OP
sandman2234
Super Member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2005
- Messages
- 6,028
- Location
- Jacksonville, Florida
- Tractor
- JD2555 and a few Allis Chalmers and now one Kubota
It wouldn't look it's age if I had painted it, or stored it inside...but I didn't, so it really does. Thankfully it was made out of serious metal, so it hasn't rusted away yet.
I really didn't know how this thing would perform as I built it, but I figured I could change the length of the teeth (which is why there is so much clearance on the guard, or I could shorten them, or if need be, even narrow them up. I built it to lay sprinkler system pipe so the 3" is really too wide if your doing it for a living. (I'm not)
Horsepower and shock are the critical factors. I used it on my last place, which had a lot of sand, so it was fine, but on harder packed dirt, it needs some help (Note that it has always been pulled by a 13hp Ford 1100) Now that I have the John Deere, I am waiting for another project to try it out on. Have considered a yardlight in the front yard, but I don't know where my phone lines are at, so need to have them located first. Plus it really isn't a pressing idea with street lights.
1:1 ratio gives a pretty fast speed, but not too fast. Any less than that can be adjusted by the diameter of the wheel. The bigger the wheel, the more HP, and faster surface speed at the tip of the blade. Calculations of the speed of the blade tips are really not that hard to figure. I can calculate the blade tip speed if anyone really needs it. Most of the guys here with the monster tractors (compared to the 13HP) will be able to pretty much do what they want. However, larger wheels will probably eat hp up pretty fast, so don't over do it, just to get the depth. Curved blades, or angle blades will probably help reduce the hp consumption. Narrow blades will also help for the people with compact tractors. A flat shaped discs or flatbar, like a garden tiller uses, riding behind the trencher would probably help to keep it in line if your 3pt has much play side to side. Might complicate making turns, so taking the slack out of your 3pt might be easier.
Stump grinding is something this thing manages to do, but in this setup, it doesn't do it well. With sharp teeth, it will eat a 3" hole right thru a solid stump, but as light as it is, it requires a light touch on the lift handle to slowly feed it as it cuts. Precision during blade manufacture would probably have been a good thing, as mine were different lengths when I installed them. (remember 1st milling machine project).Side to side slack in the 3pt hitch also becomes a very noticable factor. The best way would be to able to control the slack as movement, but that takes some designs I didn't want to tackle. An increase in the number of teeth, and a little shorter would be good if your planning on doing much stump work. Roots under ground don't seem to effect this, probably due to the angle of pull when lowered.
I have also considered turning the wheel at a slight angle to clean out existing ditches, and to make new ones to control water runoff around my place. An angle would allow it to dig a half moon shaped ditch.
Anyone with a post hole digger gearbox that wants to trade for one of my spare 1:1 gearboxes, feel free to contact me. One of my next projects is a posthole digger.
Any questions, just ask.
David from jax
I really didn't know how this thing would perform as I built it, but I figured I could change the length of the teeth (which is why there is so much clearance on the guard, or I could shorten them, or if need be, even narrow them up. I built it to lay sprinkler system pipe so the 3" is really too wide if your doing it for a living. (I'm not)
Horsepower and shock are the critical factors. I used it on my last place, which had a lot of sand, so it was fine, but on harder packed dirt, it needs some help (Note that it has always been pulled by a 13hp Ford 1100) Now that I have the John Deere, I am waiting for another project to try it out on. Have considered a yardlight in the front yard, but I don't know where my phone lines are at, so need to have them located first. Plus it really isn't a pressing idea with street lights.
1:1 ratio gives a pretty fast speed, but not too fast. Any less than that can be adjusted by the diameter of the wheel. The bigger the wheel, the more HP, and faster surface speed at the tip of the blade. Calculations of the speed of the blade tips are really not that hard to figure. I can calculate the blade tip speed if anyone really needs it. Most of the guys here with the monster tractors (compared to the 13HP) will be able to pretty much do what they want. However, larger wheels will probably eat hp up pretty fast, so don't over do it, just to get the depth. Curved blades, or angle blades will probably help reduce the hp consumption. Narrow blades will also help for the people with compact tractors. A flat shaped discs or flatbar, like a garden tiller uses, riding behind the trencher would probably help to keep it in line if your 3pt has much play side to side. Might complicate making turns, so taking the slack out of your 3pt might be easier.
Stump grinding is something this thing manages to do, but in this setup, it doesn't do it well. With sharp teeth, it will eat a 3" hole right thru a solid stump, but as light as it is, it requires a light touch on the lift handle to slowly feed it as it cuts. Precision during blade manufacture would probably have been a good thing, as mine were different lengths when I installed them. (remember 1st milling machine project).Side to side slack in the 3pt hitch also becomes a very noticable factor. The best way would be to able to control the slack as movement, but that takes some designs I didn't want to tackle. An increase in the number of teeth, and a little shorter would be good if your planning on doing much stump work. Roots under ground don't seem to effect this, probably due to the angle of pull when lowered.
I have also considered turning the wheel at a slight angle to clean out existing ditches, and to make new ones to control water runoff around my place. An angle would allow it to dig a half moon shaped ditch.
Anyone with a post hole digger gearbox that wants to trade for one of my spare 1:1 gearboxes, feel free to contact me. One of my next projects is a posthole digger.
Any questions, just ask.
David from jax
