DIY potato digger for T 25

Homemade tractor potato diggers are popular attachment-related tools. A small field can be cultivated with a potato digger. Equipment for sale on the agricultural market or in a special store. However, many farmers do not buy ready-made diggers, but make them with their own hands. It's simple and budget-friendly.

What are potato diggers

With the onset of autumn, gardeners begin to collect potatoes. This takes a lot of time, since it is collected by hand. To facilitate the work, potato diggers were invented. The principle of operation of the device is to separate the potatoes from the ground and collect them, throwing them over the garden.

Potato digger

Often, such devices are equipped with T 25 machines, which belongs to the traction class at number 0.6. This means that no load on the hydraulics exceeding 600 kg must be applied. In this regard, a homemade potato digger is perfect. In total, there are 3 main types of homemade potato diggers for the T 25 tractor:

• Screening machines consist of a drive, a table and a ploughshare. The device is highly efficient. The principle of operation is as follows: pick up the ground with potatoes, put everything on a table that vibrates all the time, as a result of which the soil passes through the cracks and spills out into the garden, and the root crop remains on the surface.
• Conveyor - a more complex design. It includes a drum for cleaning the contents, a conveyor that moves the potatoes inside the device, and a spade-shaped share.
• Fan-shaped, which are pointed devices that extract potatoes well from the soil.

Below we will consider how to make a potato digger with your own hands for T 25.

Fan potato digger

At home, they often use a mini-tractor to work their garden. For these purposes, a tool should be made for MTZ that works as follows:

• the device clings to the tractor;
• the earth is loosened up with a sharp ploughshare;
• the potatoes are dug up, laid out on a ploughshare, moved to metal rods;
• through them, the earth pours out into the garden, separating from the potatoes;
• moving on, the potatoes fall to the soil, from where they are easy to collect.

Fan potato digger

It is allowed that there is a small weed growing in sparse bushes in the garden.

To make a fan digger yourself, you will need to take a grinder, a welding machine, a drill, metal drills. The following materials are also needed:

• for a knife, steel in sheets 4 mm thick;
• bolts with a diameter greater than 12 mm;
• for the holder and bracket, you will need a steel profile with a rectangular section or a sheet of thick steel;
• steel rods or non-corrugated reinforcement with round ends. Its diameter should be up to 10 mm.

A tape for measurements, a pencil for drawing on metal is also useful.

How is the collection of a potato digger with your own hands:

1. Two holes need to be drilled in the middle of the share to be able to attach it to the bracket.
2. Toward the end of the knife, where it expands, you need to weld steel rods. They should fan out. The length of each is up to half a meter. You can also bend them like a marching step.
3. Now you need to attach the stand to the share using bolts. Its height depends on what kind of tractor the farmer has. The holder can be welded onto the plow without the need for bolts.
4. The bracket must be drilled with holes in order to subsequently connect it to the tractor. It is welded to the top end of the post.
5. To make the structure more durable, a strip of metal must be welded to the bottom of the knife, which directly enters the ground.

One of the advantages of a fan digger is reliability

One of the advantages of a fan digger is reliability. Such a unit has served for many years. Parts do not rotate here, so the device does not fail for a long time. Potatoes are dug in easily, efficiently, and most importantly quickly.

Of the minuses, a small passageway can be distinguished - only 25 cm, so the yield is lost by 20%. Another disadvantage is that the knife often damages the tubers, which are then unacceptable for sale. Moreover, such root crops will be stored for a long time, which means they will not be suitable for winter.

Roaring Potato Digger

The roaring potato digger to T 25, also known as vibration, is a homemade, or shaking digger. It consists of a knife, a grid that is in motion all the time, and a metal frame.

Roaring Potato Digger

It takes a couple of hours to make. But this requires experience and skill in working with agricultural machinery. Have to take:

• grinder;
• welding machine;
• drill for metal and corresponding drills;
• metal profile with a side 2.5 cm;
• steel sheet with a thickness of up to 5 mm;
• steel wire, with a diameter of 8 mm, non-corrugated reinforcement is possible;
• wheels;
• hinges, bolts, eccentric, levers, consumables and a measuring tape.

You also need to have a ruler and pencil on hand. Now you can get to work by following these steps:

1. Make a drawing, transfer it to a metal profile, cut out a frame for the frame.
2. Weld the frame.
3. At the bottom, weld the racks where the wheels will be attached.
4. Inside, you need to weld holders on which the hinges cling to hang the screen there.
5. Brackets are welded to the frame to install the gearbox and mechanisms by which vibration will be generated.
6. A roar is welded from the rods. It is suspended from the frame using hinges.
7. The gearbox is now attached to the bracket, the vibration equipment that connects to the screen. When the walk-behind tractor shaft works, vibration will be transmitted to the sifter through the lever and the connecting rod, which will create the rotation of the eccentric.
8. You need to take a sheet of steel and cut, and then bend, giving the desired shape, a knife.
9. The share is attached using hinges to the bottom of the frame and the sifter.
10. Now it remains to put on and fasten the wheels.

Do-it-yourself roaring potato digger on T 25 has large sizes

How is the digging process going:

• The ploughshare must be stuck into the ground, from where it will get tubers with it.
• The knife is in motion all the time, repeating them after the crash. Cutting the soil, he throws it up so that the tubers get into the sifter. Thanks to the vibration, the unnecessary earth goes away.
• Considering how the unit was assembled, the peeled potatoes fall to the ground behind or to the side of the unit.

Among the advantages are:

• large grip up to 40 cm;
• the knife penetrates the ground by 25 cm;
• the yield is lost up to 10%.

The disadvantages are:

• vibration, which is transmitted to the hands of the farmer, which is very tiring;
• you need to harvest potatoes only on a site cleared of weeds and tops.

Do-it-yourself roaring potato digger on T 25 has large sizes.

Transporter potato digger

Transporter potato digger

A potato digger for a tractor device is distinguished by its large size, but you can get very small equipment. For example, use a conveyor digger. To harvest, you need to loosen the potatoes and soil with a knife. After that, the soil with the tubers enters the belt, which moves all the time, where the soil is separated from the potatoes.

The tape is represented by a lattice made of rods or tubes, which are parallel to each other. The rods or tubes are made of metal. Fix them in chains so that they constantly move, making forward movements.

The belt that moves is made of steel in the form of a mesh, as well as of rubber, the basis of which is fabric. It is through such a grate that the earth wakes up so that already clean potatoes go to the receiving bunker or simply fall into the garden.

The wide knife of the digger goes to a depth of 18 cm. The yield is lost only up to 5%. To assemble a knife, you need to cut it out of a thick sheet of steel, and then attach it to a frame that will pull it with bolts.

It is difficult to make the unit yourself. To do this, you need to study the drawings and diagrams of factory machines, so experience in doing such work is required.

It is difficult to make the unit yourself

To create a conveyor potato digger, you need to go through several steps. Each master makes individual parts of the device in his own way, therefore, home-made units are often not alike. Hardware manufacturing steps:

1. Weld the frame using a steel profile with a square cross-section, as well as corners available.
2. Make a ploughshare or a knife from steel in the form of a sheet.
3. Install rollers or wheels in the frame so that the conveyor belt moves.
4. Assemble the conveyor belt using chain, steel bars and other material.
5. Assemble the brackets and mountings to form a gearbox and gear train.
6. Install the conveyor belt and other mechanisms into the frame.
7. Finally, install the knife and wheels on the frame.

Thus, you can get a conveyor potato digger. Of all three types, this is the most difficult to assemble, but more economical in terms of harvesting.

When choosing which digger to make, you should consider all the pros and cons. Only after that it will be possible to opt for one of them.