Hey all. I'm in the process of building a cheap thumb to go on a 5 ton mini for a one off rock wall job. How important would you say it is for the thumb to have some sort of curve or serrations at the end for grip, or will I get away with just leaving it flat?
For rock you're going to want both, a curve with some teeth or notches to grip hard irregular objects.
If you don't want to go with a curve just put a good sized tooth or lip at the end of the thumb at least 3-4 inches would be my minimum for rock work.
Thanks for the advice folks. If it doesn't look too shoddy I'll take a photo when it's done.
Yair . . . I'm sure we'll see a photo then, judging by your other work it is not going to turn out too shoddy. (big grin) Cheers.
Here we go. Took about a day to build. Spent more time turning the bosses and boring the holes than doing the fabricating.
For a one timer it looks good. For me, my thumb is priceless, I'm always using it. Id hate to have to live without it and I have a hydraulic one.
Thumb looks great!
Looks like it will get the job done!!! I give it a 'Thumbs Up'
done some rock work myself with a fixed thumb.....i have moved a lot of large sandstone boulders with a thumb and had some breakage due to the amount of grip required would sometimes split the stone.......is there a option on a thumb where it has some give to it?
nice job
If you use a wider thumb you should have less breakage, because you are spreading the pressure point over a larger area.
Looks good Cmark, nice fab work!
Cmark, nice looking job on that thumb, it will come in handy.