The homemade snow blower from a chainsaw, trimmer or motor-cultivator

Snow removal with a shovel is quite a laborious process. For its simplification the self-made snow blower can come to the rescue. Having made it, you will not only free yourself from the hard work of clearing the snow, but also save a lot of money without spending on expensive models of units in the factory version.

Variants of designs homemade snow blowers

The main task of the snowthrower is to capture and throw snow masses off.their clusters, for example, from the sidewalk. The snow blowers, made by folk craftsmen, have a different design. But according to the type of snow capture, the models differ by screw and rotary.

Screw aggregate

The main part of the snow removal unit is auger resembling a screw from a meat grinder.

Screw aggregates are of two types.

1. Single stage. Equipped with one screw in the form of spirally arranged knives. Spiral knives consist of two parts and converge in the center where the throwing vanes are located. When the mechanism is moved by the bucket, a layer of snow is cut, which immediately falls under the rotating knives. The latter crushed the snow and moved it to the central part of the hull. Since the blades are located in the center of the auger, they capture the crushed snow and throw it into the nozzle installed in the rear part of the bucket. The higher the speed of rotation of the shaft with blades, the further the snow is thrown. Knives of the screw can be both with an equal edge, and with gear. Knives with a smooth edge are used for cleaning fresh snow, and are often made of conveyor belt. The toothed auger is used if it is required to remove the icy and cakedsnow.
2. Two-stage. This is an upgrade of a snow blower. In his design is also present auger. But for better snow ejection, a rotor is installed at the rear of the bucket, having 2 or more blades. A rotary snow plow works according to the same principle as a single-stage unit, but thanks to the rotor blades, the snow is better ground and thrown a long distance (up to 15 meters). The following figure shows a two-stage type snow blower.

Rotary unit

The rotor type snow blower has the simplest design and consists of a round “snail” case and guide vanes. In the upper part of the body is a sleeve through which snow is thrown.

In the central part of the cochlea is installed rotor with blades. This impeller is driven by the engine (gasoline or electric). The rotor, rotating at high revs, captures the snow, crushes it in the body of the cochlea and throws it out through the sleeve.

Snow throwers, made by craftsmen for the home, can be of two types.

1. Stationary drive. The motor is installed in the unit, after which it becomes a full blower.
2. As a supplement for other units (mini-tractor or motoblock).Therefore, the motor is not installed on these mechanisms. The transfer of rotational motion from the engine to the rotor occurs through a chain or belt drive.

Choose the type of engine

Before you make a manual snowplow, you need to understand which type of engine is better to choose - electric or gasoline.

Electric motor

Electric units differ quiet operation and very easy to maintain. They also do not require any consumables. The only inconvenience of electric devices is the electric cable that constantly interferes with the movement. Of course, you can use the engine that runs from batteries, but the operation time of such a cleaner will be limited by the battery charge level. Therefore, if you are going to make an electric snow blower, know that it can work only within the yard, that is, the range of movement of the unit will be limited by the length of the power cable.

Petrol engine

Petrol snow cleaners are powerful and quite noisy units. They cope with thick snow, including ice.Petrol devices have an advantage over electric ones, not only in power, but also in mobility, since they do not depend on the electrical network. Due to this, the units can be used for cleaning snow drifts on large areas, for example, near the yards of the private sector, in the courtyards of high-rise buildings, on sidewalks, on certain sections of the road, etc. But despite the listed advantages of gasoline vehicles, they also have disadvantages:

• engine maintenance required;
• need regular refueling fuels and lubricants;
• the presence of exhaust gases;
• high noise level during engine operation.

Focusing on the above, you can understand that if you need to clear the yard of a summer house or a small private property from drifts, then it is better to stop at manufacturing an electric snow blower. If it is intended to regularly clear large areas of snow, then a gasoline drive will do the job better than an electric one.

Engine options from other units

To make a snow blower with your own hands, you need to pick up the engine, which will rotate either the auger or the rotor of the unit. If you are going to make a machine with an electric motor,then any asynchronous type electric motor with a capacity of at least 2 kW and a rotational speed from 1500 to 3000 rpm will be suitable as a component of the drive. If you take the engine with less power, it will not cope with thick layers of snow and will stop all the time. In this case, cleaning the shovels with a shovel will be much more efficient.

As a component of the drive, some craftsmen use motors from electric trimmers and chainsaws. You can often find homemade snow blowers made from lawn mowers. But the power of these units is only enough for cleaning fresh and loose snow.

A more powerful version of the driving part of the snow thrower is internal combustion engine (ICE). It can be taken from a chainsaw or gasoline trimmer. Also, the unit for snow removal can be made from a motor-cultivator or a motor-block.

Independent production of the screw

The screw for the snow blower is the main mobile part of the unit which production does not cause difficulties. It is best to use a rubber belt from a conveyor with a thickness of 10 mm and a length of 1.5 m for the manufacture of the auger.. It is necessary to cut out rings from a rubber band in the amount of 4 pieces with a diameter of 28 cm. Parts are easily cut out using an electric jigsaw.

Below are the drawings of all the details of the screw.

As the shaft is taken metal pipe with a diameter of 27 mm. Adapters on which bearings are mounted are fixed to its ends. In the central part of the pipe, a cut is made with a length of 120 mm, into which a central plate will be installed, intended for throwing snow. Also 4 plates are put on and welded to the pipe. Rubber rings will be attached to them and to the central plate. How this is done is clearly seen in the following photo.

For the manufacture of the screw can be applied and a metal strip. But it is preferable to use rubber, because it does not scratch the paving slabs and is not damaged when in contact with a solid obstacle, for example, with a curb or fence.

Making a bucket for the screw

It’s also easy to make a bucket that will serve as a housing for the installation of the auger. For this purpose, usually used roofing iron. In the drawing below, the bucket dimensions are shown.

For bucket sides you can use plywood or OSB board 10 mm thick. The latter option is more suitable for this purpose, since it is more moisture resistant than plywood. Bearings are mounted on the sides of the housing (205s can be installed, closed), and the auger shaft is inserted into them. Bearings must be closed glasses.

Important! When assembling the snowblower, it is necessary to make a small gap, about 2 mm, between the bucket and the auger so that the latter does not touch the hull.

For removal of snow from the bucket, a hole is cut in its upper part. Can be used as a discharge chute plastic sewer pipe with a diameter of 150 mm or another. The main thing is that the diameter of the gutter exceeds the width of the auger blade.

To direct the snow thrown to the side, you can wear a pipe plastic outlet.

The bucket with the screw is mounted on a frame previously made of metal corners (50 x 50 mm) (see the drawing above).To fix the engine on it, the angles of 25 x 25 mm are used.

But this unit can be further improved. Refinement snowthrower is to add to the rear of the sled small wheels. In this case, it will be more convenient to pull the snow thrower back and transport it.

Assembly of a snow blower

Snow assists, which are based on the auger, are the most powerful and able to cope even with icy snow. In addition, the auger is most often used in self-propelled snow machines.

On the basis of a chainsaw

This snowplow is made with its own hands quite simply. Since it will be powered by a chainsaw engine, several additional parts for the chain drive will be required. For these purposes, you can use front and rear sprockets from a motorcycle, as well as a chain from it.

How the frame and screw are made is described above. A long handle is attached to the frame.On the shaft of the screw on the right side there is a large sprocket from the motorcycle, and on the shaft of the chainsaw engine - a small one. Further, the chainsaw is installed on the frame, after which the chain is put on the asterisks and tensioned. To control the engine throttle cable is displayed on the handle attached to the frame.

Below are drawings of homemade products on the chassis, where a chainsaw is used as the main part of the drive.

Based on trimmer

To make a worm snowthrower from an electric trimmer or from benzokosy, you will need to install a gearbox: it will serve to transfer the rotational movement from the trimmer shaft to the auger shaft.

But there is one nuance. The gearbox for this type of unit is quite expensive, and buying it for the manufacture of attachments to the trimmer is impractical. Therefore, on the basis of the latter, rotary-type snow plows are manufactured, which will be discussed later.

On the basis of a motor-cultivator (motoblock)

The simplest addition to the walker is dump for snow.

A self-made snow removal nozzle (shovel) on the motoblock is screwed to the frame of the unit, after which it turns into a small bulldozer.

Below is a diagram in which the structure of the snow blower at the base of the cultivator is clearly visible.

The scheme is decoded as follows.

1. Drive snowthrower connecting the engine with the auger.
2. Caterpillar drive
3. Drive belt
4. Roller (parasitic) to ensure reverse.
5. Intermediate shaft.
6. Roller for belt tension. Thanks to him, the unit is moving forward.

A self-propelled snow blower greatly facilitates snow removal, especially in large areas, where the use of the vehicle on skis, pushed by the operator, requires a lot of physical effort of the latter.

Manufacturing rotor

To make a rotary snow blower, you can use the drawings below.

The material for the manufacture of the rotor and its blades is sheet steel 2 mm thick. The rotor housing is made of roofing iron or from thinner than 2 mm sheet steel. All dimensions of parts are shown in the drawing.

The transfer of rotation from the engine to the rotor shaft can be carried out using belt or chain. Also, an electric trimmer's shaft or benzokos can be connected to the rotor shaft. Fortunately, these units already have an angular gear. The whole structure is mounted on a frame with chassis. As a result, you get a lightweight manual snow blower on wheels.

It should be remembered that the electric snow blower on the basis of the trimmer should not be subjected to heavy loads, because its gearbox may be damaged. The same recommendation applies to the benzokosa, if you decide to collect a snow blower at its base.

A simpler design of the unit, mounted on a frame with runners, can be assembled according to the scheme from the old magazine.

Thanks to the above drawings, the assembly of a snow plow can not cause difficulties for any home craftsman.

Often there are situations when you need to remove the snow in the dark: in this case, the headlight for the snow blower will be a useful addition. If you install the headlamp on the electric snow blower simply enough, then with the units operating from the internal combustion engine, the situation is more complicated: you need to connect to the electrical circuit of the device using special relays andelectronic circuit boards. But there is a way out of this situation. Can be purchased ordinary diode lamp and fasten it to the unit.