North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Alan Yelvington <alany@semparpac.org>]

My Fimco 40 gallon 3-point sprayer arrived 
and I am getting happier each day.  
http://www.fimcoindustries.com/3point_sprayer_40gallon.html  
(Prices vary on the web, but I got a great 
price from Gempler's.)

There is room for improvement that the end 
users has to deal with on their own.

My #1 priority was to improve circulation in 
the tank using the pump bypass outlet.  The 
factory outlet is just an open port that does 
little or nothing to promote circulation 
depending on your pressure setting.

I replaced the Femco 11/16" fitting with a 
3/8" to 1/2" barb that I got from the local 
big-box store.  I threaded on a Lechler 
agitator nozzle (pn. 500.262.53.02) and it 
made a world of difference!  I strongly 
recommend this modification for anyone using 
a solution that wants to separate in the 
tank.  The nozzle is an induction style 
design that really moves the solution around 
with very little water pressure.  (You can 
order the nozzle directly from Lechler 
http://www.lechlerag.com/ with a phone 
call.)  Here's a data sheet from another 
vendor: 
http://www.kramp.com/shop/action/product_60_-1_620747_10201_15295_0_Tank+Injector+Agitator+nozzle++Lechler

The 3/8" replacement fitting has a small 
shoulder and doesn't seat well against the 
tank, so I enlarged the hole in a nylon 
washer.  Using the nylon washer eliminated 
the need for a rubber gasket.  The nozzle 
threads on inside and eliminates the need for 
a nut on the inside.  You'll need a helper to 
do this since Femco put the fill hole on the 
opposite side of the tank as the pump.  (Doh!)

I also added vertical booms to the spray arms 
that required me to reinforce the support 
brackets.  I'll cover those later.

R,

Al