Snagglepuss diy ghetto trimmer....in progress

[Snagglepuss]

Im sure this idea may have crossed someones mind now and again.I bought a $7.00 metal fan from wal-mart.Took the motor out and mounted it backwards cause a fan blows and its needed to suck,bent the blades,to get them as close to the screen as possible..

Might have to cut the blades to a certain shape,and of course sand them down to razor sharp.I was gonna mount the thing on a box ,and have a trim collection area.Will this work? Who knows ,the blades are critical.

When ya look at screen trimmers ,they look alot like a upsidedown heavy duty fan with a sharp ass blade...

More pics as things progress...

 

[Snagglepuss]

Im thinking about pop riveting 3 sharp blades to the fan arms.First ill try to sharpen the aluminum.Everything is really crappy materials ,but this is a ghetto trimmer so that works out ok ..

 

[BigWillyDee]

pretty cool idea good luck

 

[Hydro-Soil]

It'll be dangerous to do but make sure you don't put a back cover on that fan. LOL. It would jam in a heartbeat with all that sticky crap coming through.

I'll predict jamming through resin buildup anyway. I'm dying to see the results.

You might want to make sure the motor has a little protector plate in front of it to keep crap from getting into it.


If it was myself I'd probably build it backwards. First time testing it I'd be watching it spit the cut leaf back out at me. Then again I'm backwards at a lot of stuff LOL

 

[Snagglepuss]

Its not really practical for big time trimming.But its the concept behind it which could be adapted to a better fan ,with better blades.

Ive decided to just go for the gold.Im going to home depot to find some type of steel blade to rivet to the arms

 

[smoke1sun]

Good luck, i love it when you guys start thinkin and trying new stuff. Keep the site interesting.

 

[Snagglepuss]

Well i put a piece of 400 grit sandpaper on a 2 by 4 and hand sanded the aluminum edges as sharp as i could get them.

I had to do some kind of test to justify spending anymore time on the progect .So i did a leaf test



I broke away some of the fan spokes for better bud access.On low speed it made perfect cuts on the leaves.I was very surprised .It appears the screen has to be level with the main surface or leaf trimmings escape out the sides.I put a piece of tape around it .Ok Justifed..


So to set that mutha loose , i mounted it to a collection box ,and cut a hole in the side ,up high for to relieve the box air pressure.The motor is mounted with nothing but tie wire,to the cage.And a small hole drilled though for the fan shaft.



Lets face the facts....This thing needs a real test.I went though my harvest faster than a freight train locomotive.Right now im about 3 weeks in my new cycle ,and i don't have any buds to trim

Things look positive so far .but to be continued until i have some big greasy buds ,to slow that motor down Some blade height tweeking,and adjustments and it may just do the job.

A small problem is the fan vibrations on the box,a work in progress.........

 

[Snagglepuss]

This just in ,$12.00 later from the flea market.Were jumping from 9 inches to 18 inches of Radical cutting area,and bigger engine.

The smaller one seems to run faster.But this one with the blades shortened will probably be much more durable.More pictures and plant carnage in the works..

 

[PeteWeedSeed]

Ha yeah, I tried stuff like that too. Using different fans with utility knife blades, all kinds of ways. End result was as expected, just terrible trim job, messy, and actually took longer then just grabbing a pair of garden sheers and doing it by hand.

But I do have a new plan using hedge trimmers. stacking about 5 of them one next to the other to make a big grid of cutting knives. So I could just drag the plants over it and hopefully end up with a decent trim that doesn't cut off too much of the resin covered parts. I'm starting this project in march, so I really have no idea how it will work. I'm hoping it will cause the trimmings to just drop down instead of being blown away. we'll see in a few months

I'm not saying you should give up, just its alot harder then you think to get a decent trim job from a DIY trimmer. I even feel like dropping the $800 bucks to buy a table top trimmer.

 

[Snagglepuss]

There's a reason trimmers cost $1000-3000 dollars, I figured it would prob be a rough cut.And more than likely,some areas would need some scissor work .Im having so much fun building these ,i bet the blade heights ,measurements and stuff have to be perfect ,to do an outstanding job.

I just can't find any closeup shots of one of the professional machines blades ,to get ideas..Im still excited to see the carnage from this machine..
I chopped a male ,but it wasn't a bud .So its not a real test .I get what your saying..

 

[BlindDate]

Took the motor out and mounted it backwards cause a fan blows and its needed to suck

You could have just rewired the motor to run backwards.

How far are the blades from the screen? Try to shape the blades or screen so that the blades are just skimming below the screen.

Try to use something under the fan that does not block the air flow so you can get some suction through the screen going. That will pull your leafs down to be lopped off clean.

 

[stickyickyicky]

u saw this on FAMILY GUY.... hahahahah

 

[PeteWeedSeed]

u saw this on FAMILY GUY.... hahahahah

ha what? care to be more specific. I've seen alot of family guy episodes, and I still have no idea what your talking

 

[snoop-a-loop]

this is what he was talking about family guy shaving fan

 

[FRANKENBLUNT420]

There's a reason trimmers cost $1000-3000 dollars, I figured it would prob be a rough cut.And more than likely,some areas would need some scissor work .Im having so much fun building these ,i bet the blade heights ,measurements and stuff have to be perfect ,to do an outstanding job.

I just can't find any closeup shots of one of the professional machines blades ,to get ideas..Im still excited to see the carnage from this machine..
I chopped a male ,but it wasn't a bud .So its not a real test .I get what your saying..

you know what dude, i typed a whole instructional thing about this very same concept and everyone laughed at it and then said a person might as well just spend the money and buy the trimmer. . . .now here it is later and you are building it.

you fucking growers are the shit, i swear!!!!!! you know what they need to let us run the country i mean it, you bastards are the most innovative sons of bitches i know.

i was gonna use a fast moving computer fan, but i like trimming (yes im one of the weird ones).

 

[badugi]

Neat project.

 

[Snagglepuss]

It seems like a stretch ,that this would actually work well....But continue on,we shall.......The wait for the first victim begins..................

 

[PeteWeedSeed]

oh that family guy episode... ha yeah that was funny the first time I saw it.
That's not exactly what I did, but perhaps I did get the idea from it somehow.

What I did was welded the ulitily knife blades on the fan blades after making them flat. the blades stuck out about 1/2" from the fan blades, all 3.Due to high speed of the fans even on low I had to further reduce the speed by use of a dimmer to drop the voltage to the fan motor.
The blades moved ok at a really slow speed, but became really unbalanced very quickly after dialing up the speed.
I also copied an idea from trimpro trimmers, using different size grates. ranging from 1/4" to 3/4" openings, and making the grates adjustable from the blades. Close range around 1/2" from the openings, was the only distance that seemed to work alright.
Like I mentioned before, it did work fine on getting big fan leafs off but by no means up to standard on finishing the job, and left alot of leafs around the buds still. What bothered me most was all the crystals being knocked or sucked off.

That was the idea I did way back when, but back then I was really paranoid and never took any pictures of my projects... I do regret that, always take pics! just keep them off your computer on a USB drive or CD.

I'm curious to see your results, Snagglepuss

 

[stickyickyicky]

good call on that clip

good luck on the trimmer\shaver! hope it works.

 

[smurfin'herb]

so when do body parts start flying? That thing looks like a death trap!! Be safe, and Good luck on your project, ill be watching.