Potato digger for the Neva power tiller with my own hands

Potato digger. a special attachment mechanism, which is attached to the tiller. During its operation, the teeth of the nozzle plunge into the ground to the depth of the tubers. The layer of captured soil together with the potato bush is pushed to the surface.

Most diggers are suitable for the Neva model. When choosing, the possibility of compatibility is specified.

How to make a homemade device with their own hands

Even a beginner can make a potato digger for your power tiller with his own hands. The machine does not require considerable financial expenses. The unit turns out simple, so you don’t need to involve specialists for its repair and maintenance.

The device for digging potatoes is made of a bent metal sheet and rods. Parts are welded and fastened to the body. A single-axle tractor moves, the tines rake the potatoes, and the soil spills between the bars.

Making a drawing for a potato digger with their own hands, the size and type of construction are chosen based on the width of the row spacing and planting depth.

Needed tools and materials

a single-axle tractor is equipped with a hand-made mounted potato harvester, if the area of the plot is measured in hundreds of hectares, not tens of hectares. On an industrial scale, it is advisable to clean with a purchased device.

It is not difficult to make a potato digger with your own hands

Materials, tools and components of the construction:

• steel or iron bars (armature);
• channel;
• angle;
• 5-8 mm thick steel;
• laser level or angle grinder;
• plates for fasteners;
• nuts, bolts;
• drill, engraver;
• welding machine;
• angle grinder;
• control rod;
• suspension system;
• frame;
• grousers (wheels).

It is not necessary to buy all the parts. it is not difficult to make a potato harvester for a power tiller with your own hands from the ones that were in use.

Use a rectangular or square tube to build the frame

Step-by-step assembly and mounting process

The peculiarity of our country’s climate is that during the harvesting of potatoes the soil is often wet. The simplest digger will not help here. a more effective device is needed. Assemble in a specific order.

Frame

The frame is made of a rectangular or square tube with sides of 4 cm or more. The support beams are made of a 4-meter steel billet. It is cut into 80 and 120 cm long pieces, from which a rectangular frame is welded. Connect the corners by gas or electric welding.

Hooks and their fasteners

Crosspieces are welded to the frame, not in the middle of the sides, but a quarter of the length from the edge. Vertically weld support tubes to the backside of the frame, and fix the base for the axle to it.

Nuts and bolts are used for mounting, and holes are made with a drill or graver. Place the wheels on the axle.

Vertical props

In total make 3 vertical struts on each side of the frame. The first one is 50 cm long, at a distance of 5 cm from the edge of the rectangle. The second one has the size of 40 cm and is separated from the first profile by 40 cm. The third prop is 40 cm from the second prop and is 30 cm long. The result is a descending ladder.

In order for the unit not to collapse from heavy loads, you need stiffness for the racks

Stiffening

The uprights are stiffened with a 0.5 mm thick strip of metal. At the bottom, the elements are joined together at a 45 degree angle. The uprights must be stiffened so that the machine does not collapse under heavy load.

The stalk or the leg

The frame is made of metal sheet thickness of 0.3 mm. According to the drawing, blades are cut out, and the plow is attached to them by welding. To make the blades gripping the ground better they should be given a convex shape.

Making a rolling board

A board, on which the tubers will roll as they are cleared of the ground, is also part of the machine’s construction. In order not to make the construction heavier, the gable is made of thin metal rods. Fittings with a length of 1.2 m and a diameter of 1 cm are suitable. These bars are welded 4-5 cm away from each other.

Adjustment rods

Hook rods are not compulsory, but they do make it easier to use the potato harvester on wet and hard soils. As an option, the adjustable structure is attached to a separate frame, and it is attached to the main frame. Tighten the mountings with bolts and nuts.

Easy movement in the rows depends on the width of the tires

Support wheels

The wheels are a necessary part of the potato harvester. The width of the wheels determines the ease of driving in rows: narrow wheels sink into the ground, especially if it’s wet. Tires from a garden wheelbarrow or other unnecessary device will do.

Potato digger models

There are different models of potato diggers on sale, especially for the Neva power tiller:

• Vibrating Poltavchanka. Designed for medium soil types. Working width 39 centimeters, depth 18 centimeters. Its weight is 34 kilograms and working speed is 2-3 kilometers per hour;
• KVM-3. Rumble type potato digger. The difference of this model is that you can attach an additional knife to create more vibration. This is very important when working on heavy soils when the soil does not shake off the tubers. It has a weight of 39 kilograms, a working speed of 1-2 kilometers per hour, a working width of 37 centimeters and a depth of 20 centimeters;
• KKM-1. This is a screen model, which is excellent not only for harvesting potatoes, but also carrots, onions, and other root crops. You can adjust the depth of digging up the ground, as well as the gentleness of separation by changing the revolutions of the motor unit itself. Suitable for light to medium soil types. Weight 40 kilograms, working width 37 centimeters, depth 20 centimeters, speed 1.1 2.1 kilometers per hour;
• Vibrating potato harvester for Neva power tiller. This is a small unit of the screen type weighing 34 kilograms. Working width 36 centimeters, depth 20 centimeters, speed 1-2 kilometers per hour. At the same time the cost is quite low. Great value for money.

Making of a screen-type digger

Handmade potato harvester for power tiller must interface with all devices. This is a design feature. The screen (vibrating) potato harvester is equipped with a PTO drive or belt drive. The rotation of the output shaft is converted into a pendulum swing of the grid by means of a crank mechanism. One of serially produced models can be taken as a sample.

Before starting the production process, you should carefully study the assortment of parts. Turning bodies may have to be ordered separately. Assembly sequence:

• Make the frame from a profile pipe with sides of 40 mm and wall thickness of 3 mm. The size of the base. 80 x 120 mm.
• The frame is made of a 3 mm thick sheet. The front edge is bent and ground.
• Welded on four sides to the frame of the support with a length of 40 cm.
• The frame is attached to the front stakes.
• Assemble the grid from a circle with diameter of 8 mm, size 100 x 800 mm.
• On the hinges we attach the screen to the back part of the ploughshare.
• The back part of the frame is connected to the cranking mechanism.
• Set the wheels on the uprights.

Features of designs and types

The spudger is a mechanical device attached to the tiller for working on the plot at home or in the field. The main purpose is to separate the tubers from the ground, lay them out on the ground under each bush, lifting them with their tines upwards. A person only has to collect the potatoes by hand into prepared buckets and sacks.

The potato harvester is a mechanical device

To note! The design of the potato harvester is not difficult to reproduce by yourself. The easiest and without much measuring, drawings to make a lancet single-row model.

The following types of units are suitable for a power tiller:

• Vibrating (rumble), which functions at the expense of a power tiller and plowshare for picking up potatoes. The earth is shaken back by the transporter screen, leaving clean tubers on the surface.
• The transporter model is the most practical, but not suitable for light soils with low density. Digger consists of a driving conveyor with a chain device for cleaning the tubers from the ground and a ploughshare. The Neva 3 is suitable as a power tiller.
• Lancet. a simple device with the possibility of adapting to a mini-tractor, for example, “Niva”. It does not contain any movable parts. The knife trims the soil with the tubers, then puts the soil back in and lays down the clean fruit. The digger is suitable for the soil with low density.

Please note! Even old, broken garden tools come in handy for making a garden potato digger. To choose the best model it is important to first determine the soil density. For example, the transporter version will not work well on heavy loams, the lancet device is not suitable for such soil at all.

Potato diggers with a rattle

This is the most common type of potato digger, produced by various machine-building factories in Russia and abroad. Has a slight design differences, primarily in the design of the screen drive. an oscillating during the operation of the pallet, which allows potatoes to be partially cleared from the ground during the movement of the potato digger.

The blade of such a digger can have different configurations. It can be rigidly fixed, or it can be articulated and float slightly in motion, making it easier to dig out the tubers. The width of the blade is 35 to 40 cm.

Making a self-made lancet digger

Homemade potato digger for the lancet type power tiller is a simple type of attachment. In some ways it is similar to a cultivator. It does not need much material or complicated tools to build it. Assembly operations are simple and, with minimal skills, can be performed by any home economist.

• channel bars made of steel;
• A plow. it can be cut from an old shovel or circular saw, but it is better to take high-quality steel of at least 5 mm thickness;
• 40 and 63 cm metal angles;
• Steel bars in an amount of 8 pieces. can be removed from a used fork or a broken garden tool, replace with rebar.

The device should be small in size. It should be easy to hitch to the “Neva” power tiller. There are no moving parts in the lancet digger, so there is nothing to break. The main thing is that the structure itself should hold and not crack.

• A channel is used as the base. On it mount a trailing device.
• The plough is mounted on the base.
• The bars are welded to the plough to separate the tubers from the sand.
• Small strip width of about 25 cm, which results in 15-20% more loss of crops.
• There is a high risk of damage to the tubers from the knife.

Varieties of

There are several kinds of potato hoppers. The working principle is the same for all, but there are some differences. All of them should be considered in more detail.

Simple

The potato digger itself is a simple spade, which has two small roundels and teeth. They are on top of the structure.

The sharp part of the digger plunges into the ground, then lifts the potatoes on the bars, where the soil crumbles, and then moves them to the ground.

Thunderous

This type of construction is a vibrating shovel. It is more complicated than the previous one. It has a ploughshare, but also a grid which can sift the potatoes. It is on the wheels of the digger. The subsequent steps are identical.

There are advantages in both diggers. So, the simple ones cost much less, but in addition they are reliable and very easy to use. But the screen diggers are more powerful.

Transporter

This type of construction is a vibratory digger. It is more complicated than the previous one. It has a ploughshare, as well as a grid that can sift potatoes. It is on the wheels of the digger. The following processes are identical.

If we talk about the advantages, they are available in both diggers. So, simple will cost much cheaper, but on top of that, and reliable, and very easy to use. However, the screen diggers are more productive.

This digger is an attachment to a power tiller, which distinguishes it from other types. That’s why it is often called a fan or belt. Such digger has a driving belt. The potatoes are passed upward on it, where the soil is crumbled without damaging it at all.

This construction is of good quality and very reliable, but the price is high.

Drawings of a potato digger for a power tiller: sizes, photos

Detailed drawings of fan type potato digger for power tiller photo and video of the device in operation.

As it is known, there are two types of potato diggers for power tillers, fan and vibrating, the most simple in the production fan digger, and its device we will consider.

The fan digger is the mounted equipment, in this variant for the power tiller, so this device looks like this.

BCS and the Power Potato Digger

A device for digging potatoes is a plough with a fan of rods, while moving the engine plough plows into the soil and raises it on a grid of rods, and the rods loosen and sift the soil while the potato tubers are dumped on top of the soil.

A video shows the principle of the fan trimmer.

To make a potato plough for a power tiller, you can use the given drawings with dimensions and photos.

The self-made machine consists of several parts:

A variant of making a plough for digging potatoes.

Shown here is the depth and tilt adjustment system. Holes in the bipod allow you to adjust the depth of the plow into the ground.

In this video the author shows a potato planter made by himself.