Yet another snow thrower chute mod.

[Marveltone]

Okay guys and gals, I'm going to make sure it never snows in my neck of the woods for the rest of the winter. My dad found a windshield wiper motor in a surplus store for $15.00 and gathered up a bunch of scrap he had laying around and decided to build a super cheap chute rotator for me. Hey, what else is a retired electrician supposed to do with his time?

He used scrap metal to build the base and Lexan to mount the motor to the base, because it had to be electrically isolated. We both decided to keep the factory hand crank as a back-up, in case the motor or some other part fails, so we took a scrap of oak, chucked it up on the lathe and turned out a split pulley that can be installed and removed without removing the crank.

Seeing as the motor terminates to a crank, a disk was made out of Lexan with holes to fit the crank. One hole would have been plenty, but the others are extra, just in case the chute freezes down or catches on something and breaks the first one. The disk turns the shaft, and thus the drive pulley. A zerk fitting was installed for lubrication.

A linked belt,left over from another project proved to be just the thing to transfer power from the motor to the crank.

We JB Welded a piece of copper tubing to the toggle switch to make it easier to use with heavy gloves and mounted it inside the cab. The wires have quick connects to make changing implements easy.

The pictures show everything out in the open so you can see it. I made a temporary cover out of a juice jug. A permanent cover will follow sometime in the future.

Maybe it will snow next winter.

Joe

 

[herringchoker]

Clever design and great workmanship, and on a small budget. I like it. :thumbsup:

 

[rgs03833]

I like the Idea and Cheap.

Only one thing....

I think you have too much stuff going on. Would it be better just use the Motor without all that Gear and Pulley and just Weld it directly to the Chute?

Is your Chute too Big for the Motor? That may be the Reason why?

Also, the Cable that spin the Chute back and fourth, would that grind the Metal through time since there is nothing to protect it? I already see the Paint starting to rubbed off.

:confused2:

 

[Marveltone]

I like the Idea and Cheap.

Only one thing....

I think you have too much stuff going on. Would it be better just use the Motor without all that Gear and Pulley and just Weld it directly to the Chute?

Is your Chute too Big for the Motor? That may be the Reason why?

I'm not sure I follow you. We can't let the motor come in direct contact with any metal, for ground reasons, so no welding the motor to anything. That being said, even with an insulated mount, I still don't see how you propose to drive the chute. Nothing against your idea, I'm just being dense. :confused3:
We did it this way for a couple reasons. First, we didn't want to do any radical changes to the implement itself. If, for some reason the motor quits, I can just throw the belt and crank it manually, just like it was built. The motor itself seems to have plenty of torque. Second, we just didn't know how fast things were going to spin. A pulley system makes changing speeds as easy as grabbing a different size pulley, then add or subtract a link or two on the belt.

Also, the Cable that spin the Chute back and fourth, would that grind the Metal through time since there is nothing to protect it? I already see the Paint starting to rubbed off.

:confused2:

The cable system is totally stock, the way Buhler built it. The paint got scratched when we first assembled the snow thrower, as the parts fit tightly. I was spinning, pushing and pulling the crank to help get it, the mounting bracket and the cable settled to where they had to go. I just haven't bought any touch-up paint yet.

Joe

 

[rgs03833]

hi,

Nothing bad about your Idea, cause I like it Cheap, LOL

All i was getting at was that I see an extra Gear that you don't need that is all, but it's yours do as you like.

I was refering to the Cleaner Look and that is why I said there are too many things going on. Also, I was refering to Weld to the Shaft of the Motor, not the whole Motor...

Here are the Examples:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdoP9uutw8g&feature=player_embedded]Ingersoll Garden Tractor SB48 Snowblower with electric R/L chute motor - YouTube[/ame]

Another thread you might want to look at and the Pix from GPintheMitten below;

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/230547-ideas-needed-turn-snow-blower-3.html

P.S. It just look cleaner too me that is all. Clean Looking refering to how it's designed not Washed Cleaned, LOL

 

[Marveltone]

Ah! I see what you're talking about. To do something like that, I would have had to cut off or replace the existing crank, which I did not want to do. Looks very clean, though. Nice job! Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:

Joe

 

[rgs03833]

Ah! I see what you're talking about. To do something like that, I would have had to cut off or replace the existing crank, which I did not want to do. Looks very clean, though. Nice job! Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:

Joe

Eh, if yours is working it's OK. I just don't want to see something flying in there while you are Blowing your snow that is all.

But if you make a Cover or Something, which lead to bulkiness... LOL Maybe it will prevent things from flying into the gears...

Maybe next time

 

[Marveltone]

I definitely see your point, and I do have a temporary cover for the motor and gear assembly. Just didn't have it in place when we took the pictures. I'll do something permanent sometime in the future. The link belt won't freeze up with ice like a chain would, so I'm not worried about that. As it is, it's been so dry, I haven't needed the silly thing at all. By the time I get enough snow to use it, it will be next winter. By then, it will have a new cover on it. I'll show pics when it's done.... eventually... if I remember.

Joe