Mods to a Howse box blade

[def38]

I have this Howse box blade. It uses slotted ripper shanks that are held in place with jam pins, a poor design IMO. I wish to modify the shank mountings by welding ears onto the square steel tube that the shanks mount in. The ears will be located on either side of the shank mounting slot. The ears will be drilled to receive pins to hold the shanks in place. Further, I'll need to drill the shanks to receive the locking pins.

Question is, are those shanks too hard to be drilled? I'll use a hand held electric drill (3/8 chuck) and a cobalt bit to poke 15 holes in the 5 shanks and 10 holes in the ears. The hole size will be 1/2" dia.

Next, are any of you located in Blount or Jefferson County, Alabama and have welding equipment? I'll pay any reasonable fee for welding (I'll trailer the box blade to you).

Thoughts and comments welcomed.

 

[4570Man]

I doubt the shanks are hardened at all except the replaceable tips. Drilling mild steel that thick still isn’t easy with a hand drill.

 

[Big Barn]

Consider buying a cheap drill press. I had to sit down just THINKING about drilling all those 1/2 inch holes with a 3/8 hand drill.

 

[fried1765]

Consider buying a cheap drill press. I had to sit down just THINKING about drilling all those 1/2 inch holes with a 3/8 hand drill.

With a Harbor Freight 20% coupon, the OP can buy a bench top drill press for $52 +tax.

 

[grayw0lf1]

Your drill bits will also last 4x as long with a drill press vs. hand held. Don't forget to buy some cutting oil or use 3 in 1.

 

[prichard]

Please post some pics of your process. I have a Howse that I've been looking at modifying as well.

 

[jmc]

Well, since ya asked-

Cobalt bits are harder but more brittle than high speed steel- more likely for the cutting edges to chip, especially hand held.

If you do go hand held, 135 degree split point bits don't require as much downfeed pressure since they cut all the way to center. The usual 118 degree bits have a noncutting zone around the point that 'wallows' away material instead of cutting it. Don't know if you can find 135* points in HSS though.

The cheap drill presses I've seen are geared more for wood than steel. Better to do the surface feet per minute math first.

Be sure that the shank's load is taken up by the frame rather than a 1/2 diameter pin.

And since ya didn't ask-

If your uprights each had 2 holes (spaced vertically) instead of just one, you would have 6 depth choices available.

 

[jwmorris]

If all I had was a hand drill and it wasn’t broke, I don’t think I would “fix it”

 

[farm boy00]

If all I had was a hand drill and it wasn’t broke, I don’t think I would “fix it”

But if you had a poorly designed handle on that drill you would modify it to work better

 

[def38]

After more study, I am leaning toward using square pins ( LOT OF 5 BOX BLADE SHANK F-PINS, KEEPS SLOT STYLE SHANKS IN PLACE | eBay ) to hold the slotted rippers in place. There are three shank positions, four if you consider the up in the air or storage position. This will involve making new square pins. The ones furnished were round and did a poor job of keeping the rippers in place (I lost one ripper shank while using the BB a year ago. It finally showed up as I was mowing recently). So, I'll have to find about 5-6 feet of 3/8 X 3/4 steel bar and cut six 6 inch lengths and either bend them 90 degrees into an L shape and drill holes in the bottom for lynch pins or weld the L at the top. Any thoughts on this approach?