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Re: (ET) Sweeper?



*nod* I'd like to see it. I was using the Elec-trak sweeper today; really works well for 90+% of the leaves. The remainder I guess will be hit in the spring with the thatcher.

Still I would be interested in your vacuum device. I've kept my eyes open for a blown motor one for awhile now.

Chris


Mike Wallace wrote:
Chris and all,

As for the question of picking up pine needles, I'll have to vote for a vacuum unit. I've always wanted lawn vac and last night about 10 PM I finally got one rigged together well enough to try. It's been quite dry around here and rain was in the forecast for last night. It worked fine, and thank goodness it's relatively quiet as some of my neighbors were probably asleep while I was picking up leaves in my yard until about 11:30. I knew it was supposed to rain during the night so I just had to try it out.

This unit was originally designed to hook to the back end of a conventional lawn tractor and the blower was driven by an ICE. I modified it to hook up to my E10 and the blower is now driven by a slightly modified ER8-36 traction motor. I mounted a Hoffman box under the left side of the rear fender that holds an on/off switch, a contactor, a 35 amp breaker, with an Anderson SB50 connector to allow an easy hookup to the blower motor using #6 wire left over from some "parts" tractors.

I'll try to post some pictures (most were taken in the dark Saturday night) on the elec-trak.com website as soon as I get done picking up more leaves again today. We got quite a bit of wind last night and not that much rain, so maybe I can play some more now that things are drying up a little.

Mike in KY

----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Tromley" <ctromley gmail com>
To: <Elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu>
Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2005 8:39 AM
Subject: (ET) Sweeper?



Hi All,

Been off-list for awhile due to a server swap and subsequent ISP issue
(which didn't affect most other lists).  The ISP issue didn't go away,
so now I'm on the ET list from a Gmail account.

Anyway, mowing season is drawing to a close.  New grass is coming in
nicely.  And there are a *lot* of pine needles, enough to smother the
new grass.  An electric leaf blower won't budge the needles.  Raking
sort of works, but takes a lot of time and tears up the new grass.  I
haven't tried a yard vac yet.

Can anyone tell me if a tow-behind sweeper is effective in picking up
pine needles?  If so, what brand is recommended?  I was disappointed
with the design of an AgriFab (from Lowes) dump cart, not ready to get
their sweeper yet.  Sears?  JD?  Other?  No difference?

Any other suggestions for picking up those pesky little needles?

Chris

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