Abby’s Guide > Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) > Discussions > Video of my Ariens blowing snow
Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions |
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jrtrebor
Location: Michigan - 3 hours north of Chicago on the lake
Joined: Feb 10, 2010
Points: 539
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Video of my Ariens blowing snow
Original Message Feb 24, 2011 7:04 pm |
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Well I was finally able to get some video of my blower in action. Went out to our family cottage and one of my neighbors was kind enough to operate the camera for me. I'm pretty satisfied with the way it performs after the repower and other modifications to the impeller blades and housing. I had also increased the auger drive pulley size from the stock 2 3/4" to 3 1/4". Powered chute controls work great. I also came up with a way to use the old deflector control lever to operate the auger engage/ disengage. So now I can pull on the lever engage the blower and not have to keep the right handle held down all the time. It's so much easier to use the chute control joystick and hold on to the blower. I believe that it is also easier on the belt with fewer engage and disengage cycles. I think it is still a little underpowered. It could probably use a 13hp instead of the 11hp. That 32" bucket takes in a lot of snow. I'd also like to increase the auger drive pulley to a 3 1/2" just to see what happens. The one issue or component I still haven't come to a conclusion about is the impeller (14"). It has 6 blades, it's the only six bladed impeller I've ever seen. A lot of the newer blowers and the Honda's have only three blades. I know how well the Honda's perform and I've watched a couple videos of the Ariens Compact 22 going through 14, 16" inches of light new snow without a problem. So I've been wondering if six blades is just over kill and a lot of extra mass and weight to be turning. Once you get them spinning I guess inertia is on your side. But if three works well, and Honda first proved that they do. Then what is the advantage of 4 or 6, just don't know. One thing I do know is that. The blade tip to housing clearance is a really important factor in blower performance. As is the impeller RPM. Just a little information about the video. In the first section the depth was about 18" deep in the plow roll of pile. And around 14 or 15" deep everywhere else. The snow was about three day old. Had a bottom layer (2") of heavier stuff. It had settled and was somewhat compacted and dense. Not light power by any means but also not high in moisture and wet heavy. Any and all comments are welcomed!
This message was modified Feb 24, 2011 by jrtrebor
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jrtrebor
Location: Michigan - 3 hours north of Chicago on the lake
Joined: Feb 10, 2010
Points: 539
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Re: Video of my Ariens blowing snow
Reply #10 Feb 25, 2011 1:42 pm |
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I've thought of that as well. However, rather than build up the impeller blades, I'd probably lean toward manufacturing a stainless steel liner to fit inside the impeller housing. If you look at most machines impeller housings, that's where the wear is taking place. End of driveway gravel is the cause and in due course, will wear a fair amount away from the housing. A nice hard piece of SS cut to length and correctly curved to spring itself inside the housing would slip in relatively easily. Beveled edges and pre-drilled, counter sunk holes would make it easy to install and secure it. If and when that one wears out, just replace with an insert or required thickness to maintain desired clearance. Actually I did line the impeller housing, and the blower housing with Stainless. Because your right the impeller housing is constantly getting scoured. Even with the new lining though I still had to much clearance between the blades and the new stainless liner. I secured both of the pieces of stainless to the housing by plug welding it in place from the back side. Even though I don't do any blowing in areas that have kind of loose gravel. It's surprising how much wear in the form of small scratches and shallow gouging I'm seeing in the stainless liner and the Wacky Carpet that lines the chute. Two of my summer projects are going to be cutting teeth into the auger blades. And mounting flange bearings on the blower housing to support the the auger shaft ends. The Flange Bearings will replace the stock bronze bearing setup.
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borat
Joined: Nov 10, 2007
Points: 2692
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Re: Video of my Ariens blowing snow
Reply #12 Feb 25, 2011 5:24 pm |
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My only concern with putting a Stainless Steel liner in is, that sit will trap snow or salt behind the liner and rust out the original impeller housing . if you repaint the inside of the impeller housing with a few coats of good quality paint before putting the liner in, it won't matter if snow/moisture get's behind it. Chance are the machine will be crapped out well before it rusts through. jrtrebor: The lining I'm talking about would be much thicker. Probably 1/8" to 3/16" depending on clearance between impeller blade and impeller housing. Hence no need to build up the impeller blades. Nice work on your project by the way!
This message was modified Feb 25, 2011 by borat
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jrtrebor
Location: Michigan - 3 hours north of Chicago on the lake
Joined: Feb 10, 2010
Points: 539
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Re: Video of my Ariens blowing snow
Reply #13 Feb 25, 2011 7:55 pm |
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My only concern with putting a Stainless Steel liner in is, that sit will trap snow or salt behind the liner and rust out the original impeller housing . Before I put in the impeller lining. I gave the housing 3 good coats of red oxide primer. I also used automotive Seam Sealer between the liner and the housing. I laid down a bead so that when the liner was put in, there would be a seal formed around the entire edge of the stainless liner. When it was clamped some of the Sealer oozed out from between the liner and housing which was what I wanted to see. I wanted to make sure that water didn't get trapped between the housing and liner. Not because I was worried about rust forming. I was concerned about trapped water freezing and buckling the liner. Popping it up a little at some place. Creating a little bulge or high spot, that would be a really bad problem. If it happened and the impeller blades started rubbing and scraping on the liner. Or worst case, the impeller could get wedged in the housing. That would not be good. I appreciated everyone's comments.
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jrtrebor
Location: Michigan - 3 hours north of Chicago on the lake
Joined: Feb 10, 2010
Points: 539
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Re: Video of my Ariens blowing snow
Reply #17 Feb 26, 2011 1:09 pm |
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Sometimes you do sidewalks and don't need the throwing distance, you just need to put the snow on the side nearby.
The 2 stage deflector on those Yamaha are nice. It's the best of the round and flat chute. Some of the dedicated sidewalk snowblower have really tall chutes and multi-stage deflector that can put snow practically right next to the snowblower. Your right, the Street Dept here has one of those. It almost shoots the snow straight down at the ground. It looks like it has maybe 5 or 6 segments. Maybe I'll to try mating up my old deflector with the current one I'm using. Oh good, another project. Something else to lie in bed and think about. The Yamaha really does look like the snow would have a nice smooth flow route regardless of the position of the deflector. No angles, just a variable degree curve.
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