SK-3000 Hand Saver Tool

[Handsaver-Engineer]

Hello, I am new to the forum but thought you might be interested in this. I am a mechanical engineer and product developer in South Carolina. A company came to me and asked for help to protect their mechanics when they remove carriage bolts from the underside of a skid steer bucket. The bolt heads wear and get very sharp! A mechanic replaces the bolts, or rather the blade, by loosening the nut on the inside of the bucket. When this happens the bolt drops down and is spinning very fast. It becomes a "rotating blade" and cuts their hands severely. Many mechanics have been cut so severely they have to have surgery. I developed a tool (that's now patent-pending) to help mechanics protect their hands. It affixes to the bottom of the bucket and has a small knob to hold the bolt in place when the mechanic loosen the nut. Now the operation is hands free and virtually eliminates the cut, burn, and crush risk. I'd love to know what you guys think especially if you are a professional heavy duty mechanic. Here is my website: www.productlaunchadvisors.com/shop I sent one to Geoffrey to try and he seemed to like it. Anyway, thanks for the interest!

 

[Tazza]

Interesting idea, looks quite simple. I'm surprised that it can hold the bolt head in place when the nuts are tight and you're pushing down on them.
Most of the time, I can't get the nuts off and end up torching the heads off, so new bolts and nuts are needed

 

[Handsaver-Engineer]

Interesting idea, looks quite simple. I'm surprised that it can hold the bolt head in place when the nuts are tight and you're pushing down on them.
Most of the time, I can't get the nuts off and end up torching the heads off, so new bolts and nuts are needed

It's very simple and I think that is why mechanics like it. It's small enough to fit easily in your toolbox or use the magnets to affix it to the side of your toolcoest. As far as the holding force, it's over 100 lbs on a thick steel surface due to the magnets I chose and all it needs to do is hold the carriage bolt in place so that the bolt won't spin when being loosened. That being said, I don't recommend my tool for every bolt. If the bolt is severely rusted, then using a torch is better. I would estimate it could be use 80-90% of the time. The real benefit is the safety -you can avoid the heat from the torch or friction, avoid the cutting injury when the bolt is in place, and you are less likely to pinch yourself or your clothes between the bucket and the blade when tightening a new carriage bolt assembly since it is hands free. I also found that you want to size your bolt so that the nut just covers all the threads. You don't want a bunch of threads sticking through the nut. These threads wear and make the nut very hard to remove. This is usually why mechanics have to use a torch! When the threads are worn (which they tend to do when your bucket is used with abrasive materials like concrete, rocks, etc.) they are much harder to remove. I recommend using a lock washer between the bucket and the nut if that helps prevent the bolt threads from being too long. (A flange nut versus a regular nut can also be useful since their height can help you control the thread exposure too!) I sent a sample to Geoffrey and we can send it to you if you'd like to try it out?

 

[Tazza]

It's very simple and I think that is why mechanics like it. It's small enough to fit easily in your toolbox or use the magnets to affix it to the side of your toolcoest. As far as the holding force, it's over 100 lbs on a thick steel surface due to the magnets I chose and all it needs to do is hold the carriage bolt in place so that the bolt won't spin when being loosened. That being said, I don't recommend my tool for every bolt. If the bolt is severely rusted, then using a torch is better. I would estimate it could be use 80-90% of the time. The real benefit is the safety -you can avoid the heat from the torch or friction, avoid the cutting injury when the bolt is in place, and you are less likely to pinch yourself or your clothes between the bucket and the blade when tightening a new carriage bolt assembly since it is hands free. I also found that you want to size your bolt so that the nut just covers all the threads. You don't want a bunch of threads sticking through the nut. These threads wear and make the nut very hard to remove. This is usually why mechanics have to use a torch! When the threads are worn (which they tend to do when your bucket is used with abrasive materials like concrete, rocks, etc.) they are much harder to remove. I recommend using a lock washer between the bucket and the nut if that helps prevent the bolt threads from being too long. (A flange nut versus a regular nut can also be useful since their height can help you control the thread exposure too!) I sent a sample to Geoffrey and we can send it to you if you'd like to try it out?

Rare earth magnets sure do have some good holding power for their size, I guess it's deceptive of what they can hold.
That's another thing that could be recommended for people before they use the tool is to give the threads a hit with a wire wheel and addition of lubricant to clean lubricate the threads to make it an easier job. I guess anyone that works on machines like this would know and hopefully do this anyway.
I appreciate the offer, but I wouldn't be a good test subject for one of these tools, I don't get the time to work on Bobcats these days that I used to, I mostly just work on the two I have for home use. Only one of my machines has a bolt on edge, and I don't think it will need a new edge for as long as I plan of keeping it. It also worked in a coal mine, the bolts are rusty AF and won't appreciate being removed I think.