muddstopper
Veteran Member
After reading this thread, http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/282805-potato-digger.html. I decided to see what kind of tater digger I could come up with. I have a old toybuilt horse tiller without and engine I think will be good to experiment with. the tiller tines are 21in wide, so that is the width I plan on making the sifter. To make the sifter shake. I will attach a pulley to where the tines originally attached. This shaft is tapered, but I already know that the brass worm gear and bearings are just pressed on internally, so what I plan to do is just make another shaft, without the taper to put my pulley on. I'll make it a belt drive to the sifter box because of the dirt that will most likely get in it when digging. Since this particular troybuilt doesnt have the pto option, and the tines turn when the wheels turn all the time. I will make some sort of tensioner puller so I can disengage the sifter box when its not digging.
I am not sure how fast the sifter box needs to vibrate, but it seems the tiller worm gear is about 14:1 off the engine. I am just going to do another 2 to 1 reduction in gearing to start with, unless someone has some sort of ideal just how fast the sifter box needs to shake to clean the dirt from the tater and rocks. I think I will use a shaft at the top of the sifter with a cam type offset and connecting rod to make the box shake. Havent got all that figured out yet. I could use a good picture or two of this type of setup if anybody happens to have one.
Thinking is making my head hurt, and its to hot in the shop anyways. Think I will make a run to the metal supply and see what kind of cutoffs I can pickup for this project. Got to find an engine as well, so I guess a trip to the mower shop is in order also.
I am not sure how fast the sifter box needs to vibrate, but it seems the tiller worm gear is about 14:1 off the engine. I am just going to do another 2 to 1 reduction in gearing to start with, unless someone has some sort of ideal just how fast the sifter box needs to shake to clean the dirt from the tater and rocks. I think I will use a shaft at the top of the sifter with a cam type offset and connecting rod to make the box shake. Havent got all that figured out yet. I could use a good picture or two of this type of setup if anybody happens to have one.
Thinking is making my head hurt, and its to hot in the shop anyways. Think I will make a run to the metal supply and see what kind of cutoffs I can pickup for this project. Got to find an engine as well, so I guess a trip to the mower shop is in order also.