Steel Cut for Grader/Planer

[Gordon Gould]

We finally had a good day and I was able to finish my back yard mechanic
steel cutting for a grader/planer project. I have wanted one of these for a couple years.
I used my grapple for a vice to hold the steel plate and cut it with
a sawz_all. I clamped two pieces of light angle back to back along the cut
line to act as a blade guide.
I used the weight of my Farmi winch as a clamp to hold the square tube
for cutting.
Took a while but it was fun.
I'll try to attach some pictures (first try at this).

 

[lostunderhood]

Looks Great!! I bet the hands are still rattling from the sawzal!!:thumbsup:

 

[Aguanga]

I'll be watching your build closely as it's on my list of attachments to build as well.

Are you planning to angle your blades like most of the factory ones (to help recrown the road), keep them square to the side walls, or make them adjustable. I was trying to think of the best way to make mine adjustable for different situations. What size angle are you using for your blades?

Looks like you're off to a good start!
Good luck!

 

[Gordon Gould]

I'm making the blades fixed and square to the sides. I'm not sure this is best
but I'm doing it this way for a couple reasons: 1) my road is a mile long
and there is probably 1/3 of it I dont crown. One is a long sweeping
curve up hill which tends to get icy. My plow truck holds much better if I bank
this. The other is a stretch where I can only get drainage on one side
because of ledge. I make this flat but beveled. 2) My capability in terms of
know how, tools, and dollars is limited so I wanted to keep it simple.
To me the most important thing is weight. Mine will weigh a little over
500 lbs.

I've been grading the road for over ten years with just a Back Blade so
I'll just use that if I need to recrown.
I have stolen many ideas from other graders done here on TBN (search
grader). 4 X 4 - 3/8" angle seemed to be working out well for blades
or blade supports so that is what I am using.

Hopefully welding starts Monday.

 

[jenkinsph]

Gordon,
I built mine with straight blades too because I use it for smoothing areas for lawns as well as for driveway work. The 4x4 angle is a good choice as it is large enough to drill and bolt a 6" wide grader blade to. The one I built is 8' wide with 5' skids and is 950 lbs.

You look to be off to a good start on yours.:thumbsup:

 

[workmytractor]

How long did it take to cut the steel plates with a saws-all? How many blades did you use?

Looks like you had some great ideas to keep the cut straight.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I did use a bunch of blades. I used one for each cut on the the 3/8" plate.
All told I used up three 5 packs plus a couple more of the Milwaukee
10 tpi "torch" blades.
Had to go easy. I could burn a blade up in a hurry if I pushed to hard.
The blade guides really worked well. And the work had to be clamped solid
or it would just vibrate instead of cut.

 

[Gordon Gould]

jenkinsph that is a very nice unit you built. Big too.
Hope mine turn out half that nice.

 

[Jim in ICT]

Gordon, looks good. I've been planning to build one also. I think I may angle the front blade in order to move material to the inside of the driveway and build up the crown. All of my rock seems to find its way to the outer edges of the drive. I think I'll leave the second blade at 90 degrees to the side plates. Don't know which way is best, but I thought I'd try it this way. I think I saw the specs on one of the manufacturers blades where they used a 5 degree angle on the ends of their blades. Will have to check again.

 

[SkunkWerX]

Gordon,

Looks great so far! Can't wait to see the end product. :thumbsup: