I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. My smaller
Ridgid and other vacs clog too easily with leaves. Anyone know of a site
with simple directions and basics on such a thing? Might I use a big
barrel, and buy TWO smaller shop vacs and use TWO suction motors on it?

Other ideas for a simple effective vacuum? Doesn't have to be that
powerful, just for leaves. Just a big hose to avoid clogging.

Steve

On Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:24:27 -0700, Steve B wrote:

I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. My
smaller Ridgid and other vacs clog too easily with leaves. Anyone know
of a site with simple directions and basics on such a thing? Might I
use a big barrel, and buy TWO smaller shop vacs and use TWO suction
motors on it?

Other ideas for a simple effective vacuum? Doesn't have to be that
powerful, just for leaves. Just a big hose to avoid clogging.

I don't know if two shop vacs are going to do it. The working vacuum
comes from air velocity, which a shop vac maintains is a hose that's
1-1/2 to 2 inches in diameter. A 6 inch hose has 9 times more area, so
if you wanted to maintain the same air velocity you'd need nine shop vac
motors -- and motors designed for 2" hoses, at that.

How big is the hose in your Rigid vac?

If you could figure out how to duct it, using the motor from a big leaf
blower might work. You'd have to turn things around, so the intake to
the blower portion goes to your barrel, and you'd have to do it in such a
way that you don't interfere with airflow to your carb or away from your
exhaust.

Don't blame me if you get your head stuck in the hose...

--
www.wescottdesign.com

On Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:36:38 -0500, Tim Wescott wrote:

On Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:24:27 -0700, Steve B wrote:

I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. My
smaller Ridgid and other vacs clog too easily with leaves. Anyone know
of a site with simple directions and basics on such a thing? Might I
use a big barrel, and buy TWO smaller shop vacs and use TWO suction
motors on it?

Other ideas for a simple effective vacuum? Doesn't have to be that
powerful, just for leaves. Just a big hose to avoid clogging.

I don't know if two shop vacs are going to do it. The working vacuum
comes from air velocity, which a shop vac maintains is a hose that's
1-1/2 to 2 inches in diameter. A 6 inch hose has 9 times more area, so
if you wanted to maintain the same air velocity you'd need nine shop vac
motors -- and motors designed for 2" hoses, at that.

How big is the hose in your Rigid vac?

If you could figure out how to duct it, using the motor from a big leaf
blower might work. You'd have to turn things around, so the intake to
the blower portion goes to your barrel, and you'd have to do it in such
a way that you don't interfere with airflow to your carb or away from
your exhaust.

Don't blame me if you get your head stuck in the hose...

Oh -- and you'd need a filter between the barrel and your blower. You're
not going to care about dust, so probably something like window screen
would work.

--
www.wescottdesign.com

"Tim Wescott" wrote

How big is the hose in your Rigid vac?

2 1/8", IIRC, and I believe I've seen 3 inchers.

Steve

"Tim Wescott" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:36:38 -0500, Tim Wescott wrote:

On Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:24:27 -0700, Steve B wrote:

I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. My
smaller Ridgid and other vacs clog too easily with leaves. Anyone know
of a site with simple directions and basics on such a thing? Might I
use a big barrel, and buy TWO smaller shop vacs and use TWO suction
motors on it?

Other ideas for a simple effective vacuum? Doesn't have to be that
powerful, just for leaves. Just a big hose to avoid clogging.

I don't know if two shop vacs are going to do it. The working vacuum
comes from air velocity, which a shop vac maintains is a hose that's
1-1/2 to 2 inches in diameter. A 6 inch hose has 9 times more area, so
if you wanted to maintain the same air velocity you'd need nine shop vac
motors -- and motors designed for 2" hoses, at that.

How big is the hose in your Rigid vac?

If you could figure out how to duct it, using the motor from a big leaf
blower might work. You'd have to turn things around, so the intake to
the blower portion goes to your barrel, and you'd have to do it in such
a way that you don't interfere with airflow to your carb or away from
your exhaust.

Don't blame me if you get your head stuck in the hose...

Oh -- and you'd need a filter between the barrel and your blower. You're
not going to care about dust, so probably something like window screen
would work.

--
www.wescottdesign.com

I have a canyon to discharge into, so maybe a long length of PVC or flex
hose might work with just a plain venturi setup with a blow through type of
action ..................................

I use a leaf blower now, but that's like shoveling sand against the surf.
Move it from here to over there. Move it back. New leaves............

Steve

On 11/4/2011 1:24 PM, Steve B wrote:
....

Other ideas for a simple effective vacuum? Doesn't have to be that
powerful, just for leaves. Just a big hose to avoid clogging.
....

http://www.harborfreight.com/13-gallon-industrial-portable-dust-collector-31810.html

--

Steve B wrote:
I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. My smaller
Ridgid and other vacs clog too easily with leaves. Anyone know of a site
with simple directions and basics on such a thing? Might I use a big
barrel, and buy TWO smaller shop vacs and use TWO suction motors on it?

Other ideas for a simple effective vacuum? Doesn't have to be that
powerful, just for leaves. Just a big hose to avoid clogging.

Steve


Where is the clog?
Clogging should be reduced if the size of the initial opening is the
smallest
diameter in the system. But if the leaves won't fit in that hole,
it'll clog at the mouth. But, at least, you can easily unclog that
on the fly.
Other thing to look for is discontinuities in the system. Joints with
protrusions that can catch leaves. Ditto for deflectors. My shop vac
has a right angle bend right inside where the hose attaches. BAD, BAD, BAD
for clogs.

I've thought about putting some kind of shredding blade right at the input.

You're gonna need a HUGE air volume for a 6" hose.
And don't under-estimate how unwieldy a big hose can be.
If it's stiff, you won't be able to maneuver. If it accordions
wildly with changes in pressure, it'll be equally unmanageable.

I think this is why people use BLOWERS to manage leaves.
Another management technique is a chain saw.

I converted a leaf blower into a vac & it works very well, within it's
limitations. It was a 5hp blower & I wouldn't recommend anything
smaller. It has a 6" intake hose, 6' long. A smaller diameter will
clog too easily (there are ALWAYS some twigs in the leaves) and longer
restricts the flow too much. The hose is honest-to-god vacuum hose &
well worth it ($9/foot, IIRC). The fan discharges directly into the box
of my leaf wagon. I've not tried discharging through a hose & wouldn't
even try - it would add too much restriction.

This is a case where bigger is not only better, it is essential. Trying
to get by with shop-vac sizing will be excruciatingly slow. I have a
hand-held blower that came with a conversion to use as a vac, with it's
own bag. I used it for about 10 minutes before trashing that part.

HTH, YMMV, etc,
Bob

On Nov 4, 1:05*pm, mike wrote:
Steve B wrote:
I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. *My smaller
Ridgid and other vacs clog too easily with leaves. *Anyone know of a site
with simple directions and basics on such a thing? *Might I use a big
barrel, and buy TWO smaller shop vacs and use TWO suction motors on it?

Other ideas for a simple effective vacuum? *Doesn't have to be that
powerful, just for leaves. *Just a big hose to avoid clogging.

Steve

Where is the clog?
Clogging should be reduced if the size of the initial opening is the
smallest
diameter in the system. *But if the leaves won't fit in that hole,
it'll clog at the mouth. *But, at least, you can easily unclog that
on the fly.
Other thing to look for is discontinuities in the system. *Joints with
protrusions that can catch leaves. *Ditto for deflectors. My shop vac
has a right angle bend right inside *where the hose attaches. *BAD, BAD, BAD
for clogs.

I've thought about putting some kind of shredding blade right at the input.

Bob Engelhardt wrote:
I converted a leaf blower into a vac & it works very well, within it's
limitations. It was a 5hp blower & I wouldn't recommend anything
smaller. It has a 6" intake hose, 6' long. A smaller diameter will clog
too easily (there are ALWAYS some twigs in the leaves) and longer
restricts the flow too much. The hose is honest-to-god vacuum hose &
well worth it ($9/foot, IIRC). The fan discharges directly into the box
of my leaf wagon. I've not tried discharging through a hose & wouldn't
even try - it would add too much restriction.

This is a case where bigger is not only better, it is essential. Trying
to get by with shop-vac sizing will be excruciatingly slow. I have a
hand-held blower that came with a conversion to use as a vac, with it's
own bag. I used it for about 10 minutes before trashing that part.

What Bob said.

I converted one of my shop vacs into a 4" leaf
vacuum a few years back. It *did* work but was
quite slow and awkward.

In my postage-stamp-sized front yard, the 30 gallon
tank would fill twice!
I find that raking leaves is *much* faster
and easier than trying to vacuum them.

However, I still have 'tool lust' for one of these:
http://www.billygoat.com/site/intro.aspx?pid=71

--Winston

On 2011-11-04, Steve B wrote:
I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. My smaller
Ridgid and other vacs clog too easily with leaves. Anyone know of a site
with simple directions and basics on such a thing? Might I use a big
barrel, and buy TWO smaller shop vacs and use TWO suction motors on it?

Other ideas for a simple effective vacuum? Doesn't have to be that
powerful, just for leaves. Just a big hose to avoid clogging.

Steve, you can do it for sure, but you need more horsepower than you
can get from your 115v outlet.

i

Winston wrote:
Bob Engelhardt wrote:
I converted a leaf blower into a vac & it works very well, within it's
limitations. It was a 5hp blower & I wouldn't recommend anything
smaller. It has a 6" intake hose, 6' long. A smaller diameter will clog
too easily (there are ALWAYS some twigs in the leaves) and longer
restricts the flow too much. The hose is honest-to-god vacuum hose &
well worth it ($9/foot, IIRC). The fan discharges directly into the box
of my leaf wagon. I've not tried discharging through a hose & wouldn't
even try - it would add too much restriction.

This is a case where bigger is not only better, it is essential. Trying
to get by with shop-vac sizing will be excruciatingly slow. I have a
hand-held blower that came with a conversion to use as a vac, with it's
own bag. I used it for about 10 minutes before trashing that part.

What Bob said.

I converted one of my shop vacs into a 4" leaf
vacuum a few years back. It *did* work but was
quite slow and awkward.

In my postage-stamp-sized front yard, the 30 gallon
tank would fill twice!
I find that raking leaves is *much* faster
and easier than trying to vacuum them.

However, I still have 'tool lust' for one of these:
http://www.billygoat.com/site/intro.aspx?pid=71

--Winston

A lawnmower with good suction also makes a good leaf pickeruppermulcher.
Works on limited terrain types.

mike wrote:
Winston wrote:

(...)

However, I still have 'tool lust' for one of these:
http://www.billygoat.com/site/intro.aspx?pid=71

--Winston

A lawnmower with good suction also makes a good leaf pickeruppermulcher.
Works on limited terrain types.

Yup. Flat.

That optional hose kit on the billygoat would
be a must for cleaning up my hardscape.
I've got lots of little plants with 'not a
lot of' clearance between them.

I wonder if anyone has put one of these on wheels:
http://www.harborfreight.com/2-hp-industrial-5-micron-dust-collector-97869.html

--Winston

On Fri, 4 Nov 2011 12:24:16 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Nov 4, 1:05*pm, mike wrote:
Steve B wrote:
I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. *My smaller
Ridgid and other vacs clog too easily with leaves. *Anyone know of a site
with simple directions and basics on such a thing? *Might I use a big
barrel, and buy TWO smaller shop vacs and use TWO suction motors on it?

Other ideas for a simple effective vacuum? *Doesn't have to be that
powerful, just for leaves. *Just a big hose to avoid clogging.

Steve

Where is the clog?
Clogging should be reduced if the size of the initial opening is the
smallest
diameter in the system. *But if the leaves won't fit in that hole,
it'll clog at the mouth. *But, at least, you can easily unclog that
on the fly.
Other thing to look for is discontinuities in the system. *Joints with
protrusions that can catch leaves. *Ditto for deflectors. My shop vac
has a right angle bend right inside *where the hose attaches. *BAD, BAD, BAD
for clogs.

I've thought about putting some kind of shredding blade right at the input.

You're gonna need a HUGE air volume for a 6" hose.
And don't under-estimate how unwieldy a big hose can be.
If it's stiff, you won't be able to maneuver. If it accordions
wildly with changes in pressure, it'll be equally unmanageable.

I think this is why people use BLOWERS to manage leaves.
Another management technique is a chain saw.

The groundskeepers had a giant vac that mounted on the back of their 4
wheelers at our old building at work, had a pickup area of about
2x3'. Vac fed into a big dump bin under the vac. No hose, just a big
chute into the bin. So there's commercial equipment to do just that,
how well it works with wet or packed leaves I don't know. There have
also been some light rotary brushes mounted in front of a canvas
catcher for sweeping up leaves, probably less noisy, another approach
to the problem.

I removed the grass catcher from my old riding mower and am going to
modify it to fit the new one. Both are Murrays, but I'll have to add
brackets at the rear to fortify the frame bars. I think the mower will
pick up the leaves pretty well. It really blows grass. We'll see
soon.

--
The unexamined life is not worth living.
--Socrates

On Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:39:52 -0700, Winston
wrote:

Bob Engelhardt wrote:
I converted a leaf blower into a vac & it works very well, within it's
limitations. It was a 5hp blower & I wouldn't recommend anything
smaller. It has a 6" intake hose, 6' long. A smaller diameter will clog
too easily (there are ALWAYS some twigs in the leaves) and longer
restricts the flow too much. The hose is honest-to-god vacuum hose &
well worth it ($9/foot, IIRC). The fan discharges directly into the box
of my leaf wagon. I've not tried discharging through a hose & wouldn't
even try - it would add too much restriction.

This is a case where bigger is not only better, it is essential. Trying
to get by with shop-vac sizing will be excruciatingly slow. I have a
hand-held blower that came with a conversion to use as a vac, with it's
own bag. I used it for about 10 minutes before trashing that part.

What Bob said.

I converted one of my shop vacs into a 4" leaf
vacuum a few years back. It *did* work but was
quite slow and awkward.

In my postage-stamp-sized front yard, the 30 gallon
tank would fill twice!
I find that raking leaves is *much* faster
and easier than trying to vacuum them.

However, I still have 'tool lust' for one of these:
http://www.billygoat.com/site/intro.aspx?pid=71

Another walk-behind: http://littlewonder.com/lw-vac.asp

I want one like this, though, as long as we're lusting:
http://www.drpower.com/Leaf-Lawn-Vac...e-Support.aspx
http://www.cyclonerake.com/xl.htm?source=googleprod

--
The unexamined life is not worth living.
--Socrates

On Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:42:19 -0700, Steve B wrote:

"Tim Wescott" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:36:38 -0500, Tim Wescott wrote:

On Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:24:27 -0700, Steve B wrote:

I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. My
smaller Ridgid and other vacs clog too easily with leaves. Anyone
know of a site with simple directions and basics on such a thing?
Might I use a big barrel, and buy TWO smaller shop vacs and use TWO
suction motors on it?

Other ideas for a simple effective vacuum? Doesn't have to be that
powerful, just for leaves. Just a big hose to avoid clogging.

I don't know if two shop vacs are going to do it. The working vacuum
comes from air velocity, which a shop vac maintains is a hose that's
1-1/2 to 2 inches in diameter. A 6 inch hose has 9 times more area,
so if you wanted to maintain the same air velocity you'd need nine
shop vac motors -- and motors designed for 2" hoses, at that.

How big is the hose in your Rigid vac?

If you could figure out how to duct it, using the motor from a big
leaf blower might work. You'd have to turn things around, so the
intake to the blower portion goes to your barrel, and you'd have to do
it in such a way that you don't interfere with airflow to your carb or
away from your exhaust.

Don't blame me if you get your head stuck in the hose...

Oh -- and you'd need a filter between the barrel and your blower.
You're not going to care about dust, so probably something like window
screen would work.

--
www.wescottdesign.com

I have a canyon to discharge into, so maybe a long length of PVC or flex
hose might work with just a plain venturi setup with a blow through type
of action ..................................

I use a leaf blower now, but that's like shoveling sand against the
surf. Move it from here to over there. Move it back. New
leaves............

Steve

Leaf blowers seem to make sense when you're trying to get a diffuse bunch
of leaves into a low pile, but when it comes time to get everything onto
a tarp to put it in the compost pile you just gotta get out the rake

--
Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com

On Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:04:55 -0700, Winston
wrote:

mike wrote:
Winston wrote:

(...)

However, I still have 'tool lust' for one of these:
http://www.billygoat.com/site/intro.aspx?pid=71

--Winston

A lawnmower with good suction also makes a good leaf pickeruppermulcher.
Works on limited terrain types.

Yup. Flat.

That optional hose kit on the billygoat would
be a must for cleaning up my hardscape.
I've got lots of little plants with 'not a
lot of' clearance between them.

I wonder if anyone has put one of these on wheels:
http://www.harborfreight.com/2-hp-industrial-5-micron-dust-collector-97869.html

Excellent if you can get the microwave transmission of the 230v power
to work, eh?

--
The unexamined life is not worth living.
--Socrates

On Fri, 4 Nov 2011 11:24:27 -0700, "Steve B" wrote:

I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. My smaller
Ridgid and other vacs clog too easily with leaves. Anyone know of a site
with simple directions and basics on such a thing? Might I use a big
barrel, and buy TWO smaller shop vacs and use TWO suction motors on it?

Other ideas for a simple effective vacuum? Doesn't have to be that
powerful, just for leaves. Just a big hose to avoid clogging.

Steve

See: http://woodgears.ca/misc/leaf_vacuum.html
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

Larry Jaques wrote:

(...)

Another walk-behind: http://littlewonder.com/lw-vac.asp

I Like that one.

--Winston

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:04:55 -0700,
wrote:

(...)

I wonder if anyone has put one of these on wheels:
http://www.harborfreight.com/2-hp-industrial-5-micron-dust-collector-97869.html

Excellent if you can get the microwave transmission of the 230v power
to work, eh?

Nah. It's listed for 120V.

I think that Little Wonder deal of yours is 'way cooler though.

--Winston

Gerald Miller wrote:
On Fri, 4 Nov 2011 11:24:27 -0700, "Steve wrote:

I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. My smaller
Ridgid and other vacs clog too easily with leaves. Anyone know of a site
with simple directions and basics on such a thing? Might I use a big
barrel, and buy TWO smaller shop vacs and use TWO suction motors on it?

Other ideas for a simple effective vacuum? Doesn't have to be that
powerful, just for leaves. Just a big hose to avoid clogging.

Steve

See: http://woodgears.ca/misc/leaf_vacuum.html
Gerry :-)}

Extremely Cool, Gerry!

Thanks!

--Winston

On 11/4/2011 9:30 PM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Fri, 4 Nov 2011 12:24:16 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Nov 4, 1:05 pm, wrote:
Steve B wrote:
I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. My smaller
Ridgid and other vacs clog too easily with leaves. Anyone know of a site
with simple directions and basics on such a thing? Might I use a big
barrel, and buy TWO smaller shop vacs and use TWO suction motors on it?

Other ideas for a simple effective vacuum? Doesn't have to be that
powerful, just for leaves. Just a big hose to avoid clogging.

Steve

Where is the clog?
Clogging should be reduced if the size of the initial opening is the
smallest
diameter in the system. But if the leaves won't fit in that hole,
it'll clog at the mouth. But, at least, you can easily unclog that
on the fly.
Other thing to look for is discontinuities in the system. Joints with
protrusions that can catch leaves. Ditto for deflectors. My shop vac
has a right angle bend right inside where the hose attaches. BAD, BAD, BAD
for clogs.

I've thought about putting some kind of shredding blade right at the input.

You're gonna need a HUGE air volume for a 6" hose.
And don't under-estimate how unwieldy a big hose can be.
If it's stiff, you won't be able to maneuver. If it accordions
wildly with changes in pressure, it'll be equally unmanageable.

I think this is why people use BLOWERS to manage leaves.
Another management technique is a chain saw.

The groundskeepers had a giant vac that mounted on the back of their 4
wheelers at our old building at work, had a pickup area of about
2x3'. Vac fed into a big dump bin under the vac. No hose, just a big
chute into the bin. So there's commercial equipment to do just that,
how well it works with wet or packed leaves I don't know. There have
also been some light rotary brushes mounted in front of a canvas
catcher for sweeping up leaves, probably less noisy, another approach
to the problem.

I removed the grass catcher from my old riding mower and am going to
modify it to fit the new one. Both are Murrays, but I'll have to add
brackets at the rear to fortify the frame bars. I think the mower will
pick up the leaves pretty well. It really blows grass. We'll see
soon.

--
The unexamined life is not worth living.
--Socrates

How big is your lawn? I cut my rolling acres (8' x 10') with a line
trimmer in 3 minutes. The dogs like to poop on grass, the rest of the
courtyard is brick, gardens and river stone.

My Dad used to mow over the leaves. Chop them into little
pieces, and leave them to rot. Looks a bit brightly colored
for a day or two, but works fine.

Have you checked at the lawn and garden places? I'm sure
I've seen riding mower assembly with a tube that goes from
the side discharge to garbage cans (two of them) on the back
of the mower.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Steve B" wrote in message
...

I have a canyon to discharge into, so maybe a long length of
PVC or flex
hose might work with just a plain venturi setup with a blow
through type of
action ..................................

I use a leaf blower now, but that's like shoveling sand
against the surf.
Move it from here to over there. Move it back. New
leaves............

Steve

On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:36:36 -0400, Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:

On 11/4/2011 9:30 PM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Fri, 4 Nov 2011 12:24:16 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Nov 4, 1:05 pm, wrote:
Steve B wrote:
I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. My smaller
Ridgid and other vacs clog too easily with leaves. Anyone know of a site
with simple directions and basics on such a thing? Might I use a big
barrel, and buy TWO smaller shop vacs and use TWO suction motors on it?

Other ideas for a simple effective vacuum? Doesn't have to be that
powerful, just for leaves. Just a big hose to avoid clogging.

Steve

Where is the clog?
Clogging should be reduced if the size of the initial opening is the
smallest
diameter in the system. But if the leaves won't fit in that hole,
it'll clog at the mouth. But, at least, you can easily unclog that
on the fly.
Other thing to look for is discontinuities in the system. Joints with
protrusions that can catch leaves. Ditto for deflectors. My shop vac
has a right angle bend right inside where the hose attaches. BAD, BAD, BAD
for clogs.

I've thought about putting some kind of shredding blade right at the input.

You're gonna need a HUGE air volume for a 6" hose.
And don't under-estimate how unwieldy a big hose can be.
If it's stiff, you won't be able to maneuver. If it accordions
wildly with changes in pressure, it'll be equally unmanageable.

I think this is why people use BLOWERS to manage leaves.
Another management technique is a chain saw.

The groundskeepers had a giant vac that mounted on the back of their 4
wheelers at our old building at work, had a pickup area of about
2x3'. Vac fed into a big dump bin under the vac. No hose, just a big
chute into the bin. So there's commercial equipment to do just that,
how well it works with wet or packed leaves I don't know. There have
also been some light rotary brushes mounted in front of a canvas
catcher for sweeping up leaves, probably less noisy, another approach
to the problem.

I removed the grass catcher from my old riding mower and am going to
modify it to fit the new one. Both are Murrays, but I'll have to add
brackets at the rear to fortify the frame bars. I think the mower will
pick up the leaves pretty well. It really blows grass. We'll see
soon.

How big is your lawn? I cut my rolling acres (8' x 10') with a line
trimmer in 3 minutes. The dogs like to poop on grass, the rest of the
courtyard is brick, gardens and river stone.

My estate is considerably larger than yours, Tawm. I have a huge
front yard and small side yard. Then there's the West 40. All in all,
my grounds take up -over- 1/3 of an acre, almost 1/3 of it is covered
in (weeds and) grass. As soon as I take out the trees in the front
yard (I've already planted an Oregon native willow there), I'll be
putting in bark and perennials, and maybe a dwarf apple tree.

The maple, birch, and sweetgum in the front yard all drop ****loads of
leaves. The small pin oak out on the West 40 isn't too bad. But the
Doug fir and coastal redwood drop all sorts of crap in the back yard,
too. Leaf detritus are a pain, but the main reason I'm taking out the
trees: I don't want tons of danger hanging over my roof at night.

--
The unexamined life is not worth living.
--Socrates

On 05-Nov-2011 10:25, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:36:36 -0400, Tom Gardnermars@tacks wrote:


The maple, birch, and sweetgum in the front yard all drop ****loads of
leaves. The small pin oak out on the West 40 isn't too bad. But the
Doug fir and coastal redwood drop all sorts of crap in the back yard,
too. Leaf detritus are a pain, but the main reason I'm taking out the
trees: I don't want tons of danger hanging over my roof at night.


Maybe build one of these:
http://woodgears.ca/misc/leaf_vacuum.html


__________________________________________________ __________________
Gardner Buchanan gbuchana(a)teksavvy(dot)com
FreeBSD: Where you want to go. Today.

On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 11:01:02 -0400, Gardner
78436578346587364578364578@kjhgfjkerhfjksdhfjkdfh kjhjkgfsdhfjdhfjkhfjkgfh.com
wrote:

On 05-Nov-2011 10:25, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:36:36 -0400, Tom Gardnermars@tacks wrote:


The maple, birch, and sweetgum in the front yard all drop ****loads of
leaves. The small pin oak out on the West 40 isn't too bad. But the
Doug fir and coastal redwood drop all sorts of crap in the back yard,
too. Leaf detritus are a pain, but the main reason I'm taking out the
trees: I don't want tons of danger hanging over my roof at night.


Maybe build one of these:
http://woodgears.ca/misc/leaf_vacuum.html

My initial step is modifying the old leaf collection system to the new
mower. If that doesn't work as well as I want, I'll add a sucker to
it.

--
Life is an escalator:
You can move forward or backward;
you can not remain still.
-- Patricia Russell-McCloud

"Gerald Miller" wrote

See: http://woodgears.ca/misc/leaf_vacuum.html
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

My terrain is too unlevel.

Steve

Larry Jaques wrote:

My initial step is modifying the old leaf collection system to the new
mower. If that doesn't work as well as I want, I'll add a sucker to
it.


Hawkie or 'The Mangey Toad'?


--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.

On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:25:25 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:36:36 -0400, Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:

On 11/4/2011 9:30 PM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Fri, 4 Nov 2011 12:24:16 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Nov 4, 1:05 pm, wrote:
Steve B wrote:
I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. My smaller

snip

I removed the grass catcher from my old riding mower and am going to
modify it to fit the new one. Both are Murrays, but I'll have to add
brackets at the rear to fortify the frame bars. I think the mower will
pick up the leaves pretty well. It really blows grass. We'll see
soon.

How big is your lawn? I cut my rolling acres (8' x 10') with a line
trimmer in 3 minutes. The dogs like to poop on grass, the rest of the
courtyard is brick, gardens and river stone.

My estate is considerably larger than yours, Tawm. I have a huge
front yard and small side yard. Then there's the West 40. All in all,
my grounds take up -over- 1/3 of an acre, almost 1/3 of it is covered
in (weeds and) grass. As soon as I take out the trees in the front
yard (I've already planted an Oregon native willow there), I'll be
putting in bark and perennials, and maybe a dwarf apple tree.

The maple, birch, and sweetgum in the front yard all drop ****loads of
leaves. The small pin oak out on the West 40 isn't too bad. But the
Doug fir and coastal redwood drop all sorts of crap in the back yard,
too. Leaf detritus are a pain, but the main reason I'm taking out the
trees: I don't want tons of danger hanging over my roof at night.

Man, I'm with you there, Larry. In Michigan, we had 100'+ cottonwoods
and maples 50' from the house. I had eight smaller ones against the
house removed to let in some light, but they wanted twice as much to
remove the one big cottonwood as the total for all the others, $3500.
The biggest maple was on the front easement, forked, and showing signs
of stress. Couldn't touch it and city wouldn't.

Here in Texas, there are a few trees, but not enough to rake leaves.
The lot is 1.8 acres, with about 1 acre behind the house. That's just
a park for the dogs and deer to me, although I may stick a storage
building back there some day.

I sure don't miss big trees or raking.

Pete Keillor

On Sun, 06 Nov 2011 06:54:58 -0600, Pete Keillor
wrote:

On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:25:25 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:36:36 -0400, Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:

On 11/4/2011 9:30 PM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Fri, 4 Nov 2011 12:24:16 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Nov 4, 1:05 pm, wrote:
Steve B wrote:
I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. My smaller

snip

I removed the grass catcher from my old riding mower and am going to
modify it to fit the new one. Both are Murrays, but I'll have to add
brackets at the rear to fortify the frame bars. I think the mower will
pick up the leaves pretty well. It really blows grass. We'll see
soon.

How big is your lawn? I cut my rolling acres (8' x 10') with a line
trimmer in 3 minutes. The dogs like to poop on grass, the rest of the
courtyard is brick, gardens and river stone.

My estate is considerably larger than yours, Tawm. I have a huge
front yard and small side yard. Then there's the West 40. All in all,
my grounds take up -over- 1/3 of an acre, almost 1/3 of it is covered
in (weeds and) grass. As soon as I take out the trees in the front
yard (I've already planted an Oregon native willow there), I'll be
putting in bark and perennials, and maybe a dwarf apple tree.

The maple, birch, and sweetgum in the front yard all drop ****loads of
leaves. The small pin oak out on the West 40 isn't too bad. But the
Doug fir and coastal redwood drop all sorts of crap in the back yard,
too. Leaf detritus are a pain, but the main reason I'm taking out the
trees: I don't want tons of danger hanging over my roof at night.

Man, I'm with you there, Larry. In Michigan, we had 100'+ cottonwoods
and maples 50' from the house. I had eight smaller ones against the
house removed to let in some light, but they wanted twice as much to
remove the one big cottonwood as the total for all the others, $3500.

JFC! Too fracking expensive.


The biggest maple was on the front easement, forked, and showing signs
of stress. Couldn't touch it and city wouldn't.

The one which hangs directly over the house, the birch, is showing
signs of stress and a couple wrist-diameter limbs have fallen. I can
fell that one myself. The 80' redwood and 70' doug fir and sweetgum
are problematic. Cash in the fall is slim and in the winter is nil,
so I'm trying to find someone with insurance who'll just cut 'em down
and take 'em. It's about time for the county to send the tree guys
around to trip for the power lines, and I'm hoping to get the maple
taken down for free by them.


Here in Texas, there are a few trees, but not enough to rake leaves.
The lot is 1.8 acres, with about 1 acre behind the house. That's just
a park for the dogs and deer to me, although I may stick a storage
building back there some day.

I sure don't miss big trees or raking.

Grok that, Pete. I can't wait.

--
Live Simply. Speak Kindly. Care Deeply. Love Generously.
-- anon

On Sun, 06 Nov 2011 06:54:58 -0600, Pete Keillor
wrote:

On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:25:25 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:36:36 -0400, Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:

On 11/4/2011 9:30 PM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Fri, 4 Nov 2011 12:24:16 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Nov 4, 1:05 pm, wrote:
Steve B wrote:
I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. My smaller

snip

I removed the grass catcher from my old riding mower and am going to
modify it to fit the new one. Both are Murrays, but I'll have to add
brackets at the rear to fortify the frame bars. I think the mower will
pick up the leaves pretty well. It really blows grass. We'll see
soon.

How big is your lawn? I cut my rolling acres (8' x 10') with a line
trimmer in 3 minutes. The dogs like to poop on grass, the rest of the
courtyard is brick, gardens and river stone.

My estate is considerably larger than yours, Tawm. I have a huge
front yard and small side yard. Then there's the West 40. All in all,
my grounds take up -over- 1/3 of an acre, almost 1/3 of it is covered
in (weeds and) grass. As soon as I take out the trees in the front
yard (I've already planted an Oregon native willow there), I'll be
putting in bark and perennials, and maybe a dwarf apple tree.

The maple, birch, and sweetgum in the front yard all drop ****loads of
leaves. The small pin oak out on the West 40 isn't too bad. But the
Doug fir and coastal redwood drop all sorts of crap in the back yard,
too. Leaf detritus are a pain, but the main reason I'm taking out the
trees: I don't want tons of danger hanging over my roof at night.

Man, I'm with you there, Larry. In Michigan, we had 100'+ cottonwoods
and maples 50' from the house. I had eight smaller ones against the
house removed to let in some light, but they wanted twice as much to
remove the one big cottonwood as the total for all the others, $3500.
The biggest maple was on the front easement, forked, and showing signs
of stress. Couldn't touch it and city wouldn't.

Here in Texas, there are a few trees, but not enough to rake leaves.
The lot is 1.8 acres, with about 1 acre behind the house. That's just
a park for the dogs and deer to me, although I may stick a storage
building back there some day.

I sure don't miss big trees or raking.

Pete Keillor

Cottonwoods in Michigan? Had to have been in way south end of the state.
Snow loads would have destroyed most of them in any part of the state
north of Detroit.


One could not be a successful Leftwinger without realizing that,
in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers
and mothers of Leftwingers, a goodly number of Leftwingers are
not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid.
Gunner Asch

On Sun, 06 Nov 2011 09:15:12 -0800, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Sun, 06 Nov 2011 06:54:58 -0600, Pete Keillor
wrote:

On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:25:25 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:36:36 -0400, Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:

On 11/4/2011 9:30 PM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Fri, 4 Nov 2011 12:24:16 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Nov 4, 1:05 pm, wrote:
Steve B wrote:
I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. My smaller

snip

I removed the grass catcher from my old riding mower and am going to
modify it to fit the new one. Both are Murrays, but I'll have to add
brackets at the rear to fortify the frame bars. I think the mower will
pick up the leaves pretty well. It really blows grass. We'll see
soon.

How big is your lawn? I cut my rolling acres (8' x 10') with a line
trimmer in 3 minutes. The dogs like to poop on grass, the rest of the
courtyard is brick, gardens and river stone.

My estate is considerably larger than yours, Tawm. I have a huge
front yard and small side yard. Then there's the West 40. All in all,
my grounds take up -over- 1/3 of an acre, almost 1/3 of it is covered
in (weeds and) grass. As soon as I take out the trees in the front
yard (I've already planted an Oregon native willow there), I'll be
putting in bark and perennials, and maybe a dwarf apple tree.

The maple, birch, and sweetgum in the front yard all drop ****loads of
leaves. The small pin oak out on the West 40 isn't too bad. But the
Doug fir and coastal redwood drop all sorts of crap in the back yard,
too. Leaf detritus are a pain, but the main reason I'm taking out the
trees: I don't want tons of danger hanging over my roof at night.

Man, I'm with you there, Larry. In Michigan, we had 100'+ cottonwoods
and maples 50' from the house. I had eight smaller ones against the
house removed to let in some light, but they wanted twice as much to
remove the one big cottonwood as the total for all the others, $3500.
The biggest maple was on the front easement, forked, and showing signs
of stress. Couldn't touch it and city wouldn't.

Here in Texas, there are a few trees, but not enough to rake leaves.
The lot is 1.8 acres, with about 1 acre behind the house. That's just
a park for the dogs and deer to me, although I may stick a storage
building back there some day.

I sure don't miss big trees or raking.

Pete Keillor

Cottonwoods in Michigan? Had to have been in way south end of the state.
Snow loads would have destroyed most of them in any part of the state
north of Detroit.


One could not be a successful Leftwinger without realizing that,
in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers
and mothers of Leftwingers, a goodly number of Leftwingers are
not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid.
Gunner Asch

Naw, Midland only averages about 34" of snow a year, or something like
that. Much less than the west side or UP. The woods behind our house
was full of monster trees. The tree guy said ours was about 120'.
There were many like it back there. Made quite a thump when one of
the dead ones came down in a windstorm.

Or maybe there's some other poplar that throws a blizzard of cottony
seeds with sticky damn buds you can't clean up with acetone. We had
several inches to a foot of cotton blanketing the woods behind the
house some years. Talk about a fire hazard.

Pete Keillor

On Sun, 06 Nov 2011 09:15:12 -0800, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Sun, 06 Nov 2011 06:54:58 -0600, Pete Keillor
wrote:

On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:25:25 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:36:36 -0400, Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:

On 11/4/2011 9:30 PM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Fri, 4 Nov 2011 12:24:16 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Nov 4, 1:05 pm, wrote:
Steve B wrote:
I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. My smaller

snip

I removed the grass catcher from my old riding mower and am going to
modify it to fit the new one. Both are Murrays, but I'll have to add
brackets at the rear to fortify the frame bars. I think the mower will
pick up the leaves pretty well. It really blows grass. We'll see
soon.

How big is your lawn? I cut my rolling acres (8' x 10') with a line
trimmer in 3 minutes. The dogs like to poop on grass, the rest of the
courtyard is brick, gardens and river stone.

My estate is considerably larger than yours, Tawm. I have a huge
front yard and small side yard. Then there's the West 40. All in all,
my grounds take up -over- 1/3 of an acre, almost 1/3 of it is covered
in (weeds and) grass. As soon as I take out the trees in the front
yard (I've already planted an Oregon native willow there), I'll be
putting in bark and perennials, and maybe a dwarf apple tree.

The maple, birch, and sweetgum in the front yard all drop ****loads of
leaves. The small pin oak out on the West 40 isn't too bad. But the
Doug fir and coastal redwood drop all sorts of crap in the back yard,
too. Leaf detritus are a pain, but the main reason I'm taking out the
trees: I don't want tons of danger hanging over my roof at night.

Man, I'm with you there, Larry. In Michigan, we had 100'+ cottonwoods
and maples 50' from the house. I had eight smaller ones against the
house removed to let in some light, but they wanted twice as much to
remove the one big cottonwood as the total for all the others, $3500.
The biggest maple was on the front easement, forked, and showing signs
of stress. Couldn't touch it and city wouldn't.

Here in Texas, there are a few trees, but not enough to rake leaves.
The lot is 1.8 acres, with about 1 acre behind the house. That's just
a park for the dogs and deer to me, although I may stick a storage
building back there some day.

I sure don't miss big trees or raking.

Pete Keillor

Cottonwoods in Michigan? Had to have been in way south end of the state.
Snow loads would have destroyed most of them in any part of the state
north of Detroit.

I wish someone would destroy the cottonwoods around the corner from
me. Damned fuzz clogs up my AC outdoor unit every year.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

Steve B wrote:
I need to build a vacuum with a 4" or 6" hose to pick up leaves. *My smaller

Steve, I have the same problem. Texas post oaks by the score on my
almost-an-acre on a steep hillside.
Damned leaves fall for 2 months and find all the places that you can't
reach with the mower.
I've tried a number of machine solutions, the most recent was a Billy
Goat. Those dusty oak leaves just clogged up the pores in the bag. I
would have had to clean the bag ( a major chore) every time I used it.
Sold that turkey.

I'm thinking along the lines of one of the Cyclone or DR head units. I
need the big sucker hose and the trailer to catch the stuff, but I
won't be able to run over them with the mower first. I want that long
6" hose I can poke at the piles drifted up beside the house, behind
the A/C, etc.

I liked that homebilt unit posted earlier. I think I'd buy the
impeller from Cyclone, and probably the steel housing and some hose
too. All the rest looks easy to fab.