(ET) Vacuum Update

["Pestka, Dennis J" <Dennis Pestka TycoHealthcare com>]

When I first looked at building a vacuum, I would have liked to have ducted
it to the discharge of the mower, but I decided against it because of the
complications of fabricating the collector and hooking the hose up every
time I would want to use it.
I was looking for a unit that could be easily hooked up, plugged in and go.
It takes less than a minute to latch to my trailer hitch and plug in.

I must agree that a direct connection to the discharge of the deck would
pick up a greater volume of grass and leaves.
Maybe someone out there can come up with a slick design to easily do this.

As an update on the vacuum, I have been modifying a few things that have
greatly improved performance.
First I installed some plastic lawn edging that extends down about 2" on 
the
back of the collector. I think that it helps to direct the air flow forward
towards the leaves and grass.
I have also installed some smaller casters that has lowered the collector
about 1 inch. I had the bottom edge of the collector too high when first
installed.

When I am picking up leaves, I run the mower and vacuum at the same time.
This really grinds everything up nice and picks up really well. I also try
to run it fairly slow for the best results.

The only time it does not perform very well is when the leaves are wet.
I always try to wait until it is nice and dry before running the unit.

Dennis
Elsberry, MO

-----Original Message-----
From: Pieter Litchfield [mailto:plitch attglobal net]
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2003 4:10 PM
To: thumphrey mynra com; elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu
Subject: RE: (ET) Vacuum or Sweeper?


I have a 36" Sears sweeper, now about 10 years old.  It works reasonably
well given that we have a lot of white pines that shed an almost unrakable
carpet of pine needles each year.  The sweeper gets most of them.

Dennis' vacuum looks great.  My brother-in-law has one that attaches to his
lawn tractor's rotary mower outlet.  The mower stirs the lawn, cuts the
grass and blows the clippings as usual, but the rear mounted blower sucks
them from the mower discharge into a cart.  The cart, by the way, has a
single caster and is ridgidly mounted on the rear of the tractor.  It 
swings
away from trees and posts as he trims around them (as opposed to a real
trailer or sweeper which would track inside the tractor's turn).  He is 
very
pleased with it.  Note that Dennis' vacuum is a bit different in that it
vacuums the lawn, not aids the discharge from the mower. I think the ET
front mounted rotary probably wasn't well designed to lift and discharge
grass clippings very effectively, so maybe it wouldn't make much sense to
attach the vacuum to a side discharge or design a vacuum bar for the rear
discharge area.

-----Original Message-----
From: elec-trak-bounces cosmos phy tufts edu
[mailto:elec-trak-bounces cosmos phy tufts edu]On Behalf Of T Humphrey
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2003 3:19 PM
To: elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu
Subject: (ET) Vacuum or Sweeper?


Greetings Folks.

Well Autumn is upon us for a couple days b4 the snow season sets
in.

Does anyone have an opinion one way or the other concerning the
pick-up of leaves. Should I build a vacuum or buy a sweeper.

A vac would be kind of like Dennis Pestka's
http://www.elec-trak.org/gallery/DennisPestkaVacuumCart/index.html

A sweeper would be one like can be had from any hardware or box
store.
http://www.agri-fab.com/lawnsweep45_0326.html


If I build a vac, it would be different from Dennis'. I was
thinking of using a blower or fan but it would be downstream of
the filtering so no crap goes through the blades. Much like a shop
vac. Of course no mulching gets done as with Dennis' set-up. Does
anyone know if a blower or fan would be the best choice in such a
set-up to develop vacuum?

Of course a sweeper would use less power but a vac would do
a "better job" I believe. But I have no experience with either.


TIA
Hmup





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