Electric Sand or Salt Spreader for Your Truck or Tractor From Junk
Intro: Electric Sand or Salt Spreader for Your Truck or Tractor From Junk
This Instructable will guide you through the creation of an electric spreader that can help you coat icy surfaces with sand or salt with the flip of a switch. No more soup can, bucket, and falling on your butt! A hopper is constructed from a 5 gallon bucket with a hole in the bottom. Sand exits the big hole through a funnel made from a 2 liter bottle. The sand then piles into a PVC pipe tee. A cordless drill is used to spin the PVC pipe tee. When the pipe tee spins around, centrifugal force pulls the sand out of the tee and slings it everywhere. The 45 degree elbows on the ends of the pipes keep the sand from falling out when the sand spreader isn't running. No valves are needed to keep the sand in. Then lengths of the pipe can be changed to change the area the spreader can cover. I opted to use a switch to turn on the spreader and power it from the battery on my lawn tractor—you could just use the trigger lock on your drill if it has a battery. My drill didn't have a good battery so I got it for free. Total cost of this project depends entirely on what you have on hand. Estimated cost is $53 if you had to buy everything. I had all of it on hand. I will probably have about $10 in replacing the fasteners I used.
The first steps is to gather your materials. You will need:
(1) Five gallon bucket – Can be had free from your local drywall contractor where houses are being built. $3
(1) 2 liter bottle $1
(3ft) Threaded rod (¼-20 is what I used). $4
(20) sheet metal screws >= #8 x ¾ $3
(1) 1” PVC Pipe Tee $1
(1ft) 1” PVC Pipe $1
(2) 1” 45 degree elbows $1
(1ft) 2x4 lumber $0.50
(3ft) 1x4 lumber $0.50
(6) ¼-20 x 1-1/2” bolts $1
(12) ¼ flat washers $1
(6) ¼-20 nylon lock nuts $1.50
(3ft x 6”) 3/4” plywood or equivalent $2
(1) old cordless drill with a dead battery – Let your friends at work know you want one. $14 on sale
(2) ¼-20 hex nuts. $0.20
(6) Drywall screws 1-5/8” long
(4) Drywall screws 1” long
If you want a switch on your tractor or in your truck you will need:
(At least 8ft) #14AWG two conductor wire $3
(1) 15A rocker switch $5
(1) 15A fuse with holder – Please don't skip this. You might burn up your tractor or truck. $5
(2) 5/16" Ring terminals for the #14AWG or larger wire.
(2) 1/4" female Crimp terminals may be needed for the rocker switch
STEP 1: Drill a ¼” Hole in the Very Center of Your Pipe Tee.
STEP 2: Bolt Your Threaded Rod to Pipe Tee.
You may wish to use some Loctite thread locker to keep this from ever coming apart. Tighten the nuts down until the cut into the plastic.
STEP 3: Assemble the Slinger
## Some things I've learned in the last two years -- I added some length at the very ends after the 45 degree elbow to keep sand from bouncing out of the ends of the arms while plowing. I also jammed my slinger once and the drill started to screw the threaded rod deeper and deeper into the slinger. Adding some extra jam nuts, bending over and wire tying the threaded rod, or some other means of reinforcing this joint may be a good idea -- be sure to submit photos with your comments to share your ideas! ##
Cut two sections of pipe about 3” long. Press fit them into each end of the tee. DO NOT GLUE THEM. The length of the pipes will need adjusted to change the size of the spreading pattern later on. Put the 45 degree elbows on each end of the pipe. In the photo I used very short pieces of pipe at first. I found my spreading pattern was too small, so I pulled them off and replaced them with 3-1/2 sections. That pattern was a little big, so I cut them down to 3”.
STEP 4: Make the Funnel
Cut the bottom off your 2 liter bottle to make the funnel for the hopper. I “flowered” the top out to allow MANY sheet metal screws to hold it to the bottom of the bucket. PET is tough stuff.
STEP 5: Prepare the Hopper (5 Gallon Bucket)
STEP 6: Attach the Funnel to the Hopper
Screw the bottle neck to the bottom of the bucket using each of the little flags as a mounting tab.
STEP 7: Cut the Threaded Rod to Length
Test fit the drill to the bucket and cut the ¼-20 threaded rod. I made sure the chuck of my drill was at the top of the bucket so I didn't get sand into the chuck which could keep it from working.
STEP 8: Make the Drill Mounting Assembly
Your bucket may have dimesions that are different from mine. I have suis just what I had. pplied them just to give you a rough idea of the parts to cut and how to install them. Cut a pair of wooden blocks. 2x4's would be be fine. This is just what I had. Mock up the cross member in the bucket after you have placed the two blocks in the bucket to see where the board will go. Screw the cross member to the block and then slide it into the bucket. Cut a piece of 1x4 for the vertical piece the drill will be taped to. Screw it to the cross member. AFTER SCREWING THE BLOCKS TO THE CROSSMEMBER AND THE VERTICAL PIECE THE ASSEMBLY CAN BE SCREWED TO THE SIDES OF THE BUCKET. Sheet metal screws work well to hold the blocks to the side of the bucket.
STEP 9: Mount the Drill
STEP 10: Make Mounts to Hold the Spreader on the Tractor
STEP 11: Bolt the Mounting Plates to the Side of the Bucket
STEP 12: Solder Wires to the Drill
STEP 13: Solder the Red Wire to the + Terminal on the Drill and the Black to the - Terminal
STEP 14: Add a Switch to Your Tractor
STEP 15: Add a Fuse Holder and Connect It to the Battery
STEP 16: Profit!
Finally, we get to the PROFIT step! Use "Coarse fill sand" that is KEPT DRY to fill the spreader. Put a plastic trash bag or another bucket over the top to keep snow from getting the sand wet. Use a bungee cord to hold it around the top of the bucket. If the sand gets wet it may stick and not exit the spreader properly.
ADJUSTMENT
Remember how we press fit the PVC pipes together and didn't glue them? This is because we haven't seen how far the slinger throws the sand yet. If the slinger doesn't throw the sand far enough, remove the straight sections of PVC pipe and substitute in longer ones. With my drill on the "low" gear setting, I arrived at 3-1/2" straight sections as being just right to cover a 12ft wide area.
STEP 17: Thank You!
If you are a maker like me you like buying yourself awesome new tools
and supporting instructables like this one. You can do BOTH by checking out the #MADEINUSA branding irons I make that allow you to burn your fully custom logo into your finished work. Check out my shop at http://yeltrowshopllc.com – THANK YOU – yeltrow
27 Comments
KarenJ2 4 years ago
rascalrick 7 years ago
I made this last weekend, and boy what a time saver! I have a long (.3 mile) road into my home with a very steep hill. This sander was easy to build and I attach it to my side by side and plug it into the connector for my sprayer. That way I can easily turn it on and off from the drivers seat. Thanks for posting this!
MattP47 7 years ago
How far does this sling the sand? I'd like to be able to use it on sidewalks
Rexanvil76 7 years ago
norriscraft 8 years ago
I made one using hand seed spreader electric motor off car fan and square bucket used hand brake off bike to open and close salt door and electric trailer brake control box to adjust speed got idea off looking at yours and used what I had in shed laying around
Master of Homemade 8 years ago
I am going to build one but mount it on a had truck so I can tow it with my snapper
richnchicks 9 years ago
Do you think the starter off an 18 horse motor would work on one for a 250 yard road? I have one on an old mower that still works. I could even enclose the motor for more protection. They stay outside year round anyway. Do you think it could be put on a rheostat for slower speed? Would it get too hot? I like this design and want to do some modification to put behind my box blade on the tractor. Thanks for sharing this.
yeltrow 9 years ago
vbianco 10 years ago
yeltrow 10 years ago
If you decide to use it it on something where the application rate should be uniform like grass seed, you will want to mount it on it's own wheels or something and pull it FAR behind the tractor. It slings in a perfect circle. If your pull vehicle is in that circle it will distort the pattern and your coverage will not be uniform in that area. If the pulling tongue is longer than the sling radius, you will be in fine shape.
ii_awesum 10 years ago
Or you can (should anyways) install a deflector to focus the application towards the rear of the vehicle, just as commercial units do. You don't really want to be slinging sand or salt into the rear of your tractor - breaks, bearings etc. will fail prematurely and body/chassis rust will happen in no time once the paint wears off!.
DougOlinger-74 10 years ago
Absolutely Brilliant! I will build this for spreading fertilizer and ant bait.
Very well done!
dannyboyw 10 years ago
dmcunningham 10 years ago
I love the use of items that one may have around the home/garage or may be able to pick up inexpensively. Thank you for posting this.
sturobi 10 years ago
Excellent article. I have a 300' driveway with an incline and have 3 sanding stations along the length (pain!). I bought a walk behind spreader for $150 or so and knew within minutes it wouldn't spread because of clumping. This looks very promising. Any chance of posting a video of this in action?
kenbob 10 years ago
I love this. It is effective, approachable, and well documented! And it uses stuff I probably could find around the house. Perfect Instructable!
Lectric Wizard 10 years ago
Now this is in the spirit of this site, great innovating !!! Thanks for sharing !
shambuda2000 10 years ago
This is great. You should enter it in the workshop contest.
jmcclure7 10 years ago
ardnon 10 years ago
Awesome.