By dorn on
Topic Type
Idea

Identified Need - lower cost adjustable tine weeder tines

I was just reading Ben's post about building a belly mounted tine weeder for an Alis G, and looking at the economics of the tines from Lely or Kovar. I wonder if we might use the power of Farm Hack to develop a tine bending tool, so that we could get the cost per tine down to something well under the $15+ for the lely? This would also enable some customization and replacement when new ones are needed, or enable farms to try longer or shorter, stiffer, or softer tines based on their application.

What I see needed is probably a bending jig, steel wire specs (high carbon spring steel?) and bending techniques (cold, w/heat, temper etc.).

Maybe also CAD file of the tool bar brackets?

new tool idea
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A group at the first Farm Hack event at MIT thought this would be a good project too. I think Chris Yoder brought up the idea there and participated in the group. That day, the team came up with some tines that they bent in a vise, using old bicycle spokes for the metal. Not an adequate replacement for the Lely tines, but a good start. Maybe we can track down some of those team members to chime in on this.