The fan potato digger in the form of special attachments is used for harvesting potatoes and makes the work process easier and faster.

Design features

For processing a small land plot with good loose soil, a walk-behind tractor is most often used, to maintain which in working order and provide it with fuel and lubricants does not require large financial expenses. It is extremely difficult to manually remove potatoes from the beds, even in a small area. Therefore, the owners of such sites make or buy simple devices for the walk-behind tractor. The fan potato digger is similar to a hiller, but instead of the characteristic wings, there are steel rods arranged in a fan-like manner.

Such a potato digger for harvesting with steel arrows-rods is one of the simplest mechanisms. Install it on small tractors or walk-behind tractors. It is made easily, by analogy with a bayonet shovel. They make it from a metal sheet bent in a special way and several rods welded to it in a fan to screen out the soil. Average digger dimensions: height - 500 mm, width - 330 mm, weight - 5.5 kg.

Fan potato digger

Operating principle

Potato digger for motoblock neva

The fan-shaped potato digger of the simplest design can be considered universal. It does not have rotating parts that can, at times, fail quickly enough when the load increases. These devices are also called lancet diggers, or paws, industrial specimens made in factories - Dolphins, since they have a characteristic plow shape.

On a note. Homemade and factory devices work on the same principle. With their help, you can simultaneously process only potatoes growing in the same row. Potato diggers are attached to the mini tractor with a single hitch.

The step-by-step principle of operation can be shown by an example:

  • the digger moves with a walk-behind tractor;
  • the plow (ploughshare) gradually sinks into the ground to a certain depth;
  • its further advance contributes to the digging of potato lashes, due to which the potatoes are on the surface and fall on the rods;
  • with further advancement of the walk-behind tractor, the earth is sifted out, the potatoes are dropped from the fan-shaped grate onto the soil.

Note! To turn, together with a potato digger, the walk-behind tractor requires at least three meters.

With such a device, you can select the entire potato crop from different types of soils, the amount of weeds and tops is not decisive.

How the potato digger works

Technical capabilities

Transporter potato digger for walk-behind tractor

In order to use the digger, the seed potatoes must be planted correctly. Planting depth in furrows - no more than 12 cm, by 5-7 cm - when creating a ridge. During the growing season, you should constantly loosen the soil and huddle plants, fight weeds. Before harvesting, all remaining weeds and tops are mowed. The soil should be free of stones. Average loosening depth during harvest is 20 cm.

Important! The rows of plants in the fields cultivated with the help of mechanisms must be even. There should be room for wheels between them.

Hinged potato digger vibrolap can be used for harvesting and other root crops. It is very reliable. The device includes: a vibration reducer, reinforced mountings and vibration knife stands.The support wheel is equipped with a wiper bar, it allows you to adjust the depth of loosening. The principle of operation - a potato digger with an active knife undermines the row to the required depth, breaks the soil and sifts it out. As a result of vibration, roots move from the device to the surface.

Potato digger for walk-behind tractor

Specifications:

  • speed during operation - 1.1-2.1 km / h;
  • productivity - from 0, 5 hectares / hour and above;
  • coverage - 40-50 cm.

This digger requires little fuel and is good for large areas.

The simplest DIY potato digger

Fan forming of grapes for teapots

Despite all the advantages, there are still several shortcomings in the work of a fan digger:

  1. A small part of the crop may be damaged - the plow may cut individual potatoes into pieces. This, of course, is a minus in assessing its functions. If all the potatoes are supposed to be sent for storage in advance, then these losses must be attributed to the design features.
  2. To control walk-behind tractors equipped with such attachments, much more effort is needed.
  3. Fuel consumption directly depends on the size of the cultivated area. On a large field, the amount of fuel consumed will be significant. Therefore, the unit is used on small areas and light, well-structured soils.

All these flaws are justified by low cost, lightweight and simple design. Therefore, making a fan potato digger with your own hands for a walk-behind tractor or mini tractor is quite simple. You can call such work an economically viable project that allows you to save money and make a reliable tool to facilitate labor in the garden or in the field.

DIY potato digger

Its design is such that manufacturing does not require drawings and diagrams, turner or mechanic skills. However, you need permission to work with welding equipment, experience with metal. The easiest way is to take a shovel or plow and weld the rods. All breakdowns in such a device are eliminated rather quickly, due to the fact that everything is stationary, there are no moving parts: various hinges and bearings.

How to make a Dolphin potato digger yourself

These devices are pretty simple. You can make an active Dolphin potato digger with your own hands. To do this, you must have the following tools: a welding machine, a grinder, a drill, bolts and drills for metal.

Materials:

  • steel sheets, 3-4 mm thick, for a share;
  • thick steel sheet or rectangular profile for holder and bracket;
  • reinforcement - 8-10 mm, without corrugation;
  • bolts with a diameter greater than 10 mm.

Do-it-yourself Dolphin potato digger

The manufacturing process of the Dolphin potato digger is as follows:

  1. Two holes are drilled in the ploughshare so that it can be attached to the rack.
  2. To the plow, in its extended part, it is necessary to weld the measured parts of a steel rod, 47-50 cm long, which should fan out.
  3. The stand-holder is bolted to the share or welded.
  4. At the top of the rack, a bracket is welded. There should already be holes in it, allowing you to fasten the walk-behind tractor and the potato digger together.
  5. To strengthen the structure, a metal strip is welded to the plow at the bottom.

An additional vibrating nozzle is installed in the potato digger, an active Dolphin with an active knife, which is attached between the rods, just in the middle.

All self-made potato diggers should be used in small areas. The experience of many gardeners and truck farmers clearly shows their practicality and effectiveness. For industrial use (processing of large agricultural land), devices made in the factory are used in accordance with technical requirements and standards.