Christopher.Kouttron

Tipping the scales at just under seven feet long and three hundred-twenty pounds, this twelve horsepower leaf vacuum, is an engineering marvel. The combination of five machines into one really makes my lawn vacuum stand out amongst other vacuums in its class. By combining a vacuum, a chipper, a shredder, a mulcher, and a bagger into one machine really shows engineering and imagination at its best.

 

            The chassis of this monster is a seven foot by eighteen inch base, supported by two 2X8’ beams, topped with one inch heavy duty exterior plywood. Although it may look like a bunch of junk thrown together, it is amazing how this thing works.
            On a recent trip to New Hampshire, we stopped at an engine repair shop, the Toolshed, in search of an eight to ten horsepower engine. The man behind the register brought us out back, where we obtained a twelve horsepower Briggs and Stratton Engine, for only twenty dollars. After vacation, I went straight to work on the engine. I cleaned the head, valves, push rods, and the sparkplug as well as the carburetor and the fuel tank of the engine. Halfway through the day, I got the engine to fire up. I tuned the engine to near perfection, and I went ahead and mounted the engine. With no other parts to build a vacuum, I went to the nearby power tools store, Village Power Tools. When I went in, I asked for the front end of the blower. With this, I could reverse the impeller to create suction. Luckily I had the work cut out for me. I obtained an all steel impeller housing for a ride on tractor. With this, I mounted a pulley on the impeller, and on the engine. The next weekend, I mounted the impeller housing vertically, and I ran a belt from the engine to the housing. Since I did not have any ten inch hose at the time, I went ahead and built a garbage can housing. With pipe sleeves, I was able to make in and out nozzles for the vacuum. Knowing that my dad was in construction, I asked him if he could get me two sections of ten inch by ten foot corrugated PVC tubing. A week or so later, the tubing came in, and I ran the tubing from the impeller to the garbage can, and from the intake of the impeller outward. To seal the sleeves to the housing I used adhesive caulk. Not only does caulk keep out the elements, it keeps the vacuum of air contained in the machine. After the caulk dried I scavenged up some leaves, and I tested my machine. Not only does it suck and blow leaves, it can be simply converted into a wood chipper, with the removal of the intake hose.
            Now that I have my trusty lawn vacuum, I am able to remove of leaves in the fall, much quicker than before. This all in one lawn machine, not only saves time and energy, but it also saves space and fuel. The powerful impeller pumps leaves and debris in at high speeds, removing unwanted debris quicker and more efficiently than ever. The impeller not only pulls debris in, but it also mulches the debris in a 16:1 reduction ratio. That’s pretty amazing because the machine only cost me sixty-five dollars to build.  

As you can imagine, once thick branches are pulverized into much smaller-toothpick sized pieces. This amazing debris reduction vacuum not only helps to brake down lawn debris, but it helps reduce the amount of waste going to landfills.

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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