Self-Propelled Magnetic Floor Sweeper

Self-Propelled Magnetic Floor Sweeper FARM SHOP Miscellaneous 29-1-16 After tearing down several buildings last summer, Rich DeVries had nails all over his driveway. In order to reduce the possibility of costly flat tires, he decided to build his own self-propelled magnetic "sweeper." He mounted two DC motor coils on front of his Grasshopper lawn mower in place of the deck, located 1 to 2 in. above the ground. The magnets are powered by a generator he pulls behind the mower. Flipping a switch on the dash sends electricity to the magnets to pick up metal. Turning the switch off drops the metal so it can be collected and disposed of. "I was surprised by the amount of metal that it pulls out of the ground," says DeVries, of Forreston, Ill. "I picked up not only nails but nuts, bolts, washers, and lots of rusted metal pieces. The two magnets have a sweeping width of 20 in. When the magnets are full, I remove the material by driving over a hard surface and flipping the switch off." A friend gave him the pair of oval-shaped DC coils which measure 10 in. long by 6 in. wide. The coils are placed end to end and bolted to a 3/4-in. thick plywood board, which is bolted to the bottom side of a caster-wheeled attachment on front of the power unit. He mounted blocking rectifiers in the generator in order to convert the magnets to DC power. The generator is towed by a metal support arm mounted vertically on back of the power unit. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Rich DeVries, 10606 N. Hollywood Rd., Forreston, Ill. 61030 (ph 815 938-3393; email: RICHDEVRIES@aol.com).

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