ROPS mounted canopy with fan

[bigdogmax1]

I own a Scag 61 inch Tiger Cat with a standard ROPS system. I love it but I have to say, the dust and grass clippings are horrible on it compared to my rear discharge finish mower. I also get scorched when I cut for a few hours at a time. So I started looking into a canopy with a fan built on to it. A company called COOL TOPS is the only one I found. It's a ROPS mounted fiberglass canopy with a small cooling fan in the middle. It attaches with two big square U-bolts. The only problem is that it's 750 dollars!!! The city I work for has some of these Cool Tops and they don't seem like they are made of much. I was figuring that I could fabricate a square tubing frame and cut a sheet of aluminum to mount on stop of the frame. I could cut a hole in the middle and have two braces running across the middle of the frame to mount a radiator fan to. I could then use another piece of aluminum sheeting to make a top cover for the fan. Thoughts? I figure the fan would help a lot with the clippings blown in my face and it would HAVE to be cheaper than 750 bucks.

 

[blake037374]

Not bad idea. I like it. Let us know how it goes.

 

[blake037374]

May have to lower the back side where air blowing toward your back. Or if don't work that way it may work better blowing straight down.

 

[davrow]

Or buy a good canopy with all braces and structure already there for $200-$300 and modify it. Easier than making your own, but still quite an expense, though far less than that cool tops.

Two canopies that come to mind: Tractor canopies by Sun Guard LLC

I don't have a canopy, so these are suggestions, not recommendations.

 

[Friend Of Coal]

I own a Scag 61 inch Tiger Cat with a standard ROPS system. I love it but I have to say, the dust and grass clippings are horrible on it compared to my rear discharge finish mower. I also get scorched when I cut for a few hours at a time. So I started looking into a canopy with a fan built on to it. A company called COOL TOPS is the only one I found. It's a ROPS mounted fiberglass canopy with a small cooling fan in the middle. It attaches with two big square U-bolts. The only problem is that it's 750 dollars!!! The city I work for has some of these Cool Tops and they don't seem like they are made of much. I was figuring that I could fabricate a square tubing frame and cut a sheet of aluminum to mount on stop of the frame. I could cut a hole in the middle and have two braces running across the middle of the frame to mount a radiator fan to. I could then use another piece of aluminum sheeting to make a top cover for the fan. Thoughts? I figure the fan would help a lot with the clippings blown in my face and it would HAVE to be cheaper than 750 bucks.

I know for a fact this concept works. We use them in an underground coal mine. We call them air curtains and they are mounted under the canopy of the haulage equipment. There are several holes that force air straight down on the operator. It reduces the respirable dust by about 40%. The main difference however is that the air is filtered. Without some type of filtration you'll just be blowing dirty air down on you.

With some way to filter it, I'm confident that it would work. I'd love to have a practical solution to this problem because I also hate getting covered with dirt and grass when making turns to the right on a ZTR.

 

[bigtiller]

Scratch the ZTR and get a front mount 1575 from Deere. It has a factory sealed cab with air conditioning. Get the optional dual drive wheels and you can mow side hills.

Your check book will determine how practical it is.

Front Mowers | 1575 TerrainCut™ | John Deere US

 

[Wildfire]

12v radiator fan from the salvage yard works very well. Mount it blowing down in the top of the canopy. Read about people doing this in golf carts.

Appreciate you posting the thread. I'll do this next spring after I get all of my tree clearing work done.