Anyone Ever Made A Concrete Roller?

mikefoxo

Been looking up rollers on DD and they're fairly expensive to my mind - 700 quid for anything half decent! We have a little farm and a few bullocks which are outwintered, which means there's a bit of poaching going on. I'd like to sort this out but not willing to pay that sort of money on something that will only be used 2 days in the year. Then again if we were to get someone in to do it, it wouldn't be too many years before you'd have the price of a roller paid out!

Was thinking of making one out of concrete. Seen one or two around, look like they'd do a job. Would it be hard to make? Stuff a load of chicken wire in it to hold it together, bar going all the way through it and wooden bearing blocks. Just wondering about a casing, haven't got anything to hand that's 7-8ft long, 18in diameter and smooth on the inside

charolais0153

mikefoxo wrote: »

Been looking up rollers on DD and they're fairly expensive to my mind - 700 quid for anything half decent! We have a little farm and a few bullocks which are outwintered, which means there's a bit of poaching going on. I'd like to sort this out but not willing to pay that sort of money on something that will only be used 2 days in the year. Then again if we were to get someone in to do it, it wouldn't be too many years before you'd have the price of a roller paid out!

Was thinking of making one out of concrete. Seen one or two around, look like they'd do a job. Would it be hard to make? Stuff a load of chicken wire in it to hold it together, bar going all the way through it and wooden bearing blocks. Just wondering about a casing, haven't got anything to hand that's 7-8ft long, 18in diameter and smooth on the inside

Auld lad used two oil barrels. Filled it up with concrete and bits of scrap metal. Got a lad with welder to make a frame for it etc

Base price

We had one here that was made from two 45 gallon steel barrels with a old cart shaft/axle. There was a space between the two barrels and it used to annoy me that there was a gap left in the middle.

Sam Kade

Base price wrote: »

We had one here that was made from two 45 gallon steel barrels with a old cart shaft/axle. There was a space between the two barrels and it used to annoy me that there was a gap left in the middle.

Two 45 gallon barrels filled with concrete would be a fair camel of a roller. Op if you got an engineering crowd to make up the barrels 18" diameter and weld a pipe through the center for the axle and fill it with concrete and wekdcup a frame with channel iron. You'd make a roller for handy money.

Jack the Stripper

Engineering firms on €50 plus an hour doing bespoke work cheap roller alight.

pauldavis123

See below!

pauldavis123

Who2

You'll have the guys of the seven hundred spent rooting and still have nothing at the end of it. A brand new roller is around 1k mark , it'll still be worth the bones of it in twenty years time

Sam Kade

Jack the Stripper wrote: »

Engineering firms on ?50 plus an hour doing bespoke work cheap roller alight.

Good man Jack.

nhg

We only use a roller when reseeding, we use a Rakeman 3000 instead - one of the best investments we made on the farm thanks to Reggie's recomendations...

We added an APV seeder to it last year...

Paddysniper

nhg wrote: »

We only use a roller when reseeding, we use a Rakeman 3000 instead - one of the best investments we made on the farm thanks to Reggie's recomendations...

We added an APV seeder to it last year...

I was going to mention a chain harrow,
Would you need to roll after using the rakeman?

blue5000

What about old truck tyres for the mould?
Stack them, bolt the walls together, pipe down the middle and pour the concrete in? Do it in 2 halves so it would be easier to turn on the headland.

This lad looks like he half made it, all you need is a few M3 of readymix to finish it off http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4M-4-Metre-Tyre-Packer-Roller-Furrow-Grass-Press-Leveller-/272657490287?hash=item3f7ba7216f:g:NzQAAOSwX61ZCzox

kay 9

At first glance, thought this thread was titled ".... Chocolate roller"

patsy_mccabe

Hhmmm chocolate.
Get a few large tyres, a bit of a chain and pull like dogs.

Jb1989

https://www.donedeal.ie/view/15391498
Land Roller

Nice simple roller at handy money. To use as is or for parts for concrete version

I said

pauldavis123 wrote: »

In the name of jaysus that's a fcuking assault on the ears

mikefoxo

Thanks for the responses ladies and gents.

Obviously I know getting a proper one is the right thing to do, but how can you justify the guts of €1000, one one machine, that'll be used maybe 3 days a year, on a 40 acre farm?? And you could make the same argument about a lot of other machines too (chain harrows, cultivators, land levellers etc.) For a farm that small, where you need such machines, often enough where getting a contractor would be too expensive after a few times, but not often enough to justify such a large expense.

As for making one, I dont have a welder, or a big steel tube lying, hence the idea of using concrete. I saw this fellas one working successfully, which convinced me I wasn't going off on a mad one! Something nice and simple, just not so massive!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKisZU_AydA

nhg

Paddysniper wrote: »

I was going to mention a chain harrow,
Would you need to roll after using the rakeman?

No, we use the Rakeman instead of the roller to level the hoof marks & remove the dead grass at the same time. We think that we have much better quality grass since we started using it. Unreal the amount of dead grass it removes...

Our neighbour is the only one using our roller.

anthony500_1

Just an addition to the concrete idea, if you know anyone in the concrete/shuttering game, there is a pre made round tube used to pour concrete columns on large buildings

They come in various sizes also

this could work out mighty as its smooth and can be cut to length very handy, would form a roller very easy for you

Paddysniper

nhg wrote: »

No, we use the Rakeman instead of the roller to level the hoof marks & remove the dead grass at the same time. We think that we have much better quality grass since we started using it. Unreal the amount of dead grass it removes...

Our neighbour is the only one using our roller.

That's food for thought. Thanks.