New cutting bar installed

[cathead]

My skid steer cutting blade was getting well worn so picked up a replacement. I used the milling machine to
drill seven holes equally spaced along the new cutting bar and welded it on using my Forney stick welder.
I started with some 6010 rods and also burned a bunch of 7018 in 5/32. Also I tried some 7014 1/8 inch diameter
rods. The ends of the old blade left me with 1/2 inch gaps so I filled those areas in with some 3/8 solid and
welded them in. I may add some vertical pieces on the ends of the blade as it sticks out more than I would like
with no side support. I'm holding off until I can get a piece of hardened edge material and then finish up.
Now if I want some teeth on the blade, I at least have a start on mounting them. Also, this morning, I had a tube in one of the front
tires that would leak down over time. I removed the tube, cleaned the sealing edge with a stiff wire brush and installed a new air valve.
Luckily, the tire sealed up and I was able to put it back on the machine. The bigger bucket surface area makes it easier to haul
buckets of firewood to the stove area. I expect it will allow me to move bigger loads of dirt as well. Now I need to get some more 6010
welding rods as I burned up at least 5 pounds in the process.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

looks like you gained about six inches on the new lip!
some gusset plates would strengthen the works, even a couple triangles vertically welded to the new lip would keep it from folding in

 

[Larry$]

I had an old BobCat, loved that thing. Putting teeth on will greatly improve its digging ability but will reduce your ability to shave as you turn. You need to put corner triangles on it.

 

[cathead]

looks like you gained about six inches on the new lip!
some gusset plates would strengthen the works, even a couple triangles vertically welded to the new lip would keep it from folding in

Ulma Doctor,

The photo is somewhat deceiving. The new cutting edge is 4 inches wide. It looked to me like the old edge was worn back at least an inch or two so my guess would be that the bucket depth would be only several inches deeper than when the
bucket was new. It's interesting that the outboard part of the blade wears faster than the center part requiring some
fill in work. It will be nice to have a straight blade again.

for Larry$: I have to agree that I need to gusset the blade or add on some new vertical cutting edge. I use this machine
for moving snow and for firewood so it will work fine for that for now. It has 9000 hours on the Hobbs.
I'm familiar with using teeth on a bucket but for what I use this for, it will be fine. At least I have the option
to add teeth if needed. It's a Hydramac 11C with an Isuzu 2AB1 two cylinder diesel engine. It will plow snow
all winter on 10 gallons of fuel.

 

[cathead]

Today the morning's project was to finish up welding
on the cutting edges on the bucket.
This will add the needed stability for digging and what ever else comes along.
I cut and welded the vertical pieces on this morning using some 6011, 7014 and 7018.
They all work but fun to experiment a little. I also added a bit of hard facing material
on the outboard edges as that is what wears down the fastest it seems. Just for fun
I had to test it all out so ran the blade on the driveway to smooth it out. I have been
raking leaves and loading them on the bucket to haul them away. I'm happy to report
that the extra blade length and height allow me to move more efficiently. Now on
to the eave troughs and yard leaves etc etc etc.........

The welding was done with a Forney AC 180 ampere welder with a home made
DC adapter that consists of a bridge rectifier and a heavy wound inductor, it worked
great and after an hour of welding the DC unit was just pleasantly warm to the hand.

 

[aliva]

Don't forget to put some hard surface on the side cutters, both sides, straight beads vee's beads or dots will work, Hard surface on the bottom of the front lip is worth while to extend the life.

 

[cathead]

Upon doing a little reading on hard facing rods, I found that the rods contain about 25% chromium! Welding with
hard facing rods generates Chromium 6, a known carcinogen. That's good to know.

At least I did my welding outside. If I do more hard facing on the bucket, I will finish up on a breezy day,
maybe even hold my breath...

One other thing I learned is that DCEP(direct current electrode positive) is the proper polarity for this procedure.

 

[Cadillac]

Nice work have replace the cutting edge on acouple buckets. Those vertical pieces look like shin killers. Might wanna round over that top edge.

 

[FOMOGO]

Chances are you and I will be long gone by the time your new edge wears enough to be any kind of issue. 9000hrs is pretty impressive, My backhoe has 7k on the meter, but it hasn't functioned in a long time. That's the kind of work that stick excels at, nice job. Mike