Next hairbrain idea ... anyone know about hydraulics?

[K.H]

I have a Wheelhorse

[Julian]

Blimey!!!

Was that Jim sucking his trumpet?

[greasemonkey]

You could try sourcing a double acting spool valve, off a tractor, for your direction control.
They are not over cheap, used, on E bay, and a mental price new.
Some old yokel has probably got one rotting a way on a tractor that got pushed under a hedge 15 years ago. Finding the right yokel is the challenge.

Hydraulic hoses are not over priced, especially the sort of size your looking for.
Agricultural workshop type places often make them up to measure.
So do some plant hire firms.
One of the local tyre places used to round here, for example.

I'd be considering buying that scythe, if I hadn't knifed my fridge to death last week, trying to defrost it.  I could find work for it.
Only so many pennies in the piggybank.

Oh yeah, and my mower is a 21 inch cut Viking. Every week, I follow it around gardens for hours and hours and hours............

[Jamesrl]

I have a Wheelhorse

I know you're not that good at spelling and typing but did you mean " Real horse"?

[Jamesrl]

Blimey!!!

Was that Jim sucking his trumpet?

Wind travels in a myriad of directions.

[Julian]

You could try sourcing a double acting spool valve, off a tractor, for your direction control.
They are not over cheap, used, on E bay, and a mental price new.
Some old yokel has probably got one rotting a way on a tractor that got pushed under a hedge 15 years ago. Finding the right yokel is the challenge.

Hydraulic hoses are not over priced, especially the sort of size your looking for.
Agricultural workshop type places often make them up to measure.
So do some plant hire firms.
One of the local tyre places used to round here, for example.

I'd be considering buying that scythe, if I hadn't knifed my fridge to death last week, trying to defrost it.  I could find work for it.
Only so many pennies in the piggybank.

Oh yeah, and my mower is a 21 inch cut Viking. Every week, I follow it around gardens for hours and hours and hours............

Any man would be happy with a 21 inch Viking!

[photoman290]

mines certainly older than yours. was going to scrap it now i haven't got a field to mow anymore unless anyone wants it. collection only from penzance. the allen scythe  not the viking, hanging on to him,too useful to scrap.

[Head Womble]

I have a Wheelhorse

I know you're not that good at spelling and typing but did you mean " Tosser towers"?

I've corrected your error for you Jim.

[Julian]

Moving away the idea of hydrostatic drive as being too expensive and with too much potential for spilling oil everywhere.

So, been thinking about a mechanical reversing system ... I'll try and describe it ...

Shaft from the engine with matched gears driving a second, parallel shaft.  This gives two shafts revolving in opposite directions.  On both shafts fit a clutch, arranged so that they contra-operate ... one open when the other is closed, but with a "neutral" position when both are open.

A chain drive connects both the clutch outputs driving one final shaft ... could have a ratio change so reverse is slower than forward which might reduce the risk of running myself over.

Clear as mud so far?

It may be better to have clutches that are normally open so you could have one leaver for forward and one for back ... could be arranged like bicycle brakes on left and right, but this would mean modifying most lawn mower clutches which seem to be normally closed ... not impossible but just more work.

Any SENSIBLE thoughts?

[therecklessengineer]

I'd make it petrol-electric.

Hook a car alternator up to the engine. Use wheelchair motors to move the rollers. Reversing is done with a simple switch.

Stick a variable resistor on the field winding and you've got variable voltage control - which will control your speed.

edit: Actually, you'd probably have to ditch the regulator and use some electrical jiggery for variable voltage control. Quite easy - I'm sure it's been done before.

[Dickjotec]

How about a friction drive. Use two rubber rollers with a messed gears ( so they rotate in opposite directions). Chain drive one then whichever is rubbing on the roller moving to the other in contact will reverse direction. Much like the power feed direction reverse on some smaller lathes. Using a spring for pressure you could have a "deadman handle" so it only moves if the handle is held.

[Julian]

Quite like the idea of petro-electric.

I was offered an electric wheel chair by a woman down the road ... not for me before all the wise cracks pile in, but to play with.  I got it going and drove up and down the lady's drive but declined it on the basis that I didn't have a use for it and nowhere to store it.

Wonder if it's still available?  It had all the controls ... I guess I could just make it battery powered and charge the batteries between use.

If I went petro-electric would it be as simple as this for example ...



And would I need the switch and light?

[Julian]

How about a friction drive. Use two rubber rollers with a messed gears ( so they rotate in opposite directions). Chain drive one then whichever is rubbing on the roller moving to the other in contact will reverse direction. Much like the power feed direction reverse on some smaller lathes. Using a spring for pressure you could have a "deadman handle" so it only moves if the handle is held.

Nice idea and I guess if the rollers were conical it would give speed variation too ... but quite complicated to build.

[photoman290]

i would go for all electric. the extra weigh of the battery would be useful in this application. if that wheelchair is no longer available a local supplier is bound to have all the bits cheap. if you 0ffer some beer tokens they may even give them to you.  saying its for a school project may help.

[Julian]

Bugger, isn't that always the way.  Just been down and asked about the wheel chair, had a rummage through the garage and it wasn't there.  She recons a guy she had in to clear some rubbish must have had it away.

So back to thoughts mechanical.