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Bob Turkovich
02-22-2018, 9:34 AM
So... how far will a snowblower chuck an IPhone?

I've already conducted the experiment...(No. I didn't video tape it...)

Launch apparatus: Single stage Toro with a 2-cycle engine.

Payload description: Iphone 5S with two-piece Otterbox case.

Any guesses?


Bob T.

Jim Becker
02-22-2018, 9:37 AM
Clearly, it sent it far enough that you'll be at the doorstep of the store to get a new one. :) Look at the bright side...at least it was a phone that was quite a few generations back and your new one will be, well...new. :)

Nathan Johnson
02-22-2018, 9:41 AM
Trick question? It hit a tree?

julian abram
02-22-2018, 9:44 AM
We don't have many snow blowers here in Arkansas but I would be happy to send you my 16 yo daughters iPhone 6 for a test and you can report back on the results.

PS. Would your blower intake be large enough to throw her Mac Air also?

John K Jordan
02-22-2018, 10:26 AM
Video from the phone during the launch might have been interesting, although short. Perhaps you can repeat the experiment, starting with "Hey, may I borrow your phone for a sec?"

A farmer friend once lost his phone while bailing hay, the big 4' diameter round bales. I found the case but not the phone. I walked the field calling his number at each bale but never heard it ring. Maybe the signal was not too strong 2' inside a bale or maybe the speaker wasn't loud enough. Maybe a cow found it later.

JKJ

Pat Barry
02-22-2018, 10:42 AM
Anywhere from 2 to 20 ft depending on snow conditions :)

Ed Labadie
02-22-2018, 11:45 AM
No idea.....but, I'll bet it went further than the frozen Sunday paper my 60" 2 stage blower ingested.

Ed

Lee Schierer
02-22-2018, 12:29 PM
It didn't happen if there aren't any photos.:D My two stage Simplicity has thrown rocks over 30 feet, but I'm not sure a phone would survive the second stage in a single piece.

For the record I would say it went 15 feet.

Malcolm McLeod
02-22-2018, 12:34 PM
We don't have many snow blowers here in Arkansas but I would be happy to send you my 16 yo daughters iPhone 6 for a test and you can report back on the results.

PS. Would your blower intake be large enough to throw her Mac Air also?

I have 2 sons and a more important question: Would it be considered child abuse to throw a son's phone? (They wouldn't let go of it, so they would, of course, be 'thrown' as well....:eek: )

Carlos Alvarez
02-22-2018, 12:51 PM
If it survived, sell the story to Otterbox.

Travis Porter
02-22-2018, 1:05 PM
I personally have failed in taking my daughter's phone away from her as she gets quite hostile about it, but I have come up with a new and even better solution. I now turn off her data through our carrier and block her accessing our home wifi as punishment. It is amazing how quickly her attitude and perspective changes when she cannot check snapchat at all time through the day.

I thought about destroying the phone,but somehow I would get stuck buying another.

As for how far with the snowblower, I am going to guess 18 feet.

John K Jordan
02-22-2018, 3:14 PM
I personally have failed in taking my daughter's phone away from her as she gets quite hostile about it, but I have come up with a new and even better solution. I now turn off her data through our carrier and block her accessing our home wifi ...

When teens come to the farm to work I have a rule about phones - they get locked in the shop until the work is done. I'm happy to plug the phone into a charger. Otherwise every few minutes I see them standing and staring at the phones instead of working. Girls have been the worst, even 50-year-olds. The boy who comes now doesn't have a phone.

Occasionally one will whine and cry and have lots of reasons, "What if my mother needs to reach me??!" She can call me. After the rules are clear and the initial drama has passed there has been no problem.

Lee Schierer
02-22-2018, 3:33 PM
We have the same rule at Habitat work sites. No phones in the work area except for lunch and breaks.

Matt Day
02-22-2018, 3:35 PM
The suspense!!! Tell us Bob, how far did it go?

I’m going with 13 feet.

Bob Turkovich
02-22-2018, 4:13 PM
BTW - Forgot to mention...the launch apparatus had some pre-test issues which required some repair work.


FOR SALE! One 12 ga. extension cord - approx 46 feet in length - missing both plug ends. CHEAP!:D

Bill Carey
02-22-2018, 4:47 PM
wait - don't tell. I'm almost finished....
379636

Ed Labadie
02-22-2018, 5:50 PM
FWIW, those small snowblowers make removing x-mas lights easy peasy.....

Ed

John K Jordan
02-22-2018, 6:02 PM
wait - don't tell. I'm almost finished....
379636

Yikes, I gave up hard math out in the open when I saw this. There are crazy people out there!

379642

But I think you're safe anyway. Obvious jibberish math is full of numerical constants instead of symbols. And jar, beard, wise+acre, pores, hill, pi/z-axis? :)

JKJ

Sam Murdoch
02-22-2018, 6:37 PM
I'm laughing - some very funny posts here. :D I'm guessing - a long shot - but it is still in our present time/space continuum, aka, Minkowski space.

John K Jordan
02-22-2018, 6:52 PM
I'm laughing - some very funny posts here. :D I'm guessing - a long shot - but it is still in our present time/space continuum, aka, Minkowski space.

What I'd like to know is what exactly is a snowblower? I understand the theory and have been told they exist but I've never seen one. Some data on this might help with the estimate.

Growing up in PA our family had a snow shovel so I dutifully bought one when I moved south in the '70s. I'm still waiting to use it.

I knew a guy who moved to TN from Wisconsin and brought his snowmobile along. When I last saw it the coating of dust was about 1/2" thick from sitting for decades.

JKJ

Mike Cutler
02-22-2018, 7:14 PM
Well now.
Have you done a aero clearance mod to your second stage impeller? That probably would have given you an extra 10 feet if the arc chute angle was good.

John Ziebron
02-22-2018, 7:56 PM
I won't hazard (pun intended) as to how far the phone might have gone. But if it doesn't work after this incident this schematic might provide a clue.

379649

Lee Schierer
02-22-2018, 9:02 PM
What I'd like to know is what exactly is a snowblower?
JKJ

Here's a little one....
379651

John K Jordan
02-22-2018, 9:19 PM
Here's a little one....
379651

Ah. I could use one for spreading lime.

That one could probably throw the phone, person, and the horse he rode in on.

JKJ

Carlos Alvarez
02-23-2018, 9:27 AM
What I'd like to know is what exactly is a snowblower? I understand the theory and have been told they exist but I've never seen one. Some data on this might help with the estimate.

Growing up in PA our family had a snow shovel so I dutifully bought one when I moved south in the '70s. I'm still waiting to use it.

I knew a guy who moved to TN from Wisconsin and brought his snowmobile along. When I last saw it the coating of dust was about 1/2" thick from sitting for decades.

JKJ

You probably also don't know what a swamp cooler is, which keeps my shop livable in summer.

Ken Fitzgerald
02-23-2018, 9:51 AM
In as much as he lives in TN, your "swamp" cooler probably wouldn't cool the swamp near where he lives. Explain why one needs a "swamp" cooler in AZ?

(PS... I do know what a swamp cooler is.)

Myk Rian
02-23-2018, 10:02 AM
I'm guessing the phone got chucked 15 feet. If it were my 8hp 2 stage 24" thrower doing the deed, it would have gone 30 feet.

Tom Stenzel
02-23-2018, 10:02 AM
About 8 years ago I conducted a similar experiment.

Launcher: Toro S-620 (rubber paddle type)
Projectile: My car keys

Distance: about 10 feet. But they didn't go as far as they could as a hedge was in the way. One key bent. I found them with a metal detector about a week later. Guess I could have waited until spring. 'Course I was taking care of the snow at Mom's house, no good deed goes unpunished.

As far as the phone is concerned, is this just an intellectual exercise or is there a betting pool? Inquiring wags want to know!

-Tom

Don Orr
02-23-2018, 10:06 AM
Those Toro single stage blowers can move some snow and other stuff like roof shingles if you happen to have a corner where snow accumulates on your roof. Guess how I know? My estimate of phone distance is well over 20 feet with a scatter field of about 40 degrees.

Bill Orbine
02-23-2018, 1:15 PM
You break the shear pin on the snow thrower/blower. Still.... How far phone goes all depends on how you have your chute set.

Ken Barney
02-23-2018, 2:18 PM
Hopefully far enough that your significant other can't find the evidence. :)

- Ken

Bob Turkovich
02-23-2018, 2:25 PM
Clearly, it sent it far enough that you'll be at the doorstep of the store to get a new one. :) Look at the bright side...at least it was a phone that was quite a few generations back and your new one will be, well...new. :)

It was my son's work phone. It was replaced later that same day...with another 5S!


Anywhere from 2 to 20 ft depending on snow conditions :)

Way to go out on a limb there, Pat!:D


No idea.....but, I'll bet it went further than the frozen Sunday paper my 60" 2 stage blower ingested.

Ed

Actually, the Sunday paper was the second thing I hit that day (between the extension cord and the phone.) The paper went zero feet.


It didn't happen if there aren't any photos.:D My two stage Simplicity has thrown rocks over 30 feet, but I'm not sure a phone would survive the second stage in a single piece.

For the record I would say it went 15 feet.

Photos forthcoming later today.



If it survived, sell the story to Otterbox.

Neither the Otterbox nor the phone survived.


FWIW, those small snowblowers make removing x-mas lights easy peasy.....

Ed

Unfortunately, that was last winter...:o


I won't hazard (pun intended) as to how far the phone might have gone. But if it doesn't work after this incident this schematic might provide a clue.

379649

This looks way too much like a circuit diagram. The last time I did circuit diagram was in college (45+ years ago).


In as much as he lives in TN, your "swamp" cooler probably wouldn't cool the swamp near where he lives. Explain why one needs a "swamp" cooler in AZ?

(PS... I do know what a swamp cooler is.)

I didn't know what a swamp cooler was...had to Google it. Supposedly, swamp coolers and desert coolers are the same thing.


About 8 years ago I conducted a similar experiment.

Launcher: Toro S-620 (rubber paddle type)
Projectile: My car keys

Distance: about 10 feet. But they didn't go as far as they could as a hedge was in the way. One key bent. I found them with a metal detector about a week later. Guess I could have waited until spring. 'Course I was taking care of the snow at Mom's house, no good deed goes unpunished.

As far as the phone is concerned, is this just an intellectual exercise or is there a betting pool? Inquiring wags want to know!

-Tom

I also had an S-620. The more recent models have much greater throwing capability.

As far as a betting pool goes, I don't think that will meet the Terms and Conditions of the Creek.:p


Those Toro single stage blowers can move some snow and other stuff like roof shingles if you happen to have a corner where snow accumulates on your roof. Guess how I know? My estimate of phone distance is well over 20 feet with a scatter field of about 40 degrees.


Don, please tell me these shingles had already fallen to the ground. If these were launched from the roof...man, I don't know what to tell you.:eek:


Bob

Bob Turkovich
02-23-2018, 9:41 PM
So here’s what happened…

On 2/7 I received a call from my son. He had just returned from a business trip to Australia and had not had time to remove the 4+ inches of that had accumulated while he was gone. The weather forecast called for an additional 8 to 12 inches on the 9th and he wasn’t going to have a chance to clear the existing snow pack. On the 10th, we were having a 3rd birthday party for our twin grandsons. He asked if I could go to his place and run the snow blower. Of course, I agreed to do it the next afternoon. It also gave me a chance to drop off a guitar pedal board (his design) I made for him while he was gone.

On the drive to his place, I remembered that I cleared the circular part of his driveway over the holidays and he had cautioned me to avoid the extension cord (used for Xmas lights) running over that part of the driveway. I texted him asking if the extension cord was still in place. He texted “No.”

Upon arriving, I started to clear an extension of the driveway when I hit the 2nd extension cord. (See photo 1.) One end was damaged and obviously had to be cut-off. The other end had become so tightly wound on the paddle axle that – after 30 minutes of trying – I had to cut the other plug end off to get it to unravel.

Back in business…10 minutes later I hit the hidden, rolled up frozen newspaper. No damage noted to the blower - paper was shredded on one end.

Five minutes later, I’m clearing one edge of the drive and hear a loud clunk. I look down and see a black object. It was a lower part of a phone case (see photo 2). I figured it had been damaged earlier and dropped while taking out the trash.

I continued clearing the drive. When finished I sent him a text including the pictures of the cord and cover and started home. 10 minutes later I get the call.

“Where did you find the cover?” I told him the location.

“Did you find the rest of the phone?”

He knew the phone was missing and thought he had left it at work the night before. When he got to work the next morning, it wasn’t there and had no idea. He tried the “Find my phone” app on his personal phone but it told him the work phone was turned off.

I drove back to his place (met him there) and started the search, clearing with shovels along the eject path. At 6 feet, he found the upper part of the case (rubber). It was badly nicked but otherwise intact. We cleared another 4 feet and found nothing. Looking further down the path, we could no signs of anything entering the snow pack.

Next day’s snowfall and subsequent cold temperatures prevented him from searching for the phone (which had already been replaced).
Earlier this week, we had 3 days of heavy rain. On Wednesday, he found the phone (see photo 3 – blue circle). It obviously did not survive (photo 4).


Distance traveled was measured at 16 feet.

379703379704379705379706

Ed Labadie
02-23-2018, 10:01 PM
Wow......a trifecta.

Ed

James Waldron
02-23-2018, 10:42 PM
[snip]Perhaps you can repeat the experiment, starting with "Hey, may I borrow your phone for a sec?"

[snip again]
JKJ

No, no, no. You gotta start with "Here. Hold my beer."

Jason Roehl
02-24-2018, 6:25 AM
Ok, so the experimental result was 16 feet. We need to know the theoretical result, but we need some info to calculate:

1. Engine RPM
2. Final drive ratio
3. Auger diameter
4. Chute angle

Bryan Rocker
02-24-2018, 1:49 PM
Since I have a 24" ariens and it will chuck it a good long distance I am guessing about 40ft. Since it was in the otterbox it came out unscathed :)

Dave Cav
02-24-2018, 6:15 PM
The other end had become so tightly wound on the paddle axle that – after 30 minutes of trying – I had to cut the other plug end off to get it to unravel.


Warning: Thread hijack.

A number of years ago I was rototilling with my 30 HP tractor and a 39" (Italian metric) rototiller that was really too small for the tractor. I inadvertently backed into a reasonably large blue tarp that had been covering a pile of topsoil. You would be amazed at how fast a tractor mounted rototiller can reel in a tarp. You probably wouldn't be amazed at how long it took to get it out. I was about ready to set it on fire.

OK, back on topic, I moved to Utah from Washington State and am learning all about snowblowers. I got a 24" Ariens this fall; unfortunately we're still building and my driveway is mostly pit run. It launches rocks impressive distances, but mostly it breaks shear pins. Last snowfall it broke five, and yes, I have the skids on the impeller housing set as far down as possible. I think I'm going to do what my neighbor did and replace the shear pins with PTO pins. Pavement this spring...

Jim Becker
02-24-2018, 7:42 PM
Dave, be careful "beefing up" the pins...they protect the machine when something crunchy gets in the wrong place. ;)

Bob Turkovich
02-24-2018, 8:31 PM
Ok, so the experimental result was 16 feet. We need to know the theoretical result, but we need some info to calculate:

1. Engine RPM
2. Final drive ratio
3. Auger diameter
4. Chute angle

I'm pretty sure these were covered in the diagrams attached to Bill C's and John Z's posts. (Maybe they can confirm that...);)

Getting back to Dan O's post re: roof shingles. Did you know that inputting "using a snowblower to clear a roof" into Google yields over 5 million results :eek:(I did not know people actually do that!) Also there's an ordinance in Woburn, MA against doing so. (I need to get a life...:o)

Bob

Bruce Wrenn
02-24-2018, 9:37 PM
BTW - Forgot to mention...the launch apparatus had some pre-test issues which required some repair work.


FOR SALE! One 12 ga. extension cord - approx 46 feet in length - missing both plug ends. CHEAP!:DWell aren't you the lucky one. Northern Tool has 50', 12 ga Prime extension cord on sale right now for $29.99. I can't understand the reason for a snow blower. Today is the second day it hit 80 degrees here. Wearing shorts right now.

Brian Elfert
02-24-2018, 11:59 PM
My shaft driven snowblower lost a good size 1/4" square key this morning while clearing snow. It is snowing again and I hope the snowblower doesn't find it again when I clear the latest snowfall.

Myk Rian
02-25-2018, 6:30 PM
Well aren't you the lucky one. Northern Tool has 50', 12 ga Prime extension cord on sale right now for $29.99. I can't understand the reason for a snow blower. Today is the second day it hit 80 degrees here. Wearing shorts right now.

Pflttt :p

Clint Baxter
02-25-2018, 8:32 PM
Warning: Thread hijack.

A number of years ago I was rototilling with my 30 HP tractor and a 39" (Italian metric) rototiller that was really too small for the tractor. I inadvertently backed into a reasonably large blue tarp that had been covering a pile of topsoil. You would be amazed at how fast a tractor mounted rototiller can reel in a tarp. You probably wouldn't be amazed at how long it took to get it out. I was about ready to set it on fire.

OK, back on topic, I moved to Utah from Washington State and am learning all about snowblowers. I got a 24" Ariens this fall; unfortunately we're still building and my driveway is mostly pit run. It launches rocks impressive distances, but mostly it breaks shear pins. Last snowfall it broke five, and yes, I have the skids on the impeller housing set as far down as possible. I think I'm going to do what my neighbor did and replace the shear pins with PTO pins. Pavement this spring...

I have a 24” Ariens and have replaced the gearbox in it twice due to rocks. Much cheaper to replace shear bolts instead. Also much easier, although the gearbox isn’t real difficult to replace. It is something to avoid if you can.

The gears are are not real robust, so would definitely stay away from the PTO pins.

Clint

Carlos Alvarez
02-26-2018, 8:44 PM
No Applecare? They'd replace it.

I managed to drop my phone off the boat in 90-some feet of water. There's a major thermocline at about 55 feet, and it turns black. I said screw this and surfaced. Told the work diver at the marina that I'd pay him $100 to get it. He went to 65 feets, said sorry but no. Applecare covers anything other than loss. Then I found out that my boat insurance covers it, but only after it was too late to make a claim.

Don Orr
02-27-2018, 8:22 AM
Did I say I took the snowblower up on the roof to clear a huge drift in a corner and tore up a few shingles? I don't think I actually admitted to that. Really, just a hypothetical case-really.

Thanks for the photos and measurements.

Bill Jobe
02-27-2018, 3:51 PM
I walked the field calling his number at each bale but never heard it ring.
JKJ

John, you're a hoot!:)

For only about $1,000 more you could launch one of the new Samsung S9s I read about last night. 900 and some odd frames per second. That would give you a great slow motion video of your test. And since you obviously have no thoughts of ever using the phone again, perhaps you could encase it in some liquid glass to extend its playtime.