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Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work. |
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#1
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Road grader question.
Anyone here know anything about running a road grader?
I was looking at a tractor forum where someone had made a pull behind grader from an old snow plow blade. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/b...nd-grader.html And it got me thinking of how graders do their thing. The key point is the blade is mounted between the front and rear axles. That allows the blade to lift/dip half or less as much as the axles as it rolls over high and low spots. This allows them to make a flat surface quickly. But then I started to think about crowning a dirt road. The blade is lowered to dig in a little deeper on the ditch side, and angled to move the dirt to the middle of the road. But then the rear wheels go over the newly crowned part the whole grader leans over. This makes the blade lean over too, cutting even more of a crown. Keep going like this and you would roll the grader on it's side, it would seem. Does the operator have to re-adjust the level of the blade after starting the cut, making the blade parallel to the rear axles? Is there some kind of automatic level thingy to keep the blade at the same angle, or is that up to the operator? I might like to copy the one I found on the tractor forum, but I would like to add hydraulics to: raise and lower the blade, tilt the blade, and maybe angle the blade. I would probably use a 12v power pack with electric solenoid valves. And then I got an idea. If I mounded some kind of pendulum on the blade itself that would trip switches to activate the valves, it could be made to maintain a preset angle, regardless of the angle of the frame. I would have to add some kind of dampening of course, and the precision wouldn't be too great. What do you all think? I'm still in the "thinking about it" stage, so no plans to start work on this for some time, but the more I design it in my head, the less problems I'm likely to run into later. -- Dan H. northshore MA. |
#2
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Road grader question.
dan wrote:
Does the operator have to re-adjust the level of the blade after starting the cut, making the blade parallel to the rear axles? Is there some kind of automatic level thingy to keep the blade at the same angle, or is that up to the operator? I've never run a road grader, but bulldozers do indeed have a small pendulum that the operator can watch to level the surface. -- Richard Lamb email me: web site: www.home.earthlink.net/~cavelamb |
#3
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Road grader question.
dan wrote:
What do you all think? I'm still in the "thinking about it" stage, so no plans to start work on this for some time, but the more I design it in my head, the less problems I'm likely to run into later. You're going to _build_ a road grader? =:-O I'd suggest going to someplace that has them or uses them, and ask some questions and look at one. For some reason, I got a mental picture of one where the front wheel strut has a sort of a "roll" pivot, so that the front wheels could be on one slope, and the back wheels would be at the other. But what do I know? ;-) Let us know how it comes out, OK? Cheers! Rich |
#4
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Road grader question.
On Thu, 11 Nov 2010 18:19:56 -0600, CaveLamb
wrote: dan wrote: Does the operator have to re-adjust the level of the blade after starting the cut, making the blade parallel to the rear axles? Is there some kind of automatic level thingy to keep the blade at the same angle, or is that up to the operator? I've never run a road grader, but bulldozers do indeed have a small pendulum that the operator can watch to level the surface. I've been a township supervisor coming up on 20 years now. The crown of a gravel road is critical. Too much and people won't drive on their side of the road. Too little, water puddles or runs straight down the road and not to the ditch. All Graders have a crown gauge of some sort. Old ones were just a pendulum attached to the blade. New ones have an electronic readout. I've not seen anything automatic, the operator has to push the cylinder. An auto unit would sure be nice, as one operator can't seem to do the crown correctly. karl |
#5
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Road grader question.
Rich Grise wrote in
rec.crafts.metalworking on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:31:47 -0800: What do you all think? I'm still in the "thinking about it" stage, so no plans to start work on this for some time, but the more I design it in my head, the less problems I'm likely to run into later. You're going to _build_ a road grader? =:-O Maybe. Someday. We'll see. But not a motor grader, a tow behind style. Like they used to pull with horses, and then tractors. -- Dan H. northshore MA. |
#6
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Road grader question.
dan writes:
Anyone here know anything about running a road grader? Yes, of course. No different than scraping a machine tool. Just a little bigger scale and little less precision, right? How do you generate flatness from chaos? http://www.google.com/search?q=autom...ation+of+gages |
#7
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Road grader question.
I think that there are machines (possibly not road graders, though such
function would be useful) that work from either laser referencing or differential GPS to put the blade under computer control, and ignore the whole question of where the wheels are at or how long the wheelbase is, just moving dirt to where it should be. Probably only in the home-build arena of people that could afford to buy one outright but choose not to. My impression is that running a typical grader is a very hands-on operation. What you propose to build is somewhat less so (road drag might be one name for it - more for road maintenance than original construction) and there are several very simple variants (which are limited in what they can do, but also simple to build and use so you might use them before things get too bad), such as chain link fence or bedsprings pulled along, or a triangle of 2x lumber with 20d spikes driven into it (and possibly some weights added, possibly more on one side than the other - also effects differ depending on orientation of the triangle to the road as you pull it), or a split log drag (good stuff can be found in the on-line out-of copyright books/magazines on that old thing - which is still a good thing for dirt roads. This wikipedia article has the basic goods on it and links to a patent with drawings of a more advanced version (more bars and scrapers) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_road_drag The pre-motor graders (ie, horse-drawn ones) would be a good place to research what worked in the past and start adapting from if you're looking for more of a grader - though those did have an active operator (or two) standing on them moving the (control) wheels. -- Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by |
#9
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Road grader question.
On Thu, 11 Nov 2010 23:56:27 GMT, (dan) wrote:
Anyone here know anything about running a road grader? I was looking at a tractor forum where someone had made a pull behind grader from an old snow plow blade. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/b...nd-grader.html And it got me thinking of how graders do their thing. The key point is the blade is mounted between the front and rear axles. That allows the blade to lift/dip half or less as much as the axles as it rolls over high and low spots. This allows them to make a flat surface quickly. But then I started to think about crowning a dirt road. The blade is lowered to dig in a little deeper on the ditch side, and angled to move the dirt to the middle of the road. But then the rear wheels go over the newly crowned part the whole grader leans over. This makes the blade lean over too, cutting even more of a crown. Keep going like this and you would roll the grader on it's side, it would seem. Does the operator have to re-adjust the level of the blade after starting the cut, making the blade parallel to the rear axles? Is there some kind of automatic level thingy to keep the blade at the same angle, or is that up to the operator? I might like to copy the one I found on the tractor forum, but I would like to add hydraulics to: raise and lower the blade, tilt the blade, and maybe angle the blade. I would probably use a 12v power pack with electric solenoid valves. And then I got an idea. If I mounded some kind of pendulum on the blade itself that would trip switches to activate the valves, it could be made to maintain a preset angle, regardless of the angle of the frame. I would have to add some kind of dampening of course, and the precision wouldn't be too great. What do you all think? I'm still in the "thinking about it" stage, so no plans to start work on this for some time, but the more I design it in my head, the less problems I'm likely to run into later. I can barely remember my uncle being the grader operator and having a large steel wheel at each side to raise or lower the blade which was mounted on a turntable to adjust the angle to the direction of travel. This turntable was mounted to trailing arms from the front of the machine, allowing it to be raised or lowered. The blade could be tilted and slid out to one side or other. The whole apparatus was towed behind a truck or tractor. Latter, these were replaced with self propelled, hydraulically operated machines we see today. Gerry :-)} London, Canada |
#10
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Road grader question.
Gerald Miller wrote: I can barely remember my uncle being the grader operator and having a large steel wheel at each side to raise or lower the blade which was mounted on a turntable to adjust the angle to the direction of travel. This turntable was mounted to trailing arms from the front of the machine, allowing it to be raised or lowered. The blade could be tilted and slid out to one side or other. The whole apparatus was towed behind a truck or tractor. Latter, these were replaced with self propelled, hydraulically operated machines we see today. Sure, after he broke the first one. ;-) -- Politicians should only get paid if the budget is balanced, and there is enough left over to pay them. |
#11
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Road grader question.
Operating a grader is among the most skilled activities for heavy equipment operators. There are a bazillion variables. The other most-skilled job is operating a big crane. Those guys are amazing. If you're a gov'ment employee, you don't have to be skilled to run one. The number one call to me about our local roads is poor grading. On the flip side, some of our roads are graded by the best operator I know. The difference is truly amazing. Especially after a few years where the operator has made a hundred passes. Karl |
#12
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Road grader question.
On Fri, 12 Nov 2010 06:25:17 -0600, Karl Townsend
wrote: Operating a grader is among the most skilled activities for heavy equipment operators. There are a bazillion variables. The other most-skilled job is operating a big crane. Those guys are amazing. If you're a gov'ment employee, you don't have to be skilled to run one. The number one call to me about our local roads is poor grading. On the flip side, some of our roads are graded by the best operator I know. The difference is truly amazing. Especially after a few years where the operator has made a hundred passes. Karl We had one of the tow behind a tractor types when I was a kid, used it for maintaining field roads. I wasn't that good at it I expect, but it was fun for a change of pace. We kicked the blade around on its ring, then dropped in a pin. The two big steel wheels were used to control height and tilt. I haven't seen a grader for routine county road maintenance in quite a while. The local roads went from oyster shell to blacktop a long time ago. With 50+ inches of rain per year, it's probably cost effective to top vs. maintain, plus oyster dredging for oyster fill was stopped decades ago. Pete Keillor |
#13
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Road grader question.
"dan" wrote in message
... Anyone here know anything about running a road grader? I was looking at a tractor forum where someone had made a pull behind grader from an old snow plow blade. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/b...nd-grader.html And it got me thinking of how graders do their thing. The key point is the blade is mounted between the front and rear axles. That allows the blade to lift/dip half or less as much as the axles as it rolls over high and low spots. This allows them to make a flat surface quickly. But then I started to think about crowning a dirt road. A crown makes for a pretty road, but it will also rut and wash away faster. I guess you get the choice between standing water when it rains or ruts that will break an axle when it comes to dirt road building. I suspect there may be some real planning involved. For occasional touch up a long drag frame seems to be the prefer method by some folks. |
#14
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Road grader question.
In article ,
"Bob La Londe" wrote: A crown makes for a pretty road, but it will also rut and wash away faster. I guess you get the choice between standing water when it rains or ruts that will break an axle when it comes to dirt road building. Nonsense. A crown, correctly done, causes the water to run off the road to the sides, thus NOT allowing any significant amount of water to run down the road and wash material away - the most water any one section of road sees is what's accumulated over 8-16 feet (if you have a dirt road over 32 feet wide, whatever half the width is) as it runs from the center to the edge. It also (with correct ditches) keeps the roadbed dry and solid, resisting ruts (or as dry as it can - spring thaw is fairly hopeless when the road is thawed but the ground under it is frozen.) Lack of crown permits water to run down the road, carrying material with it and washing it away, and also allows the roadbed to get wet, and soft, thus making ruts when wheels run over it. Crowned or not, any road that is not dragged regularly will start to develop wheel ruts with time simply from material being moved aside if wheels run in a regular path down it, and as soon as the ruts exceed the amount of crown (if any) water will start to run down the road and wash it out. I'm not sure where you're getting your ideas, but it's not from a few hundred years collective experience with making dirt roads. Or 30 odd with building and maintaining dirt driveways and roads (with a civil engineer and former seebee to help transfer those few hundred years experience...) One of the biggest labor-saving things I can do (between dragging, or grading, which is a rare event since I don't own grader) is to go out in the rain with a shovel or hoe and look for water running down the road/driveway, and cut paths out to the ditch for it every 15-20 feet so that it cannot get enough water to cut significantly into the road. If the road is recently crowned correctly, there won't be any water running down it, but as material moves outwards under traffic, it eventually defeats the crown and will lead to large washouts if left to get worse. Repairing those is a lot more work than preventing them. -- Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by |
#15
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Road grader question.
"Ecnerwal" wrote in message
... In article , "Bob La Londe" wrote: A crown makes for a pretty road, but it will also rut and wash away faster. I guess you get the choice between standing water when it rains or ruts that will break an axle when it comes to dirt road building. I'm not sure where you're getting your ideas, but it's not from a few hundred years collective experience with making dirt roads. Or 30 odd with building and maintaining dirt driveways and roads (with a civil engineer and former seebee to help transfer those few hundred years experience...) From pure observation of roads maintained or not maintained by various local public works and county maintenance departments. The roads that are flat seem to hold up better (especially when not maintained at all) than the ones that are crowned. I grew up in a rural area with dirt roads, farm roads, and desert trails as our primary highways. Now if you plan to drag every month, grade every other month, and drive down the road doing patch work every time it rains you might get better service out of your crowned roads, but the simple fact is the roads I grew up with were lucky to even see a grader go by once a year. Any road properly maintained on a regular schedule will hold up better. I got the benefit of seeing roads that were often not maintained at all. So I suppose I might have to agree with you if you maintain it constantly. If you don't the crowned road will develop ruts that will break axles. Maybe the dirt is inferior to the dirt where you grew up, but I happen to like Arizona dirt in general. |
#16
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Road grader question.
I think that there are machines (possibly not road graders, though such
function would be useful) that work from either laser referencing or differential GPS to put the blade under computer control, and ignore the whole question of where the wheels are at or how long the wheelbase is, just moving dirt to where it should be. If you see any road construction near you these days, that's what that globe on top of the 10' pipe attached to the dozer/grader/whatever blade is for. I suspect they also use one when setting grade stakes, etc. for use with excavators and such, too. I've noticed crews in my area are certainly getting better road grades (more consistent slopes and better drainage) with far less work-and-rework than even five years ago. But one of the weird side effects of all this technology is how much of a piecework quilt things are starting to become, they used to have to get everything to the same point (say the sub-grade) before they went on to the next (say, the final grade before paving). Now you'll get a 100' section graded and paved while they're still blasting and digging and building retaining walls a few feet away, and it all lines up perfectly with the next section already paved on the other side of where they are still doing work. It's very interesting seeing everything come together so well with as much change in the road base they wouldn't even have thought possible in the same amount of time not that long ago. A lot of commercial farming is also done using a GPS, such as when using a sprayer or broadcast spreader on a non-row crop where you want to minimize gaps and overlaps (and thus over- or untreated spots) without the reference points you get when dealing with produce grown in rows. --Glenn Lyford |
#17
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Road grader question.
On 11/11/2010 10:14 PM, Don Foreman wrote:
On Thu, 11 Nov 2010 23:56:27 GMT, (dan) wrote: Anyone here know anything about running a road grader? I was looking at a tractor forum where someone had made a pull behind grader from an old snow plow blade. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/b...nd-grader.html And it got me thinking of how graders do their thing. The key point is the blade is mounted between the front and rear axles. That allows the blade to lift/dip half or less as much as the axles as it rolls over high and low spots. This allows them to make a flat surface quickly. But then I started to think about crowning a dirt road. The blade is lowered to dig in a little deeper on the ditch side, and angled to move the dirt to the middle of the road. But then the rear wheels go over the newly crowned part the whole grader leans over. This makes the blade lean over too, cutting even more of a crown. Keep going like this and you would roll the grader on it's side, it would seem. Does the operator have to re-adjust the level of the blade after starting the cut, making the blade parallel to the rear axles? Is there some kind of automatic level thingy to keep the blade at the same angle, or is that up to the operator? I might like to copy the one I found on the tractor forum, but I would like to add hydraulics to: raise and lower the blade, tilt the blade, and maybe angle the blade. I would probably use a 12v power pack with electric solenoid valves. And then I got an idea. If I mounded some kind of pendulum on the blade itself that would trip switches to activate the valves, it could be made to maintain a preset angle, regardless of the angle of the frame. I would have to add some kind of dampening of course, and the precision wouldn't be too great. What do you all think? I'm still in the "thinking about it" stage, so no plans to start work on this for some time, but the more I design it in my head, the less problems I'm likely to run into later. Try to get some time driving a grader at a school or dealer, or at least talk to a grader operator. Don't forget Army Reserve, construction engineer battalions have graders. So do Seabees. Operating a grader is among the most skilled activities for heavy equipment operators. There are a bazillion variables. The other most-skilled job is operating a big crane. Those guys are amazing. from what I read in design magazines about a decade ago, a modern grader will hold a few tenths of an inch across a field using both GPS and other guidance. They are used to level rice fields in the CA central valley |
#18
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Road grader question.
Bill Noble wrote:
from what I read in design magazines about a decade ago, a modern grader will hold a few tenths of an inch across a field using both GPS and other guidance. They are used to level rice fields in the CA central valley Absolutely. Looking at the rice fields just outside of Sacramento, you can see acres of flooded land with little birds standing on the ground and knee-high in the water. Really amazing. |
#19
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Road grader question.
On Fri, 12 Nov 2010 08:47:21 -0700, "Bob La Londe"
wrote: "Ecnerwal" wrote in message ... In article , "Bob La Londe" wrote: A crown makes for a pretty road, but it will also rut and wash away faster. I guess you get the choice between standing water when it rains or ruts that will break an axle when it comes to dirt road building. I'm not sure where you're getting your ideas, but it's not from a few hundred years collective experience with making dirt roads. Or 30 odd with building and maintaining dirt driveways and roads (with a civil engineer and former seebee to help transfer those few hundred years experience...) From pure observation of roads maintained or not maintained by various local public works and county maintenance departments. The roads that are flat seem to hold up better (especially when not maintained at all) than the ones that are crowned. I grew up in a rural area with dirt roads, farm roads, and desert trails as our primary highways. Now if you plan to drag every month, grade every other month, and drive down the road doing patch work every time it rains you might get better service out of your crowned roads, but the simple fact is the roads I grew up with were lucky to even see a grader go by once a year. Any road properly maintained on a regular schedule will hold up better. I got the benefit of seeing roads that were often not maintained at all. So I suppose I might have to agree with you if you maintain it constantly. If you don't the crowned road will develop ruts that will break axles. Maybe the dirt is inferior to the dirt where you grew up, but I happen to like Arizona dirt in general. Up untill a few years ago we had a LOT of gravel roads in the Waterloo/Wellington/Huron areas, and VIRTUALLY ALL were crowned. Those that were not, were a mess of washboard and potholes. Those that were not maintained, either flat or crowned, became rough twin-tracks in a short time, where low-slung cars would high-center and belly-drag. We still have a fair amount of gravel - but mostly lower than "secondary" roads. Have a fair bit of gravel shoulders too - which are maintained with road graders and special shoulder maintainers (which are basically smaller motor graders with 2 blades) |
#20
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Road grader question.
Ecnerwal wrote in
rec.crafts.metalworking on Fri, 12 Nov 2010 00:38:06 -0500: My impression is that running a typical grader is a very hands-on operation. What you propose to build is somewhat less so (road drag might be one name for it - more for road maintenance than original construction) and there are several very simple variants (which are limited in what they can do, but also simple to build and use so you might use them before things get too bad), such as chain link fence or bedsprings pulled along, or a triangle of 2x lumber with 20d spikes driven into it (and possibly some weights added, possibly more on one side than the other - also effects differ depending on orientation of the triangle to the road as you pull it),or a split log drag (good stuff can be found in the on-line out-of copyright books/magazines on that old thing - which is still a good thing for dirt roads. This wikipedia article has the basic goods on it and links to a patent with drawings of a more advanced version (more bars and scrapers) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_road_drag I am currently using a version of the King road drag that I built from some 5in channel iron. Works good for smaller holes, and provides crown that wasn't there before. But there are some depressions that are larger than the drag, so the drag just drops into them. A grader like thing would be better able to move dirt along the road length to fill them in, from dirt that was cut off the high spots. The pre-motor graders (ie, horse-drawn ones) would be a good place to research what worked in the past and start adapting from if you're looking for more of a grader - though those did have an active operator (or two) standing on them moving the (control) wheels. That's what I've been doing, and the link I posted in the first post shows what one of the things I've found and would like to improve upon. There was another, very similar, but I couldn't find it again. I've found lots of pictures of the old antique horse drawn ones and other more recent styles. I don't think I can come up the turntable for the blade, but I think I can adapt a small snowplow, and use the angling pivot that has. It won't be as versatile as a real grader, but that's not what I'm going for. -- Dan H. northshore MA. |
#21
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Road grader question.
Glenn Lyford wrote in
rec.crafts.metalworking on Fri, 12 Nov 2010 08:03:46 -0800 (PST): A lot of commercial farming is also done using a GPS, such as when using a sprayer or broadcast spreader on a non-row crop where you want to minimize gaps and overlaps (and thus over- or untreated spots) without the reference points you get when dealing with produce grown in rows. In addition, the combines keep a map of the yeld when harvesting, and then you can use that map to adjust your fertilizer. Saves from over or under fertilizing any one area. -- Dan H. northshore MA. |
#22
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Road grader question.
Bob La Londe wrote in
rec.crafts.metalworking on Fri, 12 Nov 2010 07:27:01 -0700: A crown makes for a pretty road, but it will also rut and wash away faster. That is exactly the opposite of what I've been told, and what I've observed. A flat dirt(not gravel) road will take tire impressions when wet(wheel rut). That slight impression will hold water. The next car will splash out the water and some dirt along with it. Deeper impression= more water= more dirt loss. This can continue until the wheel ruts are deeper than your axle clearance. On a crowned road, that first slight impression doesn't hold the water and the cycle isn't started. It will still need touching up now and then but that is to be expected. I guess you get the choice between standing water when it rains or ruts that will break an axle when it comes to dirt road building. I suspect there may be some real planning involved. For occasional touch up a long drag frame seems to be the prefer method by some folks. Made one of those, works great for smaller ruts and small potholes. Can't move too much at one time, or it all goes to mud, and can't move dirt along the road too far. But great for adding a bit of crown to a road and smoothing out washboard. -- Dan H. northshore MA. |
#23
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Road grader question.
Bob La Londe wrote in
rec.crafts.metalworking on Fri, 12 Nov 2010 08:47:21 -0700: From pure observation of roads maintained or not maintained by various local public works and county maintenance departments. The roads that are flat seem to hold up better (especially when not maintained at all) than the ones that are crowned. I grew up in a rural area with dirt roads, farm roads, and desert trails as our primary highways. That explains it. Desert climate and desert dirt are worlds away from what I'm working with. -- Dan H. northshore MA. |
#24
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Road grader question.
On 11/12/2010 10:01 AM, Rich Grise wrote:
dan wrote: What do you all think? I'm still in the "thinking about it" stage, so no plans to start work on this for some time, but the more I design it in my head, the less problems I'm likely to run into later. You're going to _build_ a road grader? =:-O I'd suggest going to someplace that has them or uses them, and ask some questions and look at one. For some reason, I got a mental picture of one where the front wheel strut has a sort of a "roll" pivot, so that the front wheels could be on one slope, and the back wheels would be at the other. But what do I know? ;-) Let us know how it comes out, OK? Cheers! Rich They also articulate at a position between the cabin and the rear mounted engine ,if you look closely under the operators cabin there are hydraulic cylinders on each side that can alter the angle of the rear drive wheels in relation to the center line of the chassis . The front axle pivots on a ball pivot as already pointed out and the camber angle of the front wheels can altered as well . Towable road graders have been around in Australia for along time , they are used on cattle staions (ranches) etc so they can repair thier own roads with out hiring a road grader and operator . There are a few companies building and marketing them here. -- Kevin (Bluey) "I'm not young enough to know everything." |
#25
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Road grader question.
On Nov 11, 3:56*pm, (dan) wrote:
Anyone here know anything about running a roadgrader? I was looking at a tractor forum where someone had made a pull behindgraderfrom an old snow plow blade.http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/b...4-homemade-pul... And it got me thinking of how graders do their thing. The key point is the blade is mounted between the front and rear axles. *That allows the blade to lift/dip half or less as much as the axles as it rolls over high and low spots. *This allows them to make a flat surface quickly. But then I started to think about crowning a dirt road. *The blade is lowered to dig in a little deeper on the ditch side, and angled to move the dirt to the middle of the road. *But then the rear wheels go over the newly crowned part the wholegraderleans over. *This makes the blade lean over too, cutting even more of a crown. *Keep going like this and you would roll thegraderon it's side, it would seem. Does the operator have to re-adjust the level of the blade after starting the cut, making the blade parallel to the rear axles? Is there some kind of automatic level thingy to keep the blade at the same angle, or is that up to the operator? I might like to copy the one I found on the tractor forum, but I would like to add hydraulics to: raise and lower the blade, tilt the blade, and maybe angle the blade. I would probably use a 12v power pack with electric solenoid valves. And then I got an idea. *If I mounded some kind of pendulum on the blade itself that would trip switches to activate the valves, it could be made to maintain a preset angle, regardless of the angle of the frame. *I would have to add some kind of dampening of course, and the precision wouldn't be too great. What do you all think? *I'm still in the "thinking about it" stage, so no plans to start work on this for some time, but the more I design it in my head, the less problems I'm likely to run into later. -- Dan H. northshore MA. Dan, is this the type of machine you are referring to? http://bend.craigslist.org/grd/2071802156.html Doesn't look very complicated. Paul |
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Road grader question.
KD7HB wrote in
rec.crafts.metalworking on Sat, 20 Nov 2010 19:05:54 -0800 (PST): Dan, is this the type of machine you are referring to? http://bend.craigslist.org/grd/2071802156.html Doesn't look very complicated. Yes. That looks great! I would totally buy that if it were closer. I may ask the seller if they could provide some more pictures. -- Dan H. northshore MA. |
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