potato digger

[creekshorefarms]

Well you could buy an old one just for the parts, ie. chain, shakers, etc and just take the dimensions from there and sell the rest for scrap.

 

[OldMcDonald]

Creekshorefarms, Good advice - BUT. From what I can gather from other folks around southern and eastern Europe they all have the same problem as here in Portugal. There is virtually no used market for any agricultural implements. It is possible to buy anything new if you have the money to pay for it, the transport from another country (usually Northern Europe, sometimes Italy) and the invariable customs and import costs. I bought a cutter bar mower and hay turner from Italy - very expensive, but went halves with somebody so it was not too bad.

I have previously farmed in England, Australia and Scotland and, like USA, found used markets generally overflowing with whatever I was looking for. Now, I am in the same position as Klug and have to build a fair bit of what I need. It is not a lot of fun when you cannot spare the time and lack the expertise to make what you need.

Klug, Have a look at Agrifood Solutions :: Home the website of Stuart Meikle. I do not know him personally, just through internet forums, but he seems a very good man and lives in Transylvania too. I am sure he would be very keen to help you if he can. Keep posting.

 

[klug]

Creekshorefarms, Good advice - BUT. From what I can gather from other folks around southern and eastern Europe they all have the same problem as here in Portugal. There is virtually no used market for any agricultural implements. It is possible to buy anything new if you have the money to pay for it, the transport from another country (usually Northern Europe, sometimes Italy) and the invariable customs and import costs. I bought a cutter bar mower and hay turner from Italy - very expensive, but went halves with somebody so it was not too bad.




I have previously farmed in England, Australia and Scotland and, like USA, found used markets generally overflowing with whatever I was looking for. Now, I am in the same position as Klug and have to build a fair bit of what I need. It is not a lot of fun when you cannot spare the time and lack the expertise to make what you need.

Klug, Have a look at Agrifood Solutions ::*Home the website of Stuart Meikle. I do not know him personally, just through internet forums, but he seems a very good man and lives in Transylvania too. I am sure he would be very keen to help you if he can. Keep posting.

Mr. OldMcDonald,
You get the point .... the area that I grow is not cost effective to buy one because of this .... I want to build one ....
thanks

 

[radioman]

Well - lets see -- If you take a look at Potato Digger to Harvest Potatoes and look at hermans digger, you will see herman's is simple to build and can be done in no time. The one from everything attachments has a better advantage by shaking with less moving parts to cause problems. Maybe you could merge the two to form a better, easier to use.

 

[TGeorge]

Hello !
living in Transylvania area of Deva 20km / Hunedoara

I have been in your area several times during my travels in Romania. Beautiful country! My home area in northeast Alabama is much like Transylvania. I hope you can find plans for the potato digger you want to build. I use a simple potato plow (middle buster). It works well for me.

 

[klug]

Hi everyone!
An inspired me to build one of the videos. I used a potato plow but the idea excited me ....

 

[OldMcDonald]

klug, I was pleased to read your response at #23. I am sure that most of the world does not realise how difficult it is for many of us living in modern Europe to acquire the things we need so that we can grow the food we also need in order to survive.

 

[CliffordK]

I've talked to people in other countries, and have always been surprised about how poorly developed the "used merchandise" market is.

Here, there are "thrift stores", "second hand stores", "used car dealers", "antique stores", etc.
The classified sections of the newspaper always used to be about 1/4" thick, at least on weekends. Now Craigslist and E-Bay is largely supplanting the old classifieds.

I realize there can be a deficit of nearly-new equipment in some countries, but with a bit of grease, a lot of the equipment that was truly new 50 years ago is still quite usable today. That doesn't mean that a pitch fork will replace a good hay rake, but in a pinch, I might even consider modifying a horse-drawn hay rake to pull behind a tractor.

And, if there was a piece of equipment that I needed 500 miles away, I'd go get it. In Europe, that might mean crossing 3 countries. Don't blink, or you'll miss Luxemburg and San Marino.

Tariffs and import taxes can be a problem, although I thought the EU was supposed to be reducing them. I can understand the need to encourage local industry, but write to your government asking them to cut the crap on importing 10+ year old used farm equipment.

Personally, I think a large, and largely ignored part of the economy is agriculture. At one level or another, everything boils down the the price of food.

 

[OldMcDonald]

CliffordK, I was about to log out and saw a new post. You make some very good points, and I actually did make my own hay fork!! I have a favourite expression "It is in the book". It is not just a deficit of "nearly-new" it is a deficit of anything used in agricultural terms. Cars last almost forever due to lack of snow and the compulsory salt gritting. My own is April, 1993 registered and passed its compulsory annual check in April. I followed a 1977 Renault for a few miles last week and it seemed OK. It was not a restored car, just an old bloke driving along.

It is a few years since I saw a cow being used for draught purposes, but many of my neighbours have a donkey or mule, even those who also use a 2 or 4 wheeled tractor.

 

[creekshorefarms]

I am just wondering where all the old equipment is over there? I can only assume somebody was buying or building this stuff at one point in the past?

Do people just hold onto things or has agricultural equipment been a cronic issue over time and so there just was never much of it to be left for used in the first place?

On topic:

I would suggest that pto drive results in more complicated parts and linkage than other options. Are you open to hydraulic or ground drive, or would you like to stick with pto?

Secondly, is this a unit that will dig up the potatoes and drop them on the ground or will it run them along a belt for a short distance so people can pick them off at standing height?

Will you buy the chain and shakers new, or do you have access to some from another source. I would start with the chain width that I can get and build from there.

Although I dont know of any cad drawings available for this if we have a clear idea of what you want, we may be able to offer ideas and suggestions that will point you in the right direction.

 

[klug]

I've talked to people in other countries, and have always been surprised about how poorly developed the "used merchandise" market is.

Here, there are "thrift stores", "second hand stores", "used car dealers", "antique stores", etc.
The classified sections of the newspaper always used to be about 1/4" thick, at least on weekends. Now Craigslist and E-Bay is largely supplanting the old classifieds.

I realize there can be a deficit of nearly-new equipment in some countries, but with a bit of grease, a lot of the equipment that was truly new 50 years ago is still quite usable today. That doesn't mean that a pitch fork will replace a good
hay rake, but in a pinch, I might even consider modifying a horse-drawn hay rake to pull behind a tractor.

And, if there was a piece of equipment that I needed 500 miles away, I'd go get it. In Europe, that might mean crossing 3 countries. Don't blink, or you'll miss Luxemburg and San Marino.

Tariffs and import taxes can be a problem, although I thought the EU was supposed to be reducing them. I can understand the need to encourage local industry, but write to your government asking them to cut the crap on importing 10+ year old used farm equipment.

Personally, I think a large, and largely ignored part of the economy is agriculture. At one level or another, everything boils down the the price of food.

just
Many chain sell all kinds of machinery for small farms, few know about the features and service is on earth. I'm in my spare time I make a mini-farm in the biopic products use natural fertilizers ... etc ...

 

[klug]

I am just wondering where all the old equipment is over there? I can only assume somebody was buying or building this stuff at one point in the past?

Do people just hold onto things or has agricultural equipment been a cronic issue over time and so there just was never much of it to be left for used in the first place?

On topic:

I would suggest that pto drive results in more complicated parts and linkage than other options. Are you open to hydraulic or ground drive, or would you like to stick with pto?

Secondly, is this a unit that will dig up the potatoes and drop them on the ground or will it run them along a belt for a short distance so people can pick them off at standing height?

Will you buy the chain and shakers new, or do you have access to some from another source. I would start with the chain width that I can get and build from there.

Although I dont know of any cad drawings available for this if we have a clear idea of what you want, we may be able to offer ideas and suggestions that will point you in the right direction.

Sir,
I have skills to produce this tool I want to build one and I'm interested in size, odds etc. I have a tiller (LC90) similar to the video and the PTO clutch is by cardan shaft

 

[klug]

Gentlemen,
I want to build such a tool as the di image(Potato Digger to Harvest Potatoes) #24. I just need dimensions odds, etc.. a difference that I attached to a tiller LC 90

 

[klug]

Ahhh, a walk behind tractor.
I was thinking of a larger tractor.

Russian? You might have troubles finding specifics about that machine in the USA.
Following some of the links, this either is the manufacturer or a vendor of similar diggers.

I found this page showing a homebuilt digger. It has a 3pt version shown at the bottom of the page, along with parts diagrams for that one. Perhaps you can find the parts diagrams for your target machine.

The "shaker" undoubtedly helps with the separation of the dirt from the potatoes, as well as aiding with the cutting (probably vital for a walk behind tractor). You would need to design a frame that doesn't move, and the cutting head and separator that does.

Are these machines patented? A lot of info is available on the patent pages.

However, keep in mind that ultimately you will be making your own machine. You don't necessarily want to copy exactly a commercial version. but take some of the ideas from several ones you see.

These all have an adjustable depth.

Width may be dependent on how you plant your potato hills, as well as the design of your tractor/tiller.

Dear CliffordK,
I failed to thank you for the links provided you know, we have visited. In "Building a potato digger / tractot my forum" there are 2 attachments pdf.Ok are useful but I would have been even if the drawing was ok and some odds, all sizes ... so I can have someone insist sketch rated

 

[OldMcDonald]

I am just wondering where all the old equipment is over there? I can only assume somebody was buying or building this stuff at one point in the past?

Do people just hold onto things or has agricultural equipment been a cronic issue over time and so there just was never much of it to be left for used in the first place?

I can only speak for my local area (been here more than 10 years) and hearsay from other people in Portugal and elsewhere, but there are few large farms - which obviously have the buying power for what they need, and many people are what would reasonably be described in a nice sort of way as peasants. Many rural houses do not have water or power and I know people who do their laundry in the river. As I said, animal power is still common, although younger people (who moved into urban areas and in employment) do appear to be assisting the previous generation to update things. It is very variable and depends entirely on income. I am sure that many older folks are living as close to self-sufficiency as it is possible to be. It seems there never was much by way of equipment, probably because of lack of buying power, and it tends to last a very long time.

It also has to be born in mind that many European countries are not long out of a bad political situation. Portugal was a Dictatorship until 1976. It is easy to fall into the local ways and I am currently hand-picking about 4 acres of fava beans. I did the same with a smaller corn crop last year. Fortunately I have some pension income and can buy smaller items (like irrigation supplies) without needing to worry about cost.

Back on Topic:

I think we have all got the gist of Klug's position. He wants to make this piece of equipment but does not have the details he would like. I think he is doing well with his use of English, but it is obviously not his first language, and there are differences between European English and US English, although I know from past experience that TBNers will allow for this.

 

[CliffordK]

It appears as if the goal is a walk-behind potato harvester, attached to a rear tine tiller, or a walk behind tractor. Probably belt drive. An eccentric drive on the shaker mechanism should be extremely easy to build. I wouldn't try anything complex such as hydraulics which probably aren't available.

I'm doubting that a lot of information will be available as most harvesters in the USA would be designed for a 3pt hitch on a ride-on tractor. Everything Attachments is a member here, and does have a potato harvester, as noted above. However, they may purchase, and not build it. Everything, of course, would have to be scaled down to the power source. I know klug wants more specifics, but it is a very narrow request.

I didn't realize Portugal was having so many problems (although one hears about the economic woes on the news). I was in Italy a while ago. I suppose there is a strong difference between North and South Italy, but I think at least in the North, there was a lot of mechanization on the small farms. Just everything was smaller, or different than the USA, for example cows in Italy would stay in the barn and they would bring grass to them, whereas in the USA, they usually are allowed to graze.

Not everyone drives new cars here, or has a fancy new tractor. However, there is a lot of very old equipment that is still usable. Thousands of 1950's style Ford tractors are still operable, and periodically show up on the market. One of the problems is that old equipment can be worth more as parts or scrap than it is worth as a whole. I bought a used baler basically to get the needles and knotters off of it, and will likely part out and scrap the rest. And, of course, a few components can cost more to replace than the whole machine cost.

 

[Renze]

This type of digger is commonly used by treenurseries, but usually with the grid on the back shaken by a PTO driven eccentric.

 

[charlz]

I am confused if this is to attach to a walk behind tiller/tractor type unit or a ride on tractor? Can you provide a link to a image that shows exactly what this is going to hook up to/be used with?

You are not likely to find any drawings, especially with dimensions. You are going to have to reverse engineer it from the various photos, videos etc. If you can identify one thing in a photo or video that you know the dimensions of it can help you to determine the other dimensions. Just from looking the items already referenced I believe there is enough information to come up with a rough design.

 

[klug]

I said on here as I build one inspired by images / videos!. I hope that I can someone help me with a sketch of concrete data, but ....

 

[creekshorefarms]

I don't think you will find anyone on here who has a drawing for this style of digger with dimensions. You have a unique situation in that you need to attach this digger to a walk behind tractor and that will lend itself to a different approach then what many other people would be using with a sit-on tractor and 3pt hitch. Its not that people are not trying to be helpful, it is just that experience with that kind of equipment is probably not very common on here and you will need to do as charlz wrote and look at photos and videos and come up with your own design that works for you.

In reality it is the basic mechanism that is critical, as opposed to the dimensions, which will be whatever you need it to be in the end. Understand the principle of the machine and go from there. For example, if you want a machine like in post #24 as you mentioned the basic principle is that you have a shovel that enters the ground in the front to lift the potatoes up and out, and a fingered shaker at the back that bounces or vibrates to shake the dirt off the potatoes. Those two things are all that matters. The exact dimensions will be what fits your machine and field and are not really important.

I don't know if that helps, but it is the best I got.