Convert Mist Sprayer to Boomless

[Atimm693]

We've got on of those A1 Mist sprayers rigged up in the back of a 6x4 gator. For the most part it works okay, but if there is any wind at all you might as well forget about using it. I also think it's pretty wasteful, a lot of chemical seems to just drift off as vapor.

I have considered rigging up a boomless nozzle, that would perhaps add some versatility/precision to the machine and save a little chemical, the price of that stuff has gotten pretty high although it's come down some.

The pump, solenoid, and pressure regulator are already there. Seems to me like it would only take a couple ball valves and some hose to rig up a system where you could switch between boomless/mist pretty easily. The solenoid is remote controlled, and pressure is easily adjustable. The sprayer has it's own engine and a good sized belt driven pump, more than enough I would think.

I believe I have heard talk of folks on here that have converted ATV sprayers to boomless, if that's true, what components did you use, and where did you get them? And what settings/calculations did you use as far as GPM and speed go?

I mostly use it for fence rows, field edges, foot plots, stuff like that. We also have some fields with trees in them that the big sprayer cannot get through.

 

[cfpinz]

I have one of the Fimco 65 gal UTV sprayers that came setup with a 3 nozzle boomless setup. Actually a small boom about the width of utv with 3 "boomless" nozzles on it. You can buy the boomless setup directly from Fimco and just plumb into it if you like. Off the top of my head, with all 3 nozzles going it needs to travel about 3 mph to get around 15 gal/ac. Each of the 3 nozzles can be cut off individually for spraying fencerows, etc. Not the highest grade of quality, but it works.

I added a TeeJet Boomjet nozzle to a 300 gallon pull type for behind the tractor, very nice unit and well pleased with it. Different sizes for different application rates.

Either way, you still get a lot of drift if the wind's blowing.

Wet Boom for LG-3025

The FIMCO Wet Boom for LG-3025 distributes 36 feet of total spray coverage with Xtender end tips and center spray tip offering increased capacity with...

www.fimcoindustries.com

36 feet of coverage is pretty optimistic, 22-25' is more realistic from what I've seen.

 

[bird dog]

Sprayer depot has a wide variety of things to look at. When I sprayed with my side x side, the hardest thing is maintaining the slow speed. You need a hand throttle like a tractor does.

 

[Atimm693]

Sprayer depot has a wide variety of things to look at. When I sprayed with my side x side, the hardest thing is maintaining the slow speed. You need a hand throttle like a tractor does.

I was worried about that. Thankfully the Gator engine is governed and the CVT setup is pretty smooth, it creeps along pretty well. I definitely wouldn't want to try it on the Ranger, it just wants to go or stop, not much in between.

I did some searching and ordered one of these, seems like it can be configured for a variety of different setups.

Boomless Spray Nozzle 3/4" #20 Orifices (90° & 180° Caps) 5.9 GPM @ 40 PSI | eBay

-Easy Installation <br>-Full Spray (180°) and Half Spray (90°) Caps Included with Each Nozzle <br>-Available in 3/8", 1/2" & 3/4" FNPT Inlets <br>-#5, #10, & #20 Orifices Available for Coverage's from 44' to 58' @ 180° <br>-Rugged Corrosion Resistant all Brass Construction <br>-Over Fifty Years...

www.ebay.com

 

[Brute 23]

Yes you can do or. Just T off the discharge of the pump where it goes to mist side. Put a valve on each line so you can sect which to you.

Does your pump put out 5.9 gpm at #40? That would be the first thing to check. That a lot of fluid if you only have a 40g tank or some thing like that.

Is this a 12V pump or what kind of pump?

 

[cfpinz]

I was worried about that. Thankfully the Gator engine is governed and the CVT setup is pretty smooth, it creeps along pretty well. I definitely wouldn't want to try it on the Ranger, it just wants to go or stop, not much in between.

I did some searching and ordered one of these, seems like it can be configured for a variety of different setups.

Boomless Spray Nozzle 3/4" #20 Orifices (90° & 180° Caps) 5.9 GPM @ 40 PSI | eBay

-Easy Installation <br>-Full Spray (180°) and Half Spray (90°) Caps Included with Each Nozzle <br>-Available in 3/8", 1/2" & 3/4" FNPT Inlets <br>-#5, #10, & #20 Orifices Available for Coverage's from 44' to 58' @ 180° <br>-Rugged Corrosion Resistant all Brass Construction <br>-Over Fifty Years...

www.ebay.com

I use a Ranger and it's horrible for spraying, even in Low range it's hard to maintain 3 mph - a Mule or Gator would be much better suited.

I'd appreciate some follow-up on the nozzle once you've used it a bit, if you don't mind.

 

[Brute 23]

Polaris has so much stall in their clutch. It's brutal. It gets worse with age, too.

They have clutch kits to help smooth it out.

 

[greybeard]

I was worried about that. Thankfully the Gator engine is governed and the CVT setup is pretty smooth, it creeps along pretty well. I definitely wouldn't want to try it on the Ranger, it just wants to go or stop, not much in between.

I did some searching and ordered one of these, seems like it can be configured for a variety of different setups.

Boomless Spray Nozzle 3/4" #20 Orifices (90° & 180° Caps) 5.9 GPM @ 40 PSI | eBay

-Easy Installation <br>-Full Spray (180°) and Half Spray (90°) Caps Included with Each Nozzle <br>-Available in 3/8", 1/2" & 3/4" FNPT Inlets <br>-#5, #10, & #20 Orifices Available for Coverage's from 44' to 58' @ 180° <br>-Rugged Corrosion Resistant all Brass Construction <br>-Over Fifty Years...

www.ebay.com

I believe that used to be called a Hamilton boomless nozzle & they work pretty good.
That would probably be a better choice than the small Fimco mini boom and it's 3 poly nozzles if for no reason than durability, but # of pieces also would be part of it. I had trouble finding repair parts for those 2 end nozzles on the Fimco-had to buy the whole end piece and they were around $70 ea.

I've never had a mist sprayer but did build my own trailer mounted unit back around 2010, using both a Fimco mini boom and a Tee-jet cluster nozzle. Fimco at that time used what they called a Hypro nozzle on each end of the boom and a different one in the center. You'll want to keep that mini boom's nozzles out of the sunlight i when not in use..UV will make them brittle and do understand that if you take one apart, Pieces can go everywhere from spring pressure if you aren't careful. Did have squirells chew one of the end nozzles up the first winter I had it too.

The brass cluster nozzle tho is trouble free as long as you match the tip sizes to your pump, as Brute indicated. I was using a 6 roller PTO pump and could easily spray a 40' swath at around 4 MPH from a 330 gal tank with big droplet sizes. (I usually only filled it to around 200-250 gals).




I did not use electric solenoids. If I wanted to stop spraying, I just kicked the PTO out and the pump stopped. Used a manual valve to switch from Fimco to Tee Jet, to mixing/agitating.

 

[Atimm693]

Yes you can do or. Just T off the discharge of the pump where it goes to mist side. Put a valve on each line so you can sect which to you.

Does your pump put out 5.9 gpm at #40? That would be the first thing to check. That a lot of fluid if you only have a 40g tank or some thing like that.

Is this a 12V pump or what kind of pump?

It's got a 6 roller 22 gpm pump that's driven off of the blower's engine. I believe it came with a 60 gallon tank but it started leaking so I swapped it out for a 50 that we had laying around.

I am wondering now if I should've ordered one with a #10 orifice, as you mentioned it doesn't take long to empty that tank if you're pumping 5gpm out of it.

 

[greybeard]

as you mentioned it doesn't take long to empty that tank if you're pumping 5gpm out of it.

That's why I went with a trailer rig and a big tank. It weren't pretty (neither am I) but it worked (so did I). The multiple times you spend filling a small tank with water, then mixing a new batch of chems+ travel time from the field to your water source and back to the field exceeds the actual time you spend spraying.

 

[Atimm693]

That's why I went with a trailer rig and a big tank. It weren't pretty (neither am I) but it worked (so did I). The multiple times you spend filling a small tank with water, then mixing a new batch of chems+ travel time from the field to your water source and back to the field exceeds the actual time you spend spraying.

I still think it will work okay for what I use it for. Now that I think about it, a smaller orifice wouldn't change anything, still the same amount of ground covered per gallon, just takes longer to do it.

Very seldom am I ever hitting more than a few acres at a time with it, although depending on how well it works that may change, haha.

 

[Atimm693]

This is what I ended up with. Popped a 1-1/4 hole through the back plate with a holesaw, had to be a little off center to clear the blower rotation chain setup but 6" shouldn't make a difference in this application, roughly 36" high like the data sheet says. Mounted a 3/4" bulkhead fitting in the hole, screwed the nozzle on with a close nipple, 3/4-1/2 bushing on the backside with a 1/2" hose barb. 1/2" hose running back to the valve setup, which has a 1/2" tee that branches off to the boomless nozzle and the blower spray nozzles. Just close one valve and open the other to switch between them, and reset the pressures.

I only tried it briefly as the tank has chemical in it, pump seems to have plenty of flow and creates a good spray pattern.

 

[cfpinz]

Looks good.

 

[greybeard]

I think that setup will serve your purpose 'to a tee' while leaving open the option for other nozzles should the need arise. Spraying herbicide is always about different rates of application, depending on what kind of weed or brush happens to be your target and they can and do change over the years or even one year to the next and as newer (different) herbicides come available, the rate of application will change and that's where the easily changeable nozzle type has an advantage over some of the fixed nozzle size types.

 

[Atimm693]

First couple of runs have been a success. Seems to throw a pretty consistent spray pattern if the pressure is kept up. Sprayed some thistle on a pond bank yesterday with Grazon and it's already wilting, ran through the silage lot to keep undergrowth down this morning. Here in a couple weeks I may hit the working pens/corral and feedlot areas with Grazon to take care of the ragweed before it gets big.

The data sheet seems to be dead on in terms of flow, a full tank will cover about 5 acres. I guess if a guy was serious about it, a tanker trailer could be built to tow behind and double/triple the capacity.