The Finished Product!

Its Done!

• The finished product assembled and ready to go!
• 49 more to go!

So easy even a pregnant girl can use it!

• This was the prototype
• We used this to get a feel of how the different handle positions worked
• Looks to be easily used

Now that the all the metal pieces are finished we are just waiting for the wood tech department to finish the handles so that we can start to assemble the wheel hoes and start to sell them.  We will be choosing a few target markets to hopefully sell all 50 units.  Much more to come! 

Metal Works (Engineering Department)

One all pieces had been fabricated and grind down with no imperfections then the powder coating could start.  The Horticulture Department decided to go with a dark green color to stick with the Morrisville State College colors as well as a Horticulture color. 

Finished Cutting blades

• Cutting blade (part not painted) serves as an oscillating feature to the wheel hoe making for ease of back and forth cutting.

The finished main housing

• These are the main parts of the wheel hoe
• Serve as the center attachment for all other parts
• Also provides for strength as well as the center balancing point of the wheel hoe. 

The Engineering department is all done!  Lots of time and effort was put into these pieces in which I'm sure they are happy to be done.  Now they can collect!

Metal Works (engineering Department)

The Engineering Department also took part in the fabrication of all metal parts which will make for 50 wheel hoe units.  The metals department came up with a contract for the horticulture department stating what exactly they will be doing and how with a price in which they received after all parts were finished and delivered.  The metals department had to make multiple pieces for a full assembly, which also had to then be powder coated.   I was not at the making of these parts but below are a few pictures of the machines and the process that went into the making of all metal parts. 

 

•  Machine is used to grind down any imperfections

Looks to be grinding

The steel to hold the cutting blade
 Allows oscillating movement

Hand grinding with power tool

The main body of the Wheel hoe
This has most the support
Multiple holes for handle placement

Looks to be drilling the holes for the handle

CNC Router

Second pass through

• As you can see this is the Cardboard trial piece
• Used to save on wood coasts if any mistakes are made

Admiring the air lock system



• The table of the router has a suction that holds down the wood
• Makes for a tight faster fit than using clamps









• The Cardboard cut out with Drilled holes



The First Prototype Handle



I think we were all amazed by this machine!

CNC Router

The CNC router is a spectacular machine which can be programed to cut wood to specs.  During our visit we were instructed on how the handles were designed on CAD in which then transfers to the CNC router.  The first few trials are done on a special cardboard type of material in order to save from mistakes on wood.  The router makes three passes around the shape of the handles in order for a nice clean uniform edge.  

Design as it is implemented on CAD

• The CAD program designed the handles to exact specs
• The program is then implemented into the CNC Router

CNC Router

• Picking the right router bit
• Router checking the right depth for cutting procedure

Impute from CAD to CNC Router
(Nice look Tony)

Router at work making its first pass through

-  Two more passes to go!

-  Then the holes are drilled

An Idea

Horticulture Department
(Grant Jackson)

The Horticulture department decided for a class project in the business aspect as well as a department fund raiser to come up with there own line of wheel hoe's   The Department has decided to name it the Moe Hoe wheel hoe.  The department contacted to other departments (metal tech, and wood tech), to come up with a plan for a little help as well as some department funds.  After a few negotiations all departments decided to come together in an order to produce 50 wheel hoes.  The metal tech department was in charge of fabrication of all metal aspects for the wheel hoe.  They also decided to take on the responsibility of powder coating of all pieces which became a new part of the department.  The powder coating of the metal pieces was the departments first trial run.  With all the long hours put into the metal pieces in order to finish by the end of the semester I must say everything turned out spectacular.  The next process will be the fabrication of the wood handles which will be done by the wood tech department.  I am looking forward to watching this operation after visiting the department during class and learning how the CNC router machine works.

The Begining

The finished concept!

The Horticulture department at Morrisville State College purchased a wheel hoe that replicates some of the first wheel hoes built with just a few minor changes in design and materials used in the assembly.  The wheel hoe was purchased from a company called Planet Whizbang in which included all the necessary parts and hardware excluding the 12 inch diameter wheel.  The wheel hoe came with instructions for proper assembly in which guided a few of the Horticulture students through the process to a complete assembly of the wheel hoe.  The process to assemble the wheel hoe took the students from the basics of preparing the manufactured metal pieces for example sanding and filling sharp edges in preparation for primer and paint.  Primer was first added to all metal pieces and allowed to dry followed by a few coats of paint which was agreed upon by all students involved in the activity.  For some the paint process was not so easy as to runs and uneven coat applications.  There were also a few wooden parts which included handles and a spacer which also had to be prepared with a few coats of wood preservative and allowed to dry.  After all preparations on all parts were done the assembly of the wheel hoe then took place.  After the wheel hoe was completed the real process began.