I love watching videos like this that show trial and error, and fleshing ideas out as you go. That's how I do a lot of my work. Now, I need to get over my fear of learning to weld! Because, I desperately need something like this for our driveway.
Shawn there has never been a better time to learn to weld. Between all of the very knowledgeable folks posting great videos and the inverter type welders that are inexpensive and do well on household current, the time is right. No more excuses, go for it. Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for taking the time to comment and good luck! Barry
NICE JOB !! You're a man after my own heart !! I love doing these kinds of projects. You did a nice job. As far as the Z turn, I wouldn't worry about it. My neighbor pulls ALL KINDS of things with his and I pull anything and everything with mine. Never had a problem. Thanks for sharing your ingenuity with us !!
Thank you Lone Wolf, you are a brother from another Mother! Yea, lots of hand wringing out there about hurting the mower but I ain't skerd. It's not like I pull 8 hours a day five days a week. Old guys rule and glad you enjoyed the video.
That my friend, is the epitome of “Yankee ingenuity” . You remind me of my dad. If something needed to be done and you didn’t have the tool, you’d build it. A lot of trial and error. My dad has been gone now for thirty years, but a lot of his “created tools” are still with me, and will continue to be treasured. Subscribed.
Thank you Krankie! In my youth my Dad's make due stuff used to embarrass me to no end. Now it is time to embarrass my kids! Not really, I think they are amused by my miscellaneous projects and videos. And thanks for your subscription! Barry
HEY............ I'm a young guy and I know how to "DO" things! NOT all young People are stupid you know! NOT all of us had dropped on the head by our mother when young! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Nice watching you put that together. Good job. I need something like that for my driveway. It's rough and uneven. And it goes uphill from the road. You are a creative backyard engineer.
Thanks Art! Nobody was surprised as I as how well this little contraption worked. I still want a tube bender, maybe a good RU-vid project for the future.
@@barrylukebuilds7894 If your kids think you are "smart" then you have done a great job of conning them. I don't think I'm smart but they are very smart. For me, I just do the best I can. Like you, I try to make something which will work.
Thank you Robert! Funny thing, in my early life I craved all sorts of special tools that I didn't own but couldn't afford. Now that I can easily afford them, I usually just do without. Not sure what that means.
Thanks Easy! Funny thing, Easy Money was what a lot of my buds called me when I had a real job. I guess everyone thinks that because you are the boss you have it made. Truth is, managing large construction projects is anything bit easy. Barry
You have schedule 40, 60, 80, that's the thickness, you'll usually see thicker pipe in the colder climates, I know this is an older video but hey thanks alot I built one from your assistance and it works gr8...
Roger Congrats on your build! Good to hear. Different schedules on pipe and a whole different world on steel tube. I feel lucky when I can find two of the same on my junk rack. Barry
Nice little piece of equipment you made there! Very well done, and loved your ingenuity in making your bends in pipe and saying someday I'd like to have a proper bender. But you should people that there is another way to get the job accomplished if you just think a little.
@@barrylukebuilds7894 That is one way of thinking of it. Not enough lame brains around these days since it seems everyone wants the computer to do the work.
Bloody brilliant... I have an RV slideout mechanism that would be perfect for raising/lowering the blade. Thanks for the inspiration, going to try my hand at one of these.
Just being honest D B. Perfection has always eluded me. But I am pretty good at making do with with the skills and materials I have available. This rubs some people the wrong way but I am glad to see with you that is not the case. Barry
I like this build. Been thinking about doing one myself. I like how you used what you had. Oh and...a grinder and paint will make you the welder you ain't!
I have a small finish scraper I’ve built and rebuilt several times I use to experiment with. I’ve gone through a lot of linear actuators. If there’s any bounce it’s transferred straight to the linear actuator and wears out the treads. If you have that issue try using a spring to dampen any bouncing
Stacy, Good idea with the spring. My little actuator feels pretty cheep so I am not expecting a long lifespan. But the wheels are kinda soft so maybe that will help absorb some of the stress. Time will tell.
Very nice build... you must have watched all the right RU-vid videos.... cause that is a solid build.... also, Water pipe changes its inside dimension when ever the schedule is changed.. so extra heavy pipe or schedule 80 pipe has a smaller ID then schedule 40 pipe..
Thanks buddy! I agree, schedule 40 and 80 have different ID"s . But there is no such thing as 1/2" schedule 80 galvanized water pipe. This stuff was just had little bitty bit smaller ID, very strange.
Thanks Buddy! Everything is a compromise. More weight, better faster cutting. Better faster cutting, more wear and tear on a fairly expensive mower. Barry
Your question about water pipe. Standard pipe is known as Schedule 40 pipe. Heavy wall pipe is known as Schedule 80 pipe. It has the same OD but a slightly smaller ID than Schedule 40. Anyway, you have a great idea here and did an excellent job of bringing it to life.
I wonder about a very sharp cutting edge and then a rolling edge behind that. Even cut into your cutting edge so the dirt can overflow it. Anything that overflows could be spread out with two or three short spreaders behind it. At least that is the idea I would go for with a fresh build. Yours is great though. As long as you can lift and spread. It is more of a pan than a grader, but pans can be great.
Up north they would be scraper bars on snow plow blades. Real nice job, but I would suggest moving those wheels back about 4 more feet. Since it is only sand, a slightly wider blade would work too.
No grass will ever grow there now. You got a toy to play with. I would sell it to someone that lives on a long private drive after you are done. You can bet they would appreciate it.
Not a civil engineer. I’m a boilermaker welder all good in the old school construction. If you had the wheels behind the blade, with angle of blade adjustment designed. Wondering if it would be a better design . Sort of like a dozer without the tracks. Still a good go mate and given me ideas for my own try one day.
Thanks Buddy! Compliments always good to read. It was a fun project and now, almost two years later, the little 12v ram still works! In spite of being parked in the rain.
Nice build and effort, video and explanations went quite well to. But I really advise to try a pallet and a chain. 10 minutes to put together and extremely efficient . ;-) My project was about the same size as your or maybe a tiny bit bigger. It went quite well with the said pallet tied up with a chain. Couldn't be cheaper either, since I got the pallet for free. Definitely worth a try, because the ROI (return of investment) it's unbeatable. ;-) Cheers
100% agree! I have an old chain link fence gate that I use for spreading sand and it works great. But if you want to grab material from one area and deposit it in another a grader box is the key.
Shane Thank you for the kind words, I am very flattered. I would think that if you were to show the video to any local fab shop they could whip one out for you, probably better than mine. Barry
try using Flood Penetrol to cover your whole project. it stops rust and makes a great primer. if you are using oil based paint you mix penetrol with the paint and it makes the paint flow and even out plus it makes your paint job almost look like you sprayed it instead of rolling or brushing it. your video will give inspiration to those who don't have all the fancy tools or skills to know they can accomplish things like this. and to to use whatever they have or can find for free.
Thanks Harlan. That little ditty came as part of my video editing software. I don't think it exists in the real world. Recently I have figured out how to use music provided by the You Tube people. Thousands of tunes!
Nice work! This has been on my to do list for a year now. Finally finished building our house and can get to these projects! What area of Louisiana are you located?
Straight. Totally agree on changing pipe sizes with schedules. Strange thing was that this pipe is all schedule 40. I don't think there is such a thing as schedule 80 galvanized water pipe. The general consensus is that I have a stick of old water pipe that was over galvanized on the interior. That is the only thing that makes sense. Thanks for watching! Barry
"I thought water pipe was all the same size"; it is, sort of. The outside is the same so the fittings are interchangable, the inside diameter depends on the pressure rating, schedule 40 pipe has a bigger hole than schedule 80.
Steve it was (is) all schedule 40. I am not sure but I don't believe schedule 80 galvanized water pipe is a thing. The consensus is that one of the very old joints of pipe I had on the rack from who knows where just had a few extra mills of zinc on the inside. It was that close! Anyway thanks for watching and responding Barry
Nice, that really get the finish work done, that takes time to build and is well thought out, i like to build what I need which cannot be bought, make a large one for the tractor just raise and lower on the draw bar, thanks for the show and tell, fellow tinker, Joe
Need to turn your heat up a little bit on that welder or maybe a touch more gas pressure seems like cold welds and splatters a bunch but over all good work old timer
Not bad for an old guy you say, I guess I will take that as a comment. I was having some problems but a new roll of wire made things much better, Thanks Barry
Add some old bench weights to the top of the box to help get more of an aggressive bite and less bounce out of the whole grader. If anything I feel you made it a little too small. I thought it was going to go behind like a craftsman riding mower, not that cub cadet. That cub has POWER. You could have easily used nearly the full wear blade as your grader edge and that mower would have been totally fine. Plus then less passes to get the same amount of effect.
I was wondering if that cylinder you used would work in retrofitting a hand trip on a tailgate to using the cylinder you use. What is it called or where can I buy one?
Jose I am not sure but it has no problem lifting this little box. And actually if I were to do it again I would change the geometry so that it would lift faster. I think it has the power to do that. Thanks for watching! Barry
@@barrylukebuilds7894 You are probably already over the listed pulling weight for that ZTR. Just be careful you don't wear our your transmission. Most ZTRs are only rated to pull like 250 lbs. really cool build though.
It did not and that was no surprise because I just used it of and on to grade my empty lot of dry material. What did surprise me was that after sitting unused for close to 5 years the little cheap electric cylinder still works! I just changed the hitch so that my Son can pull it with his 4 wheeler.
