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ParticipantLooking at it from a British point of view, the rot seemed to set in during the 60s and early 70s. Before that a small farm could support all but the largest family. Our own situation was a small dairy farm that at the most only ever milked 47 cows !!! Grandfather never bought a beast apart from the odd bull, grew his own barley and a small amount of oats, turnips and potatos. They never had a holliday apart from a day at the county show. But, and this is the thing I think is missing from so many lives nowadays… His whole family was around him.. He was at the table at dinner time{or lunch as some call it:)} Family ate together. I am the last link with that life but because of where we live we are immersed in farm life and my daughter Caitlyn is really keen on all things farm especialy cattle. As much as I can, I try to recreate that far off lifestyle for her. It was so much more than just having freedom to roam but the values that farm chidren have seem diferent from a lot of town folks.. though we know a lot of townfolks that envy us for what we have, sadly they are in the minority, as most chase the big money and only judge you on the age of car you drive .. Its a very true saying “You dont know what you’ve got till its gone”..
JohnParticipantCountymouse your math skills are invaluable here. The accumulator does seem like its a great asset for the horsesdrawn machine but my fitter friend says the air accumlators are really expensive. Now I know we have to try and make horse drawn machinary seem up to date and modern but try as I might , I cant get the sums to add up, which is why Im so keen to develope machines that the average fabricating farmer can make and take to the fields without being branded as someone stuck in the 19th century.. and I know that certain machines are beyond compare and hard to improve on, like the mower, but modern machines can bring animal traction to the attention of a larger audience. Enterprises like vegetable production is one area that springs to mind.. Marshalls plastic film applicator is one machine I am keen to see.. BTW an accumulator might be a way of driving the fan on your machine Marshall ….I wonder if an oxygen cylinder would have the psi rating high enuf so we can put together a home made job without running the risk of taking the shed roof off or worse… Is there a formula to work out how much psi of oil/air pressure that could be pumped up with an 800lb hitch cart ??. Gordon when I build another cart it will have a set up like that. I thot of an old Jaguar car axle and that way a portal axle could be built to help with passing over fluffed up hay for example… Marshall that is another option, again, if I was starting fresh it could be built in.. but I fell for the old “how hard can this be”……
JohnParticipantHi Marshall.. You beat me too it on the figures.I foned a friend who’s a hydraulic fitter.. Back to the drawing board again:rolleyes:
JohnParticipantOk guys we’re getting close to a ground drive hydraulic system.. Im going with the piston pump pressurising an accumulator.. I thot of using a 2 gallon fire extinguisher. they are tested to 25bar and work at 9bar,even taking it to 10bar thats just over 112psi.. Is that enuf to lift a 1/4 ton 12″ ?? I plan on using one way valves and a dump valve that kicks in a bit before wheel slip. Big question is … how much psi could you hope to build up with land drive ??? I know you can buy the components from White Horse but if a system can be made using stuff you may have around the yard then all the better.If the figures add up and it works we have a page where people can come to without having to search..
JohnParticipantGeoff… I dont know the lay out of swathers but am I right in thinking the wheels are driven by hydraulics ?? If thats thats the case, then would it work if the wheel became the driver in a land drive system. That would turn the motor into the pump and speed the system up.. I think ????…. LF.. would an old gas bottle turned upside down with the oil being pumped in from the bottom work ??
JohnParticipantWas talking with a couple of old horsemen and they mentioned that sugar could play a part in the greasy heel problem. We did feed mollassed beet pulp with chopped hay and a sprinkle of faked maize. Free access to rock salt and a pinch of minerals in every feed. Any thoughts on the sugar thing.. Cheers…
JohnParticipantHey Marshall.. How does an accumulator work ?. Could one be made by a farm boy ? ..So many ideas my heads more confused now than ever.. Dan the chain link inside the wheel is a great plan too . .Be sure to keep us all up to speed on the pto hitch cart. Someday the perfect hitch cart with pto is going to be created and it would be nice if it came off these pages.. mine is a blatant copy of Lynn Millers by the way.. .I was out at the “project” tonight and think it might just be possible to use levers with spring assist..nod to Countymouse and Josh… However the hydraulic function needs explored to … You will probably laugh but I had even thought of hanging a light truck gearbox out the side of the hitch cart with a wheel on the propshaft end and the pump on the input end:D talk about the sledge hammer to crack the nut !!!…
JohnParticipantThanks guys. Two great answers that are adding to the info that is turning this thread into a great resource… Josh the spring idea would work but the lifting set up wouldnt suit that.. when you see the fotos all will become plain.
The formula countymouse wrote is a real bonus for us basic fabricators. Thank you.. I appear to have disobeyed my “how hard can this be rule”:D I mesured my hitch cart wheel. its only 27″ which makes it harder to gear the pump up to speed, however the pump appears to have a gear reduction set up which might work in my favour if it gets driven as opposed to being the driver !!! I thought of using a metal spar wheel of about 6″.. like the miniature version of the cage wheels you get for tractors.. instead of rubber. If the tyres pick up some mud the traction would be lost. I will do a trial set up and keep you all posted. I used to think that the engineers of the horse era were hampered purely by the technologies ot the time, but now I see that they were stuck with the same laws that we face now. Any amount of modern materials and practices cant overcome them… well without resorting to engines that is !!
JohnParticipantOk think tank… get the thinking caps on.. Im finishing off my slitter/seeder {fotos next week}. It has one small hydraulic ram 2″ with 12″ throw to lift approx 1/4ton and even some of that is on the hitch cart drawbar ..I dont have hydraulics on the hitch cart but thought this idea might work.. I have the hydraulic motor off an old fertilizer spreader, so if I put a small rubber tyre on the flange that the spinner came off of and mounted it on a sprung loaded bracket mounted on top of one of the hitch cart tyres, this would drive the motor and if I mounted a gravity oil tank above and fed the oil through the motor and on through a spool valve with a return to tank. would need to think ahead with this system:rolleyes: its easy to switch into auto pilot when the teams going nice… Anyway.. what do you think? would it have too much resistance or would the tyre slip?. any other home made devices for lifting without having to resort to engines…
JohnParticipantSamual Colt had a great patented idea for folks like that:D
JohnParticipantDefinatly somthing sus bout this character.. nobody on this forum says.. “have to send abuse.. with the ensuing concequences”.. thanks Pete and Phil..
JohnParticipantHey Mike… You certainly joined a great forum. A ton of great knowlege here. That looks a usefull big horse you got there..
JohnParticipantBeen reading the posts on cordwood masonry.. We hope to be in a position to build our own house on environmentaly sound practices soon and this sounds great but….. we live in Scotland and as you probably guessed its wet.. our homegrown timber doesnt get a good reputation for building and I was wondering if it would be any use for cordwood masonary ???
JohnParticipantGood old British stupidity has been at it again !!!!!:mad:.. Anglo/American Suffolk horse owners had their placings at the Royal Show withdrawn ??? because the relvent horses wernt registered in the Suffolk stud book and thus not deemed to be pedigreed !! Talk about pedantic..This stupid attitude is helping push the breed to near extintion over here. Genetic pool is too small already.. I know “rules is rules” but I think a bit of common sense needs to be used here.. not just for the showing side of it but for the good of the breed.. Thats me had my grumble for the day..
JohnParticipantLooks a well made piece of kit Roscoe.. The self contained hydraulics and the quick release couplings for the tools warrent more investigation..
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