While tooling around the YouTubes recently, I happened upon a random video titled “Sand Master” that showed what has to be one of the best product demos I’ve ever seen.
In it, a compact track loader pushes what looks like a large tray with an angled edge and several bags hanging from beneath, into a pile of sand and gravel. Loaded with dirt and rock, the CTL then backs away from the pile, lowers the tray a bit and all of a sudden drops 20 perfect sand bags, their drawstrings pulled tight just before they hit the ground.
As the title of the video suggests, the name of this ingenious attachment is the SandMaster. Made by Barrier Systems LLC, the attachment is available in a 20-bag model for skid steers and compact track loaders, and a 26-bag model for backhoes and wheel loaders.
I realize I’m talking about sand bags, but I could watch this clever attachment work all day. And if you did watch it work all day, you’d see the 20-bag model make 4,800 bags in an 8-hour period, while the 26-bag model is capable of making 6,400.
The magic behind the SandMaster is the series of switches that sit just behind the hole for each bag in the attachment. Barrier Systems calls these holes “tension rings,” and the switches that sit behind them can move backward and forward. When the bags are loaded in, the drawstring in each bag is placed around the tension rings and into a notch in the switch. With a flick of the controls, the switches move backward, pulling the drawstring tightly around the tension ring and keeping the bags fully open during loading.
Once a load of sand has been pulled and the sand has filled the bags, the operator can then move the switches forward. This movement lifts the drawstring off the tension ring and allows gravity to do its thing. The now full sand bags drop through the hole, the drawstring cinches, and the bags are closed. Pretty clever. Plus, the 26-bag model attaches to in such a way to loader and backhoe buckets that it allows the bucket to still be used normally.
Check out the SandMaster in action below. For more information visit the SandMaster website here.
