# Cyclone Rake



## Live Oak

Well, it is fast approaching that time of year when the leaves are starting to fall and the "fun" cleaning them up begins. The Cyclone Rake can make that job a lot easier. A friend owns one and loves his. It chops the leaves up into small pieces that real aids and accelerates the composting down of the leaves and helps to make some great compost if you are doing that. 

They come in 2 models: The Commercial Edition which lists for $1275 & Platinum Edition for $975.

Cyclone Rake 


<img src="http://www.cyclonerake.com/Media/_models/crmcomm.jpg">


<img src="http://www.cyclonerake.com/Media/_models/crmplat.jpg">


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## ducati996

I was looking real close at these up to the time I bought my Cub 3204. Thankfully my Cub is an excellent mulcher, and takes care
of my leaves and small stick (twigs). I would assume these units fold up, somewhat? they look huge so space is needed for them....I have heard good things about them, along with Agri-fab's version. I do hear this has an edge over agri-Fab....
But they do hide the actual price on these, how much are they?

Duc


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## Live Oak

Duc,

The price is in my post above. These units do fold up and can be hung up on the wall as far as the holding bin.


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## ducati996

Thanks Chief I missed that totally....I think they are priced very reasonably as well....


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## guest2

You know it's strange that the capacity is listed in gallons. Maybe so you could judge how many trash cans or bags? Cubic inches, feet, or yards would be more accurate for these I would think.


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## guest2

The agri-fab units do take up a lot of storage space, but the chipper on the 8hp model is nice to have. I wonder if the screen on the cyclone and sears versions hold back the dust. I know the sears is an agri-fab but they now have a collapsable unit.


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## Chipmaker

I know folks with CR and also the typical Agri Fab units. I think the Agri Fabs with the shredder built inside do a much better job of shredding the debri thats picked up. The agriFabs have three sets of flail knives with 3 knifes per set, and it does a super job of mincing up twigs, pine cones etc into confetti sized pieces.

The CR is somewhat easier to back up since it uses caster type wheels on it instead of a typical trailer, but it also adds to problems if manuvering in close confined areas as that cart swings pretty widea s compared to most trailer types that follow in the pulling machines path for the most part. So there are pros and cons to that, good concept, but backing up a agri fab is not a problem at all. The biggest gripes my friend has that has the CR is its velcroe and fabric. Tough as it may be it still is prone to tearing and requires a heavy duty sewing machine to fix.......the steel trailer or hardtop types take a pretty good beating.

I am not really sold on the CR claim to fame on their high tech fan impeller. What these machines (agri Fab, Trac Vac, Giant Vac, CR and Blue Bird are actually capable of sucking up it should certainly not hurt a steel fan impeller. They certaily are not gonna suck uip a brick or even a half a brick. Just the use I have used my Agri Fab on since I got it, its impeller is not hurt or damaged and its a great machine. I suck up gravel and nuts and bolts that find their way out into the yard etc . I drive over limbs up to 1" diam anbd shred it with the mower deck and the rest goes into the vac cart. Lots of noise but no damage. I think their claim to other steel fan blades needing replacement every year or two is hogwash. 

Most of the others all have 6 or more fan blades while the CR has 4. The less blades the more suction but it also produces more noise. My homebrew has four blades and I'll put it against any factory made vac cart out there in the 10hp and under class anyday. I can suck up junk, pinecones, pine straw etc with my homebuilt vac cart without the mower deck assist. You need the mower deck running with all the other units mentioned above for them to work right and pickup anything other than paper scraps. If there are pieces of limbs etc I need to run the mower deck to bust em up so they do not clog the hose or intake boot.

You can always pull the hard top enclosure off the other types and havbe a utility trailer. The CR is only going to give you what amounts to a set of bedspring frames for a trailer with their construction. Yes its nice to be able to knock something down for storage space, but yuou can also utilize the insdes of a hard trailer type to store odds and ends in that are only used off season along with the cart. I leave mine outside with a cover made of naugahyde to cover the motor and fan assembly, and it has yet to leak any appreciable amount of water inside the traielr part.

BUT...now this is only my opinion..........the biggest drawback that CR has going for it is it uses Tecumseh engines.........at one time they offered Briggs engines, but now its all Tec line of engines.


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## Live Oak

Good comparison and informative post Chip! :thumbsup: I was getting around to the Agri-Fab next and will post it in another thread.


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## Chipmaker

Original post has been moved to the Agri Fab thread, as it pertained more to Agri Fab than the Cyclone Rake


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## dbear

*Gallon to Cubic Foot*

FYI:

One gallon = 0.1336806 cu ft

300 gallons = 40.10417 cu ft

200 gallons = 26.73611 cu ft

I know some manufacturers like to use bushels, so here's that info too:

One gallon = 3.785412 liter = 0.1074209 bu

300 gallons = 32.22627 bu

200 gallons = 21.48418 bu


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## Live Oak

Hey Chip, I started an Agri-Fab leaf vaccum thread and your critique would be a welcome post for others to read and compare with. Can you cut and past this to that thread? Thanks. :thumbsup:


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