Goldberg's the name...Rube Goldberg...

August 23, 2017, 08:34 AM

I've been wanting a way to trim ditches and under trees.

Sicklebar and disc mowers are just stupid expensive and it doesn't make any sense to spend four or five grand on something you'll use for 2 hours twice a year, if that.

They sell a commercial version of a 3 point hitch mounted string trimmer for compact tractors, but it's $1000 plus shipping and taxes, again more than I wanted to spend.

Being a serious packrat, I had most of what I needed to make my own. I had the gearbox, the trimmer head, the PTO shaft and most of the steel. Plus, it's a major hobby of mine, making my own equipment whenever practical.

I've got about $200 or $250 in it with pulleys, bearings, belts, shafts and what extra steel I had to buy.

I'm pleased with how well it works, tho there will no doubt be modifications as I use it and find the weak points or have better ideas.

August 23, 2017, 09:15 AM

flesheatingvirus

Nice! Seems like it would be much easier to start than a regular weed eater, too.

________________________________________

-- Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. --

August 23, 2017, 09:21 AM

Woodman

quote:
Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
Nice! Seems like it would be much easier to start than a regular weed eater, too.

And has a cup holder.

August 23, 2017, 09:47 AM

PHPaul

quote:
Originally posted by Woodman:
quote:
Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
Nice! Seems like it would be much easier to start than a regular weed eater, too.

And has a cup holder.

And air conditioning. And power steering.

Life is good...

August 23, 2017, 10:01 AM

RogueJSK

The only flaw I see is the need to get out every 5 minutes or so, pick up the tractor, and bang it on the ground to advance more string.

August 23, 2017, 10:09 AM

PHPaul

quote:
Originally posted by RogueJSK:
The only flaw I see is the need to get out every 5 minutes or so, pick up the tractor, and bang it on the ground to advance more string.

Oh-oh, didn't consider that...

Actually, I'm getting much better life out of the string than I expected. It's about .125 diameter and ribbed (insert pleasure joke here...). I just whacked about 600' of ditch and around some trees and rocks and such and the ends are a bit frayed but still plenty of life left.

August 23, 2017, 11:31 AM

jhe888

For $250, anyJuan could come and do it twice a year for about three or four years. That Juan is invaluable.

August 23, 2017, 12:22 PM

k5blazer

Pretty nifty.

August 23, 2017, 12:36 PM

PHPaul

quote:
Originally posted by jhe888:
For $250, anyJuan could come and do it twice a year for about three or four years. That Juan is invaluable.

True, but the Juan problem with that is that I wouldn't have gotten to spend 3 days out in the shop with fire and sparks and big fucking hammers!

I love the smell of welding smoke and hot grease in the morning...

August 23, 2017, 12:48 PM

bendable

I have three hundred feet of weeds on the side of the county road that blocks ones sight of the road.

I found a sickle mower, but not a tractor,
four months later I found the tractor , but of course the sickle was gone

August 23, 2017, 09:21 PM

MarinetoRN

Something like that on the hunting club would be great!!

August 24, 2017, 06:15 AM

r0gue

Well done! RPMs reasonable for the trimmer head? (won't fling itself apart and smack you upside the head?).

August 24, 2017, 06:56 AM

PHPaul

quote:
Originally posted by r0gue:
Well done! RPMs reasonable for the trimmer head? (won't fling itself apart and smack you upside the head?).

Going by memory (not a great idea...) the walk-behind trimmer the string head came off used 1:1 between the engine and the string head. Most small engines run at 3600 RPM, so I used that as a target number. Seems to work okay.

August 24, 2017, 08:50 PM

Rolan_Kraps

Seems pretty smart to me!

August 24, 2017, 09:17 PM

ArtieS

I saw the thread title and the author and panicked just a little. But it all looks really good.

Very nice. I could use something like that here to clear the lake sides.

"I vowed to myself to fight against evil more completely and more wholeheartedly than I ever did before. . . . That’s the only way to pay back part of that vast debt, to live up to and try to fulfill that tremendous obligation."

Alfred Hornik, Sunday, December 2, 1945 to his family, on his continuing duty to others for surviving WW II.

August 25, 2017, 06:44 AM

PHPaul

quote:
Originally posted by ArtieS:
I saw the thread title and the author and panicked just a little. But it all looks really good.

Very nice. I could use something like that here to clear the lake sides.

August 25, 2017, 09:53 AM

ArtieS

I was hoping for a steam powered, belt driven, six fingered chicken plucker!

That's a really cool machine. You have great shop skills.

August 25, 2017, 11:06 AM

slabsides45

I'll send you $350 for your efforts, and you can just ship that sucker right on down to me. 'preciate you, bud.

What about steel cable, wire or small chain when the plastic wears out?

________________________________________________

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving."
-Dr. Adrian Rogers

August 25, 2017, 11:25 AM

PHPaul

quote:
Originally posted by slabsides45:
I'll send you $350 for your efforts, and you can just ship that sucker right on down to me. 'preciate you, bud.

What about steel cable, wire or small chain when the plastic wears out?

I have a spool of small diameter (maybe 1/16th) stainless steel wire rope I was given and some crimp on ferrules. Might have to try that.