Tractor-Mounted Cutting Shears

2011 - Volume #35, Issue #1, Page #42

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John Houston built shears to cut up trashy wood around construction sites. The heavy steel jaws bite through pallet boards, nails and all.
"There's always a lot of wood left around worksites but it often has nails in it or is dirty, so I hate to use a chain saw," says Houston. "I was going to make a shears with straight blades, and then I found a set of curved steel pipe supports."
The heavy steel plates were predrilled for bolting to pipe flanges. Houston took them to a friend with a plasma cutter who put edges on them. He then used a grinder to smooth off the edges and sharpen them.
Houston bolted the two slabs together with a 1 3/8-in. bolt through one of the predrilled holes. The bolt acts as a pivot point for the two jaws and is slotted with a grease zerk mounted for lubrication.
Houston mounted the bottom jaw on one end of a 4 by 6-in. length of rectangular tubing. He mounted the top jaw to a shorter length of 4 by 4-in. steel tubing and capped the ends of both.
"I mounted a hydraulic cylinder to the 4 by 6-in. base and attached the ram to the 4 by 4-in. top," says Houston.
The extended cylinder creates a throat of 4 to 5 in. Retracting the cylinder slices cleanly through nearly anything.
Houston mounted the shears to an older 1715 Ford New Holland, 25 hp tractor. He centered the shears on 1 1/4-in. steel pipe. Lower link lift pins were welded to the ends of the pipe. A bracket for the adjustable top link was welded to the lower shears jaw.
The most expensive part of the whole project was a wet hydraulics kit for the tractor. However, having hydraulics makes it possible to use other attachments, notes Houston.
"The kit cost about $700, and hoses from the kit to the cylinder cost about $30 each. The cylinder cost about $80," he says. "Everything else was salvaged from construction sites."
To make sizing the pieces sheared easier, Houston attached two 16-in. long, 2 by 12 pieces of plank parallel to the shears. They are held in place by two stainless steel strips welded to the lower shears jaw.
"The tractor only produces about 6 1/2 gpm flow, so the shears runs slowly, but that's probably okay from a safety standpoint," says Houston. "At the tractor's rated 1,800 psi, I figure the shears have about 8,000 lbs. of force."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, John Houston, 3821 Patuxent River Rd., Davidsonville, Md. 21035 (ph 301 370-4890; jhouston@singelec.com).

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Tractor-Mounted Cutting Shears FARM SHOP Tools John Houston built shears to cut up trashy wood around construction sites The heavy steel jaws bite through pallet boards nails and all There s always a lot of wood left around worksites but it often has nails in it or is dirty so I hate to use a chain saw says Houston I was going to make a shears with straight blades and then I found a set of curved steel pipe supports The heavy steel plates were predrilled for bolting to pipe flanges Houston took them to a friend with a plasma cutter who put edges on them He then used a grinder to smooth off the edges and sharpen them Houston bolted the two slabs together with a 1 3/8-in bolt through one of the predrilled holes The bolt acts as a pivot point for the two jaws and is slotted with a grease zerk mounted for lubrication Houston mounted the bottom jaw on one end of a 4 by 6-in length of rectangular tubing He mounted the top jaw to a shorter length of 4 by 4-in steel tubing and capped the ends of both I mounted a hydraulic cylinder to the 4 by 6-in base and attached the ram to the 4 by 4-in top says Houston The extended cylinder creates a throat of 4 to 5 in Retracting the cylinder slices cleanly through nearly anything Houston mounted the shears to an older 1715 Ford New Holland 25 hp tractor He centered the shears on 1 1/4-in steel pipe Lower link lift pins were welded to the ends of the pipe A bracket for the adjustable top link was welded to the lower shears jaw The most expensive part of the whole project was a wet hydraulics kit for the tractor However having hydraulics makes it possible to use other attachments notes Houston The kit cost about $700 and hoses from the kit to the cylinder cost about $30 each The cylinder cost about $80 he says Everything else was salvaged from construction sites To make sizing the pieces sheared easier Houston attached two 16-in long 2 by 12 pieces of plank parallel to the shears They are held in place by two stainless steel strips welded to the lower shears jaw The tractor only produces about 6 1/2 gpm flow so the shears runs slowly but that s probably okay from a safety standpoint says Houston At the tractor s rated 1 800 psi I figure the shears have about 8 000 lbs of force Contact: FARM SHOW Followup John Houston 3821 Patuxent River Rd Davidsonville Md 21035 ph 301 370-4890; jhouston@singelec com

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