10" backhoe bucket for Ford 755

[Frank S]

For a year now I have been threatening to build a small hoe bucket for my 755 ford. Recently the wife and I had to dig a 100 ft of 3 ft deep trench for our water line to the house from the water tower. I didn't want to use my back hoe for a couple of reasons but most importantly I didn't want a 3 ft wide trench I know I have about 300 ft of trench coming up and the idea of more shoveling causes blisters just to think about it.
Time to make time and build a bucket.
I started off with a 3 ft by 5 ft piece of 1/4" plate from my bone yard. and a piece of scrap 1/8" tread plate also from the bone yard.
I made a card board template of the current bucket then chalked out the sides for my new one.

After cutting out the sides I clamped them together to make the pin holes I drilled a 1/4" pilot hole then was going to use a hole saw but after dulling 2 new hole saws and only making small indentations in the plates I decided to torch them and clean them up with a cob stone on my grinder.

Torching through multiple plates of steel is not all that hard if they are new bright shiny plates with no rust or mill scale but when have I ever let that bother me I just apply a little pre heat to the bottom sheet and cut away.

Cobed then separated and ready

The tread plate was for the back of the bucket I turned the treads out to serve as wear bumps and because the inside of a bucket needs to be smooth.

One of these little pocket com a longs are a must for small projects like this

One other piece of the bucket is the spine under the pin holes I decided to use the 1/4" here but had to splice 2 pieces of drop together in order to have enough plate without visiting the bone yard again

I always bevel both sides even on plates as thin as this The only thing was I did not gap the plates this time since it was only 1/4"
You can barely see the penetration Probably ran a little on the cold side.

A quick grind of the vee to expose the weld of the other side

Finished weld on both sides

Finished bucket
the cutting edge is ASTM 514 (T1) steel


The only thing left is to weld in the 1 3/4" rods after I make sure it fits my quick disconnect
http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/b...0424#post72458

[DIYer]

Thanks Frank S! We've added your Tractor Bucket to our Farm and Garden category,
as well as to your builder page: Frank S's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Tractor Bucket by Frank S

tags: tractor

[Frank S]

Sure beats a shovel

[Ralphxyz]

Nice, I have found some cheap carbon steel hole saws cut a lot better than most of the brand name holesaws.

Ralph

[Frank S]

I have found that most of the metals that I use hole saws no matter what kind or brand they are simply are trash. even the carbide tipped ones have too short of a service life for their price. Annular cutters for my mag drill are the way to go whenever possible I just don't own a wide range of sizes.
But I have always found that a cutting torch will beat out even the best of them except on non ferrous metals

[NortonDommi]

I always run holesaws slowly with lube and air to keep the chips out and most last for years. Sometimes I've had to extaend for extra deep holes.
I have to do this as I am too broke to afford the good stuff like annular cutters.

[Frank S]

Years? I have trouble getting one to last minutes. even is using them in a drill press with the speed in the basement. and lots of coolant

[NortonDommi]

I have a Blue Mole arbor I bought in 1997 and try to run at around 100 rpm or even less for bigger saws like 3 -4 inch. Keeping chips clear is the major problem so some times it is peck drilling, vacuum cleaner can help. I use enough pressure to cut and stop and clear as soon as I feel the drag change due to teeth clogging.
Saw quality is a big factor as I have used some cheapies and they haven't even made one cut before burning, blunting or losing teeth.
I had a friend who is a carpenter borrow one of my saws last week and he wrecked it in under a minute apparently by running at high speed and leaning on his drill.
Bought me a new saw and a pie and asked me to finish job so all good.

[Frank S]

I try to only use hole saws on my drill press but it is a cheap Central Machinery 1 1/2 HP 12 speed 4" column diameter with a 18 or 20" square table # 3 MT. All that is well and good except the slowest speed is 180 RPM I almost never change speeds, just leave in in low since it is so much trouble to re adjust the belts.
In my opinion it is too fast for any hole saw over 1 1/2" Some day I will find or build a radial arm with at least an 8" column with a gear head drive max speed of 1500 and a low of 15 to 25 RPM.
I don't like using my annular drills in anything but my mag drill but it is even a little fast for the larger ones above 1 1/2" .

[NortonDommi]

Hi Frank,
180 rpm? That should be no problem, as I said chip clearance seems to be the biggest killer of the saws followed by heat. I have an old Denbigh No.1 Camel Back drill I have to get going one day,( when I build more space : ( ), and low speed is 22 rpm. Slow and steady wins in most things that's for sure.