I really Love gardening but I have a bad back and when it comes to staying bent
over in the garden it gets rough. So I built this Helper Machine. I call
it My P-Machine. Planting/Picking/Pulling weeds/Putting around the garden
machine.
Frame
The machine was fabricated out of 1" square tubing 1/8" thick. This was my first
build using a welder and tubing bender so do not look at the welding to closely.
The two seats are adjustable---they will move several inches closer to the
row middle or several inches farther away.
Drive System
The drive motors, wiring harness and control were removed from a power wheel
chair. The two motors operate on 24 volts and are already a gear reduction motor.
Since I was using a larger rear tire than is on the power wheel chair and I
wanted a lot of torque I reduced their output even more to 4.6 to 1 by using a
13 tooth sprocket on the motor and a 60 tooth on the wheels drive axle. A #35
chain connects the sprockets.
The machines top speed is about the speed of a walk but
can be slowed down to a craw by using the original wheel chair speed adjust
control with the joy stick pushed all the way forward. Naturally it will stop by
releasing the joystick or returning it to its centered position. The machine
works like a Zero turn lawn mower or a rear drive power wheel chair meaning the
front tires swivel as the rear tires control the turn. No need for front wheel
steering this way.
The Control can be moved easily from one side to the other so I drive it from
either side. The control can also be moved to the middle.
Electrical
I have four T-105 6 volt Trojan golfcart batteries on two racks
above/behind the drive wheels so that less weight will be put on the front swivel
tires. The four batteries are hooked in series for 24 volt set-up. I am using two
12 volt 80 watt solar panels hooked in series that will run through a 20 amp 24
volt charge controller to keep the batteries charged properly. The wiring was
simple because I used everything off the power wheel chair including the wiring
harness. I had to lengthen the wires some because this machine is so much bigger
than the wheel chair.
The 24 volt battery set-up was wired to the original battery disconnect plug
that was on the wheel chair battery pack, so its just a simple plug into the
harness. The 24 volt solar charge controller wires hooks to the batteries in the
same place as the positive and negative wires for the disconnect plug.
I had the 4 Trojan batteries, but I could also have used two 12 volt deep cycle
batteries. Or, I could have used the original batteries off
the wheel chair, but those batteries were going bad. So, I used what I had.
I am sure the run time will be a lot longer the way I have it set-up.
After testing it, I have plans to do some more to it to make it
more useful. I think it will help me so much in my BIG garden.
