DIY snow shovel

A lot of modern equipment has been invented for snow removal, but the shovel has remained an indispensable assistant in this matter. The simplest tool is in demand for cleaning sidewalks by owners of private yards and city janitors. If desired, a do-it-yourself snow shovel can be made from any lightweight but durable sheet material. Let’s look at several options for making snowplow tools.

plastic shovel

The most convenient for cleaning and throwing snow is a plastic shovel. Scoop is easier to buy in the store. At home, all that remains is to plant it on the handle and fix it with a self-tapping screw. The light shovel is very handy. The strength of the scoop is provided by stiffening ribs cast from plastic, and the edge of the blade is protected from abrasion by a steel strip.

You can make a snow shovel from PVC sheet with your own hands using the following method:

• For the scoop, you need to find a piece of plastic. The sheet must be durable and flexible at the same time. You can test it by bending, of course, within the limits of the mind. If the plastic has not burst, then the scoop will turn out great.
• On a plastic sheet draw the shape of a scoop. The most convenient size is 50×50 cm. Cut the workpiece with a jigsaw. Burrs on plastic can not be cleaned. They will wear off during snow removal.
• The most difficult work is the fastening of the handle. It is fixed in the center of the scoop with the help of sheet steel pads.

To make the canvas resistant to abrasion, the working edge of the scoop is wrapped around galvanized sheet steel and fixed with rivets.

Aluminum snow shovel

Metal shovels win in strength, but they are heavy for snow removal. The only exception is lightweight aluminum. Soft metal is great for a scoop. Let’s look at how to make a sheet aluminum snow shovel:

• An aluminum scoop is best done with sides. When marking on a sheet, the shelves should be marked on three sides of the workpiece. A handle will pass through the rear wall, so its height should be 1-2 cm more than the thickness of the wooden element.
• Aluminum cuts easily. For cutting, metal scissors, an electric jigsaw are suitable, or in extreme cases, you can use a grinder. On the cut out fragment, the sides are bent from three sides. In the rear shelf, a hole with a diameter equal to the thickness of the handle is pre-drilled.

  

• In the center of the scoop, a nest for the handle is attached with rivets. It is made from a piece of aluminum sheet. The workpiece is placed on the edge of the handle and they try to press its edges down. Next, the aluminum plate is tapped with a hammer until a semicircle is squeezed out. The result will be a scoop, as shown in the photo.

Now it remains to take the stalk, pass it through the hole in the back side of the scoop and insert it into the nest. So that the made shovel does not fly off while throwing snow, the end of the handle is fixed with a self-tapping screw to the socket.

Step-by-step instructions for making a wooden shovel

To make a snow shovel with your own hands, prepare: plywood, a wide pine board, a beam for a handle, galvanized sheet steel and woodworking tools. If all this is available, then feel free to go ahead:

• First, from a pine board 50 cm long, you need to make a base for fixing the handle and plywood. That is, the rear side of the scoop. The board is taken at least 8 cm wide. From both ends, 5 cm segments are marked on the end sides. Further, from the center of the side of the board, they begin to cut the corners with a planer to the marks. In the final, you should get a blank, with a flat and semicircular side.

  

• The finished part is processed with a planer. Can be further sanded with sandpaper.

  

• The handle is made of a bar with a section of 40×40 mm. First, the workpiece is given a rounded shape with a planer, and then the handle is carefully polished with fine-grained sandpaper.

  

• The next step on the basis is to make a seat for the handle. The notch is chosen with a chisel in the center of the board. Do it on a flat side. The width of the notch is equal to the thickness of the handle, and 5 mm are added in depth to the bevel of the handle. To cut, first make 2 cuts with a hacksaw, and then remove a piece of wood with a chisel.

  

• When all the details are ready, make a control fitting. They bend around the plywood in a semicircle of the base and mark the places of the segments. The end of the handle is cut off obliquely. The cut should be pressed tightly against the plywood, and the cutting itself should lie inside the recess.

  

• Identified shortcomings during fitting are corrected. A canvas for a scoop is cut out of plywood according to the marking, after which all the blanks are polished again at the cut points.

  

• It’s time to connect all the blanks. First, the edge of the plywood is applied to the semicircular side of the base. The first nail is hammered in the center. Further, the plywood is pressed against the base, giving the scoop a semicircular shape, and as it is bent, the canvas continues to be nailed. Instead of nails, you can screw in self-tapping screws.

  

• The finished scoop is turned over with the base up and the handle is applied. An oblique cut of the handle is placed in the center of the working canvas, while it is inserted into the groove on the base. If everything fits perfectly, the handle is nailed.

  

• Now it remains to sheathe the working edges of the scoop with galvanization. To do this, 2 strips 5 cm wide are cut from the sheet. One of them must be bent in half in length. The resulting U-shaped blank is put on plywood, where the working edge of the scoop will be. The steel strip is compacted by tapping with a hammer, after which it is fixed with rivets.

  

• The second strip covers another wearable part of the scoop – the junction of plywood with the semicircular side of the base. Galvanization is screwed with self-tapping screws. The edges of the strip can be folded over the sides of the base of the scoop. So that the handle does not break out of the groove, it is also reinforced with a piece of steel strip.

  

• The shovel is ready, but this is not the final. The scoop needs to be turned over. Where the handle is nailed to the plywood, a piece of steel strip is applied and 3-4 self-tapping screws are screwed in. Such reinforcement will not allow the working canvas to come off the handle under the weight of snow.

  

Now we can say that the do-it-yourself snow shovel is completely ready.

The video shows instructions for making a shovel:

Auger snow shovel

A screw shovel is characterized by high productivity, but it is not easy to assemble it. First, you need to draw the correct drawings. Secondly, you need to understand the principle of operation of the auger. The scheme of the factory mechanism can be seen in the photo. We will now deal with the operation of auger snow removal equipment.

So, let’s start with the fact that the working mechanisms themselves – the screws are installed inside the steel snow chamber. Its lower edge moves along the hard surface of the road in the same way as a bulldozer blade does. At this time, layers of snow are captured. Rotating augers direct it to the top of the chamber, where the outlet is located. It can be located in the center or offset to the side, depending on the size of the shovel. Typically, the central location of the outlet is observed in auger shovels with a width of 1 m or more.

The rotation of the augers directs the snow to the outlet, but they are not able to push it out of the snow box. Throwing blades are responsible for this work. They rotate together with the auger, pushing the supplied snow into the nozzle hole.

According to the principle of a factory analogue, you can make a homemade auger snow blower. The semicircular body of the snow box can be bent from galvanized steel. A hole is cut in the center or side and an outlet pipe is installed. The sidewalls are needed strong, because the bearings of the rotor mechanism will be fixed on them. Textolite or moisture resistant plywood is suitable for their manufacture.

For the manufacture of the screw take a steel bar or pipe with a diameter of 20 mm. This will be the shaft. The blades can be welded from sheet steel or made from dense rubber. In the second option, steel strips must be welded onto the shaft. Rubber blades will then be bolted to them.

When manufacturing a screw, it is important to maintain the same pitch of the helix of the blades and choose the correct direction of rotation. If the outlet pipe is installed in the center of the chamber, then a rectangular throw-up blade made of metal with a minimum thickness of 5 mm is welded in the middle of the shaft.

Now it remains to fix the hubs to the side walls of the chamber, put the bearings on the shaft and insert the auger into place.

The tool will work manually, like a shovel. To do this, wheels are attached to the side of the body, and a handle is fixed behind the camera. With large dimensions, the auger shovel is attached in front to the walk-behind tractor.

Any snowplow is needed only in winter. The rest of the time it is stored in a dry place, preferably away from heating devices.