Diy Bike Hiller: How To Do It, What Is Needed For This

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

A simple potato hiller from an old bicycle: do it yourself

Summer is about to come, and most of our free time will be occupied with gardening chores. Surely the main ones are growing potatoes. After all, it is this culture that has become almost the main one in our gardens and tables. This means you know how difficult it is to tuck the rows of potatoes by hand. There are many devices designed to facilitate this work, and one of them is a hiller. You can make it yourself from an old bike.

Content

• 1 How is the hiller used

• 2 Making a hiller from a bicycle

  • 2.1 What materials and tools are needed

  • 2.2 Step-by-step process description

    • 2.2.1 Preparatory phase
    • 2.2.2 Stage of manufacture of the unit
• 3 How else can you use a bicycle to make a hiller
• 4 Video: how to make a hiller-cultivator from an old bicycle with your own hands

How is the hiller used

Those who spud potatoes with their hands know what pains in the back, shoulders, and arms cause long standing in a bent position. Even if you use a relatively comfortable flat cutter with a long handle, it is unlikely to save you from discomfort. Therefore, it is very important during hilling to minimize bending with a long retention of this posture. Whatever they say about the need for physical activity, but gymnastic exercises and work in the garden are very different things. Thanks to its height, the hiller will help you to carry out the work without bending your back. There are many ways to make this device out of the box (not to mention buying a pre-made factory model), but it would be a good idea to keep costs and labor to a minimum. An old bicycle, no longer suitable for performing direct duties, is perfect for this. It has the perfect height, the right shape, the steering wheel is at the right level, and it weighs a little.

An old broken bike is very easy to convert into a useful tool for gardening

Let's take a look at how the manual hiller works.

The main part of the device is a plow, which can be conical or in the form of an arrowhead. It is he who plows the soil, deepening into it by 10-15 cm. The plow blades must be located at a certain angle in order to move the soil apart in the row-spacing to the required width and fill the potato row with the raised soil. The width of this part depends on the width of the rows.

A plow of a suitable shape is the main component of the hiller

The plow is mounted on a bicycle frame with a handlebar. You use the steering wheel to control the machine. And the advancement of the device along the bed is provided by the wheel in front of the frame.

That is, in simple words, the algorithm of actions when working with a hiller looks like this:

• deepening the plow into the ground;
• move it forward with the wheel;

• steer the machine forward and, if necessary, to the sides by steering.

  

  Hilling will be much easier with such a simple and convenient device

The potato will be spud faster, and most importantly, easier than if you did it with glanders, cultivating each bush.

Making a hiller from a bicycle

If you have been friends with the instrument for a long time and bear the proud title of “jack of all trades”, then assembling such a device for you will be nothing more than entertainment for a couple of hours. But a hiller from an old bicycle is so simple that even a beginner can easily do it.

What materials and tools will be needed

Everything you need is probably in your garage. In extreme cases, any component is easy to get anywhere - from friends, neighbors, in a store or in a trash can.

1. The cultivating part, that is, the same plow that plows the soil. If you are dealing with welding, you can weld it with the blades at a suitable angle. Otherwise, it is easier to use a ready-made cultivator section from a tractor.

2. Old bike frame. It's good if she has a wheel and a steering wheel. Well, or you will need to find them separately and connect all these parts.

   

   The bicycle frame will be the body of the future hiller

3. The rubber must be removed from the wheel so that the rim remains bare. The metal cuts well into the ground, providing better stability and making it easier to control the device.
4. You will need bicycle wrenches and wrenches to work.

Step by step description of the process

The production of a hiller consists of several stages.

Preparatory stage

First you need to prepare your bike frame for the next step. Remove the handlebar, saddle, rear wheel and pedals. Free the front wheel from the tire and tube so that only the rim remains.

Disassemble the bike by removing all unnecessary parts from it

Prepare the plow (cultivator) section to mount on the place where the rear wheel was. To do this, weld the fastener to the section.

Unit manufacturing stage

Cut off the rear wheel mount so that only the frame triangle remains. The section of the tractor cultivator is screwed onto the cut off place, close to the area where the pedals were attached. Tighten the nuts securely with a suitable wrench. You may need two such keys: one to hold the bolt, the other to tighten the nut.

Use a bicycle wrench and a wrench at the same time for easier tightening of the nuts

Adjust the projection of the plow section so that it is convenient for you to walk at a certain distance from the machine during hilling. Install a handlebar instead of a saddle and tighten the connection tightly with a bicycle wrench. Adjust the handlebar to your height.

You will also need to tighten the front fork as tight as possible, but it is better to weld it tightly so that it does not turn during the hilling process.

If you do not have a ready-made cultivator section, you can weld it yourself or order it from a specialist welder. In this case, you need to adhere to the rules:

• the width of the hiller should be 2/3 of the width of the row;
• the angle between the welded blades should be about 80–90 ° for the part to grip the ground well.

You can make the work with the hiller even easier if you work in pairs. Place the strap on the front of the machine for the first person to pull while the second person operates the machine. You can also attach a load to the bottom of the hiller so that the plow better cuts into the ground.

How else can you use a bicycle to make a hiller

The above method is not the only one. You can make a hiller out of a front bicycle wheel with a fork. You will need two more pieces of metal pipe, welded at an obtuse angle. A bicycle handlebar is attached to a long tube from above. It is also better to weld it for reliability. At the junction of two pipes, a cultivator is attached from below.

Making a hiller out of the front wheel of a bicycle is even easier

You can also make a tricycle hiller for children. To do this, remove the seat and unscrew the front wheel. But for this option, a ready-made cultivator from a tractor is not suitable. It will be better if you weld the blades at a certain angle on the inside of the frame next to the wheels. This design is intended for movement not along the aisle, but along the row.

Video: how to make a hiller-cultivator from an old bicycle with your own hands

As you can see, gardening worries can be significantly reduced, and you can easily make a hiller, which will become your assistant, yourself. In addition, you will also attach old, already unusable things, making them a useful device. And if you have time to make the appropriate replaceable attachments, then the hiller can be used as a cultivator, or weed and loosen the beds. Good luck!