Fan potato digger for a walk-behind tractor

Types and application

In order to understand which unit may be useful and necessary, it will not be superfluous to understand what potato diggers are.

• Vibrating or screening. consists of a trunk, a share and a drive. Easy to use. and high performance. Potatoes with soil are placed on a vibrating table. Due to vibration, the earth crumbles, and the tubers fall separately, on the other side.
• Conveyor. consists of a plowshare in the form of a shovel, a chain conveyor and a cleaner.
• Fan or lancet. The simplest one. Attaches to the walk-behind tractor.

For the manufacture of diggers, you will need: high-speed steel thicker than 5 ml, iron channel, rods (for example, fittings), iron corners, two wheels, bolts, nuts, grinder, welding, base from a profile pipe.

Fan potato digger

The passive fan potato digger is universal. Simple in design and reliable mechanism has no rotating parts that become unusable under heavy loads. Such a unit is also called a lancet digger or a paw, and industrial models are called a Dolphin.

Among the advantages of fan-type potato diggers, farmers note:

• the ability to aggregate with low-power walk-behind tractors;
• light attachment for walk-behind tractors;
• low cost of industrial designs;
• reliability and simplicity of design;
• high-quality work at high speed.

The use of such simple equipment will be advisable in small areas (when working in areas of more than 50 acres, fuel consumption will be large) and crumbly light soil. Among the disadvantages of the fan-type mechanism:

It is possible to reduce the share of manual labor when using a rotary potato digger for motorized cultivators of greater power.

Types of potato diggers for a walk-behind tractor

All potato diggers available on the market are divided into several types. Depending on the design features, the following types of equipment are distinguished:

• simple or fan potato diggers. in its shape, the fan potato digger resembles a heart-shaped shovel without a shank with long teeth in the upper part. Such a potato digger for a walk-behind tractor works according to the following principle: at the beginning of work, a shovel with cutting knives goes deep into the ground, lifting it together with the tubers. After that, the lancet shovel is lifted, the soil wakes up through it, and the potatoes remain on the device. At the end, the tubers roll down and remain on the ground. Potato diggers of this type are also divided among themselves according to the type of soil for which they can be used. For this factor, designs differ for light, medium and heavy soil;
  

• vibrating devices or, as they are also called, potato diggers of the screening type. this type includes more complex equipment. The vibrating potato digger is equipped with a ploughshare, and on its wheels there are grids for sifting the soil. During operation, the roaring potato digger digs in the soil, and then directs it and the potatoes to the grate. Thus, mechanical sieving is provided for in the design of this type of equipment. This type includes the popular potato diggers KKM-1 and KVM-3;

• conveyor potato diggers. this category includes equipment with the most complex design. The conveyor potato digger is equipped with a special belt on which soil and tubers fall. As a result of the movement of the belt, the soil is sifted, and the potatoes fall to the ground, where they await further harvest.

All listed devices are also divided among themselves in terms of size and scope. By size, the devices are divided into mini diggers, medium and large ones.

structure. The digger for a walk-behind tractor of the first type is intended for use on summer cottages with an area of ​​no more than 5 acres. Such devices for a walk-behind tractor are of modest size, which makes them quite maneuverable. The potato digger for a walk-behind tractor of the second type can be used in vegetable gardens with an area of ​​5 to 15 acres. The large potato digger is designed primarily for harvesting large plots in private and state farms, ranging from 15 to 50 acres and more.

Roaring Potato Digger

This potato digger is also called vibrating potato digger, shaker digger. The roaring potato digger consists of three parts. a knife, a moving grate with mechanisms that ensure its vibration, and a metal frame (frame).

The potato digger is made within a few hours; the work requires experience and skill in working with agricultural machinery. For the manufacture of the unit you will need:

• Bulgarian;
• welding machine;
• drill, drills for metal;
• metal profile with a side of a square 2.5 cm;
• steel sheet 3-5 mm thick;
• steel wire with a diameter of 8 mm (or non-corrugated reinforcement of the same diameter);
• wheels;
• bolts, hinges, levers, eccentric, measuring tape, consumables.

You will also need a ruler and a pencil for marking. The order of work in the manufacture of a roaring potato digger:

• measure and cut a metal profile for the frame (frame);
• weld the frame;
• at the bottom of the frame, wheel stands are welded;
• holders for hinges are welded inside the frame, on which the screen will be suspended;
• brackets are welded to the frame for installing the gearbox and mechanisms that will create reciprocating movements (vibration) in the unit;
• a sieve box (roar) is welded from metal rods;
• a hinged roar is suspended inside the frame;
• a gearbox, other equipment for creating vibration is attached to the brackets, and they are connected to the roar. During operation, the rotation of the walk-behind tractor shaft is transmitted through the mechanisms (lever and connecting rod) to the roar, the vibrations create the rotation of the eccentric;
• a potato digger knife is cut out of a steel sheet and bent to the desired shape;
• a hinged plowshare knife is attached to the bottom of the frame and the screen;
• put on and fix the wheels on the unit.

A ploughshare knife for a gravity potato digger is made in different shapes. It can be bent and pointed, convex and concave. Digging potatoes is as follows:

• The ploughshare is buried in the ground and cuts it off along with the tubers.
• The knife constantly vibrates in accordance with the vibrations of the roar, cuts the soil with potatoes and throws the tubers up a little into the roar. The screen vibrates, reciprocates in the frame.
• The peeled tubers roll off the grate and fall on the arable land behind the potato digger (or on the side of the strip, depending on the design of the unit).

The vibrating potato digger is used to harvest potatoes in large areas. This unit has a number of advantages:

• The grip of the strip is 38-40 cm.
• The depth of penetration of the knife into the soil. 20-25 cm.
• The yield loss is, depending on the variety of potatoes and the flowability of the soil, from 2 to 10%.
• The vibrating potato digger also has a number of disadvantages. They are due to the design features.
• The vibrations of the screen sifter are transmitted to the control levers of the walk-behind tractor, which makes long-term work tiresome.

When digging, the area must be completely cleared of weeds and potato tops. Otherwise, the grass and tops will be packed under the screen of the screen and in the wheel mounts.

Walk-behind tractor with Aldo Biagioli Root/Potato digger

In improved screen type potato diggers, vibration is damped by installing two eccentrics instead of one.

Conveying equipment

Used on heavy ground. The teeth of the conveyor digger dig into the ground and pull the potato tubers to the surface. The soil with the potatoes falls on the installed hooking belt, which moves. Potatoes get stuck on the belt and the ground falls when moving.

The potato digger is bolted or welded. The plow is built using a ploughshare and a frame to which an elevator is installed. Roller chains are made from a metal bar. Two pieces will be enough. The conveyor potato digger is similar to a vibrating one and is attached to a walk-behind tractor. Its distinctive feature is the conveyor belt, not the vibrating table. The weight of such a unit reaches 50 kilograms.

Homemade greenhouse from old window frames with your own hands

Vibrating unit

It uses a share and a sowing grid. The whole structure is mounted on wheels. With the help of a ploughshare, the soil is loosened and, together with the potato tubers, falls on the grates. When the structure moves, vibration occurs, and the tubers are cleared of the ground.

Making a manual seeder for garlic with your own hands

Materials and tools:

• Piece of steel.
• Iron channel.
• Armature.
• Iron corners.
• Bolts and nuts.
• Welding machine.
• Hammer.
• Drill.
• Profile tube base.
• Metal scissors.

The resulting structure should resemble a ladder. In the lower part, metal tubes need to be welded to the racks and connected to each other by welding. To manufacture a working structure, you need to weld two blades with a thickness of 0.5 mm. Weld rods from reinforcement or teeth from unusable forks to the base, retreating from each by 5 cm.For convenience, when using the structure, it is necessary to install wheels attached to the frame.

Materials and solutions for insoles

The arrow (fan) homemade potato digger for the walk-behind tractor is made according to the drawings. The basis of such a digger is a frame, the details of which are carefully calculated and welded. All measurements and parameters of each part of the suspension part, wheels and stars, traction are entered into the drawing. A master with experience with power tools and complex equipment will be able to do this. For the manufacture of parts you will need:

• welding machine, drill, grinder;
• hardware, wrenches, drills;
• hammer;
• scissors for metal.

Advantages and capabilities of the Chuvashpiller walk-behind tractor

Experts recommend using in work:

• Steel sheets not thinner than 7 mm. Plates are needed for making a share. Often, for this purpose, they take a used circular saw blade.
• Channel No. 8, square section profile pipe for uprights.
• Corners 63×40 mm for the frame.
• For rods of a pitched board, fittings no thicker than 10 mm are suitable. Steel strips will do.
• The vibrator drive is made of a pipe and an eccentric. The pulley is driven by a belt drive.

How to dig potatoes with a walk-behind tractor

When choosing a walk-behind tractor for a personal subsidiary farm, preference should be given to those models that are designed for operation with additional equipment of different types. And the trailed units themselves (plow, hiller, potato digger, mower) can be made in a home workshop.

Harvesting potatoes with a walk-behind tractor is carried out not only on large areas, a mechanized assistant will be in demand at the summer cottage. You just need to equip it with attachments (purchased or made yourself). The principle of operation for all units is similar. The ploughshare plunges into the garden bed, raises the layer of earth along with the roots, leaving them on the surface. A person can only collect the uprooted potatoes in bags.

When choosing a walk-behind tractor, take into account the power of the unit and the type of soil on which it will be applied. With the help of an average power walk-behind tractor, you can harvest 20 acres of land in an hour. For harvesting from a large potato plot, a walk-behind tractor with a capacity of more than 5 liters is suitable. with., for smaller sections, you can choose a lighter unit with less power.

In addition, weeding of potatoes with a walk-behind tractor and hilling can be mechanized.

Potato digger for a walk-behind tractor, types of structures, drawings for making with your own hands

The main part of the garden areas of Russians is traditionally allotted for potatoes, because among our people it is also called the second loaf. Many have shifted part of the work of growing potatoes onto their shoulders, or rather onto trailed equipment for small mechanization: walk-behind tractors and mini tractors.

BCS and the Power Potato Digger

And if planting potatoes is not a lot of work, then hilling, and most importantly, digging up is not an easy task. For hilling and weeding, the hiller included in the set of motoblocks is most often used, but for digging in its pure form it is not quite suitable. Let’s figure out what to dig and how to make a potato digger for a walk-behind tractor with our own hands.

There are several designs of potato diggers for walk-behind tractors and mini tractors. Let’s consider them: from the simplest to high-tech.

Transporter potato diggers

They are much easier to make on their own, but in our opinion they peel potatoes from the ground just as well.

Their knives are the same as those of the screening machines, and the potatoes are peeled while moving along the conveyor belt. It is clear that the longer it is, the better the potatoes will peel, but long conveyor belts can only be placed on potato diggers used with tractors. On motoblocks, they will interfere with the person following him.

The conveyor belt drive can be different. If it is taken from the wheels of the digger itself, then they should be with good lugs so that they do not get stuck on wet or very loose ground.

Interesting in this design and rear guides, more compactly stacking potatoes behind the belt.

In this do-it-yourself conveyor potato picker, the belt is driven from the power take-off shaft of a homemade walk-behind tractor and is transmitted by a motorcycle chain.

To view a picture, click on its thumbnail to the right

In the manufacture of this type of potato digger, the main problem will be the selection of the speed of rotation of the drive gear of the conveyor and its coordination with the revolutions of the power take-off shaft. In this model, the power take-off shaft rotates at a speed of 500. 800 rpm, and the gearbox is taken from a motor boat with a gear ratio of approximately 1: 2. The rest is matched by the size of the stars for an approximate walking speed when digging 2-3 km / h.

And yet, the connection between the speed of the conveyor belt and the wheel speed seems to us to be more appropriate.

There are models designed for specific motoblocks and mini tractors, like this one for mechanisms with a side power take-off shaft:

Drum potato diggers

This is a rather rare version of equipment for mini-equipment, therefore, it is mostly homemade. Cleaning potatoes from soil in such devices is quite high quality, as well as laying it on the ground, but the design itself is quite controversial, and the tubers are more damaged than when digging with the above potato diggers, and therefore they are worse preserved.

What is simpler in them is a direct rotation drive from the power take-off shaft. Everything else. making the drum, thrust rollers and bearings. is clearly more complicated. The design of the knife has no special features, except that it is preferable for it to have a more rounded shape in the back, so that the potatoes are not additionally damaged when they enter the drum.

DIY drawings

It is this type of potato digger, despite the sufficient difficulty in manufacturing, is made by home craftsmen with their own hands more often than others. We offer approximate drawings with the main dimensions of such a potato digger for a walk-behind tractor.

A large number of joints of moving parts makes this device regularly serviced, but the result of its work is better than that of fan potato diggers:

Potatoes are better cleaned from the ground and located on its surface.

The magnitude and frequency of vibrations of the screen can be different and depends on the design of the drive, but even with minor vibrations, the cleaning proceeds quite well:

Roaring potato diggers

This is the most common type of potato diggers produced by various machine-building plants in Russia and abroad. It has slight design differences, primarily in the design of the screen grate drive. the pallet oscillates during operation, which allows the potatoes to be partially cleared of the ground during the movement of the potato digger.

The knife of such a digger can have different configurations. It can be fixed motionless, or it can be hinged and fluctuate slightly during movement, simplifying the process of digging out tubers. Knife width is 35. 40 cm.

Fan potato diggers

The easiest to manufacture, also produced industrially, but most of them require some modifications.

It is immediately clear that they are based on the same hiller, it is he, buried below the level of occurrence of tubers, loosens and unfolds the soil. And here he brings up the dug potatoes. a fan welded to the back of the hiller. Its role is played by metal rods welded at a distance of 3-4 cm from each other, diverging and curved at the top.

The depth of penetration is regulated by thrust wheels, and the transverse bar serves as a footrest, on which a person, with his own weight, provides the required penetration to the device.

It is this scheme of the fan potato digger that seems to us the most productive. The digging process itself can be seen here:

The following is an exemplary drawing of such a potato digger, containing the main parameters for manufacturing.

You will have to modify the shape, angle of attack and other nuances yourself, taking into account your soils, power and driving characteristics of the walk-behind tractor on which you plan to install a potato digger, and even potato varieties that form tubers at different depths.

A kind of such a digger without a fan, designed for two people:

Equestrian potato digger

There are still quite a few of them on sale on the Internet. They are imported mainly from Poland and are converted into mini tractors and walk-behind tractors.

At the same time, given the higher speed of movement of this technique in comparison with the horse, in addition to altering the trailing device, a limiter-shield is placed on it from the side onto which the dug potatoes are thrown. Otherwise, it will have to be collected in neighboring areas. A wedge-shaped paw digs in potatoes, as in fan diggers, and the drive of the device that takes out tubers from the ground is carried out from wheels with lugs. The higher the travel speed, the faster this potato remover rotates.

Mini Potato Harvester for Walking tractor

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Roaring potato digger: self-assembly with your own hands

To assemble a vibration device for digging potatoes, the following materials are required: a corner of thick metal (section 60×40) or a channel for making a frame, a thick steel sheet (6-8mm), a metal bar or reinforcement.

Additionally, for the excavator you will need:

• consumable fasteners (bolts / nuts / washers);
• steel pipe (diameter. 300mm);
• wide steel or rubber wheels.

Steel wheels of a homemade potato digger are inferior to rubber ones in terms of efficiency and passability. When choosing rubber wheels, pay attention to the tread thickness, the width of the chamber. the wider, the more stable, the model will be passable.

The process of making and assembling the cultivator:

• Weld the main frame of the device from the corners or channels.
• Make cuts from steel sheet to strengthen the frame.
• Connect the frame with bolts or welding with reinforcing “gussets”.
• Then weld the grid from rods / rebar and steel strips.
• Attach a shaft to the grate, which is responsible for the vibration of the working digging unit.
• After that, fasten the elevator to the frame with welding and bolts.

Make a ploughshare knife from a piece of steel pipe, cut it out with a grinder. Sharpen the ploughshare at the bottom. Connect the knife to the elevator and frame with thick bolts (diameter. 10mm).

Now make the wheel fasteners. Craftsmen recommend fixing the shaft for the wheels on the frame racks, but you can also install the wheels independently of each other on each side of the frame on the hubs. The completion of the assembly process is the installation of the wheels on the shaft or on the frame hubs.

What is a potato digger and its types

Potato digger is an agricultural technique used by farmers, private farmers to simplify the processes of harvesting potatoes.

The main parts of a potato digger for a walk-behind tractor:

• base. the metal base of the potato digger: this is a frame made of heavy-duty thick metal;
• the traction attachment is responsible for fastening the linkage of the mechanism;
• vertical racks. needed to fix the ploughshare knife on them;
• a ploughshare. the main element of a potato digger, is a knife that goes deep into the ground, loosening the soil;
• adjusting rods. designed to adjust the angle of attack of the share;
• support wheels. necessary for the movement of the digger over the cultivated area.

Potato diggers for a mini tractor are used on loose, medium-compacted soil.

There are the following potato diggers for the walk-behind tractor:

• fan-shaped (lancet);
• conveyor;
• vibrodynamic (screening).

Homemade potato digger for a walk-behind tractor with your own hands: instructions, drawings and diagrams

Harvesting potatoes takes a lot of effort. To simplify this process, farmers use a potato digger in conjunction with a walk-behind tractor. Master farmers make a potato digger with their own hands, since the design is not complicated, and further work will become much easier. For greater efficiency, the potato digger must be used in conjunction with a walk-behind tractor. Before you start designing such a device as a motor cultivator, it is recommended to study the drawings and watch a video.

Creating a fan potato digger for a walk-behind tractor with your own hands

To create a QC for a walk-behind tractor with your own hand, you will need tools: a cutter, a welding machine, fasteners-consumables (hardware), a drill / drills.

The material for creating the QC of each type is different.

Materials needed to create a fan digger:

• steel sheet, thickness. 3-4mm, a knife will be made of it;
• bolts with a diameter of 10mm and more;
• a rectangular profile made of steel, from which a stand-holder and a bracket will be made;
• rounded steel bar or a piece of reinforcement, diameter. from 8 to 10 mm;
• mounting consumables (bolts / nuts / washers).

Manufacturing and assembly process:

• Cut a ploughshare from a steel sheet using a grinder.
• In the middle of the share with a drill with a drill for metal, make two holes for fixing the knife to the stand.
• Weld steel rods on the wide part of the ploughshare knife, so that they look upwards like a fan.
• The rods are 47-50cm long. You can additionally bend them in the form of a step.
• Attach the holder-stand to the ploughshare by bolting. Its dimensions depend on the size of the walk-behind tractor used. Welding can be used instead of bolting.
• Weld the bracket with pre-drilled holes in it on top of the rack. This will be the place where the digger is attached to the walk-behind tractor.
• To make the design stronger and more reliable, a metal strip can be additionally welded to the part of the plow blade facing down.

Conveyor

The design of the conveyor potato digger to the walk-behind tractor is simple. In the center of the mechanism, there is a conveyor belt, with the help of which the harvested crop of root crops moves upward along the belt, clearing dirt and adhering soil. The conveyor belt moves in a circle using the power from the turning element of the walk-behind tractor through chains, a variator, and gears. You can make a potato digger with your own hands, but you need to follow the technique.

Advantages of the conveyor digger:

• does not damage potatoes;
• ease of management;
• compatible with high power walk-behind tractors and small tractors.

The disadvantages of the conveyor CC include the likelihood of foreign objects entering the conveyor, which can jam the mechanism and disable

Fan

A fan homemade potato digger for a walk-behind tractor is universal. The potato digger is structurally very simple. Its mechanism does not have rotating parts, which in other potato diggers quickly fail under heavy loads during harvesting. This species also has other names: because of their characteristic appearance, they are called “paw” or lancet, and the industrial model is called Dolphin.

From the experience of working with fan-shaped models for a tractor, farmers note a number of “advantages” using this type:

• the ability to work with low-power walk-behind tractors;
• simplicity in connection with a walk-behind tractor;
• relatively low for industrial models;
• reliability;
• good cleaning speed.

The disadvantages of the work of fan potato diggers include:

• the likelihood of losing a potato crop occurs due to the small width of the digging;
• part of the crop can be damaged with a knife, from which it becomes unusable.

Do-it-yourself conveyor KK to the walk-behind tractor

Consider the main stages of the manufacturing and assembly process of a potato conveyor digger for a walk-behind tractor for digging potatoes:

• Welding a frame from a steel profile and corners.
• Cutting a ploughshare knife from a piece of steel.
• Insertion into the main frame of wheels or shafts for the conveyor belt.
• Creation of a belt conveyor from a chain, rebar blanks.
• Installing Hardware and Bracket to Attach Gear and Gear.
• Frame mounting of conveyor belts and other devices.
• Installation in the frame part of the share and wheels.

A manual potato digger is easier to make, but more difficult to work with.

Rumbling

The design of the vibrating CC, also called “roaring”, is simple. the device consists of 3 parts:

• ploughshare;
• a movable grate with a vibrating mechanism that processes the harvested crop;
• metal carcass.

This type of CC is used in agricultural production for harvesting potatoes from large areas, sometimes on an industrial scale. The unit works like this: the collection and sifting of tubers on a vibrating table is carried out by means of vibrations coming from the screening mechanism.

The advantages of using this unit include:

• wide grip of the cultivated strip of soil;
• large depth of immersion of the knife into the ground;
• insignificant losses of potatoes during harvesting.

There are also disadvantages of using vibration diggers:

• vibrations from the roaring mechanism enter the control part of the walk-behind tractor, the effect of the vibration mechanism tires the body;
• before working with CC S-harvesting, it is necessary to clear of foreign plants that can clog the grate.