48 Inch Surface Cleaner- Looks awesome!

I have been wanting to put some signs on my trailer for a while now but they would have to flip up out of the way when working, be sturdy to stay put when driving on the highway and last a while before replacing.
 
This is something that I have been working on, currently in the "prototype" stage. I am only waiting on a fitting/pulley spacer that I am having machined and then some real world testing. There is also a stainless skirt that will go on after I am confident in its function.

 
There is no pump on the surface cleaner. The sole purpose of the engine is to turn the dual swivels, thus no pressure needed to turn the bars, inherently increasing the PSI for cleaning and decreasing the need for larger machines to push a larger surface cleaner.
 
Johnson said:
So any size machine can push it?
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That is the intent. I will know more once I test it. Based on my calculations of the RPM's of the engine, pulley sizes and rotary swivels , it should perform well with a 3000psi, 4gpm unit. Of course increasing to 8gpm should allow the time surface cleaning to be reduced dramatically.
 
Spray bars are belt driven. The direction/rotation of the spray bars is irrelevant when mechanically driven because you can set the degree of the spray nozzels any direction you want because the pressure is not pushing the bars as it is on a standard surface cleaner. In this application they are almost straight down, canted in the direction of the rotation.
 
With the turbo twister (engine belt drive spray bar), it was a 36" spray bar and I could use my 5.6gpm 3000psi Hotsy hot water machine no problem and it cleaned great since the engine was moving the spray bar, you had all the pressure for cleaning and you could use a smaller pressure washer.

Is this for just personal use Mike or are you going to start selling them?

Is that a 48" wide cleaning path?

That is a great idea.

Any other pics, pics of the bottom or of it cleaning?
 
Thanks Chris. I will post pics of the bottom and videos of the unit in use when it is all buttoned up.

My intent is to build a few for my team, I don't have time to manufacture these, but I was thinking that a "kit" may be easier for everyone. I would sell the proprietary parts, the stainless deck, machines spacers, pulleys, etc if someone wanted one, then they could buy the off the shelf parts from their parts supplier, grab a craigslist lawnmower for the motor.
 
Mike, do you know what the hp requirements are to turn the spray bars or did you just use what you had? Seems like something as small as a chainsaw engine might be adequate.
 
It is all about RPMS, using the correct pulley size to get the Rotary Arm rotation (RPM) the proper speed. Too Fast and you can have premature wear on other more expensive parts, like the swivels. To slow and cleaning quality will be sacrificed.

But to answer your question, I had a lawnmower that wasn't being used with a standard motor and built the surface cleaner around that. I am sure any motor could turn the swivels, but I never looked into it. You would need to know the RPMS of the motor, the pulley sizes on all three components would be determined by that as well as the length of the belt.
 
On the Turbo Twister that I had, it was a 36" spray bar and had a 6 or 7 hp lawnmower engine if I remember correctly.

The nozzles were aimed in the direction of the turning spray bar so the pressure would try to move the spray bar backward but the engine kept it going forward if that makes sense and it does seem to clean better than the nozzles pointed down or when the bar spins from the pressure of the pressure washer as a lot of force is used to move the spray bar instead of cleaning.
 
If I remember correctly, the Turbo Twister spun at 1500rpm's with a 15 degree nozzle into the dirt.

I would think that since most swivels are meant to run up to 2000rpm's, I would think that would be a good speed to keep them at or under.
 
Mike V said:
Thanks Chris. I will post pics of the bottom and videos of the unit in use when it is all buttoned up.

My intent is to build a few for my team, I don't have time to manufacture these, but I was thinking that a "kit" may be easier for everyone. I would sell the proprietary parts, the stainless deck, machines spacers, pulleys, etc if someone wanted one, then they could buy the off the shelf parts from their parts supplier, grab a craigslist lawnmower for the motor.
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I would be interested in the kit, already have a couple spare 6hp engines but could get larger engines if needed.

How soon will your prototype be working? I know it is the holidays and things can get busy.
 
How wide is the cleaning path on this surface cleaner Mike?
 
How is this large surface cleaner coming along Mike?
 
Bump.
 
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