Clearing brush is no fun. Sure, swinging a machete on a hot, humid day sounds great, but when you’re sitting in an oatmeal bath the next day because you didn’t see the poison ivy, you’ll be looking for a better way. [RoboMonkey] did just that with a field-expedient brush trimmer that’s sure to help with his chores.
This is a hack in the true Junkyard Wars sense of the word. A cast-off electric push mower deck caught [RoboMonkey]’s eye, and a few spare brackets and bolts later his electric hedge trimmer was attached across the front of the mower. With a long extension cord trailing behind, he was able to complete in 10 minutes what would normally take him an hour to accomplish, without spending a dime on either a specialized brush cutter or a landscaping service. The video after the break reveals that it may not be the most powerful tool in the shed, and it won’t likely stand up to daily use, but for this twice a year chore, it’s more than sufficient. And since the hedge trimmer wasn’t modified, it’s still available for its original purpose. Reduce, reuse, recycle – and repurpose.
While we haven’t seen many brush cutters before, we seen plenty of mower mods. From LiPo electrics to a gas-powered RC unit, the common push-mower seems to be a great platform for all kinds of hacking.
haha seriously? this is a hack worthy to be posted on HaD? it won’t even work…
Even if the hack won’t work, the idee worth it. :D
this bein on HaD could inspirate more “skilled” “hackers”.
+ what works for him (like he said), could works for someone else.
Thanks HaD for hearing out all your readers.
Please dont be so elitist, you had to learn too.
I like that redneck every-day-hack.
Usually this “hack” is done by attaching two shovel handles or broomsticks etc. to the bush trimmer so you can stand up and work it like a powered scythe. Throw a rope over your shoulder to suspend it, and it becomes light to carry as well.
I too appreciate the work-with-what-I-have-on-hand hacks, but this other guy has the solution I’ve been dreaming of:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJPFLhs09SM&w=420&h=315%5D
except… he clearly demonstrated it working, and it says in TFA “It worked”
Another way (tried) is to cut out the front of the cover plate between the wheels to expose the blade on a gas mover and attach a string to the carburettor (so you can throttle up).
Cuts through bush and small trees, but wear goggles or face mask!
There’s a perfect candidate for that at the 0:30 mark in the video. A couple of minutes with an angle grinder and you’ll be good to go.
As [Tim] says, more redneck engineering please. Far better then the boring arty hipster phone/beer/Arduino stuff.
Dude just needs more power on that there brushcutter. Brute force solves everything, or destroys it totally so it doesn’t matter any more.
Looks like he was trying to make a sickle mower. Been better off removing the front few inches of the other lawn mower
Can’t do that. My son will start using that mower next year when he is old enough to help. Won’t remove the safety on that unit.
Please – we prefer the term “Rural-American Engineering” ;-)
Do you have the number for the “Sons Of The Soil” Support Service?
Is it really strictly american? Hows about “dentistry deprived engineering” or “Beer safety goggle engineering”?
go ask for the local neighbor to use his sickle bar on tractor = 30 sec job.
Everything old is new again, I guess
http://downhometraveler.com/wp-content/uploads/blogger/-eUapthsSggw/TsHWYQ627KI/AAAAAAAABTE/Ps6Oyg8jSk4/s1600/193.JPG
I could really use one like that…..
I didn’t think my build would make the page, but it did. Cool!
Your next hack should be a camera tripod.
I won’t say you’re wrong. If I do any improvements and put a new video up, I’ll try that again.
I need to go to a junkyard now.
Voila, five minutes of laziness begets hours of work down the road. While he trims the tops off his weeds, the roots continue to grow. Eventually he’ll end up needing to dig them out instead of just pulling them. What a brilliant plan!
Once he gets the tops cut down to a mowable height, he can just regularly mow them. Most tall-ground things turn manageable if you run them over with a short-cutting lawnmower regularly.
IOW, let it grow roots. It’s not going to win without foliage.
Most of that isn’t weeds. Mostly shrubs, saplings, and this nasty thorny vine that drives me bananas. Weeds I can handle with the push mower.
I see one who wants to do blind work. Push something and it’s done. There could be hazards in the stuff you can’t see into.
For obvious reasons it failed. A few big things hiding in all the “green stuff”, yeah they have woody stems. Stuff falls forward and has high clog potential. Now you have to cut it again only on the oblique, it’s much harder. The bar has to have nothing behind it so things fall back. That’s what those paddles are doing on a wheat combine.
Three saplings, cut with a two handled chopper or axe. Done in less than a minute. Mow the rest, hitting the dense stuff by lowering the mower down with the handle. Mow regular times to control. The right tools for the right task. Not a magic wand tool.
unfortunately a mower isn’t the best option. The area where my house now resides was home to a ton of Virginia pine. Where I’m mowing I’ve removed those and other smaller trees. What I need to do at some point is get the guy who ground down the trunks from the pines I removed to install my pool to come out and take care of some of the saplings trunks that remain in this area.
I have tried the mower, but the tractor tends to get stuck and the push mower blade stops completely.
I do not consider my results a failure. The blades never hit anything they couldn’t manage, and I’ve decreased my time needed to do that job. In fact I intend to use this to clear more area once the seasons change and I’m doing cleanup.
There’s a video out there somewhere of a guy that ties his self propelled push mower to a stake in the middle of his yard.The stake has a diameter that when the mower circles it, the mower tracks so about half the deck covers the last cut. He just starts the thing, ties down the safety bar and lets it go. The other problem is the ugly circular cut lines in his yard. But ya gotta hand it to the guy, he sure knows how to get out of yard work!
I also saw that video with the guy who tied his self propelled mower to a stake and it was pretty successful. The concept is awesome, I do admit, even though it scares me too! Love the username – WW Heisenberg – another BB fan here! We’re in Texas at https://www.collegefundlandscaping.com/basic-lawn-care-program/