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At the enterprises engaged in the cultivation of agricultural crops, powerful and expensive equipment is used. If the farm is small, the purchase of such equipment is impractical. As a rule, to process a small area, it is enough to have a walk-behind tractor and various nozzles. One of the necessary elements is a potato digger.
The principle of operation of such products is quite simple – during the movement of the walk-behind tractor, the teeth of the product penetrate the soil and reach the potato tubers to the surface. If you already have a walk-behind tractor, but you have not yet purchased such attachments, you can make it yourself.
Types of potato harvester
All described devices can be divided into 2 types. The first is different in that they look like a shovel created in the shape of a heart. From above, such products have long teeth. Such a potato digger works as follows:
- Its sharp part begins to go deep into the soil, lifting it. During this process, the potato rises. The tubers during this process remain on the teeth of the potato digger.
- After that, the earth begins to wake up between the teeth, and the tubers roll down and remain on the surface of the earth.
When purchasing such products, it is important to choose the right model for your site. Potato diggers can be designed for light, medium and heavy soil.
Vibration type products are most often used. They have a plowshare, and the gratings are mounted on wheels. During the operation of such products, the plowshare plunges into the ground and, raising it, directs it to the gratings. In this case, the screening is mechanical.
Conveyor devices for walk-behind tractors are also used. They are equipped not just with a screening mesh, but with a tape that allows you to shake off the soil with potatoes more efficiently. Often a do-it-yourself potato digger for a walk-behind tractor is created, which has a simple design.
Choosing a potato digger depending on the type of walk-behind tractor
When choosing a potato digger for a walk-behind tractor, it is worth learning about some of the features of these mechanisms:
- Motoblocks weighing 110-160 kg are used in tandem with conventional potato diggers. It is worth noting that diesel devices are more efficient. It is important to remember that using a potato digger requires a low movement speed. In this case, the device must have sufficient traction capacity. If the speed of the gasoline engine is reduced, it will not be able to hold the torque and will stall. If the speed remains at maximum, the walk-behind tractor moves at a higher speed than is necessary to dig up potatoes. Devices that do not have reduced speed and run on gasoline are not designed for such work.
- Middle-class walk-behind tractors with a vibrating potato digger are often used. They are adapted to most walk-behind tractors and can be used on devices of various capacities.
- Heavy walk-behind tractors can be used as with conventional products. So it is with vibration devices. It should be noted that the models of the second type can significantly increase the speed of harvesting.
Knowing the features of your own walk-behind tractor, you can choose the right product for digging potatoes.
Compatibility of products with various walk-behind tractors
The described products must be selected taking into account the characteristics of a particular walk-behind tractor. They can be both universal and designed for specific mechanisms. Vibrating potato diggers are most often used, so it is worth considering them in more detail.
On Neva walk-behind tractors, you can install both universal potato diggers and specialized products designed only for this unit. When using universal models, the depth of immersion in the soil is adjusted using the support wheels.
When choosing a specific model, one should take into account such characteristics of the potato digger as the width of tillage, the maximum depth and speed of the walk-behind tractor. The width should be 38 cm, the depth – 20, and the optimal speed of advancement is two kilometers per hour.
Potato digger for the KKM-1 motoblock is designed for light and medium soils that have a moisture content of up to 27 percent. In order not to make a mistake when purchasing a potato digger for a specific walk-behind tractor, it is worthwhile to carefully study the documentation offered for the mechanism in advance. It will contain a list of products compatible with the walk-behind tractor.
Attachments, which are designed for Neva devices, differ from universal products in their lower weight and width of surface treatment. The productivity of such metal structures is from 0,15 to 0,2 hectares per hour. It is worth noting that the dimensions of such potato diggers are optimized for a specific walk-behind tractor, so they can be more efficient. It is worth noting that they have a lower cost than universal models. When purchasing a potato digger, it is important to pay attention to the quality of its assembly.
Making a potato digger with your own hands
Despite the low cost of the products described, some owners of suburban areas create them on their own. This avoids unnecessary spending. If you have experience working with metal, the creation of such a design is quite simple.
A drawing of a potato digger can be drawn up by examining the documentation attached to a particular walk-behind tractor. The documents indicate the required dimensions and weight of attachments. Before carrying out work, it is worth preparing all the necessary tools.
It should be noted that you can make with your own hands both a simple product and a vibration-type potato digger. The structure is created in the following way:
- At the first stage, a square-shaped pipe is sawn into 4 parts. Two pieces should be 1200 mm each and 2 pieces 800 each. The size of the sawn pipe should be 40 * 40 mm. The created parts are connected to each other by welding into a rectangle.
- The second stage is the creation of jumpers. They are necessary to install the vertical rods required for control.
- After that, the vertical type racks are fixed. From the side. Where the jumpers are located, squares of 30 * 30 mm in size are fixed at a short distance from the edge of the frame. They must be 500 mm long. Racks are interconnected by a jumper.
- At the next stage, the ral is made. For this, sheet metal with a thickness of 0,3 mm is used. Sheets are butt welded to each other.
- After that, rods are welded to the ral, which act as sifters.
The use of agricultural machinery greatly simplifies the harvesting process and contributes to the expenditure of less energy. But in order for the equipment to work effectively, it is necessary to choose or manufacture it correctly. That is why it is important to carefully study the structure of the potato digger in advance and determine the optimal dimensions. The process of using the described products is shown in the video.
