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You can’t do without a good shovel in winter, because every now and then you have to clear snow drifts from your front doors, garage doors, cars in an open parking lot, and just garden paths. In one season, you have to remove many tons of snow, which requires a lot of time and effort. But you can make your task easier with the help of a well-chosen tool. After all, there are a huge number of different shovels on sale, the quality and ease of use of which vary. We will try to offer an overview of all possible options, we will note the advantages and disadvantages of various types of this hand tool.
Is a shovel really that simple?
Not many people know that there are about 100 different types of shovels. They differ in their design and material of manufacture. Traditionally a shovel for snow removal was a wide scoop fixed on a handle. Our grandfathers also made this type of hand tool from wood. Wooden snow shovel is still used today. You can buy it or make it yourself. However, such a classic device has long been replaced by more reliable, practical and convenient shovels made of metal and plastic.The manufacturer of snow removal tools tries to improve each specific model, making it more ergonomic. As a result of constant transformation, the design of some shovels has changed significantly; scrapers, engines, dumps, and automated snow blowers have appeared.
Classification of shovels by material
When choosing a shovel, you must first of all pay attention to the material from which the handle and scoop are made. The ease of use and durability of the tool largely depends on the material. To make a scoop, manufacturers often use:
- Plastic. It is the plastic tool that is the easiest and most convenient to use. Snow glides well on its smooth surface and is easily captured and thrown off. Even wet snow does not stick to a plastic shovel. When choosing plastic equipment, you should give preference to durable polycarbonate, which will withstand even strong shocks and frosts down to -400C. Polypropylene tools are not highly durable, but have a relatively low cost. Plastic shovels with a metal or rubber lining on the edge are more reliable and are able to remove snow from paths better.
- Metal. In the manufacture of snow shovels, manufacturers use aluminum, galvanized steel and duralumin. Metal shovels are very reliable and durable, but they are also heavy, which makes the work much more difficult. Aluminum equipment is the lightest among other metal options. Duralumin is superior to analogues in its strength. When interacting with snow, steel shovels produce a characteristic sound, which can irritate the worker.Snow glides well on metal surfaces and even the melted mixture does not linger on their surface. In addition to its significant mass, the tool has another comparative disadvantage: high cost.
- Tree. The surface of a wooden snow shovel is made of plywood. Many craftsmen make this type of instrument with their own hands. Wooden shovels have a relatively low cost and many disadvantages: in wet weather, snow sticks to them, the wood absorbs moisture and becomes heavy. After work, a wooden shovel must be dried. The tool life is short. Manufacturers strive to additionally protect the wooden surface of the scoop with an iron plate on the edge.
By comparing the advantages and disadvantages of materials, you can assess the adequacy of the cost of a particular shovel option. In this case, the cutting material plays an important role. Today, many manufacturers offer not only traditional wooden cuttings, but also lightweight, reliable plastic options. Telescopic and folding structures are modern.
Design features
Having only one snow shovel at home is not rational. For example, it is convenient to remove compacted, heavy snow cover with a tool with a small metal or plastic scoop. For light, freshly fallen snow, shovels with a wide plastic grip, similar to a scraper (engine), are perfect. Only a metal shovel can effectively remove ice from paths. If you use only one type of tool in all the above cases, it will not last long and will not be able to do the job efficiently.
Small snow shovels have a scoop width of approximately 35-50 cm.The plane of the main gripping element can be flat or curved. It is convenient to use shovels with raised edges, which prevent spontaneous sliding of snow. You can deal with ice using the simplest metal shovel with a working width of 30-35 cm. This type of tool is often equipped with a T-shaped handle made of plastic or wood.
It is very convenient to remove freshly fallen snow with a scraper. This type of hand-held snow removal tool features a U-shaped handle and a very wide scoop. With the help of a scraper, or as it is also called a slider, you can rake the snow into a pile, but throwing it, for example, over a fence with the help of such a tool will not be possible. An engine shovel for snow removal can have a working surface width of up to 1 m, which allows you to increase labor productivity when working with a thin layer of fallen snow.
Trying to eliminate the disadvantages of conventional snow shovels and scrapers, manufacturers have come up with a kind of structural hybrid that easily shovels snow and allows it to be thrown aside. You can see such a unique shovel in the picture below:
Mechanized devices
All models of snow shovels proposed above are manual, their work is based only on the use of human labor. But some mechanized devices can simplify the snow removal process:
- A shovel with a rotor allows you to easily cope with even heavy snow drifts.This type of tool is a prototype of an automated snow blower, however, in the case of using a power tool, a person becomes a replacement for the gasoline engine. It is the worker who sets the super-shovel in motion to remove snow, as a result of which the rotor begins to rotate and move the thickness of snow to the side. To ensure that snow clearing work is carried out efficiently, a limiter is installed on one side of the shovel scoop. You can see the design of such a device below:
- A manual bulldozer is a special device for clearing snow at home. It is a rigidly welded structure with 4 wheels, like a cart. At the outer end of the snowplow there is a large-width blade, which, depending on the thickness of the snow cover, can be adjusted by turning in one direction or another. The advantage of a manual bulldozer is that the worker does not have to constantly bend down and lift a heavy shovel. You just need to push a mini bulldozer in front of you and rake the snow into a pile.
- A wheeled shovel is a type of regular scraper. The wheel axle allows you to easily lift the shovel to overcome small obstacles. The disadvantage of the tool is low productivity.
- Shovels for clearing snow on one huge wheel were invented in Europe and, it is worth noting that they are enviably popular there. This new product has not yet reached our stores, but surely someday domestic users will appreciate its advantages.
The essence of the idea is that the worker, without bending his back, moves the structure around the site.In this case, the handle of the shovel is fixed to the wheel axle using a hinge, and as soon as the batch of snow is delivered to the storage location, the person presses the handle and overturns the shovel. The disadvantage of such a shovel is its inability to work with large snow cover.
Thus, the thoughts of inventors make it possible to constantly improve an ordinary shovel, endowing it with greater capabilities and increasing its productivity. If desired, each “Kulibin” will be able to independently make a wooden or metal structure for snow removal. The only thing that is not available for self-production is a plastic shovel, due to the characteristics of the material itself. Some ideas on how to make equipment with a handle with your own hands can be emphasized from the video:
Detailed recommendations will help even a novice craftsman make a high-quality, convenient and reliable tool.
Snow dump on Niva
In some regions of the country, the issue of snow removal is particularly acute. During periods of heavy snowfall, there is not enough cleaning equipment and many streets, and sometimes even entire villages, are blocked by snow drifts. In this case, you can deal with snow using a car and a special blade. Such a device can be designed for any brand of car. The domestic auto industry offers factory-made dumps with reliable mounting on the Niva.
The blade is a shovel, up to 2 m wide. Using a special fastening, it is quickly installed in the regular place of the car. The installation process takes no more than 2 minutes.
This type of dump does not have special lifting devices for dumping snow. The design of the bucket is such that it automatically tips over when the vehicle moves backwards.The cost of such a factory-made shovel for Niva is about 19 thousand rubles. A simple device makes it easy to solve the issue of cleaning roads on your own in small villages.
How to make a dump on a Niva with your own hands
The cost of a special blade is quite high, and not every owner has a Niva, so information on how to make a blade for clearing snow on a car with your own hands can be useful to many craftsmen.
To make a blade you will need:
- One barrel, volume 200 l.
- A 6-meter section of profile pipe, section 20 by 40 mm.
- 2-3 meters of round pipe, 20 mm in diameter.
- A 6-meter section of profile pipe, section 40 by 40 mm.
- Roofing screws and metal screws.
- Conveyor belt.
Having the necessary materials and some tools at hand, you can quickly and easily make a blade as follows:
- Weld the blade frame from the profile. Its width should be greater than the wheel track of the car. An example of a welded frame can be seen in the picture below.
13 - In a 200-liter barrel, cut off the bottom and lid, saw the resulting cylinder in half and slightly bend the resulting planes.
- Use self-tapping screws to attach the metal sheets to the frame.
- Treat the lower edge of the blade with a conveyor belt.
- Using the vehicle, find a possible mounting location for the blade. For example, pieces of a U-shaped profile with holes can be welded to standard car eyes. Each time, as needed, the profile from the dump can be bolted to the welded profile.
When creating a blade, some craftsmen use springs, which soften the impact on the car when interacting with various obstacles, as well as traction, which helps control this design.
Another option for making a blade for a car with your own hands can be seen in the video:
In the video, the specialist will not only give practical recommendations and share his experience, but will also emphasize some particularly important aspects of blade design.
Conclusion
Thus, the variety of models on the market poses a difficult choice task for the buyer. Different design models with different price categories allow you to solve some problems point-by-point. So, even in everyday conditions it will not be possible to use only an aluminum or plastic shovel. In a real owner's shed there is always room for several different types of tools. After all, only in this case will it be possible to perform any type of work as efficiently as possible, while maintaining the integrity and quality of the equipment. We tried not only to emphasize the variety of models and identify the features of materials, but also offered several options for making a shovel yourself. Maybe the hands of another master on the eve of winter will create another new shovel that will meet all the personal requirements of the owner and can easily cope with even the most lush mountains of snow.
