In order to get a good harvest, the land not only needs to be plowed and sown. During the growth of various crops, the soil also needs to be loosened and cultivated. It is necessary to pull out all the weeds and it is especially important to hill up the soil. A cultivator is perfect for these purposes. You can make such a device at home with your own hands, you just need to have a great desire.
Options for homemade hand cultivators
This important function can also be performed with a shovel . But hard work doesn't pay off. Labor efficiency itself increases several times if you use mechanized soil tillage. Any owner of a small plot of land can make a manual plow with his own hands. Special tools may require a welding machine.
It should be noted that soil cultivation began a very long time ago . Several decades ago, at the peak of the garden and dacha lifestyle, such a tool was very popular. It was either bought from factories or made independently.
The most popular types of tools are:
- Flat cutter. This is a tool similar to an ordinary hoe. He is a mechanized version of it.
- Rotary, or star. This plow works on the principle of alternately cutting the soil with knife-shaped stars.
- Cultivator "hedgehogs". It works on the principle of a rotary plow, but the ground is loosened not by knives, but by steel rods that look like a porcupine.
- Tornado. This tool looks like an ordinary pitchfork, but its rods are twisted in a spiral. Additional mechanical devices cannot be installed; it is only a hand tool.
The scope of application of the devices is the widest. Cultivators can perform the following tasks:
- loosen the soil, thereby saturating it with oxygen;
- cut rows for sowing crops and sprinkle them;
- rid plants from the influence of weeds, etc.;
- used together with a walk-behind tractor;
- break up lumps of soil and level the ground.
More about the device
The most popular are small designs whose weight does not exceed 20 kg. They are very productive and compact, and with the help of such products you can perform various tasks on the site: removing weeds, loosening the soil and even applying various fertilizers. A hand cultivator will also be useful when caring for some plants, as it is capable of loosening the soil near the beds, thinning and hilling them.
Small hand cultivators are popular
Note! Of course, you cannot compare a hand-held cultivator in terms of power with a walk-behind tractor, but for basic tasks in a garden plot it is quite enough. The advantages of hand tools include the absence of fuel or electricity costs, as well as the ability to use them in hard-to-reach places.
Such a cultivator cannot be compared in power to a walk-behind tractor.
The design of most types of cultivators includes special cutters, which, moving around the site, loosen the soil. Other attachments can also be used:
- paws for loosening the soil;
- a special sock that loosens and cuts the soil, thereby removing weeds;
- hiller for creating small grooves in the soil, which are needed for sowing various crops;
- needle disk , which is used when a large crust forms on the soil surface;
- feeding knives with special dispensers . They are necessary for applying fertilizers to the soil.
Diagram of a hiller with a knife-ripper
When used correctly, hand cultivators greatly facilitate excavation work. Of course, for this you need to use the appropriate nozzles and types of structures.
Cultivators come in different types
Required materials and tools
In order to always be able to make some necessary products at the dacha, it is necessary to prepare the most popular materials in advance.
First you need to stock up on a lot of steel. It should be in every workshop. The number of different strips, profiles and pipes determines how many necessary tools you can make with your own hands.
Welding will be an indispensable tool in every household. With its help, you can quickly and reliably connect all the parts of various structures. Bolts and nuts are used as an alternative to welding, but the reliability will not be comparable.
Many people do not know where to start when assembling a hand cultivator with their own hands. Drawings are the first thing a novice owner should stock up on . You also need to have the following set of tools and materials:
- Profile made of steel, pipe or fittings. This material will vary depending on the model chosen.
- Wheel and fastening to it. As an alternative, you should take a bicycle frame.
- Handle. For this part, you can use both metal pipes and shovel handles.
- Welding. You can connect parts using welding, or you can use bolts, but it is advisable to have welding.
- Drill with a set of drills.
- Grinder with cutting wheel.
What do you need for work?
To make various devices for soil treatment at home, you need to prepare special materials for this. First of all, you need to take care of getting steel. The more different pipes, sheets or metal rods you have, the better. You can’t do without a set of tools, but they are present in any garage, so you don’t have to bother finding them.
A welding machine is one of the most important tools for working with metal products. With it, you can connect different parts made of metal in just a few seconds. Of course, in most cases you can do without a welding machine by connecting the parts using self-tapping screws. But the quality of such connections cannot be compared with the quality of welds.
Cultivator "Tornado"
Making such a cultivator is not difficult. Its base can be made of a metal pipe. It is necessary to weld steel rods to the end of the lower part of the pipe, thereby forming a square shape. After this, the rods are bent in a spiral direction, and the ends are sharpened.
As an alternative, you can use a bicycle handlebar as a lever, and instead of a metal handle, install a shovel shaft. This will significantly save your own effort during work.
Such a device is designed for digging out various roots at great depths, for preparing holes for planting trees, etc. It can be used as an electrophoresis for cultivating the soil with your own hands.
Chainsaw engine version
The arsenal required to create this version is:
- the engine itself, taken from a chainsaw;
- starter;
- muffler;
- fuel tank;
- bicycle chain;
- wheel (medium diameter);
- metal corners;
- wheels.
Using welding equipment or bolts, assemble the frame of the intended modification. Here you will need the indicated corners, and, if necessary, a steel pipe. The shape of the frame resembles a trapezoid with an inclination on two sides. Cross members are used to connect the two sides. They are the key to reliable operation of the structure.
The designated engine is mounted on the frame. The lower part has a two-wheel shaft. The wheels do the cultivating here. Milling cutters are mounted on the shaft. Square plates were used for their manufacture. The rotation of the shaft is the result of the bicycle chain.
When installing this chain, you must ensure that the position of the shaft and sprocket forms a right angle. If you neglect this rule, the chain will constantly slip during the working process.
How to make a flat cutter
Many people are looking for a cultivator for weeding. You can make such a weeding machine yourself. A profile pipe made of metal or steel is used as the basis for the frame. This base must be made of 2 parts. You need to weld at an angle of 30 degrees. A wheel fork made of a steel pipe or plate 3 millimeters thick is welded to the frame. The wheel itself can either be made independently or purchased. The steering wheel must be made of 2 steel pipes fixed to the frame.
The horizontal part of the frame is an adapter for the cutting attachment. Then you need to install a knife, which is made of steel tape 2-3 millimeters thick. Then the knives are sharpened. The sharpening angle can be changed or adjustable knives can be installed. If there is an old bicycle on the farm, then all the spare parts can be taken from it. Due to the large diameter of the bicycle wheel, the ride becomes very easy when working. The knife is made in the form of an inverted letter “P”, or T-shape. It should be noted that a T-shaped knife must be used very carefully between rows, as there is a possibility of spoiling the harvest.
A special subtype of the flat cutter is the design with forks. This device has several knives that are attached to a fork. It is made of steel rods, and they, in turn, are curved in a special way.
DIY electric cultivator
An electric tool can be made from scrap materials in 2 days, but you need to prepare in advance.
To assemble it you may need: a motor from a washing machine, a gearbox, sprockets and a chain from a children’s bicycle, bearings, cultivator blades welded from car springs, angles, wheels, a cable about 50 m long, a piece of tin to protect the motor from the soil . Instead of a washing machine engine, you can use a powerful Soviet drill, plus a gearbox from a burnt grinder, or an electric meat grinder.
A structure assembled from one or another of the proposed elements will look something like this: a metal frame with two wheels on both sides. The motor from a washing machine, meat grinder or drill is in the center. It needs to be connected to the cultivator blades and ensure rotation using a chain and “sprockets” from a children’s bicycle.
On two handles you can attach a cable with a trigger mechanism.
Advice. The sharpened parts of the knives must be positioned on the side of rotation of the shaft. The blades should be 5 cm apart, at an angle of 120°.
- First, the main parts are made and fastened, then a frame is made for them. The dimensions depend on the available materials you use.
- A gearbox with a transmission mechanism is welded to the engine housing.
- Blades are attached to the output shaft of the gearbox. You can use sharpened and fastened car springs or any other metal.
- The engine is attached to a frame made of angles with clamps and bolts.
- There should be an axle along the central axis with wheels on the sides.
- Handles and cable are welded on top.
- lightweight and convenient electrical design;
- environmentally friendly, unlike gasoline-powered mechanisms. This means that it can be used in greenhouses and greenhouses.
- welding must be used during manufacturing;
- not suitable for processing large areas.
Mechanical improvements not only make labor easier, but also increase the efficiency and speed of tillage. Any of the considered farmer's tools is indispensable when working on the land and is easy to use.
Hand plow
Although such a device is called a plow, its intended purpose is contradicted. It does not have the classic properties of a plow. Even two people are not enough to work with such a tool. He is more of a classic cultivator. The device resembles a flat cutter, but an additional traction handle is installed.
Such a structure is handled by one person from the front, who acts as a traction force. And the second, the operator, controls the process of cultivating the land. It is impossible to use such a device without a co-pilot.
It is important to note that such a tool is not suitable for plowing soil for two reasons. The first is that a normal plow turns over layers of soil, but the device only loosens it. In addition, human power alone is not enough for normal plowing of the land.
Operating principle
Cultivators for manual tillage are divided into two groups: rippers and rotary models. Representatives of the first variety are shaped like a hand equipped with three or five metal “fingers.”
Cultivator for the garden
In essence, this is a highly modernized hoe, which requires a lot of physical effort to operate. Therefore, this option is more suitable for working in greenhouses. The working element of rotational models is made in the form of stars, with a large number of rays.
During operation, the stars literally “bite” into the ground, loosening the soil and at the same time cutting and crushing weeds.
How to use a rotary cultivator with stars? Due to the simplicity of the design, this device is quite easy to handle.
The unit is installed vertically in the ground, the standard position of the cultivator: the stars are located between the rows, the connecting axis passes over the bed. The cultivator is driven by applied forces.
Even taking into account the fact that the driving force is a person, cultivating the land is much faster than when performing similar actions with a shovel or hoe.
This point is very important for pensioners who often suffer from radiculitis; in fact, they are the main buyers of this type of gardening equipment.
Important How to choose a tipper semi-trailer
Rotary or star
Making such a device is not a difficult task. To make the structure, you need 5-7 stars, which will serve as knives, strung onto the axle. These knives can be either straight or curved to the sides. After cultivating the soil with such a tool, it is recommended to walk between the rows and a flat cutter. A combination of two models is also possible, when the stars are first used in the design, and then a flat cutter is used for the final stage. This can significantly save the worker’s strength and energy. Since the stars perform the function of wheels in the design, an additional axle is not needed.
Working with such a tool is quite difficult, so only a physically trained person can handle it. In such a garden structure, you can install wheels of the same diameter instead of stars. In this case, you will get a good weeding hiller.
Cultivator "Hedgehogs"
For the base you need to prepare a powerful fork made of steel strip. In front of the tool there is a working axis with attachments. They need to be made from pieces of pipe onto which steel rods with pointed tips are welded. Actually, that's where the name comes from.
Loosening is carried out by lightly shaking the soil and piercing it, but the weeds remain in place, especially their roots. The main advantage of this subtype is the easy movement of the tool. Inter-row passage is carried out almost effortlessly.
