He Built His Own Leaf Blower-Vac
 ✖  |
James Nicholson, Lisbon, Ohio, has about 2 1/2 acres of lawn to maintain with a lot of maple trees. He wanted to use a blower to clean off the leaves but didn’t want to spend the money for one. So he used salvaged materials to build his own leaf blower-vacuum.
“It works great and makes fall cleanup much easier,” says Nicholson. “I patterned it after commercial models on the market and spent a total of less than $50. My brother-in-law gave me the hose, which came off an old shop dust collector.
“I used to work as a heavy equipment mechanic at a Cat dealership, so I painted it Caterpillar yellow and black and added Cat decals.”
The engine, fan and impeller housing on the unit were originally part of a self-propelled, walk-behind blower-vac. The engine lacked compression due to a stuck valve, but Nicholson got it running again.
He made his own blower chute, using sheet metal and 1/4-in. thick plexiglass for the sides. “The plexiglass came off an old Cat excavator.” I used a bandsaw to cut the plexiglass to fit and pop riveted it onto the chute,” says Nicholson. “I like the plexiglass sides because I can see whenever the chute starts to plug up, which means the trailer is getting full.”
He made an aluminum box that measures 4 by 4 ft. and mounted it on a steel undercarriage, which rides on a widened MTD tractor front axle. A length of 7-in. dia. flexible poly hose runs from the impeller to the fan. The box has a single door on back of it, with a lever used to lock it.
Nicholson built the frame for the box out of an old pop-up tent camper. “The camper had a lot of aluminum in it which results in a lightweight frame,” says Nicholson. “The box is hinged to the axle at 2 points. I use a latch to trip the box so that it dumps back.”
He used large sheets of 1/16-in. thick aluminum for the box’s sides. The frame that supports the rear door came off a snap-on pickup bed cover. Nicholson pop riveted aluminum sheeting onto both sides of it.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, James Nicholson, 12412 S.R. 45, Lisbon, Ohio 44432 (jn31645@yahoo.com).
Click here to download page story appeared in.
Click here to read entire issue
He Built His Own Leaf Blower-Vac FARM HOME Lawn Mowers 31h 38 James Nicholson Lisbon Ohio has about 2 1/2 acres of lawn to maintain with a lot of maple trees He wanted to use a blower to clean off the leaves but didn’t want to spend the money for one So he used salvaged materials to build his own leaf blower-vacuum “It works great and makes fall cleanup much easier ” says Nicholson “I patterned it after commercial models on the market and spent a total of less than $50 My brother-in-law gave me the hose which came off an old shop dust collector “I used to work as a heavy equipment mechanic at a Cat dealership so I painted it Caterpillar yellow and black and added Cat decals ” The engine fan and impeller housing on the unit were originally part of a self-propelled walk-behind blower-vac The engine lacked compression due to a stuck valve but Nicholson got it running again He made his own blower chute using sheet metal and 1/4-in thick plexiglass for the sides “The plexiglass came off an old Cat excavator ” I used a bandsaw to cut the plexiglass to fit and pop riveted it onto the chute ” says Nicholson “I like the plexiglass sides because I can see whenever the chute starts to plug up which means the trailer is getting full ” He made an aluminum box that measures 4 by 4 ft and mounted it on a steel undercarriage which rides on a widened MTD tractor front axle A length of 7-in dia flexible poly hose runs from the impeller to the fan The box has a single door on back of it with a lever used to lock it Nicholson built the frame for the box out of an old pop-up tent camper “The camper had a lot of aluminum in it which results in a lightweight frame ” says Nicholson “The box is hinged to the axle at 2 points I use a latch to trip the box so that it dumps back ” He used large sheets of 1/16-in thick aluminum for the box’s sides The frame that supports the rear door came off a snap-on pickup bed cover Nicholson pop riveted aluminum sheeting onto both sides of it Contact: FARM SHOW Followup James Nicholson 12412 S R 45 Lisbon Ohio 44432 jn31645@yahoo com
