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Snowy winters also happily bring a lot of worries related to snow removal. Clearing a large area with a shovel is quite difficult. Craftsmen immediately found a way out of the situation and invented a huge number of homemade products. The advantage of such equipment is its lower cost compared to factory-made analogues. Now we will look at how to make a snow blower with your own hands from spare parts available on the farm.
How to make a snowblower with your own hands
Snow blower auger manufacturing process
The most effective homemade snow blower You can do it yourself for your home if you equip it with a screw mechanism. Most all factory-made snow blowers have a similar design. The principle of operation of the equipment is to capture snow with rotating spiral-shaped knives. The snow blower auger consists of two spirals on the sides, and metal blades are welded between them in the center of the shaft. They throw snow into the discharge arm. The snow blower is connected to the traction unit itself via a belt drive.
The assembly of a rotary snow blower begins with the manufacture of an auger. First you will need to find material for spiral knives. To get four rings with a diameter of 28 cm, you need to find 1.5 m of conveyor belt 1 cm thick. Knives for the auger are cut out, leaving the petals inside the ring. They are needed for attachment to the working shaft - the rotor. The result should be a blank of auger knives, as in the photo shown.
Auger knives made from sheet steel will be stronger. In this case, eight half rings are cut out, which are then welded into a spiral. You can take a different path. Four disks are cut from sheet steel. Each ring is cut from the side with a grinder, after which the edges are pulled in opposite directions.
To make your own screw, it is better to use blueprints. If you look at the presented diagram, it will immediately become clear that the spiral knives consist of two parts, and between them there is a shovel for throwing snow into the discharge sleeve.
The working shaft of the snow blower auger is made of a steel tube with a diameter of 20 mm and a length of 800 mm. Bearings No. 203 or 205 are mounted on both ends. But they cannot be stuffed onto the pipe. For the bearings you will have to machine two journals. Moreover, one of them is made longer. A belt drive pulley is then mounted on this axle, from which the rotor will rotate.
Two metal blades are welded parallel to each other in the center of the pipe.The steel blades of the auger are simply welded to the pipe. If they were made from a conveyor belt, then the mounting eyes are first fixed to the shaft by welding, and the knives are then bolted to them.
Now all that remains is to assemble the snow blower body and insert the finished auger inside. For these works you will need sheet steel 2 mm thick. Fragments of the future snow blower body are cut out with a grinder, and then welded into a single structure. On the inside, in the center of the side elements of the housing, the mounting sockets for the bearings are fixed, after which the auger is inserted into its permanent place. A belt drive pulley is mounted on the axle protruding from one side. The snow blower body itself is mounted on skis, and a steel strip of a stationary blade is bolted from below. This element will trim layers of snow.
The video shows a homemade snowblower auger:
To fully implement this project, it remains to select a traction unit that will power the rotary snow blower.
Conversion of a walk-behind tractor into an auger snow blower
The easiest way to assemble a snowplow with your own hands is if you have a working walk-behind tractor. To implement this project, you will not need to look for additional spare parts. The rotary snow blower is already assembled. There is a traction device. Now all that remains is to couple these two units, make a belt drive and the snow blower is ready.
Depending on the brand of walk-behind tractor, the snow removal attachment is attached to a bracket on the front or rear of the frame.In the second option, the steering wheel will have to be turned 1800. The snowblower will move at reverse speed. In the case of front attachment, the walk-behind tractor travels in first gear at a speed of no more than 4 km/h.
It is easier to drive a rotary snow blower using a belt. If the auger jams, the belts will simply slip on the pulleys. Can be installed on a snow blower and chain drive through sprockets. However, if a large solid object gets into the auger, there is a risk of breaking the chain or breaking the teeth on the sprockets.
Snow blower with chainsaw motor
If you don’t have a walk-behind tractor at home, you can assemble a simple snowblower with a chainsaw engine. This primitive option is suitable for a dacha where snow removal will not be necessary very often.
The working mechanism remains the same rotary snow blower. The implementation of this project is aimed at manufacturing a traction device - a machine. The motor is taken from an old powerful chainsaw, for example, “Druzhba”. To attach it, you need to weld the frame. There is no need to invent anything complicated here. The snowplow will not be self-propelled, so the frame is welded from four pieces of channel material, and the axle of the wheelset is fixed from below. The motor itself is bolted to the top.
If you want to have a self-propelled snowplow, then you will have to adapt a gearbox to the frame, which will transmit torque from the engine to the wheelset. In this case, you can leave the original sprocket on the chainsaw motor. A similar part is fixed to the axle of the wheelset. Now all that remains is to put on the chain, and you have a direct drive for the snow blower.
Finally, all that remains is to weld the handles to the back of the frame. At the front, a coupling is arranged with a rotary attachment.All working parts of the snow blower are covered with a removable sheet metal casing.
Electric snow blower
To assemble a homemade DIY snow blower with electric motor, work must begin again with the manufacture of the frame. Handles are welded to it. Instead of a wheel pair, a snow blower can be placed on skis, but in some difficult areas such equipment will be harder to push.
The attachment is again a rotary snow blower. A set of pulleys is used to transmit torque to the screw. They are used to assemble a belt drive, which is hidden under a steel protective casing. You can organize a chain drive of a snow blower through sprockets. However, if the mechanism is jammed, there is a risk of the electric motor burning out.
Sometimes craftsmen additionally strengthen the rotor attachment with a fan. An example of such a snow blower is shown in the photo. The fan blades are located inside a round volute with a branch pipe for snow ejection, which is tightly connected to the body of the rotor nozzle. During rotation, the auger scoops up snow and delivers it with blades into the outlet nozzle. The fan impeller behind it draws in the supplied mass, after which it throws it out with a strong stream of air through the outlet sleeve.
It is better to take a three-phase electric motor for a screw machine with a power of at least 1.5 kW. The disadvantage of such a snow blower is that the cable constantly drags and is tied to the electrical panel where the connection is made.
The video shows how to make a snow blower from an electric trimmer:
Conclusion
You can assemble a snow blower from almost any home appliance that has an engine. It is only important to remember that snow is water.Electrical homemade products carry a certain risk of electric shock. It is best to give preference to gasoline engines.
