Lawnmowing in a straight line gadget

[TimR]

I often end up mowing the lawn in the evening with the light fading, and aging eyes don't help.

Sometimes it's hard to see the edge between mowed and not. I end up missing a strip, or mowing a half width and doubling the time.

Has anyone built some kind of device to keep them on course? It could be a laser with an arrow or tone, etc.

It needs to be easily movable from mower to mower.

Has anyone experimented with something like this? That would give me a place to start thinking.

[Jon Danniken]

You can make a bracket that accepts a can of spray paint, and mount it
to the deck of your mower. Extend up a cable to the handle to spray the
paint as you see fit, or you could fashion a mechanism from a wheel that
sprayed a little on each revolution (assuming you don't just want one
big stripe).

I would recommend white paint, or possibly neon red.

Jon

[Ed Pawlowski]

On Sat, 31 Aug 2013 06:33:52 -0700 (PDT), TimR <timot...@aol.com>
wrote:

Miner's hat with light

[Wes Groleau]

On 08-31-2013 09:33, TimR wrote:
> I often end up mowing the lawn in the evening with the light fading, and aging eyes don't help.
> Sometimes it's hard to see the edge between mowed and not.

When it's hard to tell, you don't need to mow yet.

I end up missing a strip, or mowing a half width and doubling the time.
> Has anyone built some kind of device to keep them on course? It could be a laser with an arrow or tone, etc.
> It needs to be easily movable from mower to mower.
> Has anyone experimented with something like this? That would give me a place to start thinking.

Modify the wheels to be steerable. Put stepper motors on them, with
bluetooth. Build an iPad or android app to control the stepper motors
for steering, using GPS. Put Velcro on the mowers and the iPad/android
controller.

Seriously, I haven't experimented, but I've thought about it.

What I think would work is to buy one of those "laser levels"
that makes a red line appear on a wall.

Put velcro hooks on it, and the pads on the side of each mower.

Stick the box on the side of the mower so that the line is on the ground
in front of you.

When you start each row, find or place an object to aim at after you
turn around at the far end.

Solution two: self-propelled mower. Divide the blade length by
3.1415926535... Find a piece of pipe as close to that diameter as
possible and plant it firmly into the center of the yard. Get a length
of rope that will reach from the pipe to the closest edge of the yard.
Fasten one end to the pipe and wrap all the rest of it around the pipe.
Place the mower next to it and fasten the other end to it. Start the
mower and let it go. It will circle the pipe, unwinding the rope.
Since the circumference of the pipe is slightly less than the blade
with, each circle will overlap the previous one by a hair. When it gets
to the end of its rope, untie it and do the corners of the yard.

Solution three: Buy a fence and a sheep.


--
Rube Goldberg

You're all individuals!
Yes, we're all individuals!
You're all different!
Yes, we are all different!
I'm not!
("Life of Brian")

[bob haller]

I recommend some outdoor floodlights:) and am adding them here for the same reason...

althoughj one might add some lights to a mower.....battery operated

but flood lights are better

[Dean Hoffman]

Wes' comments reminded me of farmers of my dad's generation. There
were no marker lines for the first pass across the field when planting a
crop. They would measure a given distance from the fence line then
plant a flag or temporary post as a target. They aimed the center of
their tractor at that target.
A marker was a disc or shovel that extended to the side of the
planter. That made a line in the worked soil for the farmer to follow
on the succeeding passes through the fields.
This was before GPS guidance of course. Now the tractors go almost
perfectly straight without human intervention.
Would it be practical to use a couple battery powered lights to use
as targets for your mower? Mount them on a couple mower wheels or
something easily movable. Maybe a couple camping lanterns would work.
You'd have to move them at the end of each pass, of course. A dowel
would work for the distance.

[Fat-Dumb and Happy]

HERE ya go, Has a headband so you wear it on ur head.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktY1O3Im_d8
Actually this one ought to be plenty bright it's the one I got for my
bike. Free shipping on this one.

http://www.amazon.com/1600-Lumens-Bicycle-Headlight-Rechargeable-battery/dp/B009766CQ4/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1377965371&sr=8-18&keywords=cree+bike+lights

[gonjah]

Mowing earlier?

[NotMe]

"TimR" <timot...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1788cdca-21c5-495e...@googlegroups.com...

Buy a dog teather and a hungry goat. Side benifit. BBQ at the end if the
season,. (BTDT)

[SMS]

On 8/31/2013 7:44 AM, Wes Groleau wrote:
> On 08-31-2013 09:33, TimR wrote:
>> I often end up mowing the lawn in the evening with the light fading,
>> and aging eyes don't help.
>> Sometimes it's hard to see the edge between mowed and not.
>
> When it's hard to tell, you don't need to mow yet.
>
> I end up missing a strip, or mowing a half width and doubling the time.
>> Has anyone built some kind of device to keep them on course? It could
>> be a laser with an arrow or tone, etc.
>> It needs to be easily movable from mower to mower.
>> Has anyone experimented with something like this? That would give me
>> a place to start thinking.
>
> Modify the wheels to be steerable. Put stepper motors on them, with
> bluetooth. Build an iPad or android app to control the stepper motors
> for steering, using GPS. Put Velcro on the mowers and the iPad/android
> controller.

You really don't need to even be at the mower to mow the lawn. You can
use a joystick to make turns. The mower can learn the lawn layout so
after the first time there's no need to even steer it with the joystick.

Stepper motors use a lot of power so a small generator able to put out
48VDC would be needed.

> Solution two: self-propelled mower. Divide the blade length by
> 3.1415926535... Find a piece of pipe as close to that diameter as
> possible and plant it firmly into the center of the yard. Get a length
> of rope that will reach from the pipe to the closest edge of the yard.
> Fasten one end to the pipe and wrap all the rest of it around the pipe.
> Place the mower next to it and fasten the other end to it. Start the
> mower and let it go. It will circle the pipe, unwinding the rope. Since
> the circumference of the pipe is slightly less than the blade with, each
> circle will overlap the previous one by a hair. When it gets to the end
> of its rope, untie it and do the corners of the yard.

That has been done. The problem is if there are trees in the yard.

[Oren]

On Sat, 31 Aug 2013 11:25:36 -0500, gonjah <jth...@toast.net> wrote:

>> Miner's hat with light
>>
>
>Mowing earlier?

Wouldn't that be too easy for a solution?

[hah]

On 08/31/2013 12:37 PM, SMS wrote:

[snip]

> That has been done. The problem is if there are trees in the yard.

Get a more powerful mower. One that can mow trees.

[TimR]

I didn't explain well enough.

There are at least two approaches to this problem.

One is to make it easier to see the edge between mowed and unmowed. Brighter lights, night vision goggles, a lawnmower that leaves a chalk line, etc.

The other is to navigate accurately over an area without reference to the difference between mowed and unmowed.

It is the latter approach that I'm trying to figure out.

In certain high security areas, lawn mowing is done by a robot that mows randomly and over the course of a week covers the entire area. That's another approach - covering an area by probability without navigating. But I like the look of a lawn mowed on very straight lines.

[DerbyDad03]

Who wants white or red stripes on their lawn? Use green paint. Choose a
shade that matches your lawn so it doesn't show up. That will look much
better.

[Dean Hoffman]

There are RF guided mowers for steep slopes. "Slope mower" will
turn up a few in a search. Maybe that would be a start.

[Wes Groleau]

On 09-02-2013 03:09, DerbyDad03 wrote:
> Who wants white or red stripes on their lawn? Use green paint. Choose a
> shade that matches your lawn so it doesn't show up. That will look much
> better.

If it doesn't show up, it doesn't do what the OP asked for.
You quoted the request ....

--
Wes Groleau

Words of the Wild Wes
http://Ideas.Lang-Learn.us/WWW

[Norminn]

What do you do in the morning and afternoon? I mow in bright daylight
and still, sometimes, can't clearly see the next path to mow. A
portable worklight might help, Let the grass grow a bit more between
mowings....good for lawn, easier to tell what's been cut. I would avoid
hi-tech solutions, as common sense is often a better alternative. But,
then, what is AHR her for? :o)

[DerbyDad03]

Wes Groleau <Grolea...@FreeShell.org> wrote:
> On 09-02-2013 03:09, DerbyDad03 wrote:
>> Who wants white or red stripes on their lawn? Use green paint. Choose a
>> shade that matches your lawn so it doesn't show up. That will look much
>> better.
>
> If it doesn't show up, it doesn't do what the OP asked for.
> You quoted the request ....

Read my reply again, but this time be less serious.

[denni...@gmail.com]

On Saturday, August 31, 2013 9:56:39 AM UTC-4, Jon Danniken wrote:
> You can make a bracket that accepts a can of spray paint, and mount it
> to the deck of your mower.

Actually, use SHAVING CREAM. Seriously!

When farmers apply pesticides and herbicides to their crops, they mark where they've been using electrically-operated cans of shaving cream mounted at the ends of the spray boom.

At least the original idea used shaving cream... Nowadays there is a purpose-made foam machine that drops the highly-visible glops of white foam periodically.

The shaving cream will dissolve and disappear after a few hours, and won't harm the grass.

[micky]

On Sun, 1 Sep 2013 10:35:02 -0700 (PDT), TimR <timot...@aol.com>
wrote:

>I didn't explain well enough.
>
>There are at least two approaches to this problem.
>
>One is to make it easier to see the edge between mowed and unmowed. Brighter lights, night vision goggles, a lawnmower that leaves a chalk line, etc.
>
>The other is to navigate accurately over an area without reference to the difference between mowed and unmowed.
>
>It is the latter approach that I'm trying to figure out.
>
>In certain high security areas, lawn mowing is done by a robot that mows randomly and over the course of a week covers the entire area.

Really? When I break my yard into more than one part, it grows before
I do the other parts and one can tell which part was mowed first.

If the mower was random, it would look, by some standards, terrible.

[TomR]

TimR wrote:
> I didn't explain well enough.
>
> There are at least two approaches to this problem.
>
> One is to make it easier to see the edge between mowed and unmowed.
> Brighter lights, night vision goggles, a lawnmower that leaves a
> chalk line, etc.

Adequate lighting seems like the only safe answer to me. Without being able
to clearly see what is ahead, it seems like it would be unsafe to mow due to
possible rocks, branches, toys, debris, etc. that the mower may encounter.

If you are in a mosquito area, maybe a light on or near the front of the
mower would be better rather than a miner's hat type of light so the insects
go toward the light on the lawn mower and not the light on the person doing
the mowing.

[bill.p...@gmail.com]

Yes I have put together a device that allows the operator to see 5-10 feet ahead of the mower. Worked perfectly to maintain proper overlap. It is movable from machine to machine. The person I showed it to a few years ago dismissed the idea so I stuck it in a box. Just found it today and started doing some research. No one seems to have my idea. Bill, 35 year golf course tech.

[Gordon Shumway]

With all the replies so far I can't imagine the definitive answer hasn't been offered.

Get your wife to do it!

You're welcome.