I'm always building something.

The latest -

A light duty flail mower.

....

It is essentially a steel box - with a 6.5 hp single cylinder 4 stroke engine sitting on top - driving a chain through a centrifugal clutch - to a 2.5 foot shaft that is inside the box - horizontal to the ground. This shaft has holes drilled through (1/4 inch) every two inches along the shaft (each perpendicular to the last) with a set screw perpendicular to the the 1/4 inch hole.

In each of these hole is a 14 inch cable - with 1/2 inch steel tubing brazed onto the ends of the cable. This prevents the cable from fraying out.

When the engine is started - the chain drives the shaft. At full throttle with the reduction gearing - the shaft turns at about 1800 rpm. The cable ends are traveling at about 140 mph.

They destroy plant matter. Small trees (3/4 inch and smaller) get turned into confetti.

I did initial testing (mounted on the front of my Honda Fourtrax quad bike) with plastic weed whacker line - and it worked well - but the line life was about 1 hour at best.

I ran the shit out of it today with the steel cable. Protective gear - long sleeves, heavy pants - dust mask - safety glasses and a full face shield and gloves are a must.

Shit flies everywhere.

You can hit a stump (I did, several times) and nothing breaks. It just grinds off chunks.


I cleared about 1/4 mile of the property line.....
....

Much fun.

Nothing like devising one's own engine of destruction to reduce physical labor.

(August 1, 2020 at 7:18 pm)Fireball Wrote: Nothing like devising one's own engine of destruction to reduce physical labor.

precisely...

This is actually a offshoot of an earlier project I did - making a "conventional" push mower using steel cable instead of blades as a cutting edge.

It worked well - but vibration destroyed the aluminum deck.

The purpose was a lightweight unit to mow along the banks of our pond.

A regular push mower wore my ass out dragging it up and down  the banks - and the blade was always catching up on shit.

The steel cable was more forgiving...

I have arthritis in my hands and feet. Some things I can do, but dragging a mower uphill isn't one of them. You have a pic of the mowerstein?

The only thing I can build is literature with my mind.

and spectacular 12 inch meatball subways!

(August 1, 2020 at 9:49 pm)Fireball Wrote: I have arthritis in my hands and feet. Some things I can do, but dragging a mower uphill isn't one of them. You have a pic of the mowerstein?

I haven't posted pictures in quite some time - I don't have a picture hosting site I use....

Good to see "Mortal Engines" wasn't a complete waste of time.

(August 2, 2020 at 6:05 am)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: Good to see "Mortal Engines" wasn't a complete waste of time.  

That was sort of a fun movie - if you appreciate steampunk....

(August 2, 2020 at 5:41 am)onlinebiker Wrote:

(August 1, 2020 at 9:49 pm)Fireball Wrote: I have arthritis in my hands and feet. Some things I can do, but dragging a mower uphill isn't one of them. You have a pic of the mowerstein?

I haven't posted pictures in quite some time - I don't have a picture hosting site I use....

Try imgur.com

You can private your pics so only you can see them.