High Capacity Yard Vacuum

High Capacity Yard Vacuum FARM HOME Miscellaneous 32-5-32 When there's a lot of leaves or grass clippings to collect, Maurice Leighton's home-made system gets the job done fast. He modified a commercial "Billy Goat" vacuum by replacing the bag with a higher-capacity drum collection system. Leighton pulls the Billy Goat behind his riding mower, and behind that, he hitches a large collection drum. He uses an inner tube as a flexible passageway for the leaves between the Billy Goat and the drum trailer. The Billy Goat's gas motor powers the unit. He made the drum by bolting two plastic 50-gal. drums together, and cutting out several screened vents along the top, from which air can escape. The vents are covered with 1/2-in. mesh. "The drum sits on an axle with two 10-in. dia. salvaged tires and has a hinged, plastic, vented door that lifts up on the back end to dump," he explains. "To unload, you open the door (which folds back parallel to the top of the drum), unhook and tip the hitch up manually, and it self empties. "This leaf collector is effective for large areas with only leaves to be removed," Leighton says. "It's not practical with a lot of twigs which would block the suction inlet." The whole system was low cost except for the Billy Goat, which was a few hundred dollars. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Maurice R. Leighton, 6560 Lindberg Ave., Placerville, Calif. 95667 (ph 530 626-0965).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.