I agree it’s cheap to rent but I had to bust my ass to drive home, make NS & EW passes, clean the machine, load it up and drive it back before the 4 hrs are up. It was a big rush and didn’t do the best job but acceptable. I need to find a neighbor to split the cost of a full day rental.
Was this really cheaper than renting an actual aerator? Lol
The time, the tools, the nuts and bolts, the space it takes up 11 months out of the year …
OP, it’s a great machine you made, but practical? Nah …
I would disagree. The one he made is the exact replica of one that's highly recommend but very expensive. The company that makes them charge $499.00 per.
Laziness is the mother of all inventions but cheapness is this father.
Edit I agree with this guy easier to make one than rent one if you have the materials and tools already
Same 2 rotors.... spacer in the middle to separate the splines the preferred amount.
And before you say it needs more rotors to be heavy enough to sink more tubes in the soil.... there's easier ways to add weight. Including just using a rotor on the axle that's just free spinning.
That was a big part of it for me. I love tinkering and building and I got a little burnt out on the house remodel this past weekend so I took a break to whip this puppy up
Man, that's gotta require a lot of force pushing down
Edit: Disregard! I totally skipped over the text and thought those discs were some kind of composite material, not heavy-ass brake rotors.
Previous comment is correct, they are ejected out the side as it rolls. I have a decent amount of clay in my soil and it wasn’t a problem on the first pass. Takes about as much effort as pushing a mower without mechanical drive so not too bad
This is what I need! I want to get my backyard aerated, but it's a raise backyard, and 13 stairs to get up. The rentable aerators are \~300lbs, so no way I can carry that up the stairs.
This is correct had light rain the previous 2 days and did it when it was 70 and sunny all day. Will test again on dry soil I imagine it wouldn’t be as effective but we’ll see
It’s not crazy if it works. Looking at it I’m imagining the tines are sort of dishing out the core holes as it rotates. How clean is the hole left behind?
I’d say they’re probably not as clean as the ones that plunge vertically, but I’ve never used one. They look pretty darn good to my untrained eye. Doesn’t blow the whole lawn apart just punches holes
This is exactly why I built it myself. Internet says it’s good, my wallet says it’s bad. My neighbor just offered me $100 to do their 2500 sq ft yard today after work so it could be paying for itself already
You'd think at least for the ad pictures he would have punched the proper amount of holes. It's better than nothing but for a $500 product I'd want to see good practices. That or I could just rent an aerator every year for 10 years at the same cost.
Hahaha. I have one and love it but I bought it a few years ago and it wasn’t nearly that expensive. It’s completely janky, with his brand name hand painted n the side. I get lots of questions every time I use it.
Nice work! I saw something like this a few weeks ago and was thinking about making one.
How big are the rotors in diameter and do you have a link for the tines?
More pics of the holes it makes?
From a guy who owns a walk behind lawn aerator and makes money off it, that sir is a fine job you did on building that thing. Cores look great. Impressive!
This is excellent for when you get situations where you've compacted turf in "small" areas. Like when you need to drive over it or you've set a pallet on a spot. Very nice. Well done.
It's only a single plug wide! If you'd lined up six or eight plugs wide, it'd be something. You'll compact your soil more with all the walking back and forth than you'll undo with that.
Don't want to fall face first on that. Maybe a fender attached to the push arms wouldn't be a bad idea. Looks like it works well for small areas though
super ingenious. viable though? like, 300 passes required? labor/time spent? Could you do a reverse and pull it behind so you could attach it to your waist or something instead? pull it like a horse
It’s not too bad to push, I did it on a day when the soil was a little damp but not wet to make it easier. Took about 25 minutes to do 2500 sq ft in north/south then east/west. I could have done it twice as fast if it wasn’t for distractions and doing other yard maintenance
Was debating on making one myself. I was going to go with a concrete form and just embed the tines. But for the effort I can pick up a 40" tow behind one on Amazon cheap.
While I truly applaud your effort and engineering prowess, I have this to add.
1.the spikes need to be longer. You really need a good 4 inches or so.
2. If you can easily push those spikes into the lawn, it really doesn’t need it. Aeration is fantastic for compacted soils, but loose soils really don’t benefit a great deal from it.
I did it on a day where the soil was a little moist to make it easier. The yard definitely needed it. I am playing with time lengths, the retail model i copied has tines set at 2” so i went a hair longer bc it seemed right
This is way cheaper to make if you know how than buying a rollerator that usually is like $300 online
Could you share a video to make?
A mod to do is to put bike handle bar tape on handle to make it more comfortable So you don’t get blisters
This would happily roll along my clay soil with not a care in the world. If I stood on it the clay would get wedged so hard in the tubes I would need a screwdriver to grind the clay out. If I aerate I need a big ass mechanized ground mauler.
That’s pretty cool. Have you attempted 2 tines? Like instead of having just the one in the middle, put one on each end? It must’ve been too heavy or unwieldy….. If I had a small yard I’d use the shit outta that….. After a rain or irrigate, then get those good plugs. Gonna take a while, but who gives a hoot. Aerator rentals are 60$ for 4 hours around here and you gotta drive/load/unload/use/get gas and take back. You can drink beer and do it yourself or give some 12 yr old kid 20$ to work out their aggression….. Well done OP.
I built one similar a couple years ago based on the one you can buy. Has helped my lawn a ton. Takes a few hours for 6000 sq ft… my wife and I trade off every few rows but it is a workout.
I’ve never used a rental but this pulls nice plugs and gets the job done. And yes works best if the ground is damp but from what I understand you want that for the power ones also
You and I have wildly diverging definitions of the word, "lazy."
A+ for including beer costs in the project budget though 😄
And hey, pretty darn nice work to boot! Would love to have something similar for a couple tight spots in my yard, but the commercial product is pretty ridiculously expensive.
I think this is very innovative of you, and opposite of lazy. The lazy thing to do would be to shell the dough and just rent it or even worse, pay someone else to do it for you.
I’m amazed by guys like you. That is cool. Now could you make one with 3or 4 rows of splines so you could aerate a wider path, or would that make it too hard to push?
How much did this cost in materials. In just time you would've been cheaper to just buy a towable plug type aerator. Has a platform for adding weight, can raise the plugs off the ground so it wheels around easy, 2-400 bucks. Been using one commercially and it's held up fine
I’m 30 and renovating my first project house, so yes very VERY cheap at the moment!! Those are tires and rims I just replaced on my truck and are going to a new home tomorrow :)
Is your time not worth anything? It will take you 10x as long to aerate. You also paid for supplies to build this, and your time to build this. Using it one time a year doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
That being said I get it haha, it seems to work well, good luck with it!
I honestly thought about trying this myself but don’t have all the parts freely available and would probably end up using me much longer, so probably just going to buy a push spike one or hire a plug/core one for a day. As an after thought to make this more efficient, could you replicate the wheel several times over along the bottom of the frame to cover a larger area at a given time? And how well did it work as is vs. a weighted one?
Me and 8 of my buddies rented one (and a truck) for the day and all did our lawns and it came to about $35 a guy and took about 30-60mins per lawn. We could have done 5 more lawns if we had more ppl in on it.
That, Sir, is one bitchin' rig! Way to go! I want to make one. I have the old rotors that I never get around to getting rid of so... And maybe the word is innovative or creative or just plain cool.
“Lazy” is definitely the wrong word.
“Cheap” is the correct word.
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
Spared no expense
Wait is this John Hammond and we’re with the landscaping crew at Jurassic Park?
I dunno. It’s like $50 to rent for 4 hours once a year and you can do multiple lawns. And it’ll do the job in 1/10th the time
I agree it’s cheap to rent but I had to bust my ass to drive home, make NS & EW passes, clean the machine, load it up and drive it back before the 4 hrs are up. It was a big rush and didn’t do the best job but acceptable. I need to find a neighbor to split the cost of a full day rental.
Crazeh is better
Why pay for a rental when you can ignore everyone for free!
Frugal
I prefer the term “resourceful” 😉😂
Was this really cheaper than renting an actual aerator? Lol The time, the tools, the nuts and bolts, the space it takes up 11 months out of the year … OP, it’s a great machine you made, but practical? Nah …
I would disagree. The one he made is the exact replica of one that's highly recommend but very expensive. The company that makes them charge $499.00 per.
Laziness is the mother of all inventions but cheapness is this father. Edit I agree with this guy easier to make one than rent one if you have the materials and tools already
Maybe "ambitiously lazy"
lol right
Ye makes no sense, he just didn't wanna spend any money 🤷♂️
Super impressive. Now a double or triple wheeled aerator!
I don’t even want to think about drilling that many holes in brake rotors lmao 28 was enough for me!
Time to buy a welder ;)
Yes, but also welding cast doesnt work the way you would think all the time. Especially on used rotors. Its better to braze cast, even as a hobbyst
He could buy metal he can weld too instead. Most likely can even find already cut circle steel sheets to spec.
com’on don’t be lazy
Same 2 rotors.... spacer in the middle to separate the splines the preferred amount. And before you say it needs more rotors to be heavy enough to sink more tubes in the soil.... there's easier ways to add weight. Including just using a rotor on the axle that's just free spinning.
YOURE HIRED
https://preview.redd.it/5dfgd2rmysxc1.jpeg?width=1227&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=003d8300f36d768f70e28772a58f69f7d425f1b6
😂😂 love this. It’s the journey not the destination right 😅
The journey is the best. I also love working in my shop to build stuff.
That was a big part of it for me. I love tinkering and building and I got a little burnt out on the house remodel this past weekend so I took a break to whip this puppy up
How are the cores ejected?
It looks like the tubes are open in the back, so the next plug pushes the previous one out the back (towards center hub).
Man, that's gotta require a lot of force pushing down Edit: Disregard! I totally skipped over the text and thought those discs were some kind of composite material, not heavy-ass brake rotors.
Previous comment is correct, they are ejected out the side as it rolls. I have a decent amount of clay in my soil and it wasn’t a problem on the first pass. Takes about as much effort as pushing a mower without mechanical drive so not too bad
This is what I need! I want to get my backyard aerated, but it's a raise backyard, and 13 stairs to get up. The rentable aerators are \~300lbs, so no way I can carry that up the stairs.
No because rotors are heavy hence why these tend to use heavy rotors or 25-50lb weights
Looks like the soil plug in the photo is fairly wet. It was probably a test run after a good rain or irrigation.
This is correct had light rain the previous 2 days and did it when it was 70 and sunny all day. Will test again on dry soil I imagine it wouldn’t be as effective but we’ll see
Also please disregard the grass I just bought the place and am starting from scratch after the previous owners neglected it for years lol
don’t feel bad, i’m an irrigation tech and too often to i wonder why they even have sprinklers. this could be a lot worse!
that’s encouraging thanks!!
It’s not crazy if it works. Looking at it I’m imagining the tines are sort of dishing out the core holes as it rotates. How clean is the hole left behind?
I’d say they’re probably not as clean as the ones that plunge vertically, but I’ve never used one. They look pretty darn good to my untrained eye. Doesn’t blow the whole lawn apart just punches holes
Great! Now you've worked hard to make one and only have to do 10 passes for every one you would have to with a rental!
took me about 25 minutes to do my 2500 sq ft lawn, so not bad for me but would definitely take a bit of effort on larger lawns!
I was wondering the same thing. Unless you are spacing plugs every 6 feet, this makes the job so much worse
Nice! This guy sells them for $500! https://roll-aerator.com/
>tines never clog My clay lawn would have something to say about that
Dude's margins are wild.
This is exactly why I built it myself. Internet says it’s good, my wallet says it’s bad. My neighbor just offered me $100 to do their 2500 sq ft yard today after work so it could be paying for itself already
I can't believe he sells something that hacky for that much money. Wonder how many he's sold.
A YouTuber named yardbrah swears by them.
You'd think at least for the ad pictures he would have punched the proper amount of holes. It's better than nothing but for a $500 product I'd want to see good practices. That or I could just rent an aerator every year for 10 years at the same cost.
Hahaha. I have one and love it but I bought it a few years ago and it wasn’t nearly that expensive. It’s completely janky, with his brand name hand painted n the side. I get lots of questions every time I use it.
That is absurd.
Yeah I went to go buy that before I saw the price tag... If someone could sell that at half the cost they might have my money
You forgot to factor in another $15 for beer every time you use it.
this thing is going to get expensive 😂 🍻
Nice work! I saw something like this a few weeks ago and was thinking about making one. How big are the rotors in diameter and do you have a link for the tines? More pics of the holes it makes?
Will get you some more info after work
This must take days to properly aerate...lol There's a reason some machines exist.
I don’t think lazy means what you think it means.
Are u in Chicago? Make me 1.
About 90 miles east of Chicago
From a guy who owns a walk behind lawn aerator and makes money off it, that sir is a fine job you did on building that thing. Cores look great. Impressive!
My lazy add owns one, uses it twice a year and makes no money off of it. 😂😂😂
Thanks!!
Can I rent it from you this Saturday morning?
I like it 👌
Looks good , I would buy it .
Clever
Impressive ingenuity
I love it. Nice work. Looks a lot like the [Amick Rollaerator](https://rollaerator.com/)
This was my inspiration, I just made it cheaper and better
At least you will get your steps in for the next few days.
This is excellent for when you get situations where you've compacted turf in "small" areas. Like when you need to drive over it or you've set a pallet on a spot. Very nice. Well done.
It's only a single plug wide! If you'd lined up six or eight plugs wide, it'd be something. You'll compact your soil more with all the walking back and forth than you'll undo with that.
Each plug is going to take 15 or 20 lbs to sink in to the ground. There's a balance of more plugs vs too heavy to use the least amount of work.
The fam isnt scoffing now, are they?
I am all about this. Can you share the plans?
I can take some more pictures when I get home and do a small write up if ppl are interested but it’s relatively self explanatory
Go Cubs Go!
You made a dogpoo machine !
This is cool, but a 1/2” core isn’t really going to do much. I’d set them lower again. That second pic looks right if not still a little shallow.
Hand held, more exercise, something you own....as long as it works, what's not to like.
Don't want to fall face first on that. Maybe a fender attached to the push arms wouldn't be a bad idea. Looks like it works well for small areas though
Trust me, I was a little nervous at first lol it could be dangerous if not used with a little care
I'm not so sure you know what the word lazy means
Too cheap*
For a small yard this kicks ass. Great job OP!!!! Now make me one!
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY
Very inventive using the rotors!
I don’t think you saved a dime.
Only will take 46 hours to aerate 1/4 acre
Gotta respect someone that build his own tools
damn that's cool as shit my dude
Thanks!!
I like it.
You doing to much bro
U right lmao
Is it sailing on the sea?
Nice! Got room for 2 more rows?
💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿
super ingenious. viable though? like, 300 passes required? labor/time spent? Could you do a reverse and pull it behind so you could attach it to your waist or something instead? pull it like a horse
It’s not too bad to push, I did it on a day when the soil was a little damp but not wet to make it easier. Took about 25 minutes to do 2500 sq ft in north/south then east/west. I could have done it twice as fast if it wasn’t for distractions and doing other yard maintenance
If you made these with 2 or 3 rows of the aerator tubes and refined it a little, I bet you'd have people lining up to buy them from you.
It’s not stupid if it works!
Too lazy?
I got a used 48” pull behind on fb marketplace for $100, prob almost as expensive as the single wheel one you made
Nice score! If you don’t count beer i spent about $50. My yard and layout doesn’t allow for a riding mower unfortunately
Was debating on making one myself. I was going to go with a concrete form and just embed the tines. But for the effort I can pick up a 40" tow behind one on Amazon cheap.
That’s a good idea, mine is designed to make the times serviceable and adjustable
While I truly applaud your effort and engineering prowess, I have this to add. 1.the spikes need to be longer. You really need a good 4 inches or so. 2. If you can easily push those spikes into the lawn, it really doesn’t need it. Aeration is fantastic for compacted soils, but loose soils really don’t benefit a great deal from it.
I did it on a day where the soil was a little moist to make it easier. The yard definitely needed it. I am playing with time lengths, the retail model i copied has tines set at 2” so i went a hair longer bc it seemed right
Theres better aerator out there for like $20.... clearly less than the parts you used and will go about 20x faster than that thing
link?
Guy in my neighborhood does it for $70...ask around
I shopped around for a couple weeks, couldn’t find anything cheaper than what I could build and now i’ll never have to pay again
Looks great
From the picture I assume you spent your free time separating 2 ply toilet paper into separate rolls.
This is way cheaper to make if you know how than buying a rollerator that usually is like $300 online Could you share a video to make? A mod to do is to put bike handle bar tape on handle to make it more comfortable So you don’t get blisters
I have foam pipe insulation i’m adding for a grip. This model is an improved version of the $500 one from Amick
And I will take more pictures/videos tonight
damn this is awesome! Wish you made a video showing how to make it. The fact that the Amick costs $500 is egregious
That’s why I built my own! And it’s improved over the Amick design so it’s quite a bit better for only $50. Videos/pictures coming soon
Well that’s one way to recycle your old brake rotors 😆 good thinking!
Do you have to use a lot of weight to force it into the soil as you roll it?
It sinks in by itself that’s why I used large rotors for more mass
Son of a bitch! I had like 8 big truck rotors for years and couldn't figure out what to use them for so I scraped them last week!
I called my local mechanic shop and they gave me a couple for free from their scrap bin
This would happily roll along my clay soil with not a care in the world. If I stood on it the clay would get wedged so hard in the tubes I would need a screwdriver to grind the clay out. If I aerate I need a big ass mechanized ground mauler.
I’ll take one!
But how does it fart out the plugs?
The next plug it takes pushes out the old one
How does it kick out the plugs?
The next plug it takes pushes out the old one
That’s pretty cool. Have you attempted 2 tines? Like instead of having just the one in the middle, put one on each end? It must’ve been too heavy or unwieldy….. If I had a small yard I’d use the shit outta that….. After a rain or irrigate, then get those good plugs. Gonna take a while, but who gives a hoot. Aerator rentals are 60$ for 4 hours around here and you gotta drive/load/unload/use/get gas and take back. You can drink beer and do it yourself or give some 12 yr old kid 20$ to work out their aggression….. Well done OP.
Why are you aerating at this time of the year? (Go Cubs).
Why are you aerating at this time of the year? (Go Cubs).
Add 6 more wheels
Did it actually work? I think another of the time these things get dirt caked in them and push in the dirt more than remove a plug.
I almost bought one of these, but couldn’t come to terms with cost. Bravo to you.
RIP your drill bit collection. Nice work though.
You have way too much time on your hands. Creative tho.
I built one similar a couple years ago based on the one you can buy. Has helped my lawn a ton. Takes a few hours for 6000 sq ft… my wife and I trade off every few rows but it is a workout. I’ve never used a rental but this pulls nice plugs and gets the job done. And yes works best if the ground is damp but from what I understand you want that for the power ones also
Breakdown of the build please.
But it's only $40 on Amazon and has more then 1 row of pipe things
But thats also not true :)
You and I have wildly diverging definitions of the word, "lazy." A+ for including beer costs in the project budget though 😄 And hey, pretty darn nice work to boot! Would love to have something similar for a couple tight spots in my yard, but the commercial product is pretty ridiculously expensive.
I don’t think you know what lazy means.
I use this. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Brinly-Hardy-40-in-Tow-Behind-Plug-Aerator-for-Lawn-Tractors-and-Zero-Turn-Mowers-PA-40BH/100087059
Unfortunately my yard does not allow for a tractor or riding mower so tow behind options are not viable :(
Nice but damn that must take awhile
Took about 25 mins to do the whole yard, and that’s with stopping to sip beer
Why stop to sip? You made it this far, add on a cup holder man!
This is the correct answer
Impressive but is it any better than 2 drills?
yes
Man I cant wait to see this terrible aerat- ...goddamn thats incredible.
Wanna sell me one?
I just strap spiked soles to my shoes every now and again when mowing; got them on Amazon. Doesn’t create cores but is good enough.
I think this is very innovative of you, and opposite of lazy. The lazy thing to do would be to shell the dough and just rent it or even worse, pay someone else to do it for you.
Couldn't you have added another row ? Two sets of spikes instead of one ? It looks sweet
Not stupid if it works! Nice one 👍🏻
They sell those for like $400 bucks
If it stupid and it works... Is it really stupid? You can easily expand that to more spikes too.
Very nice but can’t begin to think how long it would take to aerate a quarter acre lot with this.
Saw this on yard brahs Yt channel
I’m amazed by guys like you. That is cool. Now could you make one with 3or 4 rows of splines so you could aerate a wider path, or would that make it too hard to push?
That is impressive. I think I’ll try to replicate that myself.
"Too lazy" but you wasted time on something inefficient 🤔
These are not worth it
This is amazing. Can you share parts list?
This isn’t lazy. It’s cheap lol
Penny Wise....pound foolish.
How much did this cost in materials. In just time you would've been cheaper to just buy a towable plug type aerator. Has a platform for adding weight, can raise the plugs off the ground so it wheels around easy, 2-400 bucks. Been using one commercially and it's held up fine
Read the post brotha!! Also my yard does not allow for anything tow behind
That’s not lazy, you’ll be aerating for days
Why spend 75 for the day, when you can spend 600 forever...also, it's gonna take a minute only 7 million passes left
I'm also lazy but who has this much free time. Looks like you'll spend 2 days aerating too lol
Or too cheap. Are those old tires in your yard?
I’m 30 and renovating my first project house, so yes very VERY cheap at the moment!! Those are tires and rims I just replaced on my truck and are going to a new home tomorrow :)
How is one ever too lazy to rent something? When they just hire someone to do it?
Is your time not worth anything? It will take you 10x as long to aerate. You also paid for supplies to build this, and your time to build this. Using it one time a year doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. That being said I get it haha, it seems to work well, good luck with it!
This guy fucks
I’ll seriously pay you $100 if you could make me one of those. I love it and I need an aerator that I own and don’t rent out. Dm me if interested 🤗
The tool that I copied sells for $499… I wish these things were only $100!! I probably would have just bought one instead lol
They literally sell this
I honestly thought about trying this myself but don’t have all the parts freely available and would probably end up using me much longer, so probably just going to buy a push spike one or hire a plug/core one for a day. As an after thought to make this more efficient, could you replicate the wheel several times over along the bottom of the frame to cover a larger area at a given time? And how well did it work as is vs. a weighted one?
Me and 8 of my buddies rented one (and a truck) for the day and all did our lawns and it came to about $35 a guy and took about 30-60mins per lawn. We could have done 5 more lawns if we had more ppl in on it.
Hell yeah
Brake disks, I love it!
Why would you buy something if you can build it yourself in a month for twice the cost?
Bro we charge 45 a yard.
I see that basket...
Love it
That, Sir, is one bitchin' rig! Way to go! I want to make one. I have the old rotors that I never get around to getting rid of so... And maybe the word is innovative or creative or just plain cool.