Device for emptying backhoe bucket

[Volp]

[FONT=&quot]Thanks BX Tex,
I followed your suggestion and looked into [/FONT][FONT=&quot]FreePatentsOnline[/FONT][FONT=&quot] which was a goldmine! [/FONT][FONT=&quot]
I found several interesting patents:
SELF-CLEANING BACK HOE. US3630396 as suggested by kthompson
Mechanical cleaner for dragline buckets and the like. US2501489
Belt ejector bucket and control linkage therefore. US3349934 as suggested by bearmtnmartin
Backhoe bucket construction. US3380604 as suggested by Grrr
You can probably find more in this place![/FONT]

 

[Taylortractornut]

2 things I can suggest for wet clay 1 is a poly liner like we use in our dump trucks nothing sticks to it and the load will shoot out. I worked for an outfit running a tractor pulling 2 pans in gumbo. they were dump bowl reynolds and every day we had the take nd xcavator and dig out the residual. Then we weled in a lip to slip som poly liner under and it would almost fly out. Ive added it to my mini ex bucket working on the lake but have to replace it after demo jobs in rock. The other that works good is to make a clay spade. thats a bucket with a long bottom and almost no sides. the sides are about 2 inches high like a cribbing bucket. Ive used one of these to in fact I made one if I can ever get it back from the friend that borrowed it. I copied mine from a UK site.

 

[ray66v]

2 things I can suggest for wet clay 1 is a poly liner like we use in our dump trucks nothing sticks to it and the load will shoot out. I worked for an outfit running a tractor pulling 2 pans in gumbo. they were dump bowl reynolds and every day we had the take nd xcavator and dig out the residual. Then we weled in a lip to slip som poly liner under and it would almost fly out. Ive added it to my mini ex bucket working on the lake but have to replace it after demo jobs in rock. The other that works good is to make a clay spade. thats a bucket with a long bottom and almost no sides. the sides are about 2 inches high like a cribbing bucket. Ive used one of these to in fact I made one if I can ever get it back from the friend that borrowed it. I copied mine from a UK site.

I am wondering if getting a small amount of the fairly expensive poly liner, to test it on a small bucket, could be a problem?

The open sided bucket your referring to was previously posted as a "banana bucket" in the "ejector bucket design" thread. I felt that it would
difficult to fabricate it at home, without the ability to temper the steel.

The patents listed by the previous poster are generally very old, this at least suggests that since they never became the solution, they may not have been completely effective.

 

[20 20]

I like the chains idea, maybe 3/8 welded front and back with enough slack to go all the way to the back surface.
Nobody mentioned the drainage holes, which I assume also go some way towards relieving suction.
All hoe buckets DO HAVE the drainage/suction relief holes - right ?

I also like the chain idea may give it a try, I think I have an old set of garden tractor chains lying around somewhere.

To answer you question, NOPE my bucket is hole less. I was wondering if holes would help, sounds like they won't

 

[Brad_Blazer]

I like Google patent search.
Google Patents

There was an old post here on TBN where someone made one like this except the back plate was simply fixed to the dipper stick:
SELF-CLEANING BACKHOE BUCKET - Google Patent Search

I cant find the post. I think it also showed some "bananna buckets" that had minimal side plates.

Here is another arrangement where the bucket does not need to be circular about the pivot point:
SELF-CLEANING BUCKET ARRANGEMENT FOR ... - Google Patent Search
I had trouble with Volp's links. Here is his 4th patent which seems to be the original fixed back cleanout:
http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=FhxSAAAAEBAJ&dq=3380604

 

[J_J]

I have seen buckets where the back side of the bucket was more narrow that the front of the bucket, specifically to allow the material that tended to stick in the regular bucket to slide out. If the material has the ability to stick together, like clay, maybe a hole in the back of the bucket would let air in to break the vacuum that is holding the material in the bucket. Perhaps even a spring loaded bucket plate would give some push for the material to eject. The dead weight would hold the spring loaded plate back/compressed until the bucket was tipped up, and the dead weight would reverse, and the additional push of the spring loaded plate would be enough to push the material out of the bucket.

 

[Volp]

Thanks Brad Blazer for Google Patents.
I fund the same patents easily this way for example:
SELF-CLEANING BACK HOE
Mechanical cleaner for dragline buckets and the like

 

[Volp]

Here is a picture of the "banana bucket" or "clay spade" as they call it in England. The picture is from the company Digbits

 

[have_blue]

I keep thinking of in-flight wing de-icing, but that's done with air pressure and rubber bladders. A few quick inflate-deflate cycles should make the goo let go. Probably too delicate for anything but soft clay.

I guess the most practical way to would be for the bottom of the bucket to gape open, like a 5 way. It would take an extra cylinder, but would be worth it.

Meanwhile, keep a sharpshooter in the cab. It's much easier on the machine than shaking and banging.

 

[alltoys]

I found that chains in the bucket work plus I spray the bucket with diesel before I get start wet it down.

A friend of mine with his own rubber tire hoe uses HCMSW which is a type of plastic used in Saw Mills that chains run on. It is a wear resistant plastic when it gets wet it is extremely slippery. Nothing sticks to it.

 

[/pine]

I've heard teflon paint works on regular shovels to keep clay/mud from sticking...not sure how well it would work on a hoe bucket..most have to be baked on...

Six Basic Types of DuPont? Teflonｮ Coatings

 

[Taylortractornut]

Poly liner shouldnt be a problem to get in a small amount. Try Farmtek they carry some thats custom cut. I built my bananna bucket from plain old A36 steel from the scrap yard out of 3/8th plate and its held up to my 12 000 pound Komatsu hoe. There should be some shops around that work on trailers and dump trucks, they should have a scrap peice around. Ill had a liner come out of a 20 yard container last spring we use in hauling soil in a roll off. Ill see if I have part of it left.

 

[Volp]

After the advice I received and some study of the patent applications I fitted a chain to my bucket. After testing in heavy clay I found that it was very effective in emtying the bucket allthough not 100% effective!

 

[20 20]

Thanks for the update

 

[RedDirt]

I had that thread a while back which was mentioned earlier in this post

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/112977-ejector-bucket-design.html

I ended up building the "banana bucket" and I have found it very satisfactory for my clay.

If I start digging too early in the spring when the clay is still very wet I'll still get some sticking in the bucket but even then just a bit sticks in the back of the bucket and I can still dump most of the load. In two years digging with it I can't recall needing to get off the tractor to clean the bucket. In late summer I'll have trouble keeping a full bucket after the dirt has dried out and crumbles. But between mid "early" spring and mid "late" summer the banana bucket works great!

I found I needed to revise my digging style a bit because I sometimes have to "balance" the load on the bucket as I am swinging to dump. The balancing act gets more pronounced as the season wears on and the clay gets drier and crumbly. It reaches the point where I want sides on the bucket and this winter I'll build some bolt on sides. It was actually on last winter's list but I built Kitchen cabinets instead .

The main purpose for building the bucket was needing a narrow bucket for trenching. I think I built it 7in wide. It is most effective when I'm digging a trench, ie. the side walls hold the dirt in the bucket until you clear the surface. I've put in hundreds of feet of trenches with it and I'm quite pleased.

If I needed to do more open excavation in clay I'd still consider building a wider banana style bucket; it was neither a difficult nor expensive build.

I have also found in many cases I prefer the banana bucket over the root tooth I built for digging stumps especially medium to large stumps (12" - 30" dia). I can remove much less dirt from around the stump than with my 12" bucket and I CAN remove dirt whereas I cannot with the tooth. The no-tooth beveled edge of the banana bucket also cuts through roots.

For the build I just used mild steel from the scrap pile, even the cutting edge, and I have had no problems with it. The cutting edge now needs sharpening but the rest is as good as new although I've tortured it in the occasional rock nest and powered up to the max pulling stumps.

 

[Volp]

Nice design RedDirt and thank you for the pictures.
Very interesting that you did use ordinary scrap heap mild steel for the construction!
I will probably try to build a similar bucket for trenching.

 

[J_J]

Here is a similar bucket for a skidsteer.

 

[Mace Canute]

View attachment 140181

Looks GOOD, RedDirt!! I see another benefit of a banana bucket is the ability to hold some stuff securely against the boom, without needing a thumb!

 

[RedDirt]

Nice design RedDirt and thank you for the pictures.
Very interesting that you did use ordinary scrap heap mild steel for the construction!
I will probably try to build a similar bucket for trenching.

Thanks for the compliment; but design was merely an eyeball copy of a design submitted on the above mentioned post. Ain't TBN great!

I am surprised too that the mild steel has held up so well. The banana bucket was an experiment and I did not want to spend much for something that might not work well. But no tweaks at all and I don't baby the thing when the rocks or stumps get stubborn. Mind you, I don't have too many rocks to deal with . If I did I'd likely upgrade to a hardened cutting edge but I think I'd leave the rest as built.

So the mild cutting edge wants sharpening every hundred hours or so! Big deal! Pull out the grinder and give it it a dressing. Run out of grinding space; replace the edge.

I'll see if I can dig up some trenching photos and post them.

 

[RedDirt]

I'll see if I can dig up some trenching photos and post them.

The following photos are from a project a year ago when I was preparing our orchard holes. We planted this spring. The dirt was pretty dry but you can get an idea of the nice trenches the banana bucket produces.

With clay soil we don't have very good drainage and I wanted good dirt in the tree holes. The problem with just digging holes and putting in good soil is that in the winter/spring the holes fill with water and literally drown the roots. Ah, this is not the first orchard I've attempted. So this project was not only digging the tree holes but also putting in a French drain into each hole and daylighting the drain about 80 ft away. While I was at it I continued the drain line past the orchard to the house and attached a couple of roof downspouts to it. The square holes in the photos are 3ft x 3ft x 3ft that I dug with the 12in bucket Then switched to the banana bucket for the trenching. I'd do a section, back fill, then do another couple holes, backfill, continue.


Here is the main trench out to daylight



And some tree holes with connecting drainage.





I put in six holes then ran another 70 ft to the house roof downspouts. No need to bore you with those flicks.

But...For us beginners trying to get an even bottom trench is a challange and another learning experience. I built a trench grading tool to smooth out my ups & downs. It is just a 3ft to 4ft length of 1x6 attached on a hinge to a swimming pool pole. I ran screws through the board to act as a rake. It worked great and ended up with very nice flat bottom trenches despite my learning abilities. I've gotten better now with trenches. I can keep the bottoms fairly flat. This summer's new learn was creating a flat bottom excavation for a concrete patio. But that's another story.

Here's the trench rake.