The scrap yard 1 mile from my house sells surplus steel. I just bought 260 pounds for .20 a pound.
My welding projects just got cheaper.

I bought some extra steel for projects that I have not thought of just yet.

I have SSQA Titan pallet forks and I made debris forks for it.
The titan pallet forks pin on to it.
I made debris forks that attach to my pallet fork frame the same way.

They are pretty beefy.
The bottom back angle is 6" x 4" 3/8" angle. The two outside forks are 3/4" x 2" the inside ones are 3/4" square stakes 36" long.
There are three of them. Two welded side by side the one welded on top of the other two.

I ran out of paint but still tried it out and it worked well so far.

I bought all this steel from a scrap yard this whole thing cost me about $20 to make.
You can buy similar forks for about $250 - $500 They clamp on your bucket.
https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1555292795

I repurpose the SSQA plate one more time. I added a hitch for moving and parking trailers. I still need to get some paint on it.
I used scrap yard steel and I already had the hitch so this cost me $6 to make.

The bottom back angle is 6" x 4" 3/8" angle. It was three pieces that I welded together.
https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1555987151

https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1555987151

I brought in 30 ton top soil to get grass to grow on our Geo trenches. It had lots of rock in it.
https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1556110711

Now I need a rock rake. I don’t want to spend $600 on a rock rake that I won’t use very much.
I am going to make a 5’ rock rake. I ordered the tines for it. I found a place that had free shipping the tines were 61 pounds. They were $140 shipped.
I went to the scrap yard yesterday and bought some 2” x 2” square tubing ¼” thick this should work nice for the frame. I bought I nice piece angle iron to hold the tines.
https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1556110711

I will make one similar to this with some design changes.
https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1556110711


The tines imported from Italy have arrived. All 62 pounds of them.
I just ordered to the 56 (100) bolts and 5 drill bits to put this together.
I hope to get to work on this built over the weekend.
https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1556224785

I made some progress. The front of it is done. It is mostly 2" x 2" 1/4" square tubing.
The main boom is 3" x 3" and I have all 56 3/8" holes drilled using only one drill bit.
My bolts come in tomorrow and two hole saws coming in on Tuesday.
I bought Nylock bolts so they don't come loose on their own.

https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1556484914

I have work for this rake to do and I would like to get it finished. No one local had the hole saw size I needed.


I made some progress last night. I mounted the pipe that holds it. I drilled it for the position pin.
I welded some 2" x 2" 1/4" square tubing on to my angle iron. That should keep it from bending.

https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1556805626

I went to the scrap yard at lunch. I found a 1/2" plate 6" wide 7.5' long.
This will work great for me. My porta bandsaw cuts 6" that makes it good for projects.

I finally got to dig a little more than a test dig while with my DIY 16” bucket.
This thing holds a lot of dirt. It takes a little more finesse breaking through the surface we have hard red clay.
But then it did very well.
https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1556892084

The rock rake is very close to being done. I am going to add kick stand and I need to paint it other than that it is done.
It was raining today so I could not test it out.

https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1557108720

The angle can be adjusted five positions forward and three positions backwards.

Once I get it outside, I will get more pictures.

I used scrap yard steel. The project cost $200 to built. Most of the cost is the tines and the bolts. It is pretty heavy duty there is 1/2 plate under where it the pipe holds it together.

https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1557152208

The rock rake is done and put to work.

https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1557282525

https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1557282525

https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1557282525

This was my first time using a rock rake. Once I figured out I needed to angle it and kick the rocks to one side it went well.

I just got a new plasma cutter. I wanted to make something that I have made before so I could compare to my old cutting methods to plasma cutting.
I am making a 12” backhoe bucket. I have the front and top two sides cut out. I also gave the two bigger sides cut out.

https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1558065638

When done I will have a 6”, 10” ,12”, 16” bucket a root ripper and a lifting attachment.

More progress. This was all cut with my new plasma cutter.
https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1558150622

Here are a couple picture showing how to make a curved bucket.
I toque it down weld a little and repeat.
https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1558302441

At the very end I use the tractors outrigger to close off the very end of the curve.

These are the back brackets that the pins go through. I plasma cut these by hand.
https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1558302441

This whole process was soooo... much simpler with a good plasma cutter. It was amazing using it on this project. All cuts were done with the plasma cutter on this bucket.
I have one more tooth ordered for this bucket. The teeth will be similar to the bucket to the left of it.

This 12" bucket was made with scrap yard steel.
The bucket cost me $13.25 in steel but the bucket teeth/weld on teeth holders were $60 shipped.

Still $73.25 is not bad for good 12" backhoe bucket.

Here is what I have to use for my backhoe.
https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1558302441

I made everything except the OEM 10" bucket.

I now have 6", 10", 12", 16" Buckets a root ripper, a lifting tool and a quick attach.

I am done making things for the backhoe.

My last bucket tooth came in. I was able to dig a few feet down to test it out. I had to shoot a skunk that was coming in my barn and was not scared of us.
It was a good time to dig a hole.

This bucket turned out looking the best out of the three I have made. This was by far the fastest one I made.

https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1559227181