seed drill in progress with pics

[toxic]

Here Are some pics of a seed drill/pulverizer I am working on.
1st pic is the pulverizer on the tractor.
2nd working up the ground.
3rd grass box mounted .
4th how the drive chain will work.
Hopefully I can find some more time to work on this and I will post pictures as i go if anyone is interested. Feel free to ask any questions.

 

[john_bud]

Where did you get the rear roller?

jb

 

[Bill Barrett]

toxic, I think that I or H beam is little light for the job!

 

[bjr]

Are those custom built seed hoppers or was you able to buy some off the shelf with a auger shaft in it? You did what I want to do. bjr

 

[flusher]

Here Are some pics of a seed drill/pulverizer I am working on.
1st pic is the pulverizer on the tractor.
2nd working up the ground.
3rd grass box mounted .
4th how the drive chain will work.
Hopefully I can find some more time to work on this and I will post pictures as i go if anyone is interested. Feel free to ask any questions.

Interesting.

I assume that pulverizer in the photos is the 6-ft one in your signature info. Is it homemade?

Looks like those vertical metal bars on front bottom of the I-beam are the slot cutters. What's the spacing?

Are those metal bars on the rear there to function like drag chains on a typical drill and cover the seed in the soil slots?

Hope you post details of the seed metering devices you're using.

 

[bx24]

Looks great, I too have some questions:

If you made the roller, is the bar that it spins on all the way through or simply welded on the ends?

Did you simply drill holes in the roller and then drop bolts through the holes from the inside? How long are the "pins" on the outside? What grade bolts? What diameter?

The "teeth" on the I-Beam are straight forward, but I was thinking about using railroad spikes instead. I was going to cut square tube just big enough and after welding them on, just drop the spikes through the tube and bolt a piece of angle iron above them so they would not pop out. I figure the spikes are free, and it saves me from drilling a hole bunch of holes!

 

[RancherSam]

this is an excellent project toxic. I'm also in the process of building a rear extension for my drill which will have all the cultipacker wheels behind the seed drops. I think cultipacker wheels will work better at creating furrows then the pasture aerator roller you have.

 

[tedder]

Hi Toxic, what can you plant with your seeder? It looks like it would put grass seed too deep. I drilled some bermuda seed last year with a disk type JD drill. the recomendation from the seed company was 1/4" deep with a firm cover. Can you drill setup for that kind of drilling?

Tedder

 

[toxic]

Thanks for all the replys and comments guys. i'll try to answer Everyones questions but if i miss someone just shout.
1st off John, The roller I made out of 8" sch80 pipe. Actually two peices I had laying around that I had to weld together but it came out amazinglly straight.

Bill, the Beam is 12"x 12" with a 3/4" flange. the way I see it there is no such thing as overkill, espically with employes using it. buy the way my first name is Barret.

Bjr, the seed box is actually off of a old international grain drill that my buddy was sending to the scrap yard. It was 12' long but I cut it down to 6'. The seed cups were in really bad shape when I got it so I took all of them off the square drive shaft and cleaned or replaced as needed. pics attached.

Flusher yes that is the pulverizer that I made last spring. The vertical bars are mostly for trearing up and leveling the ground prior to seeding. They are 6" apart but there are two rows of them and they are staggered making for a 3" spacing. pics attached.

Bx24, yes I made the roller but i did the bar through it a little differently. I cut out 2 round 3/8" plates that fit into the roller. Drilled a 1" hole for the bar to go through, then cut a 1 foot long bar and welded it to the plates leaving 3" on the out side for the bearings. king of like this( --l-----l ). done this for both sides, (that sounds confusing to even to me so I will try to explain it better if you don't understand).
As for the pins on the roller they are 1/2" round bar cut 1 1/2" long and all welded on. 196 pins made for alot of cutting and welding.
Your spike Idea would work great and I have seen many pulverizers made in a simalier fashion. I did it the way I did Because it will see alot of use And i figured the 3/8" by 2" flat might hold up better. Also Each spike on mine has 3 holes drilled in it so while it wears down I can adjust it 6 times Befor needing to make new ones.

Tedder, this will be used for seeding new lawns and I am also going to try to addapt it as an overseeder for existing lawns. But you are 100% correct about putting the seed to deep in the ground. Kentucky bluegrass and fescue are the only seed around here and they like to be just barelly covered so to solve this I am going to attach a pair of adjustable wheels on it to keep the front teeth just hitting the ground. Then When I just need the pulverizer the wheels will easily come off with a lynch pin or something simillar so the are not in the way. Pic attached.

thanks for all the responses guys and keep them coming. Barret C.

 

[flusher]

Bjr, the seed box is actually off of a old international grain drill that my buddy was sending to the scrap yard. It was 12' long but I cut it down to 6'. The seed cups were in really bad shape when I got it so I took all of them off the square drive shaft and cleaned or replaced as needed. pics attached.


Barret C.

Where did you find those replacement seed cups?

Looks to me from your photos that the seed is going to be laid down in strips. Lawn seeding would require more uniform dispersal. How is this going to be done? Multiple passes with the seeded over the same ground?

 

[Bill Barrett]

Nice to meet you Barret, thats going to be nice drill. I been using Pheasants Forever's drill, but would like to come up with something of my own.

 

[dnetherland]

Barrett,

Do you mind sharing your source for the seed cups. I need to fabricate a small seed attachment for a small grain drill. I can pretty much fabricate everything except the cups and fluted rollers. Thanks.

DN

 

[Chip_er]

Hi there fello Islander, your not that far from where I am. Question for you if you don't mind. Your seed deployment system, could this be modified for say carrot planting.

I've been thinking about something like what you've built, but for carrots.

Thanks in advance
Richard

 

[toxic]

Hi guys, Sorry I haven't been keeping up with my own post lately but I just got home from my vacation in europe. anyway I'll see If I can answer some questions.

Flusher- you are correct that the way it is right now the seed would be layed in strips. to correct this I am going to build a trough out of sheet metal so that when the seed falls out of the seed cups they will hit the trough and hopefully scatter. It will kind of look like this l/ , The top opening being where the seed cups are. Also for best results I have always found that going over the lawn twice 90 degrees to each other works best. however this can be very time consuming and sometimes not possable in a narrow yard.

dnetherland- The seed cups I used Where just what I had on hand . Just picked through them and used the best ones. But You would be able to get replacement seed cups from any dealer that sells graindrills. If you go that way, I would recamend Great Plains/Landpride. There seem to be the best IMO, But if there is not a dealer near you my second pick would be John Deere.

Chiper- I honestly can't say I know what a carrot seed looks like or how to plant it, But I don't think this design would would be percise enough for that. But I will look into it more . Might be another project for me. Not that I really have a need for a carrot planter, but you can never have to many toys.

thanks.

 

[diyDave]

A couple thoughts. Carrot seed is finer than a frog's hair split 4 ways, the way to seed in this type of drill would be to thin out the seed with sawdust, and run the mixture through the drill. Even with that bit of knowledge, in 10 feet of a pass with that seeder, you'd probably have enough carrots to feed bugs bunny and all of his kin for a year! For the diffuser plate, look at what a Brillion seeder uses, heck you might even be able to find the part on a junked Brillion. To calibrate the seed cups, loosen the bolts that attach each of them to the box. With the feeds in the closed position, shine a light up from the bottom, so you can see how close to closed each is. If a couple are open a little, tap with a hammer, on one side, then retighten all bolts. That seed box looks a little small for fescue, why not extend it a little, with some 1/2" plywood, so you can put more seed in. Also with the spacing of your tines, have you had any problems with debris jamming up in the front?