This year's leaf vacuum

[TractorDale]

I decided to put the motor/blower on the back and make the container airtight. The main advantages are I don't have to worry about rocks damaging the blades-only air goes through the fan, no sticky grass or anything gumming up the fan housing, and the noise is much less for the tractor pilot. The main disadvantages are the leaves don't get mulched by the impeller and the door is heavy.

A short 8" hose connects the blower on the inside of the door to a sleeve at the top of the container where there is a screen that keeps the debris from entering the hose.

Used 3/4" ply and 2x4's. 1 quart of 2 part epoxy coats the inside bottom. Used a slip roll to make all the sheet metal sleeves.

The unit works very well but the next model from my garage will have a hydraulic tilt mechanism- I got a cylinder and 12V pump from ebay. Winter project.

 

[johnray13]

Man that's a great set up. I may have to consider something like that. I look forward to seeing the dump cart when you finsh it.

 

[jimmer2880]

To overcome the heavy door, could you have put the motor and suction on the roof instead?

I like the idea. It has some wheels spinning in my head

 

[TractorDale]

I thought about mounting the motor on the top but would be hard to get to for maintenance and also I wanted to keep the center of gravity as low as possible.

Also in the next design I will arrange some ductwork for the blower inside the box so no manually attatching of hoses will be necessary-automatically engaging and disengauging with the hydraulic tilting movement-simple design and easy to construct.

Dale

 

[ktm250rider]

why couldnt you hinge the one of the sides? Side dump may empty easier as well.

 

[TractorDale]

Good idea for the side opening. That would make a few things easier. Might even mitigate need for tilting the whole unit.

dale

 

[wedge40]

Good idea for the side opening. That would make a few things easier. Might even mitigate need for tilting the whole unit.

dale

If you're going to make it side dump, why not raise the back side a 6" or so. That was it'll be easier to clean out.

 

[jimmer2880]

good point on the highter CG when mounting on the roof. Guess that could get kind of hairy.

I like the side door idea also. That would keep from having to back up to the pile. Just pull along side & go.

 

[PineRidge]

Raise the exhaust elbow and point it forward, over the top of the box on hot days.

 

[TractorDale]

Funny story- when the machine was done except for the internal ducting( to keep the leaves inside) I took it for a test run without any exhaust diverter. The sky was dark with millions of little itty bitty leaf particles floating onto me as I pulled the thing along. My skeptical wife and her sister watched from inside the house in disbelief.

Dale

 

[zzvyb6]

In my experience making/optimizing the leaf/grass vacuum, the impeller is important to further chop the debris. So, I like the stuff to go thru the sucker engine. What I'd like to see is someone make a blast furnace version: burn on the fly. I did this accidently once when running over ashes from a leaf fire. Now that was a smoke screen ! Nothing to empty, just needs some new paint.

 

[TractorDale]

It was easy to see that a side door would be helpful, so I made one today. This thing works so well and is (now) a cinch to empty. Thanks for the suggestions.

Dale

 

[TractorDale]

Some better pics.

 

[TBDonnelly]

Excellent job on the leaf vac.

Now to really tweak it. As suggested in an early post, put a slanted floor to help the leaves dump out when you open the side door. ALSO, direct a removable exhaust air flow pipe that blows thru the side wall opposite the door. Then open the door, crank the engine up and automatic emptying of the trailer.

 

[sandman2234]

The difference in what the leaves look like in your hopper and mine are amazing. My vac literally pulverizes the leaves into tiny bits, and your's appears to pick them up almost whole. Mine would probably contain that much leaves in about 1/10 of the space your using, which is why I am glad my floor is slanted, thus not requiring me to hand unload. Compacted leaves mixed with sand is actually a pretty heavy mixture. All I have to do is open the door, and pull the tow vehicle forward and it is empty. Now if I could figure out a way to operate the rear door from the drivers seat, now that would be cool!
David from jax

 

[KubotainNH]

This is a neat idea, maybe a spring project for me. I'll have to look to see if there are more homemade ones on this site. Hopefully they have pictures like this post.

 

[sandman2234]

Mine has the power to pick up .223 shells, as I found a few of them in the hopper when I dumped it. Must have been when I was trying to get a good picture of my AC-556 in action, with two or three shells in the air at the same time. Since the shells do go thru the impeller, it would destroy the shells for future use, but as brass scrap, it wouldn't matter. However, finding a unfired shell someone accidently dropped might bring out a few surprises. I am sure constant use of it would wear the housing around the impeller, as sand already does that. My impellers are 1/4" thick steel, and would last quite a while. For ease of manuevering, a push mower type of vac would probably be better.
David from jax

 

[TractorDale]

The vacuum created is powerful and would easily pick up spent shells without a problem- would need to design the right shroud that would travel about an inch or so over the ground. I added thick rubber baffleing to improve the airflow and vacuum effect.

The major downside of my design is the fact that the leaves don't get as pulverized by the impellor. The mower blades do a lot of chopping but some leaves make it through intact.

(As luck would have it this year I let the grass grow longer in the fall which got cut and mixed with the leaves and now I have a steaming pile of earthly goodness. Guess I'll start a garden)

Dale

 

[sandman2234]

Here is a thumbnail of a shroud that would probably work.This the one on my unit. I checked about 4 months ago, and they are available from Giant Vac.(by special order) I think the price was around $400 for it. I was checking for another member that purchased my other Giant Vac unit that didn't have one. He ended up building one to use on that one. Good sheet metal skills are golden!
David from jax