Trac-Drive Mower and Snow Plower

Do you want to make lawn mowing more fun in the summer, and the snow shoveling easier in the winter? Let's make a multi-purpose track drive robot! Heavy-duty *enough* to do the tasks, and definitely more fun!


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/robots/show/trac-drive-mower-and-snow-plower

Wow @thachnb :smiley: This is very good!

I especially liked that you reused some old parts from blower and wheelchair! Also, choosing Sabretooth 2x32 is a good choice.

I would also like to know, at the end, what were the overall costs.

Anyway, great pictures and cool videos! I can’t wait to see it in real action :slight_smile:

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Hi @igor_X, Thank you!

So my estimated cost for this project so far:

  • Snowblower parts: $50 (new is $450 for 2 track parts)
  • Wheelchairs: $200-$300 for a pair of motor
  • Sabertooth: $154.96
  • RC Transmitter and Receiver: $80
  • Mobile base: $44
  • Brackets (all sizes): $200
  • Nuts, Bolts and other electronic parts: $65
  • Battery & Charger (re-use): 6S 10000Ah: $150

I have an actuator from wheelchair, will use it to lift the blade/mower!
I got a reel lawn mower (manual one, need to push by hand), for $40. I will attach it to the robot and see :smiley:

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Nice! Looks factory made. How heavy is it? Do the tracks hurt the grass?

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Oh wow!
What a big project!

What are the specifications of the motors?

It’s around 20kg, the tracks don’t hurt grass, weight spreading all around, but the key point is we should make a gentle turn on grass. I will capture video with lawn mower on!

Oh wow this is an amazing project, nice to see someone else using invacare motors.
I really wanted to build something like this, but could find anything with a reasonable price range for track steering

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Hi I don’t have details of spec, invacare said it’s 24V, 4 poles, no spec about current, but I check it’s 2-3 amp under normal load

Thank you! Try to find the old snowblower, or broken one with track on it!

After some search i must realize, that it’s really not that easy to find a broken track drive snow blower here in Germany :joy:
Whatever, awesome Project! Really impressed of what you did there.

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Robot building is pricey, think mine has cost £500 plus, but so worth it.
Think about what is going to looking like when near completion.

Oh and dont forget to remove your electric brakes, they drink power

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Move to Canada and enjoy 3 months of snow :smile:

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Oh thank you so much, I did that, the brake was killing 50% of my battery overtime

@thachnb congratulations for winning the competition :slight_smile:

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Thank you @igor_X!!!

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Honestly I have built a remote control mower with two invacare 4 pole motors a 24v alternator and 2x25 sabertooth controller. I used 2 18Ah batteries which is about as small as one can go. Can cause brown outs on the controller even with the 40Ah alternator.

Next time I’m doing a zero turn mower and two servo’s off the 12 volt system no motors since they use hydrostatic transmissions. This is much easier

Nice robot. CONGRATULATIONS on your win!

Could you please tell me what size couplers you used for the axles and where you got them?

Thank you, I use 19mm to 19mm coupler.
I got it from aliexpress

Wow, you should get 2x32 one!
By the way, could you share your project, it sounds awesome!

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Thank you so much for the information. They’re just what I needed to put the tracks I acquired on my own robot.