How to Make a "MAD MANTIS" Weedeater Cultivator

Well i had bought a troy bilt 4 stroke weed eater from lowes and i also bought the tiller attachment with it .Well trouble  was to use it you have to bend over to about 2 feet off the ground for it to do cultivate anything .Ouch back breaker ill tell you !! So naturally the 70 dollar attachment stayed in the shed unused until i came  up with this fairly simple idea.

Step 1: Used Weedeater

I have had this weed eater for several years now .Been very reliable and is expensive one at that too. Its a stihl  26 cc straight shaft  for bush whackin attachments .

Step 2: Tiller Attachment

This is the tiller attachment  for my  4 stroke  troybilt  weed eater that didnt get used because of bending over so far to get it to work properly.

Step 3: Disassembling

I unscrewed the motor  and the handle bars from the straight shaft weed eater

Step 4: Putting Things Together

I simply put the weedeater motor on the  tiller attachment until it bottomed out on the shaft. Then tightened up the screw.

Step 5: Making the Frame

I cut 2 pieces of 5/8 black iron pipe 4 feet long

Step 6: Drilling

I measured 4  holes to match the bolt holes on top of the tiller attachment . Drilled  4   1/4 inch holes.

Step 7: Frame Assembly

I bolted the bars on the top of the tiller attachment.

Step 8: Bending the Frame

I measured 6 inches back from the end of the pipe and made a cut on each bar so i could bend the pipe until it came up against  the back of the motor, and then welded the cuts back together.

Step 9: Frame Brace

I drilled 2 1/4 inch holes   through the pipe and into the back of the motor frame .Careful not to drill through the  fuel tank. and bolted it together for stability.

Step 10: Handle Bar Bracket

I welded a piece of inch and a half square  tubing on top of the two ends of tubing.Then welded a 1 inch nipple on top.

Step 11: Adjusting the Handle Bars.

I fitted the handle bars for comfort and there ya go . A mantis is about 3 to 4 hundred dollars . I built this for under 25 dollars. And the best part is ,when i m done with it and i want to switch it back to the expensive weedeater i can with no problems.


  Here is a link on youtube to watch it in action..      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPnwbMImxKU

Comments

[bcavaciuti]

now i know what im gonna use in a zombie apocalypse :D

[coolbeansbaby68]

lol

[coolbeansbaby68]

I used my Tiller again this year .Also my friend used it too because his broke!!!!!

[pfred2]

I'm going to have to look for one of these attachments for one of my trimmers. I recently acquired an FS-108 but it didn't come with a head, so I had to steal the head off my FS-55 which leaves me down a head now.

[ERCBIENG]

Looks dangerous to all displeasing weeds everywhere! How does it fair in deep soil?

[coolbeansbaby68]

Works great. For some reason the way its made .it tills up deeper when you pull backwards . It really digs then..

[finton]

Exactly what I joined Instructables for! Good job. (yeah, I know this is a year later - 'ibles is timeless)

I had the same problem with my Masport cultivator, so mostly used it by pulling it backwards. I think both you and I are forcing our cultivators to be rotaryhoes. Cultivators are designed to "fluff-up" the top layer of loose soil and scuff up weeds and are often not self-driven, so their tines rotate forward to pull them along the ground - this makes them climb out of the soil if it's too hard. Rotaryhoes are for breaking up soil and are usually self-propelled with the tines working against the direction of travel - this makes them dig in, which is why they have a depth limiter. Having said that, I've done a lot of hoeing with my cultivator! Either way, your idea is brilliant.

The first picture below shows me "rotaryhoeing" by pulling backwards. Long handles like yours would certainly help! The second pic shows the handtool eqivalent of a cultivator (in my hands) vs a rotaryhoe (the steelshafted garden fork on the very left of the pic). Can the cultivator do the fork's job? With a lot of effort, but basically no. Can the fork do the cultivator's job? Well sort of, but basically no. Right tool for the right job. If I was to break up a lot of firm ground, I'd hire a proper rotaryhoe.

[coolbeansbaby68]

Thanks for the comment . I knew that when you go forwards it just skims the surface and and when you go backwards it digs in . Which i think is ok. when i get a chance im going to try and turn the head around and see if it digs in going forwards and skims going backwards ..

[coolbeansbaby68]

when you walk forwards it just grinds the surface but when u back up . it digs about 6 inches down automatically. works very well .I have alot of compliments from the neighbors lol

[jhampa]

Great idea but anyone come up with making a "wheeled weed whacker". I am on the verge of buying one and price runs from 200 to 400. I never thought of taking a straight shaft weed eater, maybe one can shorten the length of the shaft (?) and mount it on some wheels. Ryobi has one for 200 but with a curved shaft which I don't like. So a modification to this for wheeled weed wacking might work. I will post it here if I get the idea ironed out. Contact me if you have suggestions.

[coolbeansbaby68]

I actually thought about taking a regular push mower and taking the blade off and using the assembly from a weedeater and mounting it on the front of the push mower ... hhhhmmmmmmmmm

[Chicken Spit]

I was going to try and make a small outboard motor for my kayak out of an old weed whacker, any tips?

[coolbeansbaby68]

that depends on how you plan on mounting it to the kayak.

[reddnekk]

Guess I don't follow the excitement. Ryobi has been selling a weed whacker for years which has a removable head, and you can substitute attachments, such as a tiller, edger, and etc. I have all the attachments, which run $40-60 each, plus the basic machine for around $90. The attachments will fit a variety of weed whackers sold under differenct names.

A heck of a lot easier than building one, I must say.

[coolbeansbaby68]

Ok Reddnekk
I will try and explain it to you again .Did you actually read the instructable? I have the same kind of weed eater ,except its not a ryobi. I bought the tiller attachment for it for 60.00. This instructable happened because when i used the weed eater with the attachment it hurt my back after about 5 minutes. I had another weed eater that i just took the head and handle bars off and made a different frame . Now i can use the attachment with ease...

[starplayer]

Building things is fun mate. Plus, 40$ is a lot of money

[fuzvulf]

nice job, didn't buy that attachment for that very reason. awesome. 4/5

[Gergohogbeido]

good effort

[hyenad]

The attachment that I have isn't straight it has a curve, is there anyway I can make something similar to yours?

[AmyLuthien]

Well that lil stinker really makes short work of the weeds! Excellent job!