The self-made winch is designed to facilitate heavy manual labor during soil cultivation and can replace any walk-behind tractor or cultivator. With its help, you can plow the land for the beds, plant harrow, huddle, dig up potatoes.
Agricultural winch allows you to carry out a full cycle of soil cultivation when growing potatoes. The machine contributes to the conservation and maintenance of soil fertility, which leads to maximum yield.
In the distant 90s, a winch for plowing was created on the basis of the engine from the Ural, Druzhba chainsaw, it has served faithfully to this day. The changes and improvements were mainly related to the plow. The video below clearly shows these changes. Gradually the idea came to create an electrical analogue. And that's what happened, see the video and photos below.
A winch was made - a walk-behind tractor from scrap materials using standard publicly available parts and conventional materials (electric motor 2.2 kW 1500 rpm, pipes, corners, sprockets and chains from motor vehicles).
Electric plowing winch
The motor is used three-phase and is connected to a single-phase 220 V. This power is enough for plowing, hilling, digging out potatoes. If you buy a motor for a single-phase network, you can plow virgin soil. And in my modification, for plowing virgin lands, I used a block that reduces the plowing speed by half, but also increases the effort.
A single-phase motor costs more than 10,000 rubles. We are talking about the city of Smolensk, therefore a 3-phase one was installed. In addition, people who were faced with rewinding a single-phase motor faced big problems. In practice, a 3-phase motor is more reliable - it can work continuously for years.
The principle of operation of an agricultural hoist consists in sequential plowing of the land with the return of the plow to the beginning of the furrow. It is desirable to carry out the work together, but if necessary, it is possible to do it alone. In this case, it is possible to apply fertilizers (humus) directly into the furrow.
It even plows sod (virgin soil). At first, a classic home-made plow with handles was used, which required the initial skills of a plowman and weighed a couple of kilograms more than the modernized one.
Electric and petrol winch
(the wheels on the winch are used only for transportation on the site)
Parts that need to be turned on a lathe or bought from a motorcycle parts store.
Homemade winch with a plow, for plowing the garden, photo and description of homemade products.
This home-made electric winch for plowing a vegetable garden was made in the 90s. During that period, there was a great need to develop land plots (the salary at the plant was delayed and there was not much money).
On the other hand, any detail at the factory could be machined for almost nothing. So the idea arose to improve and facilitate the labor of the rural worker by means of small mechanization.
It was decided to make an adaptation of a winch with a plow for plowing the land.
The design is made as follows: an electric geared motor is fixed on a metal frame with a start-stop unit. The motor-reducer rotates the drum with a wound cable (cable thickness 6 mm), and at the end of the 50-meter cable there is a hook which in turn pulls the plow.
This device uses the principle of a winch. The process of work is as follows: we carry the plow to a certain distance, then turn on the winch and pull the plow, plowing the ground by one furrow.
The plowing process must be done together, one holds the plow, and the second controls the winch and holds it by means of a crowbar stuck into the ground.
We named this device with a winch "BUDULAY". The engine is combined with a gearbox and the power is 800 watts, the power is three-phase 380 volts, button control (press-turn on, release-stop).
Nameplate of the motor-reducer.
Homemade plowing motor winch- one of the units that are very common in our area. Every self-respecting owner tries to have such a thing. Moreover, to use it not only for plowing, but also for other economic needs.
main part homemade motor winch is the engine. The choice of suitable domestic engines is not very wide. Engines from the "Minsk" motorcycle, from the "Electron" scooter have gained sincere recognition, the "Ural" and "Druzhba" motor-saws are used. The choice of such engines is due to their prevalence and cheapness, many engines migrate from the old, already decommissioned equipment, and live out their remaining century well. 
Engine power must be at least 2-3 horsepower (Druzhba chainsaw), the engine must be high-torque and must start well.
Electron motors have not been produced for a very long time; they are convenient in that they have forced cooling. But the engines from the "Tourist" scooter are no longer running, the winch turns out to be very heavy. 
Minsk engines fit optimally. They are not very heavy, they start, as they say, with a half-shot and are very common in rural areas.
The main homemade winch assemblies are the frame, traction drum and lugs. Usually the frame is welded from steel tube or square steel profile 25 x 25 mm. You can use an old motorcycle frame by cutting and welding it in a different configuration. 
The cable drum is often made from the rear wheel hub of a motorcycle. It already has an axle, bearings, drive gears. You can make a drum from a pipe, but it's a little more complicated.
The gas tank is usually used small, usually from a chainsaw. It already has a faucet with a sump and mounting points. Ignition is standard from a motorcycle. 
The usual position of the motor winch operator when plowing is standing on the lug, holding the steering wheel, the right hand controls the throttle valve - just like on a motorcycle. The gears are turned on either with a standard foot lever, or a manual lever is welded on.
The plow speed during plowing is 4-8 km per hour, therefore the diameter of the drum and the gear are selected in such a way that there are enough revolutions when working in first gear. With a long section and light soil, you can work in second gear. 
With large lengths of the section, the winch is usually muffled while dragging the plow, if the section is small, then the engine does not turn off, but works constantly for some time. This is relevant because Minsk engines do not have forced cooling. Plowing practice shows that the usual intensity of a motor winch allows you to do without additional cooling. 
As lugs, paddles or pins are used, welded to the U-shaped lever, on which the footrest is made. The lug is usually spring loaded for ease of use. Practice shows that when installing a motor winch on a boundary overgrown with solid turf, it is much more convenient to use lugs based on metal pins - they easily enter the ground and hold the winch well. 
For complete convenience, you can attach a long lever with a saddle handle to the lug, and sit on it while plowing, while pressing down on the lugs with the fifth point.
Electric winches are practiced on their home plots. For electric winches for plowing an electric motor of at least 2 kW is needed, asynchronous motors are quite heavy, and most of them require a three-phase network, which is not very convenient. Lighter single-phase electric motors are collector motors. The most applicable electric motors from an electric saw, they are powerful, lightweight, have a gearbox and mount, and are well adapted to a winch. Engines from the Parma chainsaw are very often used, since it is very dangerous for work and now there are many good imported equipment, and the outdated Parma is used for the winch. 
The most common vertical design of a motor winch with an engine from the "Minsk" motorcycle (photo 1a, b) is made by local craftsmen even to order. The winch frame is made of a steel square section (from old tables and desks). The drum is located under the engine at the bottom, the engine along the way, is fixed above the drum. 
The high location of the engine makes it difficult to switch gears by foot, therefore, a manual lever is often made in this design (photo 1b). The winch takes up little space and can be carried in the trunk of a car. A similar winch (photo 2a) is made on a frame made of circular steel pipes with an engine from the Voskhod motorcycle, another one is similar (photo 2b) with lugs in the form of blades. 
Interesting winch design(photo 3a, b) about the same layout, but with a more spacious frame. For ease of movement during plowing and travel to the plowing site, a wheel is attached to the frame on one side, and a large steel arc on the other. Such a winch takes up more space, but is more convenient for transportation. 
Another design of a motor winch (photo 4a, b) is the so-called reverse. It is based on the motorcycle frame, so the engine is located towards the operator, and the drum stands in place of the rear wheel. The standard muffler is also used, the steering wheel in the fork is turned in the opposite direction. Gears are engaged with the right foot. This design is longer and lower, but requires less welding. An interesting feature of this winch is forced cooling using a 12 volt electric fan powered by a standard motorcycle generator (photo 4b - the fan to the right of the gas tank). 
For several years, the Kotlass Electromechanical Plant has been producing winches for use with the Druzhba and Ural chainsaws as consumer goods (photo 5a, b). A double chain drive is used as a reducer. The design is small and light. The winch is not very expensive, since it does not contain a standard engine, but each has its own chainsaw, and is popular. As a comment, it was stated that the diameter of the traction drum is too small. 
When the Parma electric saw is installed on such a winch (photo 6a, b), the design is even more compact and lighter. The power of the winch is enough for plowing vegetable gardens on light soils. In general, for plowing heavy soils with sod, stubble, virgin areas, it is necessary to reduce the working width and plowing depth by adjusting the plow, and hold the plow with your hands during the passage, otherwise it strives to jump out of the furrow or burrow into the sod. Then either the cable bursts, if it is thin, which is very sad, or turns the winch out of the ground together with the operator, which is much better, the equipment remains intact. 
An interesting design of a completely homemade electric winch is shown in photo 7a, b.
The unit is solid, three-phase asynchronous motor 3kW. For ease of movement, the winch is equipped with long handles and a wheel. If it is necessary to plow a plot far from the power grid, there is an adapter for installing a chainsaw (photo 7b). 
The main feature of this winch is the presence of a radio remote control system (the antenna connector is visible on the connection box at the top left). The remote control system allows the owner to use the winch for numerous household needs, whether it is hauling timber, lifting weights, etc. The winch is equipped with an easily removable saddle handle (photo 8a), which is inserted into a socket-tube welded to the lug. 
There are many original designs of motor winches, our Russian homebrew constructors do not sit idle (the finished frame for the winch is in photo 8b). A low-budget design approach is associated with low rural incomes. Currently, cool units on imported engines began to appear, again mostly semi-handicraft, made in small batches. 
Factory motor winches rarely appear on sale, and their consumer qualities leave much to be desired. Usually, the factory unit is altered for themselves, leaving the base and improving some components, or they are used in a non-standard version. For example, there are winch designs based on a walk-behind tractor. The walk-behind tractor is placed on the base; instead of one of the wheels, a traction drum is put on. Moreover, in the transport position, the walk-behind tractor carries itself and the plow is still in the cart. 
Another interesting compact design of the electric winch (photo 9a, b) is produced by one of the state of emergency in the city of Kotlas. A very successful design solution for this winch is a planetary gearbox inside the traction drum, which made it possible to minimize the size and weight of the winch. Now the whole unit looks like it consists of two parts: the engine and the drum, mounted on a closed frame with retractable handles. The low weight of the winch allows the easy-to-remove lugs to be attached directly to the main frame. 
From a single-phase 2.2 kW motor there is a chain transmission to a gear mounted on the primary shaft of the gearbox, coaxial with the drum shaft, which is the secondary shaft of the gearbox. Such a construction of the power circuit makes it possible to install a 4-stroke imported gasoline engine instead of an electric motor without changing the transmission. The lever (photo 9a) is used to disconnect the drum from the gearbox (cable unwinding mode) ..
The design of a motor winch powered by an engine from a "Tourist" or "Ant" scooter is shown in photo 10a, b. 
This engine is very famous, the T-200, with forced cooling. The ignition can be easily converted to a tractor magneto, which allows you to do without a battery. Starts up very well, quite pulling. Often used on homemade caracats. As noted above, its disadvantage for a motor winch is its weight. But the motor winch turned out to be quite technological, although a little heavy. 
For better sliding of the cable, this motor winch uses steel vertical rollers on bearings. This prevents the drum cable from rubbing when the motor winch is inaccurately installed. 
Pin lugs, the gas tank is taken from an old moped.
The operation of this motor winch with a hiller is demonstrated in the video.
A variant of a motor winch on the Lifan engine is shown in photo 11a, b. The design is almost the same as in photo 9, the frame is slightly enlarged to allow the installation of the engine. The lug with a spatula, rigidly attached to the frame, in the transport position is turned upside down with the spatula. 
Throttle control - with a shifter, engine power 5.5 hp. Reducer - planetary inside the drum. The motor winch is configured as much as possible for ease of transportation, it may be somewhat to the detriment of convenience when plowing. Such winches are produced by LLC "Moris" in Kotlas.
Well, finally, recently (September 2012) I saw a factory motor winch for plowing in a shop in Koryazhma (photo 12a, b). The winch is manufactured at a plant in Izhevsk. The layout is excellent, the handlebars are comfortable, move out from the transport position to the working position. Lugs are small shoulder blades. The engine is 4-stroke imported with a capacity of 5-7 hp. Double reducer - belt plus chain. Clutch - by belt tension, as on cultivators, is activated by a pedal. It looks like a decent unit. There are no reviews yet, I have not yet seen this mechanism in practice.
Plows, hillers and various land cultivation devices are the topic of a separate article.
