Heavy snowfalls create traffic jams and fill up yards and sidewalks. Snow removal machines are able to quickly clear roadways or large areas, and where they cannot enter, they have to remove snow and ice manually. Special equipment helps to carry out this work. Retail outlets sell a variety of tools for snow removal, which, if desired, are easy to make with your own hands.
Overview of factory-made snow removal equipment
In rural areas, they are used to clearing snow with home-made hand tools. It will not be difficult for any owner to put together a plywood shovel or scraper from an aluminum sheet in an hour. City residents have nowhere to make snow removal equipment, so people go to the store to buy it.
The most common tool for clearing snow from paths is Shovel. Such equipment is presented in a wide range. Shovels vary in shape, size, and material of manufacture. The most common tool is a plastic scoop. Such shovels are characterized by light weight, resistance to corrosion and wet snow does not stick to them.
A scraper is considered a more productive tool. In one pass, it clears a wide strip of snow. The design of the scraper resembles a mixture of a scraper and a shovel. The front of the scoop is protected from abrasion by a steel strip. There are stiffening ribs on the working surface of the tool itself, but they still act as skis. Due to these runners, the scraper easily moves through the snow.
Another scraper model, the drag scraper, has a spacious bucket. The plastic scoop with high sides is controlled by a U-shaped handle. To clear the path, dragging they just push in front of them. The snow collected inside the bucket is unloaded at the selected location.
In the video you can see how to work with drags:
On sale you can sometimes find snow removal devices of quite interesting and unusual designs. One such tool is miracle shovel "Sno Wovel". The development of foreign manufacturers is unusual in the presence of a large wheel on the handle snow shovel. The tool can be operated on the principle of a manual excavator. The bucket is pushed forward with a long handle. Thanks to the wheel, it easily moves forward, raking in a large mass of snow. The snow shovel is unloaded by pressing the handle down. When performing these actions, the bucket rises sharply and throws snow far forward.
Continuing the conversation about snow shovels, we need to pay attention to one more smart tool. A special feature of its design is the presence of an adjustment mechanism on the handle. Thanks to the hinge, the middle of the handle of the super snow shovel is able to rotate.A person is given the opportunity to choose from the existing 16 positions the most convenient arrangement of the tool in his hands. Such an invention costs about $80.
A modernized device for removing snow and ice is a scraper on two wheels. This snow removal equipment can be called a manual bulldozer. A special feature of the tool is the scraper, which is shaped like a tractor blade shovel. It is fixed to a steel frame. If necessary, you can adjust the angle of the blade to move the snow to the side towards the side of the road. The scraper is activated by pushing movements of the operator through a long handle.
The production of manual snow removal bulldozers has been established in production, but they are not difficult to assemble yourself. You just need to cut a semicircular segment from a large diameter pipe. This will be a dump. To prevent it from scratching the paving slabs, you can bolt a soft knife made of thick rubber from below. The finished shovel is attached to the wheel frame of a baby stroller, the handle is adjusted, and the snow removal bulldozer is ready.
The video shows a manual snow plow in action:
We have already reviewed the two-wheeled manual blade. But the manufacturers did not stop there and developed a four-wheeled snow removal bulldozer. The design of this blade differs only in the presence of an additional wheel pair. Such a bulldozer is more stable in control, but less maneuverable. The shovel is similarly equipped with a rotating mechanism that allows you to set the desired angle.
The advantage of a four-wheel bulldozer is its all-season use. In winter, this is an excellent snow scraper. In the summer, the blade is removed, and a body can be attached to the frame. The result is an excellent cart for transporting heavy loads.
The video provides an overview of a four-wheeled snow removal bulldozer:
Snow covers not only roads and sidewalks. It accumulates in large caps on the roofs of houses. An avalanche is dangerous for people passing near the building. Large accumulations can deform the roof and damage the roof covering. A special scraper helps to remove it. If you can climb onto a flat roof and throw off snow with an ordinary shovel, then with a pitched roof everything is more difficult. This was taken into account by the manufacturers when developing the scraper.
Firstly, the snow removal tool was equipped with a telescopic handle. With a scraper you can reach the ridge of the roof while standing on the ground. Secondly, instead of a traditional bucket, a frame is attached to the handle. It can have different shapes, but most often it is made in the form of the letter “P”. A long strip of synthetic fabric is attached to the lower element of the frame. When a person pushes the scraper upward along the roof, the frame cuts off the snow cap, which randomly slides down the strip of fabric and falls to the ground.
You won't be able to remove thick ice build-ups with a snow shovel or scraper. A more serious tool is needed here. Craftsmen adapted an ax blade for these purposes. A handle made of a metal pipe is welded vertically to it. A wide icebreaker hits the thick growths. The bulk of the ice breaks up, and the remains are simply scraped off by pushing the blade of the chopping tool downhill.
The factory tool “Snow Spear” is made using a similar principle. Here a wooden handle is attached to a wide metal blade. The design of the icebreaker is almost the same, only in the store version it will cost a person about $22.
Homemade rotary snow blower
Among the mechanical devices for removing snow with your own hands, the rotary snow blower is very popular. Its diagram can be seen in the photo.
The design of a snow blower consists of a frame, a gasoline engine, a wheelset and the rotor mechanism itself.
The operating principle of a mechanical snow blower is based on the capture of snow by the rotor blades. In the housing it is mixed with air and thrown out through the outlet sleeve to the side at a distance of up to 8 m.
There are a lot of factory-made snow removal equipment. More complex and productive tools are expensive. If you carefully study their design, then almost any scraper can be made independently. The snow removal tool will turn out no worse than a store-bought one, but will cost several times less.
