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.