Cheap, Durable, Plastic Plow Wear Edge

[varosd 1,185]

I think it looks great and if you do have to replace every 2-3 yrs, so be it. on a commerical business, now that might be a different story. we will need pictures once we get some of the white stuff!

[shameless 3]

Well there is no snow here so I got some work done on a ski last night. I finished my original build of sandwiching the stock foot. It did not go up high enough and left the blower about and inch and a quarter off of the ground. I scrapped it. I started building version 2...replacing the whole foot with my ski. It was a pain as my welder intermittently would stop feeding wire in the middle of a weld. I ended up welding with one hand and wiggling the circuit board inside the welder with the other. It made a messy weld, but I got it done. My gas regulator was not cooperating at first either, I had not used it in a long time as I typically only use it when I do stainless. Well after several hours of diagnosis, cutting, bending, drilling, and painting I finished one ski. I wanted to make sure it would work before I made a set.

Here are the pictures. Only using my camera phone. I painted with krylon cherry red. I plan to powder coat in the future. I'm just waiting for a free CL oven to pop up. I think they will work great with the replaceable plastic strip...now I just need snow. No scratched driveways!!

Hey chinoman.

Nice work.

Are those skis made out of the same cutting board as your fist attempt?

[shameless 3]

Hey chinoman:

Awesome repurposing of a cutting board!

I repurposed 2 cookie sheets to create a chain guard.

Check it out.

I have a cutting board I could sacrifice ( borrow) ......

I could see fashioning it into blower shoes.........

Keep me posted, please!

I followed your post. I like the creativity and the way you worked through the problems without quitting. I've used cookie sheets for many many things. Rarely, if ever, to make cookies. There is a guy about 10 minutes from me selling several snow blowers for everything from a Craftsman to a JD. Cheap too. After seeing your work I thought about going to pick one up to fit on a Horse and selling it. My next project is going to be the generator mount fabrication. I would like to sell them...or anything I make for that matter. Including these skis. I'm not looking to make a killing, I just like tinkering, and building. A powder coat oven would be nice....thinking out loud.

Hey chinoman:

I quit several times during my creation.

I quit for lunch and dinner and slowed right down after a couple of pints......

My intent was never to buy a complete unit and spend a fortune.

I found the blower online and had to do lots of research from the pic in the ad to find out what it was.

The P.O had no idea what brand or its age.

I knew I would have to do fabrication to make the two pieces come together.

You have seen the voyage in my post.

The cookie sheets just sort of happened.

I found it would cost over $20.00 to buy sheet metal to make a cover, so $6 for 3 cookie sheets seemed a better idea.

They don't require paint either!

Well a bit of paint where I welded them.......what a job that was.

Like you I would like to sell some of my creations if only to recoup the material cost to continue tinkering.

My wife often asks me if I could have bought the same thing for less than what it costs to create.

The answer of course is.....

"This is CUSTOM and would cost way more than what I have invested"

[chinoman279 10]

Finally got enough snow today to try out the skis on the blower. They worked great. Did several driveways...about 3 hours worth. No scratching of any driveways and my trusty cutting board skis did not even have a mark on them. With the big skis I also managed to easily blow several paths through the very uneven yard without eating up the grass. I would say the cutting board is plenty hard to use for this application of homemade skis. As a plus they are also very low friction when going across concrete.

On a side note I also found out today that my drive belt on my 310-8 is slipping badly. I started out plowing, but could barely move with any amount of snow so I put it away for the 312. Anyone have a quick belt number for a 1990 310-8?

[can whlvr 993]

7473 toro number

[JoeM 7,874]

Using the UHMW should be a great choise for non-marking on the concrete. We use this material at work for skirting board on conveyor belts to guild the coal toward the center of the belt. It is pretty tough. One train of thought is to keep the material from gouging into the rubbing surface. Should be ideal on the concrete. Also, I have one of those ManPlows. It has a plastic edge simular to the UHMW. It really cleans off the snow. I think the angle of attack is the secret. I am on the second winter and the edge is hardly worn. Used it last year on 300' of side walks two to three times a week. I would even go thicker, 1" is a avaliable too. Then cut the blade on an angle to get good cleaning. The edge could be recut when worn provided enough stock is left to make a new edge.