Snowplow/blade build, Im getting on with it at las

[Stigian 1,234]

At long last work has started on my snowplow/blade, after me saying im going to build one for quite a while now I did buy a home made blade on ebay, but it is quite crude, very heavy and as it was quite short it only fitted my commando 8 which is long since sold

Anyway, on with the first part of the build

Never one to do things the easy way, well more like i rather make something if i can than pay for it, i started with a rusty iron bar in my lathe.

Lots of machining later this was the result

Which fits into one of these

Being the tight wad that i am, i cut up and old trailer for all lengths of box section steel that laughingly made up a kinda crude chassis The trailer bed is now home to all my scrap metal. Yes i like to recycle

Lots of doubling the box section up, cutting and welding later the start of the A-frame was born.

It fits well here, you can see the machining on the center of the hitch bar to clear the trans.

More detail on how im going to attach the blade when i work it out

In the mean time the A-frame stickout the front about this much.

At the end of play, today it looked like this with a couple of cross members welded in.

More to come when more gets done :(

[combatmp29r 27]

Stigian, Very nice so far keep up the good work

now I am curiouse. Is metal working equipment pretty reasonable over there? I see you have a lathe and i know Jim (Mith) has a mill. Just curiouse, I know I've been looking here for a while and I can't aford anything I've found.

[kj4kicks 151]

Lookin good Ian !!

Nice work !

[Stigian 1,234]

Cheers for the guys

Joel - Oh to have Jim's milling machine, it would come in very handy

Ive had my old Southbend lathe for a couple of years now.

I spotted it on ebay and asked if they had a "buy it now price",

[combatmp29r 27]

Ian, Thats how it always works isn't it? After you search and search, finally buying something half way across the state etc... Half a dozen guys you know say oh I've got one of those you could have had :D

[Rollerman 290]

Ian I don't think that bar stock is going to be heavy enough...LOL!

Thats pretty cool...makeing your own stuff like that...& overbuilding I might add.

Are you going to incorperate a trip for your plow?

Got to love them SB lathes.

A friend & myself went half on one a few years back & has been very handy tool to have.

Ours is a beltdrive also with a small 12" bed.

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,496]

Ian,

Nice. If I had a lathe, a welder, a torch, I would have made my plow instead of still looking for one. Oh, yeah, not to mention a little thing like skill like you, Mith and others have. :D

[Greg B. 1]

Way to go, Ian. I'm following this very closely Thanks for the running commentary.

Greg B.

[Rollerman 290]

Ian any updates on the plow/dozer project?

[Stigian 1,234]

An update coming very soon Stephen :D

[Stigian 1,234]

And the update is here

Its not that big an update, not had the time to get much done but i have solved a problem on the 312-8 that will help with more than just the snowplow

With the A-frame back under the WH and held up in its maximum up position (i even remember to take into account the front axle movement ), i thought id work our how to fix the A-frame to the WH lifting bar thingy underneth.

It was at this point i suddenly thought the 312 has no height or is it depth control unlike my Raider 10 which has a depth or is it height control thingy that stops the cutting deck lever dropping down

not sure ive explained that well, hopefully the photos will help

After a bit oh ing i came up with this

It works in the same way my Raider 10, and many other WH's control thingys (whats the right name for it ) work. If you twist the knob (i think it was a bmx foot peg) to the clock wise it will stop the lifting arm going down so far.

It looks quite good from the driving position and doesnt get i the way of my leg

Thought id drop in a couple of pics of the blade in going to be using, its not made by me but i think its quite cool how its been made from a road sign

Heres the back, im glad the curved reinforcing strips are in fact steel and not part of a green house frame cos thats what they look like

Not the best of pics of the blade front, but the reflective arrows kept picking up the

flash

Thats all for now folks,

Stay tuned for more tales of grinding dust, bright welding light, and lots of head scratching :o

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,300]

Great pics and a very funny commentary. Had me laughing all the way thru it ! So will the blade be painted or will ya leave the direction arrows on it?

Mike........

[kpinnc 11,894]

Very sharp thinking on that adjuster. I like it!

Kevin

[TT-(Moderator) 1,131]

Ian, you're doing a stupendous job on your plow build! If you need any close up photos, or measurements of any kind, just ask!

If anyone else wants to "upgrade" their manual lift WorkHorse GT or 300/400/500 series tractors by adding a lift stop, the "wide body" C series tractors (C-XX1 / C-XX5) are perfect donors. The lower dash and console plate will need trimmed out for the small part of the casting that will stick up, but it should be a bolt-on modification otherwise.

[Rollerman 290]

Ian it's looking great!

Good job on your height adjuster too.

I like the road sign look & as an added benefit you can direct traffic too.

On a side note...how many cars have missed that turn where that sign used to be? :P

[combatmp29r 27]

Definately looking good Ian. The BMX peg is a nice touch. Just goes to show nothing is junk we can reuse almost anything to fabricate a new toy :D

[kpinnc 11,894]

Those BMX pegs do come in handy:

Definately helps getting this thing hooked up!

Kevin

[Stigian 1,234]

WOW, cheers for all the positive comments guys , it makes all the welding burns, lying under the WH head ing, and grinding dust in my coffee worthwhile

Great pics and a very funny commentary. Had me laughing all the way thru it biggrin.gif ! So will the blade be painted or will ya leave the direction arrows on it?

Mike........

Glad you liked the commentary Mike , i must of been having a good night, would you believe i sometimes struggle to put down in words what im thinking

The rum and coke must of helped HHmmm, good idea

Im not sure if the direction arrows will be staying or not

The sign is made of ally, im wondering how well it will take my abuse.

I do have some nice shiny stainless sheet to make the blade if needs be.

Time will tell.

Very sharp thinking on that adjuster. I like it!

LOL cheers kevin, not sure its worth getting on your knees and bowing though.

Its when im on my knees in the workshop that i normally find the screw i lost last week or the odd stone in a painful way by kneeling on them.

At least it saves the screw going into a tire

Ian, you're doing a stupendous job on your plow build! If you need any close up photos, or measurements of any kind, just ask!

Cheers for the offer Terry have you got any close up photos of a blade angle changing mechanism?

I have a few ideas running around in my head, but it would be good to see how WH did it.

Cool diagram by the way

Definately looking good Ian. The BMX peg is a nice touch. Just goes to show nothing is junk we can reuse almost anything to fabricate a new toy

I like to reuse as much as i can Joel. Partly because it saves money, partly because its good for the enviroment, but mostly because by reusing a bit of junk it gives me more space to fill up with new junk that might come in handy one day

And last but by no means least, back to Kevin.

Nice use of foot pegs sir, very well polished as well :o

[Stigian 1,234]

Yes, folks its that update kinda time again

As ever work has progressed at a slower rate that i hoped it would do, but the plow is getting there

The first job on the hit list was to make the panel that goes behind the lifting arm thingy fit back on with the lift stop (yippie i got its name right ) bolted in place.

Working out how much and where to cut the hole bigger was fun, but i did it

Dont you just love lying on the floor with a tape measure? <_<

Its not my sort of thing but there are times when these things must be done

One of those times was to measure up for making this

The top 2 holes on the A-frame bracket will be cut off.

And now, for your viewing and reading pleasure, its onto the blade

After lots of ing and coffee i though id pinch bits from the old blade to make a new one.

With the road sign part of the old blade gone i was left with 4 curved blue bits of steel and a couple of lengths of angle.

Let the reconstruction begin

A few years ago a friend of mine used to work delivering metal, and as it happens with friends the odd bar or sheet would fall off the back of the truck

These days he delivers bathroom fittings, not quite as useful but handy if i need a tap washer

Anyway ive had a sheet of stainless steel sitting around for a few years, now was its time of glory

In a change from the normal the sheet was the right height, just needed cutting to the right length.

Anyway, enough waffling

Lots of clamping had the blade looking like this. After welding the other end had the same treatment.

Time to sort the top and bottom of the blade. The top was easy, just a length of angle iron.

The bottom needed angle with less er... angle

Take one length of angle and cut in the V with cutting disk to make a groove.

Then beat like hell on it to change the angle

You can see the change in this photo. As is on the left, beaten to death on the right

I bet it wont stay this shiny for long

Back to the back of the blade

Top, bottom and center ribs welded in place

This photo is mostly me having a ing session trying to figure out how to mount the blade.

Im thinking of mounting an old trailer wheel hub on the A-frame, and using wheel center as part of a frame welded to the blade.

Have i explained the ok guys

Suggestions on a postcard please

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,496]

I think we have our longest post.

Ian,

Great commentary - with a lot of humor, as well details of your project. Is it your thinking to use the wheel hub as a pivot for the blade to angle it? BTW, I wish some metal would conveniently fall off a truck near my house. :D

[Stigian 1,234]

Wow the longest post eh? Do i get a prize?

Are you guys on dial-up ok with the size of my photos by the way?

Is it your thinking to use the wheel hub as a pivot for the blade to angle it?

You got it in 1

I will weld in some "blade stops" each side to er... stop the blade from turning too much.

Making the remote linkage is going to be fun, but i do have a few ideas and a big pile of Westwood linkage rods with adjusters

I wish some metal would conveniently fall off a truck near my house.

I wish it would fall off at my place again

I keep getting offers of baths to put in my garden as ponds instead!!!

[TT-(Moderator) 1,131]

Ian,

I finally got a chance to get to the shop and get you some photos. They may or may not inspire you in the design of your pivot, but at least you might see something that will ease your .

Follow this link:

http://s249.photobucket.com/albums/gg221/WH1056/66%20blade/

[Stigian 1,234]

Thank you for taking the time to take the photo's Terry, its just what the WH doctor ordered

Its interesting to see just how simple WH blades are, maybe im making mine to complex , its certainly getting on the heavier side of things and im not sure if the wheel hub will help, its a heavy old lump of steel

During one of my many ing sessions i even thought about using a Kawasaki headstock for the pivot

The two big springs on the blade have got me thinking as well. Are they there to stop the blade getting damaged by getting caught on anything in the ground that wont move.

Or are they there to stop the drivers back from jarring while running into things :o

[TT-(Moderator) 1,131]

Simple, yet effective -- that seems to be the way most Wheel Horse equipment was built.

By keeping the blade pivot centered within the plates on the "A" frame, it allows the majority of the pushing force to be applied directly to the rear hitch, which makes for a very strong design.

The springs are made to protect both blade and operator, but they only work when the "solid object" is very short -- otherwise the operator becomes a hood ornament in a hurry. :D

[Stigian 1,234]

otherwise the operator becomes a hood ornament in a hurry.

I think OUCH is the answer to that

I think it may be time to have another :scratchead:ing session tomorrow, time to scrap the wheel hub idea and build something a bit stronger.

Shame it took me an hour odd to get the tire off the rim

Oh well, all part of the fun :P