How to make a mechanical brush for quickly cleaning leaves

Owners of large lawn and garden areas spend hours almost every weekend cleaning up fallen leaves or grass clippings. This takes a long time to do with a rake, so to speed up the process, you can make a mechanical brush with a large hopper. With it, routine work will be done tens of times faster.

Basic materials:

wheels for garden cart – 2 pcs.;
small wheels – 2 pcs.;
bearings 204 self-aligning in housings – 2 pcs.;
bushings with an internal diameter of 20 mm – 4 pcs.;
axis 20 mm;
strip 20x4 mm;
set of gears (optional);
set of sprockets with roller chain;
rigid cable 5 mm;
extended nuts 6 mm – 112 pcs.;
sheet steel 2 mm;
sewer pipe 200 mm;
profile pipe 15x15 mm;
starter from the car;
battery 12 V.

Brush making process

Assembly must begin with the manufacture of the comb. For this, 4 strips of 28 cm each are prepared. Mounting holes are drilled into them along the edges. 28 elongated nuts with pressed-in sections of rigid cable are welded to each of them.

To prevent the cable from unwinding into the wiring, its edges should be secured with a drop of welding. You can make 2 combs not from cable, but from hard plastic rods from a broom.

The 65 cm axle is fitted with 4 bushings with lugs. Combs are screwed to them.

The axis is fixed to the brush body using bearings. It is a frame 60 cm wide with sidewalls made of sheet steel measuring 30x40 cm. Their upper front corner must be rounded to match the diameter of the combs.

Wheels from a garden cart are attached to the outside of the sidewalls. They are placed so that the comb cables can wrap freely. If desired, one of the wheels can be connected to the axle using two gears of different diameters. In this case, the brush will turn out to be self-propelled.
An electric drive is installed on the brush body. A starter can be used as it.

It is connected to the comb axis through a chain transmission. Rotation must be backwards towards the operator.

For stability, the cart is equipped with height-adjustable wheels behind it. The control handle is welded to it. The housing is closed with plastic from a lined sewer pipe.
A hopper is welded from thin tubes or fittings to collect leaves and grass. Its width and height at the back are 60 cm. The height at the front is 20 cm. Its frame is covered with tarpaulin or burlap. It should cling to the brush cart using pins at the bottom and top.

A conventional battery is connected to the electric drive of the trolley.

You need to weld a mounting pad under it. The control handle has a power button. The lined plastic pipe is also used to make a casing for the chain and protection for the motor and battery.

A homemade brush collects leaves well and combs the old grass out of the lawn well.Its use in combination with a scarifier will bring your lawn to perfection.