Above pic is the completed mount. I built it this way to spread the forces from the hood evenly across the frame of the machine. At least it seems that way in my head. The hole will accept an old wheel bearing that Al saved for me. Yes uncle Tommy, these came out of the caravan.
I removed the studs and flush cut the face of the hub so I could weld a receiver bar on it.
The receiver bar will accept the frame for the hood. This will also serve as my quick disconnect point.
A little more detail in case you plan on building one yourself :-) There really isn't much weight here so the plates I used for hinges will work just fine. If they slop out after a year or so I'll just drill them out to the next size bolt.
One thing I worried about was attaching this hood to the sprayer and then someone (oh anyone I suppose) running into a solid object and damaging the frame or transaxle of the stand on unit. I'm no engineer but I think the upright bar that's in the receiver is the weak link and will bend first before any other damage is incurred. That piece would be easy enough to duplicate in a pinch. The other thing we have going for us is that the stand on is articulated. If the hood takes a glancing blow the machine will kinda fold in half and give the operator time to back out of the throttle. At least it seems that way in my head.
This pic is pretty much the completed unit, at least as far as fabricating goes. It needs some wiring for the foamer and all the plumbing to the spray nozzles and foamer heads. A few other details like some solenoids to control flow to the left or right foam head and a flow meter to monitor spray nozzle health. I think we may also add a water level gauge for the main chemical tank too.
I ran it around the yard just to see how it handles and I think we'll be happy with this unit.
Later.
Really enjoy your builds.Taking ideas and turning them into working equipment.
ReplyDeleteYa it's fun to be able to build the equipment just the way we want it.
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