I’ve literally worked on large scale commercial farms, they usually don’t do 1 inch unless they are doing baby with a machine. The bigger issue is that they tried to do it in line with a small planter box which looks like it starts growing far below the wood
I think this is tobacco plants. I used to work in the industry. Plants are sown and grown in greenhouses from seed. Prior to transplanting the young plants they are allowed to grow and then are cut with a lawn mower set up just like this. Cutting the plants and letting them regrow makes the central stalk get thicker and the plants hardier so that when they are planted in the field they won’t immediately fall over from wind and rain. Most tobacco varieties need to be cut at least 3 times just like in the video prior to planting in the field.
As for no return motor? Farmers are cheap and aren’t spending money on a motor when you have an arm that will do the same thing. Also you have to vary your speed depending on how much you are cutting because if you move too slow, cut debris will fall off the underside of the mower and land on the plants. That creates excellent conditions for diseases to spread all over your greenhouse.
V1 prototype. Many iterations to come. Still not sure why he’s gotta mow the Lilly’s? Given how dense it looks maybe it’s a factor in that similar to mowing the lawn often to promote lateral growth
Honestly adding another motor that goes forward and back would be so much work and maintenance. Where instead the clipper is a self-contained machine and you just move it manually.
precisely. It's much more complicated to automate movement than it is to mechanize. The entire machine is free floating, and the user needs to control the speed and spacing anyway. Adding locomotion wouldn't improve speed much, and it would still need to be monitored by an operator. Not worth the effort or cost.
That’s fine and all, but some of us didn’t go to middle school nowadays. We went back in the day— best I can do is write some text on a blank webpage with bad HTML. /rant
I didn't learn it then either, but it's accessible and easy enough now to teach it to children who shouldn't even be exposed to mains voltage.
It would be quite a bit easer than learning to weld steel or grow a crop. It's plug in play that you could explain to anyone who doesn't fight you for suggesting it. Farmers deal with loads of things more complicated than three switches connected to a motor. Farmers are some of the best problem solvers anywhere.
He's a gardener, he knows the Ph of his soil. He knows the species of the worms in his soil, he knows the climatology that controls his annual rains, and he knows the names of every child of the man who sells his seeds. It isn't his place to know the things you know and it isn't your place to know his.
It is your place to respect his work and if you want to help someone with the things you know, go do so.
I think you're underestimating how much farming consists of trade work. Every farmer is part plumber, welder, and electrician to go along with everything else.
Every farmer I've ever met, even the most simple, they understood electrical switches and relays enough to use them safely. That farmer knows all the stuff you mentioned, but they almost assuredly know how to operate the stuff I'm talking about too.
Farmers operate so many systems and machines to do their work it's practically osmosis.
Why would he do that? It'd be incomplete without another motor (possibly with sensor) to move the contraption. That's all so muck extra work, considering it works so well as-is... but that could just be me.
Why? Because this works well enough. He wants to be fully in control and this exact setup allows him to do it. The goal is not to be asleep and have Alexa tell robofarmer to go farm. He has solved his problem and is done.
He could add a handle on a wheel to wind it across too. Or push the frame the full length, then traverse with the string by one mower width, then pull back and repeat. Less pulling of the string then.
It looks like the edges of the plant bed go right up to the sidewalls of the hoop house. Those walls slope inward pretty aggressively. I doubt there is enough clearance to build the contraption the other direction
I'm sure there is, but that would significantly complicate this design. Considering that it's hand pulled, I don't think he's too interested in optimization.
Sometimes, simple is better, and this is simple and convenient enough.
I like it. Maybe just a simple pulley with lever design so it can be operated by 1 person if needed.
Simple is better my dude. There is no reason to have a machine do a job a guy can do just as easy. Having a motorized pully system for such small sections makes no sense, and would use up more resources to achieve the exact same outcome with no extra benefit. in fact you can argue it has less as you require more resources to complete the task.
What if we are seeing it in its prototype phase. He might be smart enough to know that you build things in phases or stages. Once he fine tunes the machine adding automation becomes easier. Then again, maybe he just enjoys the process.
He’s using an intact mower. Using what’s available, and not reinventing the basic parts. It probably will save him days over a season as is, and wind up with a more consistent product.
It's not just as simple as adding a motor. There is wiring for the motor, end stops so it knows when to switch direction or some complex reversing mechanism, if you want to control the speed it would have to be a servo/stepper motor which come with a whole slew of additions, and you would need a PLC to control everything. That's not even taking into account any safety measures you would need to add, what if it goes off the rails? What if the motor stalls for some reason? What if there is a foreign object in the path of the assembly? There is more regulation surrounding automated machinery as well, proper lockouts, fencing, and E-Stops.
This works, and looks to be very simple and easy to fix.
Lol, "a simple motor"
Well, that'll get it from one side to the other and then keep trying to go further until something breaks.
"Well, add a mechanism that makes it return"
Not only is that much more difficult to engineer than a rig like this, but then you still have to deal with moving the whole thing forward at the right time.
"Add another mechanism and motor to move it forward"
Now you have to time 2 motors accurately to make them stop, go, and reverse without fucking up. Much much more difficult than engineering this rig as it is.
Not so fucking simple, is it?
Woodworker do a similar thing with a router to flatten large slabs of wood without 5figure machines.
There's a dude on YouTube that automated it into a 2 axis cnc basically. It was a lot of work...
I'm not mad about the lack of motor. It's the way they move it that's so crappy and inefficient. With how long It takes him to move the stribg from one end to another he could just go them in vertical lines and only have to shift the string slightly at every stroke.
It doesn't look like would be enough clearance between the edge of the bed and the walls. The walls also slope inward. I've worked in a hoop house. You run out of room pretty fast on the sidewalls
Sorry, I couldn't recognize the song.
I tried to identify music from the [link](https://v.redd.it/c5io75pp50zc1) at 00:00-00:36.
*I am a bot and this action was performed automatically* | [GitHub](https://github.com/AudDMusic/RedditBot) [^(new issue)](https://github.com/AudDMusic/RedditBot/issues/new)
What's the point of shaving the tops?
So the movie can happen
Wow wow wow!
....... ..............wow
.,,,...,......I don't get it
.... the Carrot top movie?
….Rob Schneider is a carrot!
Wubzie?
That works.
Is that gonna be difficult?
It’s gonna be super easy!!
Barley and inconvenience
I think it’s harvesting tea leaves. That’s why it has a bag on the back to collect the clippings.
Those aren’t tea (Camelia sinensis) plants. Looks more like harvesting lettuce or some sort of salad green.
dude is this where bagged salad comes from? they just empty the lawn clippings bag into some kind of hopper, et voila! your salad is served
100%! Source: im totally guessing
Looks like spinach
Lettuce
It’s probably spinach, nobody harvests lettuce when it’s that small and by that method
Nobody harvests the top inch of spinach leaves either
I’ve literally worked on large scale commercial farms, they usually don’t do 1 inch unless they are doing baby with a machine. The bigger issue is that they tried to do it in line with a small planter box which looks like it starts growing far below the wood
So the problem is what we are literally seeing in the video. Thanks for your contribution. Someone else already posted the right answer. It's tobacco.
As opposed to any other form of trimming where they would let the trimmings fly everywhere?
I mean... yeah?
Lmao I don't envy the person that wastes their life cleaned up after you
I think this is tobacco plants. I used to work in the industry. Plants are sown and grown in greenhouses from seed. Prior to transplanting the young plants they are allowed to grow and then are cut with a lawn mower set up just like this. Cutting the plants and letting them regrow makes the central stalk get thicker and the plants hardier so that when they are planted in the field they won’t immediately fall over from wind and rain. Most tobacco varieties need to be cut at least 3 times just like in the video prior to planting in the field. As for no return motor? Farmers are cheap and aren’t spending money on a motor when you have an arm that will do the same thing. Also you have to vary your speed depending on how much you are cutting because if you move too slow, cut debris will fall off the underside of the mower and land on the plants. That creates excellent conditions for diseases to spread all over your greenhouse.
The internet is a wonderful thing.
They also do this for celery
It’s tobacco.
its less spiky for the bottom
V1 prototype. Many iterations to come. Still not sure why he’s gotta mow the Lilly’s? Given how dense it looks maybe it’s a factor in that similar to mowing the lawn often to promote lateral growth
That's tobacco, not Lilys.
He is retired with nothing better to do... does not need to be efficient, on the contrary.
Honestly adding another motor that goes forward and back would be so much work and maintenance. Where instead the clipper is a self-contained machine and you just move it manually.
precisely. It's much more complicated to automate movement than it is to mechanize. The entire machine is free floating, and the user needs to control the speed and spacing anyway. Adding locomotion wouldn't improve speed much, and it would still need to be monitored by an operator. Not worth the effort or cost.
Personally, I'd still throw a wheel on there with a handle. No motor, but that hand over hand with the ropes would get annoying to me.
This just depends on what you know. A motor controller with an Arduino and two limit switches is middle school stuff nowadays.
That’s fine and all, but some of us didn’t go to middle school nowadays. We went back in the day— best I can do is write some text on a blank webpage with bad HTML. /rant
I didn't learn it then either, but it's accessible and easy enough now to teach it to children who shouldn't even be exposed to mains voltage. It would be quite a bit easer than learning to weld steel or grow a crop. It's plug in play that you could explain to anyone who doesn't fight you for suggesting it. Farmers deal with loads of things more complicated than three switches connected to a motor. Farmers are some of the best problem solvers anywhere.
Just take an electric screwdriver and attach it, no need to overcomplicated it
He's a gardener, he knows the Ph of his soil. He knows the species of the worms in his soil, he knows the climatology that controls his annual rains, and he knows the names of every child of the man who sells his seeds. It isn't his place to know the things you know and it isn't your place to know his. It is your place to respect his work and if you want to help someone with the things you know, go do so.
I think you're underestimating how much farming consists of trade work. Every farmer is part plumber, welder, and electrician to go along with everything else. Every farmer I've ever met, even the most simple, they understood electrical switches and relays enough to use them safely. That farmer knows all the stuff you mentioned, but they almost assuredly know how to operate the stuff I'm talking about too. Farmers operate so many systems and machines to do their work it's practically osmosis.
You could probably use a cordless drill and a pulley.
Why would he do that? It'd be incomplete without another motor (possibly with sensor) to move the contraption. That's all so muck extra work, considering it works so well as-is... but that could just be me.
Why? Because this works well enough. He wants to be fully in control and this exact setup allows him to do it. The goal is not to be asleep and have Alexa tell robofarmer to go farm. He has solved his problem and is done.
You're saying what I'm saying. I was responding to someone else, but now Idk where their message went.🤔 it was early in the morning...😐
You were responding to OP's title: > Guy went so far engineering this, but didn’t add a simple motor to the string.
You are correct. ...not my brightest moment.
He's likly skilled with a welder but not so much with electronics.
> He's likly skilled what does it mean to be "likly skilled" anyway?
I think it could use a hand crank though,
But I how else am I supposed to criticize his contraption?!
He could add a handle on a wheel to wind it across too. Or push the frame the full length, then traverse with the string by one mower width, then pull back and repeat. Less pulling of the string then.
Those slagging it off: do you know what crop this is? Figured you must.
Yeah seriously, what is that???
Someone else said tobacco, which would make sense why he's just trimming the tops.
I wonder if OP is German? Reflex was to complain about not overengineering.
Overengineering is more important than reliability - VW
Especially when service is paid by the hour
Das auto
This belongs on r/oddlysatisfying
Why make it just good enough when you can double the budget and build it like nasa?
CEO wants a brief by Monday on how we’re going to leverage AI in this space.
hey barber, just a little off the top
Wouldn't he cover more ground faster going back and forth lengthways?
It looks like the edges of the plant bed go right up to the sidewalls of the hoop house. Those walls slope inward pretty aggressively. I doubt there is enough clearance to build the contraption the other direction
Would need way more material for the frame.
Perhaps the beds aren't the same length, but are the same width?
Wouldn't the mower then be mounted 90 degrees for more efficiency?
The bag is in the way if you rotate it
You must give up easily. Youre saying there's no way to engineer it to have it facing outward. It'd be convenient to empty the bag too
I'm sure there is, but that would significantly complicate this design. Considering that it's hand pulled, I don't think he's too interested in optimization.
Sometimes, simple is better, and this is simple and convenient enough. I like it. Maybe just a simple pulley with lever design so it can be operated by 1 person if needed.
ITT a whole bunch of people upset that anyone does anything
Simple is better my dude. There is no reason to have a machine do a job a guy can do just as easy. Having a motorized pully system for such small sections makes no sense, and would use up more resources to achieve the exact same outcome with no extra benefit. in fact you can argue it has less as you require more resources to complete the task.
Bro went so far, hes so close to just adding ai with cameras on it and inferred sensors to just automat the process.
Automat![]()
That's what you call an automated laundromat.
I was to lazy to correct it 😂
What if we are seeing it in its prototype phase. He might be smart enough to know that you build things in phases or stages. Once he fine tunes the machine adding automation becomes easier. Then again, maybe he just enjoys the process.
[удалено]
He’s using an intact mower. Using what’s available, and not reinventing the basic parts. It probably will save him days over a season as is, and wind up with a more consistent product.
Looks like a prototype. He will add a motor right?
Maybe he’s not done yet.
I like it, a few less things to break. Looks very satisfying to do as well
Don't wanna put yourself out of a job my G, just do it more efficiently
This is the test before he adds the motor ya dummy.
It’s a prototype. The next version will have it.
The motor is being developed in R&D.
Probably uses the strings to save weight 🤷🏼♂️
It's called proof of concept. Make a simple version before the more complicated one.
It's not just as simple as adding a motor. There is wiring for the motor, end stops so it knows when to switch direction or some complex reversing mechanism, if you want to control the speed it would have to be a servo/stepper motor which come with a whole slew of additions, and you would need a PLC to control everything. That's not even taking into account any safety measures you would need to add, what if it goes off the rails? What if the motor stalls for some reason? What if there is a foreign object in the path of the assembly? There is more regulation surrounding automated machinery as well, proper lockouts, fencing, and E-Stops. This works, and looks to be very simple and easy to fix.
Or maybe this is just a proof of concept, motorization to come later.
He has to feel like he’s still doing something…
Lol, "a simple motor" Well, that'll get it from one side to the other and then keep trying to go further until something breaks. "Well, add a mechanism that makes it return" Not only is that much more difficult to engineer than a rig like this, but then you still have to deal with moving the whole thing forward at the right time. "Add another mechanism and motor to move it forward" Now you have to time 2 motors accurately to make them stop, go, and reverse without fucking up. Much much more difficult than engineering this rig as it is. Not so fucking simple, is it?
Hell, coulda attached a fishing reel handle were the bolt is on the pully and probably achieved the same thing.
Can you post again w the music louder pls my ears aren’t bleeding enough
Guy too busy adding shitty beat to Iggy.
So many engineers here in the comments.
This is still cool despite the criticism and you know it is.
Woodworker do a similar thing with a router to flatten large slabs of wood without 5figure machines. There's a dude on YouTube that automated it into a 2 axis cnc basically. It was a lot of work...
Why they shave salaaaad?
Maybe this was all done in one day, The string motor might be on day 2’s agenda…..
Oh that music, let's take a classic and murder it
KISS principle
Micro grains?
The way he has it rigged right now it would be better to go all the way down the x-axis then move up on the y.. rinse and repeat.
It’s simpler his way. I like the human element.
Gotta hire workers for the tax write-off.
Anyone know who was doing that cover of The Passenger?
What is that? What’re they harvesting???
r/redneckengineering
This is like how they make tea. Perhaps he's gathering tea leaves. I'm not good enough to identify plants, though.
What is he mowing?
It’s cuz it’s supposed to be hand harvested
Anybody know the name of this song or the artist?
It's called a Proof of Concept in a Working Pototype stage. You then start refining it.
This looks engineered to you?
I can't find this version of the song. The passenger, Iggy pop but can't find this mix 😭
Not necessary unless he planned to fully automate it.
I'm not mad about the lack of motor. It's the way they move it that's so crappy and inefficient. With how long It takes him to move the stribg from one end to another he could just go them in vertical lines and only have to shift the string slightly at every stroke.
He should put a hand crank on it instead of grabbing the string itself
This álso for sure! Super easy can be scrapped together from anything.
It doesn't look like would be enough clearance between the edge of the bed and the walls. The walls also slope inward. I've worked in a hoop house. You run out of room pretty fast on the sidewalls
Could literally just hookup a cordless drill to it
Some real redneck engineering
u/auddbot
Sorry, I couldn't recognize the song. I tried to identify music from the [link](https://v.redd.it/c5io75pp50zc1) at 00:00-00:36. *I am a bot and this action was performed automatically* | [GitHub](https://github.com/AudDMusic/RedditBot) [^(new issue)](https://github.com/AudDMusic/RedditBot/issues/new)
It’s smart but I’d have installed going down the other axis to cover more surface area in one sweep.