OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Turf Care Equipment & Accessories Accessories Hardbull Mowers Grass Rake.

Yes, I'm going to do it again, a new thread about something else I've made!!!

The Hardbull Mowers Grass Rake.


Here it is in it's ready to use mode.

It clears a path of 180 cm, travels at a 45 degree angle, and has 27 tynes spaced at 60 mm intervals at an angle of 30 deg rotation to the next. It has a Left Hand, two start helix drum, with a pitch of 630 mm.


The drive end.

The drive is a simple wheel to wheel set up, that rotates the drum in reverse at a ratio of 4:1. Couple this to the drum pitch, and it means that anything that the inside tynes touch, will exit the outside end of rake in 1/2 a rotation of the drive wheel.

Castor Wheel.

The castor wheel, although not actually required to be a castor in this mode, is set at a point where it tracks directly in line with the inner tyne. The wheel on top? Simply a spare drive wheel. The two smaller wheels are solid, so no need for spare one of those!

Height Adjuster.

The height adjuster has three positions that range from 20mm to 60mm raking height.

Transit Mode.

This is the reason that there is a castor wheel fitted, to allow for the same wheel to be used for transit.


The height adjusting lever swings down to lock in the second transit wheel, which also swings the drawbar up to a vertical position out of the way.


Just another view in transit mode.

The Transit Mode Drawbar.

Designed so that it holds the rake drive wheel about 100mm off the ground.

...and it swings around to live under the main beam when raking.

In Windrow mode.

With the help of the extended towing boom on the ride on, that I prepared earlier, lol, it is possible to create windrows of approximately 600mm wide. This is the reason that the castor wheel is located behind the inside tyne, so it doesn't roll over the windrow.

WOW!

What an amazing (and slighly scary) looking peice of machinery, any chance of a photo or two of it in action?

Thanks!

I'll be putting it into action the Australia Day long weekend. I've got about 3 acres to rake! So definately. Might even see about a video.

It's not quite as scary as it looks, if you turn into the danger zone, the rake stops because the drive comes from the outside. If you turn to the left, it speeds up so it doesn't clog on the corners. It can flick horse manure about 3 metres!! lol.

Cool, whens the bailer being finished off???

Bill hook, its always rust on the bill hook.


What are the tines made of???
The ones on a full size rake are some special spring steel stuff.

If only I could work out how the hell to get the twine to tie off!! hahaha

The tynes are just 1/4 inch mild steel, cut at 18 inches long. Easily repaired, and easily replaced.

Spring steel might be able to flick the horse manure 6 metres!! I should try it!! hahaha

Actually probably best to stick with the mild steel, at least it will bend a few times and probably only break off when you straighten it, rather than randomly distributing itself in the paddock.
Imagine how far the blades could fling a rake tine

They dont touch the ground so spring steel would be of no benifit.

Yeah I know. I was just having a bit of fun. I went for the mild steel for a number of reasons. Cost, availability, strength (they'll easily bend if needed instead of jolting the whole rake), safety (there's no spring loaded power to flick anything too far) and yes, the fact they don't, unitentionally anyway, touch the ground. Spent a bit of time doing risk assessments in the design and test stages.

I forgot to mention earlier too, the whole rake can be disassembled in about 10 minutes and it packs nicely into a 6x4 trailer, along with the ride on.

Ok, here's some pics of it working. If someone can tell me how to get a video up, I'll put that on too. These pics are stills from a video, so apologies for the clarity.





Because of the long dry grass, it did have a tendancy to sometimes flick the grass over the top, I cured this by bending the tynes on about a 60 deg angle rearwards, about 75mm from the end. As in the pic below.



And here's a pic of the whole lot ready to head of to work!!! hahaha