Potato planter for the motor-block Neva with your own hands

How to choose the potato planter for power tillers, characteristics and prices

With the advent of spring, it is a busy time for dacha owners and owners of land and homestead plots. There is a lot of hard work to be done in cultivating the land and planting seeds, sprouts and seedlings. Previously, this includes planting potatoes, which was done predominantly by hand. However, now that the sale have become widely available power tillers, type “Salut”, “Neva“, “MTZ” and many others, as well as a variety of attachments, in particular, and potato planter for power tillers, agricultural work became much easier.

Operating Instructions

So that the potato planter works well it is not only important to follow the operating instructions but also to store it correctly after use:

  • Equipment should be used only for the purpose for which it was designed.
  • Always wear personal protective equipment when working. You should not wear loose cut clothing, which can get into the moving part of the machine. If dust rises during work, wear a special mask.
  • If necessary, use earplugs, headphones or other noise protection, because the tractor together with other agricultural equipment makes a lot of noise, which negatively affects your hearing.

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To be attached to the tractor

Follow instructions

How to make a potato planter for your power tiller with your own hands

Potato planter for a power tiller is such a unit, which you can not only buy, but also make with your own hands. For this you need to prepare all the necessary materials and tools,

Materials

  • Angle or channel for the frame;
  • Supporting metal wheels;
  • Bearings;
  • Sheet steel for the rear wall of the hopper, 1.5-2.0 mm thick;
  • Galvanized tin;
  • Sprockets on 19-21 teeth;
  • The chain from the timing mechanism;
  • Axle for the drive wheels;
  • Steel wire with thickness of 3-4 mm.

Tools

To make a potato planter for a motor-block with your own hands, you will need tools such as:

A reliable welder is the basic tool for making a homemade potato planter

Manufacturing process

  • From a channel or angle welded rectangular frame, its size is chosen based on the size and capacity of the hopper;
  • The first sprocket is mounted in the center of the axis of the support wheels;
  • On both sides of the sprocket on the axle of the support wheels are pressed bearings in cages made of thick-walled pipe of suitable inner diameter;
  • The metal support wheels are attached to the axle;

Important! The belt drive with pulleys instead of sprockets is not suitable for the mechanism of planting tubers instead of the chain drive, because the belt is more prone to stretching, slipping and damage in wet spring conditions.

The axle is welded to the frame, for this purpose the bearing shells are contact welded to a cross bracket specially provided for this part of the frame.

  • From the wire with a vice and a tube diameter of 50-60 mm coil a spiral of 12-15 turns;
  • The spiral is cut lengthwise, obtaining 12-15 separate rings;
  • Rings are welded to the chain at a distance of 8-10 cm from each other. To ensure that small potatoes do not slip through the ring, the bottom is welded to it from the bottom of the same wire or pieces of sheet steel;
  • For the seed pipe, use a tube with an inner diameter 10-55mm larger than the diameter of the cups (metal rings with tuber bottoms) and with a length equal to about half of the same value of the chain. Make a longitudinal cut in the tube, 20-30 mm wide;
  • The seed pipe is welded to the frame using two thick-walled metal plates;
  • In the upper part of the seed drill, the saw cut is increased to a width of 40-50 mm;
  • The chain is released and attached to the lower and then to the second sprocket with the help of the chain lock. In doing so, it is carefully passed through the tube of the seed pipe;
  • The upper sprocket with the axle and two bearings are welded to the tube of the seedpipe with the help of angles;

Important! The top sprocket can be attached to the seed pipe either rigidly or with chain tension adjustment. The last option is preferable, because with its help one can adjust the force of tension of the chain in case of its stretching if necessary.

  • Parallel to the seed pipe near the bottom sprocket to the frame is welded pipe, inside of which the chain with cups;
  • The hopper back is welded to the tube and to the ends of the corners on which the top sprocket is attached;
  • Of tinplate, thickness 0,8-1,0 mm, riveted or welded to a hopper with a capacity of 20-30 kg;
  • In the upper part of the seed pipe is welded parallel to the movement of the chain two limiters, needed to ensure that the potatoes, falling out of the cup, fell into the pipe, but not past it;
  • To the rear part of the frame are welded to the headers, for this purpose, two convex plates are welded to the racks. Positioned at an angle so that they are covered with soil groove with planted potatoes, formed above it a ridge of height 40-50 mm;
  • A hitch for attaching the machine to the power tiller is welded to the front of the frame (it can be used to adjust the height at which the potato planter is attached to the power tiller), and the coulter. As a coulter body of an ordinary opener is used. The central axis of the coulter must be located under the center of the pipe from which the chain with cups comes out;
  • On the rims of the wheels in staggered order welded blades. plates of height 20-30 mm, located on a rim with a pitch of 40-60 mm;
  • Frame, hopper, and support wheels are cleaned, degreased, and covered with 2-3 layers of paint.

Approximate dimensions of the potato planter, made by the above described technology, are as follows:

  • Frame. 580 × 300 mm;
  • Diameter of the drive wheel. 310 mm;
  • Distance between the wheels (track). 585-600 mm;
  • Seed pipe length. 770 mm;
  • The distance between the sprocket axles is 570 mm;
  • Hopper (length×width×depth). 370×400×400 mm;
  • Sodrops (length×height). 275×140 mm;
  • Top sprocket. 19 teeth, bottom sprocket. 21 teeth.;
  • Bearings. 4 standard bearings of size 205.

Important! When using both factory-made and homemade models of the potato planter, a heavy counterweight must be installed at the front of the motorized tractor to improve the traction of its wheels with the soil.

Self-made potato planter

Complex potato planter must solve several tasks at once:

This is why the unit consists of several components: furrow former, tuber header, burying discs.

Self-made potato planter blueprints

The tuber duct is one of the most complex units of the machine and not all home masters are able to replicate the factory mechanisms on their own. Some farmers even advise that instead of installing a mechanized potato planting machine, an assistant should be placed on the frame next to the container with planting material, who will manually throw tubers into the furrow, which is cut and buried by the mechanism of the hinged simplified potato planting machine.

And yet there are designs, which you can make yourself. Here are some blueprints, which can be used to assemble a potato planter yourself.

Single row potato planter

Another design is an automatic potato planter. It looks like a frame made of channels with a plywood or metal hopper with the capacity for 2 buckets of potatoes, which is equipped with an elevator. The elevator is assembled from special cups, which move together with the chain. It is driven by the drive wheel. Masters recommend taking a bicycle chain for transmission, the sprocket on the planter Ø 80 mm, and on a power tiller Ø 160 mm. Under the elevator, the potato tuber pipe.

The factory potato planter (assembly drawing): 1 counterweight; 2 unit; 3 bracket; 4 tensioner; 5 transporter; 6 hopper; 7, 9, 16, 23, 24 bolt; 8 rack; 10 sector; 11 disk; 12 ridge height; 13 planting step; 14 furrow former; 15 planting depth; 17 hitch; 18 track width; 19 bracket; 20 drive drum shaft; 21 transporter; 22 attack angle

Attaching the cups to the chain

The design is factory-made, but this principle is often repeated by do-it-yourselfers (see. video).

Manual potato planter

How to make a potato planter with your own hands according to the original drawings

Drawings of the factory planter designed for a heavy single-axle tractor with ballast in the front or a mini tractor. All elements are attached to the frame.

Double-row potato planter: 1 carrier frame; 2 potato hopper; 3 planter; 4 seat; 5 seatseat; 6 support; 7 decking for the trunk; 8 support for a pair of rippers; 9 ripper; 10 and 11 rack with a burrowing disc; 12 stop for legs; 13 planter mounts; 14 support guide wheel

Here the ripper is a cultivator foot assembled with a stand. The seat tube is made of 42×3 mm tube, the seat supports are made of 50x50x5 mm angle, the foot rests are made of 6 mm sheet metal. These parts are made separately and welded at a level that is convenient for the individual.

Potato planter frame

Table 1. Material consumption for the frame

Pos. Element Material Number of
1 arch bar 1 pc.
2 spar channel 2 pc.
3 strut 80×14 mm strip 2 pcs.
4 hopper mounting bracket 70×8 mm sheet 1 pc.
5 tuber support sheet 8 mm 2 pcs.
6, 8, 9 crossbars channel 3 pcs.
7 turntable support 8 mm sheet 2 pcs.
10 crossbar 6 mm sheet 2 pcs.
11 pin to the lower link of the tractor linkage bar Ø 18 mm 2 pcs.
12 purlin 4 mm sheet 30 pcs.
13 fork to tractor hitch center link sheet 6 mm 1 pc.
14, 15 pads 6 mm sheet 2 pcs.

Potato hopper sheet steel or plywood

embedding discs are mounted on the support, in which case the angle of approach and the degree of embedding are adjusted by the cross bars (see pic. drawing) and bushings (4 pcs. per axle).

Tubing discs: 1 disc; 2 rivet (Ø 6 mm 5 pcs.); 3 hub; 4 bearing housing; 5 and 6 bearings 180503

the furrow former’s working depth is adjustable on the frame and is rigidly fixed with stepladders. Feeding the tubers into the planter by the elevator type (see Fig. 1). above) or manual.

Planting tool with furrow cutter: 1 tuber (3 mm tube Ø 100 mm, thicker can be used); 2 furrow formers (6 mm sheet)

A bushing to adjust the position of the tilling disc

Caulking disc stand: 1 stand base (pipe Ø 42х3 mm); 2 and 4 stepladders M12; 3 support of post; 5 crossbar (plate 20×20 mm); 6 console (rod Ø 28 mm)

To mulch planting, rippers are used, which are cultivator nozzles fixed on the rack holder mounted on the frame from below. The depth of their impact on the soil is adjusted by moving the racks vertically and fixing with through pins.

Rake holder: 1 clamp (6 mm sheet 2 pcs.); 2 spikes (6 mm sheet 4 pcs.); 3 boom (angle 50x50x5 mm square welded)

The wheel axle is also bolted to the frame. This is an assembly unit and it is quite difficult to make it, there is both machining and welding, and accuracy is required, so it is better to order the production of parts from the drawing in the workshop or if possible use the used wheels from the rubber or other, which are less damaging to the soil.

Wheel axle

Table 2. Material consumption per wheel axle

Item. Element Material Number of
1 support wheel 4 mm sheet 2 pcs.
3 axle tube Ø 60×8 mm, length 1067 mm 1 pc.
4 clamp 8 mm sheet 2 pcs.
5 bolt М16 4 pcs.
6 screw М5х0,5 6 pcs.
7 hub cap 2 pc.
8 nut М16 2 pc.
9 slotted washer 2 pcs.
10 support washer 2 pcs.
11 bearing 205 4 pcs.
12 hub 2 pcs.
13 spacer sleeve tube Ø 30×2.5 mm, length 55 mm 2 pcs.
14 gasket felt 2 pcs.
15 pin 6 pc.
16 spike 2 pcs.

All elements are assembled to the frame according to the assembly drawing.

Additional tips and warnings

In general, the process of planting potatoes with a homemade potato planting machine is as follows:

  • The potatoes are poured into the tuber tank. Put a couple of bags of potatoes on top so as not to lose time when the hopper is full of tubers.
  • One person sits on the seat located on the potato planter and the other person sits on either a mini tractor or a single axle tractor (see the. here).
  • The machine should be driven at a speed of no more than 1 km/h.
  • A person sitting on the potato planting machine alternately pushes tubers into the tuber tubes, which are located on both sides.
  • After the tubers hit the holes, they need to be covered with earth. This is the purpose of the discs, which are designed to incorporate the soil into the hollows by turning.

It is possible to change the depth of the topsoil taken off with these discs. To do this:

  • Adjust the stepladders, which hold the discs against the uprights, by loosening them.
  • It is possible to change a little the angle at which these discs are placed. To do this, you need to turn them slightly in the right direction.

After completing the planting process, it remains to clean up the traces left by the single-axle tractor and the potato planter. In this case, we will help us loosening, t.е. Cultivator blades, located on racks. By the way, the degree of their immersion into the ground can also be adjusted.

Self-made potato planter with detailed dimensions can be a great way to save your money, which would be inevitable if you bought a potato planter in a specialized store.

Considering that the average costs are relatively low, this cost saving is especially justified. In this case, no special costs for the necessary materials in the manufacture, because components are used from old, obsolete units.

Vegetable planters for power tillers

They allow you to fully automate the process of sowing vegetable crops. carrots, beets, soybeans, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, etc. The drive mechanism is the support wheel, which can be changed by changing the drive sprocket to change the rotation speed of the device.

Are equipped with a special brush mechanism that forces the seed to fall out of the hopper through a hole on its back wall. It is shuttered by a disc element with a series of slots of different diameters. By adjusting the swivel disc to the desired hole size a specific sowing rate can be achieved.

They are available in one, two and four-row versions with the sowing of cereals to a depth of 1-10 cm. Multiple-row modifications have a modular structure and weigh more. For example, 1-section planter weighs 7.5 kg, 4. 30 kg.

The power tiller is one of the agricultural machines used to uniformly sow seeds in the ground. Before the invention of the drill, crop seeds were scattered by hand, resulting in a poor seeding density.

In addition, the manual planting of seeds requires a lot of physical effort. Manual sowing is not economically justified: the seed that is scattered over the ground does not reach the soil evenly and is much more expensive than with a manual sowing machine. Also, planting by hand results in uneven seed distribution, which quickly depletes the soil.

Methods of planting potatoes with a power tiller

When the plot is prepared, you can proceed directly to planting potatoes. With a power tiller, the crop can be planted in different ways:

  • Semi-automated method. A single-axle tractor is equipped with an arrowhead that helps form and then cover the furrow with a layer of soil. The potatoes are planted manually.
  • Automated method. All processes are carried out with a power tiller with a special mounted potato planting machine.

The choice of method depends on the equipment included with the power tiller, and the area to be worked. To understand the difference, let’s consider in detail the features of each of these methods.

Planting potatoes with a power tiller

If potatoes are planted on a small plot, it is more common to use an arrowhead, which is attached to the tiller. The task of this device is to lift the earth, creating a furrow and forming ridges on both sides of the passage.

The power tiller is used to make furrows for planting potatoes

There are several kinds of planter:

The first two are very similar in appearance and resemble a knife made of two curved wings joined together at the front and spread apart at the back. The difference lies in their functional features.

The fixed width planter

This one is rather primitive and does not let you adjust the row spacing. It’s not really useful for planting potatoes, because the weeder is very useful for planting spuds. к. The working width of this tool is only 20-30 cm. Best for planting vegetables that do not require far spacing between rows.

The non-adjustable planter is best suited for marking beds with narrow row spacing

Adjustable width coulter

The second version of the planter is the most popular with gardeners. This attachment is designed so that you can set the working width. Consequently, it is possible to set the desired spacing between the rows. However, the adjustable disc coulter also has a few drawbacks:

  • To use it, you need a more powerful and heavy single-axle tractor (with at least 4 liters of power). с. and weights of more than 30 kg).
  • The performance of this equipment is slightly lower, t. к. With this tool, some soil from the ridges may fall back into the furrow.
  • Increasing the spacing increases the load on the single axle tractor and increases fuel consumption.

Adjusting the width of the planter bar allows to change the width of the row spacing

How to plant potatoes faster

Disc coulter

This attachment is more productive than the previous ones, but also several times more expensive. The disc coulter is a platform with two discs attached to it that rotate as it drives. The space between the discs and their angle can be adjusted. Among the advantages are the following:

  • Is less energy-consuming and more convenient to use;
  • Makes for flatter and higher ridges
  • The discs turn during travel, breaking and loosening the ground.

It is recommended to use the disc trowel with a machine that has at least two forward gears. Moving at the lowest speed provides the optimum degree of power utilization of the power tiller.

Experienced tillers consider the disc coulter for the power tiller to be the most effective.

Can improve performance by adjusting the angle and width between the discs

Regardless of the type of planter, the potatoes are planted as follows:

  • The single-axle tractor mounts the attachment and adjusts the minimum working width of the soil, the machine is equipped with the ground wheels.
  • Using a power tiller to form furrows.
  • In the obtained rows the seed potatoes are manually placed at regular intervals.
  • The wheels of the power tiller are replaced by regular rubber ones, the width of the wings of the planter is changed to the maximum.
  • furrows with potatoes placed in them are covered with soil using a motor cultivator.

Thus, when planting with the use of the hoe, at least two passes along the plot should be made with the power tiller. You will need a helper to put the planting material in the ground.

Planting potatoes with a power tiller with a hinged potato planter

If the planting area is large, a hinged potato planter can be used. As standard, it consists of the following elements:

  • a furrow former that forms a groove in the ground;
  • hopper, in which potatoes are put for planting;
  • the tuber stacking mechanism;
  • A disc coulter for subsequent furrowing.

The parameters of the hinged potato planter can be different, they are selected for a specific model of power tiller

The potato planter allows you to do the whole process of planting potatoes in just one pass. This saves a great deal of time, fuel and effort. Before using this device it is necessary to adjust the parameters:

Potato planter. a fairly expensive device and, as a rule, the average farmer simply can not afford. Mostly used in farms.

Easy planting under the plough

If there is no possibility to buy the described devices, you can use the so-called dacha variant of planting potatoes. with a power tiller under the plow. This method consists in the following:

  • Tines and tines are fitted to the single axle tractor.
  • A furrow is made and the potatoes are immediately planted.
  • When turning, the unit forms a new ridge, simultaneously filling the previous ridge with earth.

This also requires a second person to help the tiller operator place the seed into the seed furrows. In addition, the method is more time-consuming.

Assembling homemade potato planter for power tiller step by step instructions, video and photo

Planting potatoes has always been a time-consuming and difficult process. However, today, thanks to the development of technology, agricultural work is greatly facilitated. Now thanks to power tillers, mini-tractors and a variety of attachments it’s possible to improve tillage, get a higher yield and reduce production costs at lower costs than before. Among farmers and owners of small plots of land are very popular motor blocks, on which you can install various attachments, including potato planter.

Assembled on a power tiller allows you to maximally facilitate the work of planting root crops and treat a larger area than before. Below it will be told about the types, the device of equipment and how can be made potato planter for power tiller with his hands.