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Author Topic: Ratchet rake.  (Read 9576 times)

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Ratchet rake.
« Reply #40 on: November 17, 2017, 03:20:19 pm »
Thanks, good to know. What about when you are welding to steel?
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
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Offline Acebird

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Re: Ratchet rake.
« Reply #41 on: November 17, 2017, 05:19:48 pm »
Good to know I would have thought you would have to increase amps for SS.
Brian Cardinal
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Offline Acebird

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Re: Ratchet rake.
« Reply #42 on: November 24, 2017, 09:54:13 pm »
https://photos.app.goo.gl/YGc9dQTsA9JEPQEq1 https://photos.app.goo.gl/DYtbUl0g1cdECI1z1

Well I tried inserting photos again and no luck.  Files too big.  Tried to find a file editor that wouldn't fill your hard dive with cookies and crap with no avail so links is the best I can do.

I had a draft for this but somehow lost it...
Anyway.  This is my cheesy creation.  It is made from two wide flanges and a couple of channels plus some bed frame stock.  The bed frame stock is my smoothing tool (Jim they are hard to weld because they are high carbon).  It attaches with 4 pins.  The two channels in the center attach with one pin each.  I also have a couple of wooden angle plows that attach to the two wide flanges that I use for back filling planted rows once the seed are planted.  It certainly is not pretty but it does a lot of work for the back yard farmer.
I can put as many as 4 wheel weights to make it dig deeper.  That would be if you wanted to use it as a rake.  Usually I use two or none.
This was a fun project because I had a need and it gave me some practice burning up rod.
The only thing I purchased for this project was the draw bar from TS and some welding rod.
Edit: trying this photo attachment...
« Last Edit: November 25, 2017, 11:09:49 am by Acebird »
Brian Cardinal
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Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Ratchet rake.
« Reply #43 on: November 25, 2017, 01:09:04 am »
Brian,
Nice project.
How has it held up. I suspect the angle iron will bend the first time it hits something real solid. If you have another piece of angle iron, it would help it hold stronger if you welded a second one inverted just above it or added a piece of flat stock welded to the top section of the angle iron.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline Acebird

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Re: Ratchet rake.
« Reply #44 on: November 25, 2017, 09:11:20 am »
Ah it won't bend Jim.  There are two pieces of bedframe angle ( queen size) welded together.  Maybe you can't see it in the photo.  It is high carbon and hard, tough to drill.  It is way stronger than 1/4 structural angle.  I have been using this 6 years now.  You can't see it in the field because it is smoothed over but every year I pull 5-6 inch rocks out of it.  Originally they were 8-10.  The bottom plow keeps turning them up.  They are getting smaller though and less of them.  One of the reasons I am reluctant to move to FL is because of all the work here that we have done will go to waste when we leave.
Held up?  Yeah it sure has.  There were three big trees in that garden area.  For two or three years it was a struggle getting the stump and roots out.  The last big one (3 ft dia trunk) still has some trunk below the surface and just about throws me over the steering wheel when I hit it with the plow.  That is why the garden isn't wider.  This rig is what I use to rip out roots.  I take off the bed frame steel and the two channel forks and just use the two big wide flange forks that is the main weldment.   After the forks hook a root I can use the three point hydraulics to work the root up or just loosen the dirt around them.  Obviously the three point doesn't have the power to handle a 3 ft dia tree so you have to let mother nature rot the trunk over time.  Then I can break off the roots from the trunk.  Surprisingly they don't rot too fast because they are not exposed to the air.
Brian Cardinal
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Offline paus

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Re: Ratchet rake.
« Reply #45 on: November 25, 2017, 10:56:58 am »
You can help Mother Nature by adding nitrogen that area or directly to the exposed wood then the microbes go to work  faster, it works.

Offline Acebird

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Re: Ratchet rake.
« Reply #46 on: November 25, 2017, 11:07:33 am »
Yup, that is where the chicken poop goes.
Brian Cardinal
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Offline 220

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Re: Ratchet rake.
« Reply #47 on: November 25, 2017, 07:36:30 pm »
Don't own a camera anymore I use my phone. To resize photos I just email them to myself from my phone and it gives me the option to resize them.

rake looks good