alright all you creative geniuses, put on your thinking caps. Every year
(about this time) i run across discarded lawnmowers. I cant help myself, i
almost always stop and pick them up. Sometimes i get them running and sell
them for some always needed beer money. But alot of the time, the deck is
rotted beyond repair so i'll remove the wheels and engine and hope to use it
another time. I just have to make something cool using a vertical shaft
engine, the horizontals get all the glory. Besides a home-built generator,
what projects have you folks made using these engines?

walt

"wallster" wrote in message
...
alright all you creative geniuses, put on your thinking caps. Every year
(about this time) i run across discarded lawnmowers. I cant help myself, i
almost always stop and pick them up. Sometimes i get them running and sell
them for some always needed beer money. But alot of the time, the deck is
rotted beyond repair so i'll remove the wheels and engine and hope to use
it another time. I just have to make something cool using a vertical shaft
engine, the horizontals get all the glory. Besides a home-built generator,
what projects have you folks made using these engines?

I haven't made one of these, but as a kid I dreamed about building my very
own hovercraft using lawnmower engines.



- Michael

"DeepDiver" wrote in message
...
"wallster" wrote in message
...
alright all you creative geniuses, put on your thinking caps. Every year
(about this time) i run across discarded lawnmowers. I cant help myself,
i
almost always stop and pick them up. Sometimes i get them running and
sell
them for some always needed beer money. But alot of the time, the deck
is
rotted beyond repair so i'll remove the wheels and engine and hope to
use
it another time. I just have to make something cool using a vertical
shaft
engine, the horizontals get all the glory. Besides a home-built
generator,
what projects have you folks made using these engines?

I haven't made one of these, but as a kid I dreamed about building my very
own hovercraft using lawnmower engines.



- Michael



aircompressor, take the carb off run a pipe up the an aircleaner, take the
muffler off run a pipe up to the an aircleaner. open the valve cover rotate
the egine until one of the tappets is all the way out and cut it off, do the
same for the other tappet.
Heat the valve spring until the are soft enough that they just close the
valve.
Replace spark plug with a check valve ( orientation of the valve is left as
an exercise for the reader).
get another old motor, remove blade, replace with fanbelt, do the same on
compressor.
Bingo a 3.5 HP aircompressor, that has a lube system, forced aircooling of
the cyclinder and can get to 160PSI depending on the quality of motor used.
It gives fairly good airflow too.
Pat

The problem with most(all) verticals is that the mower blade is the
flywheel too. I suppose a "traditional" flywheel could be
created......

I have seen references to kits to turn a vertical horizontal, but seems
like a lot of work for little gain.

JW

BTW - I'll be watching this with interest as I seem to have a similar
compulsion. I have about 5 questionable push mowers for no reason
other than "they must be useful for something".

"wallster" wrote in message
...
alright all you creative geniuses, put on your thinking caps. Every year
(about this time) i run across discarded lawnmowers. I cant help myself, i
almost always stop and pick them up. Sometimes i get them running and sell
them for some always needed beer money. But alot of the time, the deck is
rotted beyond repair so i'll remove the wheels and engine and hope to use
it
another time. I just have to make something cool using a vertical shaft
engine, the horizontals get all the glory. Besides a home-built generator,
what projects have you folks made using these engines?

My favorite was an inboard motor for a flat-bottomed skiff, which an older
neighbor kid and I put together when I was about 11.

Right-angle, through-hull lower units used to be readily available for
vertical-shaft lawnmower engines. I haven't seen one for 40 years, but maybe
they're still around. I also have seen a couple of similar conversions made
from the lower-units of scrapped outboard motors.

BTW, they're noisy, they vibrate, and you have to keep moving around the
boat to keep the exhaust out of your face. But they're a lot of fun.

--
Ed Huntress

snipped
Here are my limited ideas for this mower engine:
1. car battery jumper machine: I help out at a collision shop and when
we get a wreck in that we need to move, 9 out of 10 times the battery
is dead. I would mount the engine to a base that has an alternator
(adjustable mounted for adjustment) that has pullys and a belt mounted.
The output (13.5vdc) would go to a battery. The battery could have
jumper leads that could be used to jump the dead car battery. The base
would have wheels for moving.
2. Since this particular mower was front wheel drive, i kept the little
transmission with the pully and drive gears. This could be made into
some sort of a self driven machine, but i cant think of anything.

We should have some sort of competion to see who can create the most
innovative "thingy" from a junked lawnmower and post them in the drop
box. Give everybody a couple of weeks to scrounge up junk parts. I
would gladly contribute a couple bucks to the winner.

I like the compressor idea and the boat idea so far, dont forget our
friends the "u-joint" and the "hime" (sp?)(y'know the doo-hicky that's
used to stabilyze a spinning shaft)

walt

wallster wrote:
snipped

2. Since this particular mower was front wheel drive, i kept the little
transmission with the pully and drive gears. This could be made into
some sort of a self driven machine, but i cant think of anything.

Combine Toolchest on wheels with engine and transmission.
Ken

"wallster" wrote in message
...
| alright all you creative geniuses, put on your thinking caps. Every year
| (about this time) i run across discarded lawnmowers. I cant help myself, i
| almost always stop and pick them up. Sometimes i get them running and sell
| them for some always needed beer money. But alot of the time, the deck is
| rotted beyond repair so i'll remove the wheels and engine and hope to use
it
| another time. I just have to make something cool using a vertical shaft
| engine, the horizontals get all the glory. Besides a home-built generator,
| what projects have you folks made using these engines?
|
| walt

I haven't done these things, but here are some ideas, and not all of
them original:

drink blender (okay, this exists already)
Kitchen mixer (your wife will almost like it if you take her camping!)
paint and slurry mixer (for the 5 gallon cans!)
oversized portable drill (this one exists already, too)
drill for concrete and steel (where you don't have electricity, see?)

I could go on, but to get ideas all you have to do is stroll into your
garage/shop, kitchen (depends...are you single? ) and wonder what you
have ever needed to be cordless?

carl mciver wrote:
"wallster" wrote in message
...
| alright all you creative geniuses, put on your thinking caps. Every year
| (about this time) i run across discarded lawnmowers. I cant help myself, i
| almost always stop and pick them up. Sometimes i get them running and sell
| them for some always needed beer money. But alot of the time, the deck is
| rotted beyond repair so i'll remove the wheels and engine and hope to use
it
| another time. I just have to make something cool using a vertical shaft
| engine, the horizontals get all the glory. Besides a home-built generator,
| what projects have you folks made using these engines?
|
| walt

I haven't done these things, but here are some ideas, and not all of
them original:

drink blender (okay, this exists already)
Kitchen mixer (your wife will almost like it if you take her camping!)
paint and slurry mixer (for the 5 gallon cans!)
oversized portable drill (this one exists already, too)
drill for concrete and steel (where you don't have electricity, see?)

I could go on, but to get ideas all you have to do is stroll into your
garage/shop, kitchen (depends...are you single? ) and wonder what you
have ever needed to be cordless?

Post hole Digger.
Ken

wallster wrote:
alright all you creative geniuses, put on your thinking caps. Every year
(about this time) i run across discarded lawnmowers. I cant help myself, i
almost always stop and pick them up. Sometimes i get them running and sell
them for some always needed beer money. But alot of the time, the deck is
rotted beyond repair so i'll remove the wheels and engine and hope to use it
another time. I just have to make something cool using a vertical shaft
engine, the horizontals get all the glory. Besides a home-built generator,
what projects have you folks made using these engines?

walt




Ever see the Richard Pryor flick 'Moving'? Build a killer, multi-blade
mower. Four blades, two of which counter-rotate so you get a nice even,
and wide, cut. Tall wheels to get over obstacles, remote control for
speed, steering, etc. Sit in the shade and gloat while neighbors turn
green with envy.

Floating back to Earth now...

Xavier Cugat

On Fri, 13 May 2005 08:57:55 -0400, "wallster"
wrote:

alright all you creative geniuses, put on your thinking caps. Every year
(about this time) i run across discarded lawnmowers. I cant help myself, i
almost always stop and pick them up. Sometimes i get them running and sell
them for some always needed beer money. But alot of the time, the deck is
rotted beyond repair so i'll remove the wheels and engine and hope to use it
another time. I just have to make something cool using a vertical shaft
engine, the horizontals get all the glory. Besides a home-built generator,
what projects have you folks made using these engines?

walt


How about a multi engine hover craft?

Gunner

"Veterans, and anyone sensible, take cover when there's incoming.
A cloud of testosterone makes a **** poor flack shield."
Offbreed

hover crafts are cool, that would be a neat project. Junk yard wars,
monster garage, and mythbusters have all done some type of hover unit.
They dont seem to complicated.

walt

On Fri, 13 May 2005 08:57:55 -0400, "wallster"
wrote:

alright all you creative geniuses, put on your thinking caps. Every year
(about this time) i run across discarded lawnmowers. I cant help myself, i
almost always stop and pick them up. Sometimes i get them running and sell
them for some always needed beer money. But alot of the time, the deck is
rotted beyond repair so i'll remove the wheels and engine and hope to use it
another time. I just have to make something cool using a vertical shaft
engine, the horizontals get all the glory. Besides a home-built generator,
what projects have you folks made using these engines?

How about a mowbot -- autonomous lawnmower. It might be
radio-controlled by an operator, or perhaps follow a buried wire.

Extra credit: one with a nav system that could be "trained" once by
an operator and then retrace that path by itself after being trained.
Devising the nav system could be a project in itself. Might be
differential GPS, perhaps a homebrew inverted LORAN type of system
with a couple of synchronized 433 MHz low power xmtrs, a pair of
rotating roof-mounted lasers, or ????

I used to think I wanted to build something like that. Now that I
have the tools and skills to really do such a thing, I've lost the
motivation because I kinda enjoy riding the mower around on a nice
day.

"wallster" wrote in
:

alright all you creative geniuses, put on your thinking caps. Every
year (about this time) i run across discarded lawnmowers. I cant help
myself, i almost always stop and pick them up. Sometimes i get them
running and sell them for some always needed beer money. But alot of
the time, the deck is rotted beyond repair so i'll remove the wheels
and engine and hope to use it another time. I just have to make
something cool using a vertical shaft engine, the horizontals get all
the glory. Besides a home-built generator, what projects have you
folks made using these engines?

Pressure washer. You could kluge together an Ice auger.

You could find a 90 degree gear reducer and put together a powered yard
cart/wheel barrow type of rig. There are usually loads of gear reducers on
Ebay.
http://search.ebay.com/gear-reducer_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8



--

Dan

Portable engine driven DC welder

http://www.motherearthnews.com/top_a..._DC_Arc_Welder

Gunner

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling
which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight,
nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being
free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
- John Stewart Mill

On Sat, 14 May 2005 21:42:16 GMT, the inscrutable Gunner
spake:

Portable engine driven DC welder

http://www.motherearthnews.com/top_a..._DC_Arc_Welder

404



------
We're born hungry, wet, 'n naked, and it gets worse from there.
- http://diversify.com Website Application Programming -

On Sat, 14 May 2005 15:35:43 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 14 May 2005 21:42:16 GMT, the inscrutable Gunner
spake:

Portable engine driven DC welder

http://www.motherearthnews.com/top_a..._DC_Arc_Welder

404

Damn..it worked earlier today.

go to motherearthnews.com, go to archives, go to 1980, issue #66 (when
the page loads look for welder for pictures and schematics

Issue #66 - November/December 1980

If you can scrounge an old lawn mower, an automobile alternator, and a
12-volt battery, you can . . .

BUILD A $20 PORTABLE DC ARC WELDER


Given a choice between adding either arc or gas welding to the
workshop, most tinkerers find a small AC arc unit to be an inexpensive
and impressively versatile piece of equipment. However, for those
occasional remote outdoor chores that come up around most farmsteads,
gas is just about the only practical choice. (Of course, there are
portable electric welders available, and one could use a shop unit and
tote along a generator . . . but either approach represents a
considerable investment, especially if the devices will be used only
to accomplish infrequent in-the-field repairs.)

As it happens, MOTHER's researchers run into a fair number of remote
welding jobs out at our Eco-Village property — from tacking together a
windplant frame to sealing a hydroplant pipe — that are just plain
inaccessible to the Lincoln automatic feed unit that they prefer.
Therefore, it didn't take long for one member of our team to get so
fed up with the hassle of loading both a generator and an arc welder
into a pickup truck that he began combining some odds and ends around
the shop to make his own portable welder.

Experimenter Dennis Burkholder decided that — after scrounging up an
old power mower, a set-aside Delco-Remy automobile alternator, and a
weary but serviceable 12-volt deep-cycle battery — he had just about
everything he needed to build a portable, intermittent-duty,
low-voltage, DC welder. Sure enough, after trying a couple of
different combinations of the scrap components, he came up with what
must be the least expensive (and strangest looking) arc welder ever
assembled.

Essentially, the welder is powered by the roughly 50 amps that the
Delco-Remy alternator is capable of producing . . . and is adjusted by
varying the speed of the lawnmower engine. But the 12-volt battery is
needed to balance out those surges that occur when the arc is struck
or broken. Furthermore, Dennis found that the setup worked a lot more
smoothly with two 1-1/2-ohm, 8-amp resistors placed in series with the
field of the alternator, to cut the field voltage to about 6 volts.
(In fact, without the two resistors, striking an arc would nearly kill
the 3-HP Briggs & Stratton engine!)

Considering that the parts for the project are almost all scavenged,
the welder is amazingly versatile. For one thing, DC capability is
often preferred for smooth sheet-metal work, and our lawnmower unit
can have its polarity reversed for changing the penetration and
spatter qualities of its arc! There are, however, a few limitations to
the tool's capabilities. First, the maximum heat of the arc is about
50 amps, so the device won't penetrate more than about 1/4" into
steel. In addition, it's best not to use the welder for more than
about 20 minutes at a time . . . to avoid overheating the alternator
(the thermal overload switch shown in the schematic drawing
automatically tells you when enough is enough).

And finally, the unit's low-voltage DC current presents both an
advantage and a disadvantage over conventional AC power. Because the
voltage of a circuit determines the distance a spark will jump, the
rod used with our portable welder must be held steadily close to the
surface of the work to maintain an arc. But, because it is a
direct-current welder, there's little tendency for the rod to become
stuck.

Of course, the most astounding thing about Dennis's welder is how
little it cost. The only components that our researcher was forced to
buy were the resistors, which he located at the nearest auto parts
store. And — even if your storehouse of valuable discards doesn't
equal MOTHER's — you should still be able to purchase the resistors,
wires, switches, pulleys, and V-belt for less than $20. When you think
about it, a $20 DC arc welder, with a built-in dolly, might be the
workshop bargain of the year!





http://www.green-trust.org/equipment.htm



------
We're born hungry, wet, 'n naked, and it gets worse from there.
- http://diversify.com Website Application Programming -

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling
which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight,
nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being
free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
- John Stewart Mill

On Sun, 15 May 2005 04:58:06 GMT, the inscrutable Gunner
spake:

On Sat, 14 May 2005 15:35:43 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 14 May 2005 21:42:16 GMT, the inscrutable Gunner
spake:

Portable engine driven DC welder

http://www.motherearthnews.com/top_a..._DC_Arc_Welder

404

Damn..it worked earlier today.

The server may have been overloaded. Who knows? The same link works
today. The CD with 10 years of MEN articles @ $20 might be the best
way to read that mag. I've subscribed off and on for a couple decades
and at $15/yr, the CD looks like a really good deal. I wonder if they
include the ads. (Seriously, I got a lot of ideas from them; maybe
more from the ads than the mag itself.


http://www.green-trust.org/equipment.htm

This is a MUCH better link.


------
We're born hungry, wet, 'n naked, and it gets worse from there.
- http://diversify.com Website Application Programming -

Make up a yard waste chipper for prepping compost. I have been meaning to
make something up to cut small branches and stuff up by feeding vertically
through the lawnmower deck.
I have a friend who shovels his compost through to cut and aerate it at
regular intervals.
Randy

"wallster" wrote in message
...
alright all you creative geniuses, put on your thinking caps. Every year
(about this time) i run across discarded lawnmowers. I cant help myself, i
almost always stop and pick them up. Sometimes i get them running and sell
them for some always needed beer money. But alot of the time, the deck is
rotted beyond repair so i'll remove the wheels and engine and hope to use
it another time. I just have to make something cool using a vertical shaft
engine, the horizontals get all the glory. Besides a home-built generator,
what projects have you folks made using these engines?

walt

Cut it up and turn it into a hit/miss style engine.
Use the engine to power a welder made from an auto alternator.
Portable generator made out of auto alternator or store bought head.
Portable hydraulic unit with the pump mounted inside the hydraulic sump.
Used to power a splitter or lift or rescue tools.


"wallster" wrote in message
...
alright all you creative geniuses, put on your thinking caps. Every
year
(about this time) i run across discarded lawnmowers. I cant help
myself, i
almost always stop and pick them up. Sometimes i get them running and
sell
them for some always needed beer money. But alot of the time, the deck
is
rotted beyond repair so i'll remove the wheels and engine and hope to
use it
another time. I just have to make something cool using a vertical
shaft
engine, the horizontals get all the glory. Besides a home-built
generator,
what projects have you folks made using these engines?

walt





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My old favourite, from scavenged lawnmower engines is the Robot Wars
battlebot. Made a mean twin engined metal chewing monster out of a
couple old lawnmowers.

Went well till the petrol storage leaked and the bot blew up. Sure was
fun though and I took out the competition. Couldn't recognize one
internal component, apart from the engines and the motors. (Which were
twisted to hell and back). Melted polycarbonate and sheet steel
carnage. My name is banned from petrol bot building. Shame, i love the
noise they make.

TR

On Fri, 13 May 2005 08:57:55 -0400, "wallster"
wrote:

My BIL left a dead mower out on the verge, and somebody came in an
complained that it did not work. True story.

alright all you creative geniuses, put on your thinking caps. Every year
(about this time) i run across discarded lawnmowers. I cant help myself, i
almost always stop and pick them up. Sometimes i get them running and sell
them for some always needed beer money. But alot of the time, the deck is
rotted beyond repair so i'll remove the wheels and engine and hope to use it
another time. I just have to make something cool using a vertical shaft
engine, the horizontals get all the glory. Besides a home-built generator,
what projects have you folks made using these engines?

walt