shaft going to a large pully. This slows the final drive back down. Did you check your final drive speed with a tach or just do the math.
Bill

Bill look at his picture again, both sets of pulleys are increasing the fan speed.

 

[Agent Blue]

Look at the picture on the previous page. Drive pulley to small pully ( increaser ) jack shaft with small pulley has a larger pulley to the left on the same shaft. This is driven to a smaller fan pulley ( also increaser ) for final RPM. I ran the pulley sizes through the RPM Caluclator. I also marked the drive pulley and the fan pulley. ( One full turn of the drive pulley moves the fan pulley 6.25 revolutions ) The ratio is 6.25 to one that makes the 540 increased to 3375. By two seperate calculations I believe it is very close to the final shaft speed. It moves a tremendous amount of air at mowing RPM and I am sure with an eight inch chute the vacuum created will be adequate to drive those leaves / pine needles to their final holding position.
I have no reason to believe it won't work. The jack shaft arrangement gives me the closest distance between the mower and the fan. If I can get the product to the fan the four inch fan blade surface will create the motion to continue the journey. Besides for less than a hundred and a small amount of brain stimulation I have created a moving monster that .......... if ducted to the future cab project would cool the operator!

On another note;
I just received my 427 BBC engine back from the rebuilder. Project next is to stuff it back between the frame rails of a 66 Vette that carried this iron ingot for the past half century. The specs may have been improved, the fire is still alive and there is no better surround sound ! A symphony of moving parts and exploding gases returns one to the days of thunder.... and real ground pounding power. Smell the Gas, Tires and Oil yet ?
A classic example of why some gear heads never grow up. A wandering mind is a terrible thing to waste.

 

[Agent Blue]

Finished the inside duct work on the mower take off and built the two flex pipe adaptors for the fan housing today. The five inch inlet / outlet on the fan seemed small by todays standards. They were expanded to the eight inch variety that hopefully will avoid getting plugged and provide better air flow. I have some expanded metal for covering the drive pulleys but until it is tested and works properly that will have to wait. Besides the tractor interlock system will not let the PTO operate once you have left the seat. ( I like these child proof features )

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

Bill look at his picture again, both sets of pulleys are increasing the fan speed.

Sorry,I guess at 5am I wasn't as awake as I thought I was. This is a verry good build. Do you think the vacuum created by the blower will help the deck pick up the pine needles.
Bill

 

[jenkinsph]

Sorry,I guess at 5am I wasn't as awake as I thought I was. This is a verry good build. Do you think the vacuum created by the blower will help the deck pick up the pine needles.
Bill

I think Agent blue is doing a good job with the build but I am a little concerned with the pine needles packing up the blower housing. I have a Deere MC519 cart and blower that is brand new so I haven't had a chance to try it on pine needles yet. I already know the pinestraw rake will work great without issues, does a great job and has no moving parts. I am betting the pine straw rake is about 4 times faster than a vacuum cart.

Right now picking up pine needles is fixing to make my phone ring alot since we have a major forest fire underway here in the Ruidoso area. I have already started getting calls from people who suddenly realize the dangers they are facing.

For me it is a matter of which method is faster to load the trailer at the lowest cost. I can back up the ramps with the tractor and cart or use my rockbucket and 110 to load the trailer with the tractor and rake bunching them in the loading area. I will know alot more about this in the next couple of weeks I am sure.

 

[Agent Blue]

Steve;
I had a Yard Vac with a smaller blower unit and a 5" flex hose that was about 6 feet long from mower to blower fan. Another section of hose to the cart ( about 4' ). This combination packed in pine needles so tight one had to force a fork in the trailer to unload.
For this reason and others unknown I ventured out on a whim to make something more compact, less engines, and easier to unload. The rake idea sounds good. I would have to put together a rake with thin tines and a loader bucket that would self load. The current flat edge bucket would only push the pile around. With the amount of wind this combination moved when tested I have no doubt it will provide plenty of air flow to place the debris in the container.

How close are you to the fires ? A little wind and the heat involved sure would make this disaster mobile. Good luck stay a safe distance. A few pictures if you get a chance.