Thinking out loud

[charlie C]

Dan, my blade was cut from an old air tank. The metal was 3/16 thick. Two pieces was laid one on top of the other and welded around the edge with about 2" weld beads ever few inches.
The air tank was 30" in diameter.

 

[blacksmith]

I was able to form my blade at work using a radius press die. I used 3/16" material. If you look close at the second picture you can see the 1" hits to form the radius. I would have used a tank also or a large thin wall tubing from the junk yard.

 

[bobodu]

I made a six footer for my WC at a cost of welding rod.I was driving around on my route and was thinking about making a blade.Thought..."God...it'd sure be nice to find the steel for a blade..." I SWEAR I'm not making this up....
TWO MINUTES LATER...there were two pieces of 24 X 30 X 1/4" pieces of plate laying the the road!!! The must have fallen off a scrap truck as there is a yard not far down the road.There were cut from a water tank judging by the rust and scale,but they were sound and even had a slight bend to them.I just wrapped a chain around them and put my floor jack under the chain to accentuate the bend a little.

 

[RonMar]

I have some area to smooth out in the near future. I have been thinking about building a 5 or 6 ft back blade for smoothing and buying a 4 ft box blade. Just wondering if anyone has input on this and or photos of your creations? The one area I am lost is the pivot point for angling a back blade.

Dan

Dan if you wan't the area smooth, you might also consider gauge wheels on the blade so it acts like a road grader. Without them, the tractor wheels rolling over uneven ground will tend to make the blade dig harder or loose contact and make more dips/rises. The gauge wheels help with this by limiting the depth of cut which keeps the blade from digging in deeper when the front of the tractor rolls over a high spot. The gauge wheels behind the blade allow the blade to cut into the high spots and deposit the material into the low spots. Same theory applies to the sidewalls of a box scraper.

 

[excelagator]

I went and looked at back blades today. A new 4 footer with the slide option was $325. Another with the tilt option was $500. The slide option would be nice. I did look on Ebay and found this.........

Farm Pro 3 point 4 foot / 6 Foot Scraper Blade 03987 - eBay (item 200197781826 end time Feb-11-08 17:45:54 PST)

At a $129 plus $80 for shipping is not bad. Looks like no slide option.

Ron I agree I like the gauge wheel option and it reduce time and improve it.

BTW, Guy nice Fab jobs on those blades, really like the ram too!

Dan

 

[excelagator]

I made a six footer for my WC at a cost of welding rod.I was driving around on my route and was thinking about making a blade.Thought..."God...it'd sure be nice to find the steel for a blade..." I SWEAR I'm not making this up....
TWO MINUTES LATER...there were two pieces of 24 X 30 X 1/4" pieces of plate laying the the road!!! The must have fallen off a scrap truck as there is a yard not far down the road.There were cut from a water tank judging by the rust and scale,but they were sound and even had a slight bend to them.I just wrapped a chain around them and put my floor jack under the chain to accentuate the bend a little.

I beleive ya!

Dan

 

[wmgeorge]

I also enjoy a good fabrication job. But, I usually only fabricate when I either cannot buy the item or I think can save a fair amount of cash. I just don't have the time to spare making something for fun anymore.

Same here... I bought a used commercially made for for $125, I know I could not purchase the steel for that price. I did need to modify the top pin to make it work with my quick hitch. BG in Iowa

BTW found it on a local Craigslist!!!

 

[charlie C]

I have about $100 in this thing. All of the material was sitting around in my goodie pile or was given to me. I did pay $80 for the Hyd hose and purchased a 10 ft piece of 1/4X2 inch angle iron for the strong back, the other angle was in the metal rack from some other job that I did.