Students Built Loader-Mounted Hay Forks From Scratch

Students Built Loader-Mounted Hay Forks From Scratch BALE HANDLING “My son and I recently built this set of hay forks for a Deere front-end loader with a local high school boy as part of an Ag Mechanics project for a local Future Farmers of America It has been patented and we’d like to get it in front of some people who can appreciate it and use it ” says Gary Machado Carrollton Texas     The 4-ft long forks are built from 2 5/8-in dia cold rolled steel and are designed to slide in or out by means of a 16-in long 3-in dia hydraulic cylinder attached to a telescoping tube As a result the forks can handle round bales ranging from 4 to 5 ft wide     The telescoping tube is bolted to a frame with quick tach brackets welded on back of it The width between forks is set by inserting a pin into a hole     “The operator can insert the forks into the bale or grasp it from both sides to keep from damaging net-wrapped bales ” says Machado “The design lets you stack bales either on their ends or on their sides ”     Machado says they built the hay forks in his small shop “which doesn’t have a lot of high tech fancy equipment” and made all components including the telescoping attachment and frame from scratch     “To build the frame we started with 1/4-in thick steel plate and had the pieces custom cut to different lengths which we then welded together I tried to teach the kids how to take measurements accurately and clean up the plates and get them ready to weld together ”     He says the hardest part was building the telescoping attachment “The larger tube is built from 1/2-in thick wall material and came with a seam inside it which we had to remove in order for the smaller tube to fit ”     To solve the problem they duct taped an air-operated die grinder along with the air hose attached to it to a broom handle and then stuck the grinder inside the pipe They zip tied the grinder’s handle open to keep the grinder running constantly     “The operator had to use a face shield to keep flying sparks off him ” says Machado “My son ‘throttled’ the compressor by controlling the amount of kink in the air hose It took a few hours to totally remove the seam ”     Machado adds that his friend Ed Stanley was a major partner and now owns the project     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Gary Machado 2111 Sequoyah Way Carrollton Texas 75006 ph 469 853-8678; gmachado13@verizon net

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