Do-it-yourself potato digger for a walk-behind tractor

Using specialized The technique of digging potatoes helps speed harvesting. In addition, manual labor takes a lot of strength and energy. In general, the design is simple, so a potato digger for a walk-behind tractor is a very real thing.Let’s see how to make a potato digger at home.

We create a potato digger for a walk-behind tractor

Design choice

Before making a do-it-yourself potato digger Ami, you need to study the mechanism of its action and determine the type of equipment. Currently, there are potato diggers for motoblocks of the following types:

• lancet;
• screen (vibrating);
• conveyor (belt).

The types of equipment are similar in principle. The simplest are lancet (fan) devices. They cut off the topsoil, in which the ripened tubers are located, and make it loose. You need to harvest yourself, which requires considerable effort. The process is half automated.

When working with a vibrating plant, the soil, together with the ripened tubers, gets onto the grid. During strong vibrations, dry soil crumbles, only potatoes remain on the grid.

Transport or belt plants better clean potatoes from the ground. They even clean the wet soil.

Create a drawing

After determining the type of device, they create a drawing and a diagram of a homemade potato digger for a walk-behind tractor. The diagram shows the type of structure. When creating a drawing of a homemade potato digger for a walk-behind tractor, the dimensions of the structure are displayed, observing the proportional ratio between the individual parts.

Consider how to make a screen potato digger with your own hands. Its design includes a frame, a ploughshare, which digs the soil, a conveyor, in which tubers are separated from the soil, wheels, elements that allow you to adjust the depth of digging of the soil. All these elements are reflected in the diagram, they think over the mechanism for regulating the depth of immersion of the knife in the soil.

It is advisable to show the finished sketches to a specialist who, at this stage, will make adjustments to the drawing. If the vibration-type potato digger drawing is ready, proceed with the manufacture of the device.

Necessary tools and materials

Before you can make a potato digger yourself, you need to prepare the tools. You will need a welding machine, an angle grinder and a drill. It is advisable to have on hand a set of keys and screwdrivers that may come in handy.

As regards materials, you will need:

• channel made of steel;
• metal corners;
• 8-10 rods made made of steel;
• sheet metal with a thickness of at least 3 mm;
• square-shaped metal pipe, 4 x 4 cm in size;
• nuts, bolts.

The dimensions of the corners depend on the dimensions of the homemade potato digger. A large structure should not be made for a personal plot. It is much more convenient to work with small-sized equipment. It is enough to take the corners, the dimensions of which are 63 mm and 40 mm.

The coulter is made of high quality metal. The thickness of the metal used should not be less than 5 mm.

Making a potato digger

Pipes will be needed to make the frame

Let us consider in stages how to make a potato digger for a walk-behind tractor.

• First, we make the frame. Using special equipment, we cut a metal square pipe into 4 pieces. Two of them should be 120 cm long, the length of the remaining two pieces should be 80 cm. A rectangle is welded from the cut parts of the pipe. You can do without a welding machine by fixing parts of the rectangle together using fasteners using angles, but welding is much more reliable.
• At the next stage we make a ploughshare. Its width is 3-4 cm less than the width of the frame. This element serves for digging soil with tubers of ripened vegetable. The cutting part is cut in the shape of a crescent. We weld a strip of metal of the same shape to the cutting part, which extends 1-2 cm beyond the edge. Sharpen the cutting part with any available tool. The side parts of the share are at an angle of 90 ° to the cutting. We bend them and weld the places of bends to give strength.
• We make a conveyor. This is the compartment into which tubers with soil will fall. We weld steel bars to a metal strip. Subsequently, the soil vibrates through the gaps between the rods, and the crop remains on them. We bend the back of the rods so that the crop lingers in the conveyor rather than falling to the ground. The width between the rods should correspond to the dimensions of the potato. Since the size of this vegetable depends on its variety, it is impossible to say exactly at what distance it is worth welding the rods. We bend the edges of the metal strip. For durability of the place of bends we pass by welding. We also weld the rods to the curved parts. These will be the side walls of the conveyor. Their width is 25-20 cm.
• We install wheels on square pipes. The height of the unit depends on the height of the walk-behind tractor or cultivator to which the equipment is manufactured.
• At the end of the frame from the channel we produce a part that allows you to attach attachments to the walk-behind tractor.
• At a distance of 30 cm from the beginning of the frame, we weld a steel round pipe. From the outside, we fix metal strips with bolts and nuts. We make holes for bolts and nuts with a drill. The second part of the strips is attached to the conveyor. This part of the structure is movable.
• We weld steel strips to the front of the frame at an angle of 45 °. At a distance of 10 cm from the beginning of the frame, we weld a second pair of steel strips at the same angle, but in the opposite direction. It turns out triangles. Using bolts and nuts, we fix the share to the top of these triangles. We make holes for the bolts in the middle of the side of the share.
• So that you can adjust the angle of the share, make holes in the upper points of the side walls of this element and metal strips attached to a steel round pipe in the middle of the frame. We connect these holes with a metal strip. We make several holes in metal strips. Depending on which part of these strips attach the metal strips, the angle of the ploughshare will change.
• We weld the racks with wheels to the already assembled part of the structure. It is advisable to set the wheels, which are a miniature copy of the tractor.

We make all strips of sheet metal 3-4 mm thick.

Do-it-yourself potato digger for the cultivator or walk-behind tractor.

Before using a potato-digger of a self-made type, we paint all its elements. This not only improves the appearance of attachments, but also extends its operational period. With a similar technique, digging potatoes turns into a pleasant pastime.

Some summer residents are trying to improve attachments, make adjustments. The result of such adjustments is drum-type equipment. Its difference from a vibrating digger is that the conveyor has the form of a cylinder made of small rods. This cylinder rotates during the movement of the walk-behind tractor, as a result of which the soil spills out through the holes between the rods. This design will additionally have to be equipped with a mechanism that drives the cylindrical conveyor (with a hydraulic motor, for example).

An alternative to the hydraulic motor is an eccentric and an angular gearbox. Such a digger in use does not have advantages over a small one. Its production will take more time and resources. Some even build minicombs (Boar, for example), but they, like drum ones, are no more effective than a vibration digger.

Compatibility with walk-behind tractors

We figured out how to do it ourselves make a vibrating potato digger, but it is important that it is compatible with the equipment on the farm. It is better that the distance between the wheels of the walk-behind tractor and the distance between the wheels of the potato digger made by yourself do the same.

Attachment weight is another factor to consider.

A home-made potato digger for a walk-behind tractor should not be heavier than the main equipment, otherwise the walk-behind tractor c wear out much earlier period. A lot of weight usually has kartofelevykapyvatel designed for processing multiple rows at a time. It is made in the same way, but the frame is attached 2 plowshares and 2 dogs. The resulting two-row digger is used for processing large enough areas.

For household plots, single-row devices are sufficient. If a home-made potato digger to a walk-behind tractor weighs more than 40-50 kg, it makes sense to use a motor cultivator or a mini tractor (Drovokol t25, for example).

If a walk-behind tractor is purchased before manufacturing attachments, the choice should be made on the model range of walk-behind tractors Ugra, Zubr (Z-16), Bulat, Belarus, Salyut, MTZ (05), Centaur (MB 40-1, MB 40 -2), Neva. The model range of the Motekhnika Neva brand is especially popular. Good for giving models MB2, MB23, MB-2S-7.0, MB2B-6.0FS. This is confirmed by the reviews of Yuri Leskov, who has his own blog on the relevant topic. Yuri is studying in detail various agricultural machinery, paying much attention to the models of the Neva brand.