Homemade Sand Scoop

[Grumpysrb]

This my homemade sand scoop. I liked a few scoops I saw on the internet, but the handles weren't long enough. The price was out of this world for what one gets, in my opinon. So I made my own, for around $10. And it has a 4 and 1/2 foot handle. Going to try it out tomorrow to see how it works.

It's made from a 4 inch 45 degree elbow, 4 inch pipe clamp, piece of 1/4 inch screen, 1/2 inch threaded tap 3/4 tp 1/2 inch adapter and a 48 inch piece of 3/4 inch pvc with a 3/4 inch dowell rod inside for added strength. Need to get a bicycle grip for the handle.

Think the scoop may have too much bend, but I can fix that with a little cutting.

Got the idea from the net.

Anyone have an opinion?

[bruinvikes]

I think that the concept is great, in fact I built mine very similar to yours. However, this is just my suggestion, you might want to put a wooden dowel into the plastic tube of the handle. It would add strength to prevent snapping. Looks great though!

[Grumpysrb]

Did that, 3/4 inch for a nice snug fit. I used the two different adapters incase one breaks, it can be easily replaced without building a whole new rig.

[Lightningjack]

Nice scoop...

[bruinvikes]

Originally Posted by Grumpysrb

Did that, 3/4 inch for a nice snug fit. I used the two different adapters incase one breaks, it can be easily replaced without building a whole new rig.

Here's a pic of mine. I used a broom handle on mine.

[Grumpysrb]

I thought a broom handle would make mine too heavy, for me anyway. Lowe's didn't have any aluminum handles. The dowell rod that I used to reenforce the pvc handle is very light. Whole thing weighs just a few pounds.

[bruinvikes]

I'm sure that what you built will work just fine. You did a great job with it. I ended up cutting an angle on the edge of the scoop that I built and I switched to a 6 inch piece of PVC instead of 4 inch.

[Grumpysrb]

You cut an agle where? Why 6 inch?

[bruinvikes]

I'll try to get a pic of the angle tomorrow. I made it 6 inch just to scoop up a bigger area.

[Grumpysrb]

This is my first. Now that I have a little experiance the next can only be better. If I can make them well and fast enough I'd like to offer them for sale.

Need to test this one for awhile first to see how it holds up and see what changes need to be made.

I also bought a scoop at Tracto Supply that lookes just like the sand scoops sold on the net for $15 or so. I paid $3.65 and drilled holes in it myself.

[bruinvikes]

Originally Posted by Grumpysrb

This is my first. Now that I have a little experiance the next can only be better. If I can make them well and fast enough I'd like to offer them for sale.

Need to test this one for awhile first to see how it holds up and see what changes need to be made.

Here's a pic of my digger holder that I made.

[Grumpysrb]

Damn, now I have to have one of those too. Well, Let me get to designing!

[zeemang]

I used one of those style scoops for awhile, worked really well in the dry... I added a little extra lip on mine and it cut in nicely... look on youtube for metal detecting in hawaii, that guy has a great video about how to make one, very similar to yours...I made kine like his with a piece of metal conduit and the expanding metal anchors to anchor the head of the scoop to the handle, solid...
Well done!

[Grumpysrb]

Expanding metal anchor, like a butter fly bolt?

[zeemang]

No, like concrete anchors, a bolt an and anchor hold the scoop head to tube for the handle... Makes a very solid connection...
Watch here for a better understanding: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnRVnONTpOI

[Terry Soloman]

Did you break it yet?

[Grumpysrb]

Tried it out today. It did real good dry sand. I did move the screen to the other end and the handle needs to be a little shorter. There just isn't much dry sand on our beaches here, except in a couple places. It worked in wet sand just not that good. Had to dig about an inch at a time.

Didn't use it a lot because I didn't get many hits. Several bottle caps and a piece of something that looks like mealted metal, it's dark gray on the outside but shiny silver underneath. Hard lead I think. Might of an oil rig. Only looked for 20 minutes. Brought my kid and after getting started she wanted to leave. I do think we must have the cleanest beaches. Didn't find as much trash as I thought I would.

[54shooter]

Let us know how it holds up. GL&HH