Grapple

[Havoctec]

My metals students have been helping me build a grapple and I thought you guys may by interested in some pics of it.

This is where it was Monday morning.

 

[Havoctec]

Here it is at the end of the day Tuesday.

 

[Havoctec]

Here it is in the open position.

 

[scott_vt]

Hi Todd,
Real nice job, I would think youve got some good students to do that kind of work!

scotty

 

[Havoctec]

They get a lot of supervision when doing a project like that for me but yes I do have some pretty good students. I designed the whole thing and just had them do cutting and welding. There are not very many students that I let weld and I inspected their progress often.

We actually finished it today and the paint is drying as I type this. I'll try to post some pics when I get it on the tractor.

I'll also try to get some pics of the plow they helped me build earlier this fall.

 

[tlbuser]

Interesting choice of round and square tube for your project. Throw in free material and indentured labor, what a deal. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[PineRidge]

Very nice looking grapple. I'll bet there's more than one member here including myself that could come up with all kinds of projects to keep good students real busy for a long time. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Havoctec]

Actually, I could only scrounge up half of the steel so it did cost me a little. Price was right on the labor though. They were excited about building it though.

I like the idea of building equipment like that for people in the community. Just may have to look into that.

 

[3RRL]

That's a great looking project. You're lucky to have the students do that for you. PineRidge is on to something there. Maybe we could send you the steel and plans your students would have projects year round?

 

[RonMar]

Pretty nice. The best part of those practical projects was getting to try them out when they were done. We built a stock car when I was a senior in high school and all who worked on it(I designed and built the gas tank and lowered engine and transmission mounts), got to hot lap it when it was completed. Man that was a hoot /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Our teacher raced that car for a season before bringing it back to school and re-working it with another crop of students.

 

[EddieWalker]

Very interesting.

Was your design based on the materials available?

I'm curious about the strength of pipe for horizontal preasure along with attaching it to angle iron at the ends.

The attachment point seems like the weak link to me depending on how much weight you put on it or how hard you work it. Adding the downward preasure from the grapple closing under force will also add to that stress point.

It will be very interesting to see how it tests out when you start working it.

Having the kids do it is a great project. Do you have a local flea market? I bet having the kids make a few projects and than selling them at the market would be allot of fun. Do it for charity or new shop tools.

The experience of having somebody buy what they built would be priceless.

Eddie

 

[Havoctec]

Yes, part of the design was based on materials available. However, a bobcat grapple that I looked at was very similar on the bottom so I'm hoping that it will work well.

I not aware of a flea market here. There are some that are relatively close that may be an option.

Also, if anyone here lives close to stillwater minnesota and you think that you have a project we could work on, I would be interesting in talking with you about it.