Self-Propelled Trencher Converted To Tractor-Powered Tiling Machine

Self-Propelled Trencher Converted To Tractor-Powered Tiling Machine TILING MACHINES Tiling Machines 23-6-28 "It works great for small jobs," says Ivan Linton, Strathroy, Ontario, who bought an old self-propelled, track-type trencher - minus the engine - and converted it to a tractor-powered tiling machine by hooking it up to the front half of an International WD6 tractor. The tractor drives the tracks as well as the hydraulics on the digging end of the machine. Linton equipped the trencher with a homemade shoe on back so the machine can make a trench and lay tile at the same time. He also added a simple "water level" device to keep the tile on grade. The operator can walk alongside the tractor or sit on a seat that mounts on one side of the tiling machine. Before the machine is used, the tile is rolled out on the ground about 2 ft. from where the trench will be dug. As the trencher moves along another worker feeds the tile down through the shoe. "It can lay tile as deep as 5 ft," says Linton. He bought the trencher for $1,600 and paid $300 for the tractor. He split the tractor in half just behind the clutch and bolted a length of 6-in. channel iron onto each side under the tractor. The back part of each piece of channel iron is welded to the trencher's frame. He also connected the tractor's driveshaft to the first of two transmissions on the tiling machine. The homemade shoe consists of two 5-ft. high steel plates spaced 8 in. apart. It's raised up or down, along with the digging chain just ahead of it, by a pair of small hydraulic cylinders. A coil spring applies downpressure to keep the shoe at the bottom of the trench. Dirt dug up by the digging chain is thrown by a rubber belt to one side of the machine. Tile is fed under a small steel wheel (the press wheel off an old corn planter) which mounts on an axle inside the shoe. The wheel presses the tile down as the machine moves forward. The homemade "water level" consists of a 1-gal. cylinder-shaped tank mounted above the shoe. A plastic hose runs from the tank up to a piece of clear hose mounted vertically next to the tractor's steering wheel. The water level in the tank levels out with the water in the vertical hose. The operator looks ahead through a sight glass toward stakes set at various places in the field. If the field level changes and the machine rises, the water in the vertical hose rises indicating that the shoe should be lowered. "I use it on my farm for small jobs and also to lay tile for neighbors," says Linton. "I had been using a backhoe on back of a tractor, but it was hard to keep on grade. I can tile 3 to 4 ft. per minute in low gear and 6 ft. per minute in third gear. If I want to make a shallow 3-ft. deep trench I can put it in high gear and cover 10 ft. per minute. "The machine goes slow enough that the operator doesn't have to hang onto the steering wheel all the time. I put a block of wood on each side of the steering shaft, about 1 ft. ahead of the steering wheel, to keep the machine going straight ahead without any help." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ivan Linton, 6910 Scotchmere Drive, Rt. 2, Strathroy, Ontario, Canada N7G 3H4 (ph 519 245-2197).

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