We make a spiral grater with our own hands. How to make a do-it-yourself vegetable cutter for livestock from improvised materials Do-it-yourself manual vegetable grater

Feed cutter is a simple and very convenient unit, which is indispensable for anyone who has a large number of livestock and poultry.

Designed for grinding various vegetables, herbs and grains, the unit can be not only factory-made, but also made independently.

At the same time, a do-it-yourself feed cutter may not be inferior to purchased counterparts in terms of reliability and performance. You can make it quite simply and quickly from almost any improvised materials.

Device and principle of operation

The main components of a homemade feed cutter are:

  • Receiving tray, or hopper, - a structural element located above the working chamber (on the side of it) and serving for laying the crushed feed raw materials (grass, vegetables, fruits, grains).
  • Working chamber with a knife rotating inside it– in this part of the feed cutter, the raw materials are crushed by the sharp edges of the moving knives.
  • Power unit (motor)- designed to give the knife-chopper a high speed of rotation. As it is most often used an electric motor from any electrical appliance (washing machine, juicer).
  • Outlet pipe, or tray for crushed feed,- is located, as a rule, in the lower part of the working chamber and serves to divert the result of the feed chopper into a container placed under them.

However, in some cases, this design is simplified due to the lack of materials and the need for rapid production, as a result of which the raw materials are placed directly into the working chamber and the crushed feed is subsequently poured out of it.

A simple, but at the same time quite productive home-made grass cutter from an electric tool such as a drill can be made as follows:

  1. A hole with a diameter of 12 mm is made in the middle of the seat of a simple wooden stool.
  2. A UPC 201 bearing assembly is attached to the wooden narrow end of a 20 × 40 mm wooden block.
  3. The bar, together with the bearing assembly, is attached to the back of the stool seat. In this case, the inner hole of the bearing and a similar hole drilled in the seat of the stool must completely coincide (be coaxial).
  4. A galvanized 12-liter bucket with a 12 mm hole drilled in the center of its bottom is fixed on a stool using short self-tapping screws.
  5. A shaft for a grass cutter knife is made from a durable rod with a diameter of 12 mm. To do this, an M12 thread is cut at one of its ends, after which. Having inserted it with the other end through the holes in the bottom of the bucket and the seat of the stool, they are pressed into the bearing. In this case, the length of the threaded rod protruding inside the bucket should be no more than 10-15 mm. The length of the lower end is selected taking into account the size of the drill used: it must be such that when the shaft is clamped in the chuck of a vertically installed tool, it rests on the floor and is stable.
  6. A diamond-shaped knife 10-180 mm long and 35-40 mm wide is cut out of durable tool steel.
  7. Narrow and butt ends of the knife are subjected to one-sided sharpening.
  8. The knife is mounted on the working shaft and fixed with a nut.

As a drive for such a grass cutter, a simple drill with a power of 850-1000 W is used. The crushed grass is loaded with the drive turned on in small portions, while the container must be closed with a lid.

After the working chamber of the grass cutter is filled with chopped feed, tilting the stool with a bucket, it is poured into a more capacious container.

Important! If there is no metal bucket available, in no case should it be replaced with a plastic one - such a seemingly profitable and simple way out of this situation can lead to disastrous consequences in the future. The fact is that when the knife is destroyed, this material will not be able to protect the person next to it from metal fragments flying at high speed.

Homemade crusher of apples, potatoes, tomatoes


The assembly technology for fodder vegetables and fruits consists of the following steps:

  1. Making a working chamber - any old digestion is suitable for this. A hole is made in the center of its bottom, and a rectangular window is cut on the side, to which a small box is welded.
  2. A disk with a diameter of 15-20 mm less than at the bottom of the working chamber is cut out of metal with a thickness of 3 mm.
  3. A hole is made in the center of the cut disk.
  4. Stepping back from the central hole and the edges of the disk by 20-30 mm, 4 oval-shaped slots for knives are made on the disk. The angle between two adjacent slots should be 900.
  5. According to the size of the slots, 4 blanks are made from a corner of 30 × 30 mm. In the outer plane of one of the shelves of the corners, 2 oblong adjustment holes are drilled. The distance between them is measured and recorded.
  6. The blanks from the corners of the shelves are welded to the side of the oblong slots. In this case, the adjustment holes should be located on the outer plane of the shelf that faces directly to the slot.
  7. To divert the crushed feed from the tank to the receiving tray, two rubber elastic strips are also attached to the lower surface of the disk.
  8. 4 knives with one-sided sharpening are made from a rapid blade. Letting them go on fire, they drill 2 holes in them. In this case, the distance between them is equal to the same value between the adjusting holes on the corners.
  9. A frame with legs is welded from the corner.
  10. A tank is welded to the frame.
  11. Next to the tank on the frame, using 2-3 bolts, fix the engine with a power of 500-700 watts. A seam (driven) is fixed on the motor shaft before it is installed on the frame.
  12. A shaft for a disk with knives is made from a strong rod. At one end, a thread is cut, at the other - a groove for a key connection.
  13. The disk with knives is mounted on the shaft.
  14. The shaft is inserted into a hole in the bottom of the tank.
  15. A second pulley (leading) is attached to the end of the shaft.
  16. The pulleys are connected by a belt.
  17. At the end of the stand is mounted on / off button of the engine.
  18. The engine is connected to the button and to the electrical network.
  19. To eliminate the need for human participation in the process of grinding the raw materials put into the devices, a special stop-bar is attached to the inner wall of its tank, resting against which, the raw materials will be crushed faster by the disk knives.
  20. To prevent electric shocks, the feed cutter frame is grounded.

With the help of such a device, you can chop not only tomatoes, but even harder and denser apples, watermelons.


You can make a simple, but at the same time very productive and convenient feed cutter from an angle grinder (grinder) using the following technology:

  1. The frame of an old aquarium of 40-50 liters is thoroughly cleaned of rust, if necessary, welded.
  2. Inside one of the ends of the frame, a pyramidal receiver of chopped feed is welded in with a hole in the lower part (it has a truncated top).
  3. A plate is cut out of thick metal according to the dimensions of the end part, a hole is made in the center of it for the shaft of the grinder gearbox. Also, to load raw materials, a window is made in the plate, to which a funnel-shaped hopper or a large-diameter pipe (80-100 mm) is welded.
  4. A trapezoidal knife is made from tool steel.
  5. The angle grinder shaft is inserted into the hole in the plate, a knife is fixed on it with the help of a lower support washer and a fixing nut.
  6. Platinum is fixed at the end of the frame with 4-6 bolts.
  7. The body of the grinder is attached to the plate with a bracket.

When working on such a feed cutter, raw materials - various vegetables, fruits, grains - is placed in a funnel-shaped hopper and, under the influence of gravity, gradually falls onto a knife rotating at high speed, which grinds them.

Ready feed enters the pyramidal receiver and pours out through its truncated top into a container placed under the feed chopper.

Important! The finer and better the feed is crushed, the better it will be eaten by a pet (cow, pigs, rabbits) or a bird (chickens, ducks).


The manufacture of a powerful and compact feed cutter from an old gas cylinder is as follows:

  1. All gas is drained from the old cylinder.
  2. Using a hacksaw for metal, the upper part of the cylinder is cut off.
  3. From a thick-walled pipe with a diameter of 50-60 cm of fittings number 12 (diameter 12 mm) and corners, a frame is welded with 3 legs and 6 amplifiers connecting the frame in the upper and lower parts.
  4. A 2-2.5 kW 3-phase motor is placed on the frame so that its shaft is facing upwards.
  5. A hole is drilled in the center of the bottom of the cylinder, a window and a tray for ready-made chopped feed are drilled on the side.
  6. In a similar way, as in the case of a vegetable crusher, a disk with 2 knives is made.
  7. The disc is connected to the motor shaft with a rod of the required length.
  8. The motor is connected to the network through a starter.
  9. A bolt is welded to one of the lower frame reinforcements to connect the unit to the ground loop.

Such a feed chopper, unlike those described above, has a very large engine power, which directly affects how much electricity it will consume. However, since its operation time, even when the tank is fully loaded, does not exceed 5-7 minutes, the electricity consumption will not be too large.


The design of such a homemade device consists of:

  • Tank from an activator-type washing machine (top-loading, without a rotating drum).
  • A two-blade sharp chopper knife mounted on the activator shaft instead of a water mixing disc.
  • A tray for chopped feed, which is a continuation of the expanded drain hole of the tank, with a pipe inserted into it with a diameter of 50-60 mm.
  • Square frame with 4 legs.
  • An engine connected to the chopper shaft by means of a V-belt drive (two pulleys and a belt).
  • Engine start buttons.
  • Cable for connecting the feed chopper to the network.

In order for the raw materials crushed in such a feed cutter to not fly out of the tank during the operation of the unit, it is covered with a lid.

Benefits of DIY Feed Choppers

The main advantages of homemade feed choppers are:

  • Cheap and relatively easy to manufacture. A do-it-yourself feed chopper will cost 3-5 times cheaper than a factory counterpart, while saving from 4,000 to 7,000 rubles.
  • High performance. Such units can grind up to 100-150 kg of raw materials per hour.
  • Ease of repair and improvement. A homemade feed chopper can be improved very simply.
  • High-quality grinding of the laid feed. The high speed of rotation of sharp knives allows the units to crush all the raw materials put into them with sufficient quality and uniformity.

The main disadvantage of such units is their noise. – knives rotating at a speed of at least a thousand revolutions per minute, grinding the feed, make a very loud noise.

Conclusion

Homemade feed cutter - a convenient and practical device that has earned not a single positive review among the craftsmen who made and used them.

Distinguished by high productivity and high-quality grinding of the raw materials put into it, it has a cost price several times lower than purchased counterparts, which will allow you to keep a household (chickens, rabbits, geese) at no extra cost.

Grinding even a dozen carrots on a manual grater is a laborious task, but if you need to prepare pet food, process a lot of vegetables and fruits? I got out of the situation with a simple electric grater. I used an electric motor with a power of about 200 W, with a nominal shaft speed of 1400 rpm. (A motor from a household electric grinder is quite suitable; you can also use a three-phase asynchronous one, with a capacitor circuit for connecting to a single-phase network.)

The working body of the grater is a round steel disc with a thickness of 1.5 and an outer Ø300 mm. The cutting edges in the disc are formed by extruding the edges of holes Ø8 mm drilled in the disc in mutually perpendicular directions. Each row contains 5 holes spaced 16 mm apart, and offset in the radial direction with respect to the adjacent row by 1/2 interval. Thus, two groups of cutting edges are obtained, completely covering the working area with a width of 80 mm. To obtain a different degree of grinding, a disc with holes of a different diameter will be required. The rigidity of the disk in the axial direction is reinforced by double rolling of the edge, and from the back side by the radial installation of four steel or duralumin corners.

It is more convenient to fix the disk on the motor shaft on the landing sleeve. Four short bolts are screwed into its flange from the inside, on the cylindrical shanks of which, like pins, a grating disk is mounted. The sleeve is fixed on the shaft with a radial bolt, the shank entering the keyway, and the axial bolt through the clamping washer. The direction of rotation of the motor shaft is counterclockwise.

1 - loading wedge, 2 - hopper, 3 - front side of the casing, 4 - connecting strip of the casing, 5 - grater disk, 6 - bearing sidewall of the casing, 7 - electric motor, 8 - table, 9 - cutter

1 - hopper, 2 - loading wedge, 3 - sidewall, 4 - casing, 5 - bearing sidewall of the casing, 6 - motor flange, 7 - stiffening angle, 8 - grater disc, 9 - disc mounting bolt (4 pcs.), 10 - radial bolt fixing the bushing, 11 - axial bolt, 12 - motor shaft, 13 - disc washer, 14 - bushing.

The casing of the grater consists of two plywood plates 10 mm thick, a hole for the shaft is cut in one of them, and a loading window in the second. The latter goes into a bunker, bent from a metal sheet, and equipped with a wooden wedge - for the safe supply of root crops to a rotating disk. The sides of the casing are connected along the perimeter with a metal strip so that an exit window is formed from below.

It is best to mount the casing directly on the engine housing, but if it does not have a mounting flange, then the bearing sidewall should be firmly fixed on the horizontal engine support - a small stable table. On his working board it is useful to attach a cutter for preliminary grinding of fruits.

If you have domestic large and small livestock on the farm, then you will certainly need a feed cutter, you can make it quite simply with your own hands.

Work technology

In order to make a feed cutter, it is necessary to prepare a bucket, the volume of which is approximately equal to 8 liters. He will need to beat off the bow and cut the bottom using a chisel. Slots should be made in it, the width of which should not exceed 1 centimeter, this figure will depend on what size the output product is expected to receive. You need to arrange the holes in a checkerboard pattern. Using a punch, you can bend these slots so that their lower part is even, while the upper part is rounded. This will be the notch for cutting vegetables.

When a do-it-yourself feed cutter is made, the bucket will need to be circled at both ends with metal strips, which should be fixed with rivets. To these strips, one strip should be attached by welding, each of which should have holes. Their diameter should be equal to 10 millimeters, they are needed in order to drag metal rods through them. It will be necessary to go around the edges of the bucket, which will strengthen the structure.

If a feed cutter is made with your own hands, then at the next stage you need to bend the handles, put them on their straight ends

Final works

At the last stage, you will need to make a wooden stand, at this it will be possible to assume that the feed cutter is ready. An oversized table can act as this element, the front part of which must be strengthened 5 cm lower than the back, this is necessary so that the feed falls out more easily after grinding. You need to put a box on the table, which is useful for laying vegetables in it, while under the feed cutter it is worth installing a tray and a trough that will need to be brought to some dishes.

By turning the handle, you will engage the cutter in the box, while the cuts will accumulate in the central part of the bucket. Due to the fact that it has the appearance of a cone, the feed will go to the front, and then to the tray. At the last stage, the food can be moved to the substituted dishes. When a do-it-yourself feed cutter is made, care must be taken that the walls of the box are set at an angle of 35 degrees with respect to the middle part of the bucket. If, when cutting, the vegetables clamp the bucket, then it will be quite difficult to scroll it. In this case, it will be necessary to increase the angle of inclination of the box, while if the root crops are cut poorly, then, on the contrary, it will need to be reduced.

An alternative way to make a feed cutter

A homemade feed cutter can be made on the basis of an electric motor. To carry out the work, you need to prepare a large steel tank, which can be homemade or purchased. If you intend to make such a structure yourself, then you will need to find a sheet of galvanized steel, the thickness of which is 1 millimeter. The height of the workpiece can be equal to 350-600 millimeters. Due to the fact that the material is quite thin, the rigidity of the structures should be increased by flanging the edges of the barrel with a rubber tube, which acts as a edging.

If you will make a feed cutter with your own hands, the drawings should be considered very carefully before starting work. In the lower part of the case, you need to weld or install with screws a metal bottom, which is made of steel, the thickness of which is 5 mm. First you need to make a hole for installing the shaft of the electric motor and fixing the stand. It is preferable to use a single-phase electric motor; it can be borrowed from an old washing machine.

If you will be doing a do-it-yourself feed cutter from a washing machine, then a hole for the exit of the finished feed can be cut in the place where the bottom and side wall meet. On the hinges below, you need to strengthen the tray, which will look like a box. In order for the structure to be stable, it must be equipped with four inclined legs, which are made using metal pipes. They need to be welded to the bottom of the tank and the support slide, which can be made from blanks cut from pipes.

Features of the manufacture of additional elements of the feed cutter

The most important part of the design is the cutter knives; this component can be made with your own hands. There should be two of them, they are based on a two-handed saw blade, you can use metal popliteal strips, the thickness of which should be equal to 1 millimeter. The knife located below should have a pointed edge, curved like a propeller. Its main purpose is tossing stems that turned out to be undercut. After that, the feed falls on the upper knife. The surface of the working knife should be well sharpened and have cutting edges, the ends of which are preferably bent down, so they will cut better.

A home-made feed cutter with your own hands is carried out according to a technology that involves the assembly of knives, these works are not particularly difficult, you will need to prepare the metal parts of the hub on a lathe in advance. The latter, together with the key, will need to be put on the motor shaft.

Launch of the design and features of work

When the homemade feed cutter is ready, its motor can be turned on and the damper closed. Root crops and grass, as well as stems in a small portion, will need to be thrown into the inlet, which is located in the lid. Rotating knives will quickly turn the mass into a homogeneous mixture. Depending on what the degree of grinding should be, it is necessary to leave the feed inside the hopper. On average, it will take about 6 seconds to get the finished feed. If the root crops are large enough, it will take five times more time. After the work has been completed, the damper must be opened and, with the engine running, release the mass from the inlet.
When a do-it-yourself feed cutter is made from a washing machine, you need to ensure the safety of work, for this you need to mount a conical cover on the bunker, which should have holes. For this, it is preferable to use galvanized. In order for the cover not to be dangerous, it can be protected with a rubber tube, which is to be cut along.

You have probably seen graters that cut vegetables / fruits in a spiral. Today I will show you how to make a spiral vegetable grater at home. Of course, it would be easier to buy it, but if you are a real master, then you will do everything yourself. Moreover, the process is very easy.

We will need:

  1. Hacksaw for metal
  2. PVC pipe
  3. Blade from a utility knife

Manufacturing process

First of all, we retreat 10-20mm from the end of the pipe and make an incision to the middle of the pipe. We select the notch angle individually, because the thickness of the cutting products will depend on it.

We clean the place of the cut from the inside and outside with a clerical burr knife. We measure another 20-25 mm from the incision and cut it off. We also clean the burrs with a clerical knife. It should look something like this:

Do not forget about hygiene: we process this blank with alcohol, the blade of a clerical knife must be boiled for 10-15 minutes, lubricated with vegetable oil so that the blade does not rust in the future. And finally ... we insert the blade, make marks with a marker and with the help of wire cutters we bite off everything superfluous. In order for the blade not to pop out, we drip a couple of drops of hot glue.

Now you need to check the performance of the spiral grater. We take a cucumber, insert it from the side that is longer, because this part serves as a guide and start scrolling. Turns out not bad!

Grinding of roughage for animals is carried out for several reasons. Firstly, such food is much better eaten by animals and birds, because rigid structures are interrupted during processing. Secondly, small particles of food are better digested and absorbed by the body. And thirdly, this can be mixed with protein and protein supplements until smooth, which increases their effectiveness.

Grinding of coarse raw materials is carried out using a special feed grinder.

1 The principle of operation of the device

The feed chopper, depending on the model, differs in its design and features of operation. The basic principle of operation for all types of grinders is the same:

  1. The grain prepared for processing is loaded into the receiving bunker or receiving opening for small household models.
  2. Further, under gravity, it enters the working area, where the crushing process begins. The crushing mechanism can be single-tier or multi-tier. In the first case, the grain passes through one section with crushing elements. In the second option, there are several such sections, each of which increases the degree of crushing.
  3. Processed raw materials pass through a system of conveyors and are discharged into a special container or into an additional bunker of the device.

Hammer, cutting (knives) or grater elements act as crushing parts. In some embodiments, combinations of several systems are used. We also note that this device is used on the farm as. This is necessary when necessary, and the fraction of the purchased feed is too large.

1.1 What does the universal feed chopper consist of?

The universal model is an example of using two grinding elements in one device. It uses . Such a machine consists of a power frame necessary to stabilize vibrations from the machine and ensure stability, and a body with a feed hopper, a working area and a conveyor mechanism.

Inside the body of the device are two cylindrical chambers. Inside the first chamber is located, which conducts the primary. The second cylinder acts as a housing for the cutting machine. The basis for it is a knife, shaped like a propeller. It is attached to the cylinder body. This body provides further grinding of raw materials that have already passed the hammer mill.

Both cylinders are interconnected by a channel that guides the raw material. The channel has a square section. Its side walls have a movable fastening, and they are overlapped. This allows for a good level of feed throughput without loss and without corrosion of the channel from different vibration frequencies of the two mechanisms.

Not all universal grinders are equipped with a feed hopper. The household ikb feed chopper is only equipped with an inlet that leads directly to the work area. The same is true for recycled product containers. For example, elikor is a compact model that feeds chopped feed into a substituted container. Do-it-yourself devices work in the same way.

2 Types of grinders

Depending on the type of processed raw materials, all crushing devices are divided into:

  • machines for processing and straw;
  • root cutters;

2.1 Universal feed chopper Artmash (video)


2.3 Homemade grinder

Making a feed cutter with your own hands is not a difficult task, as evidenced by the reviews of craftsmen on the Internet. But even here you should immediately clearly define the type of device. For example, roughage is not suitable for working with cereals. The root cutter will also not be able to process such raw materials. And the crusher is not always able to cope with other materials without the help of additional equipment. It is best to make your own universal tool. It does not have a high quality product, but is suitable for all types of raw materials.

First of all, a working body is made for such a device. This role is played by an ordinary bucket. The galvanized version will not work here. Many succulent feeds are capable of leaching zinc from the structure, which can lead to livestock poisoning. It is better to use stainless steel.

A hole 1.5 cm wide is made in the bottom of the bucket. Two more of the same holes are made in the side walls of the bucket. The side holes are bent inward, which turns them into a kind of grater.

Further, from the corners, which can be galvanized, a small frame is made on which the bunker will be installed. All joints should be welded. This design will be more reliable than a bolted connection.

When the frame is ready, a bucket is attached to it. The bucket should move on the frame. For this, a small disk is used to fasten pipes and seals from bearings. All this is also welded together.

On top of the working body, an additional upper half of the bucket without a bottom is fixed, which will play the role of a bunker for raw materials.

An old grinder will be used as a power plant. It is attached to one of the flanges (discs). Thus, the working body comes into motion, and the entire fodder mass, which is poured into the first bucket, is erased on the holes made under the action of centrifugal force.

For the convenience of collecting the received feed, a hinged door or a tin outlet is attached below.

Instead of a grinder, you can attach a handle to the device and make the drive manual. The bucket, as a working body, can be replaced with an old drum from a washing machine. It already has all the necessary holes.

2.4 Reviews

Sergey, 28 years old, Tula:

After the birth of our first child, my wife and I moved to the village. We decided that he would be better off in the fresh air and natural products. The money from the sale of an apartment in the city was enough not only for a good estate, but also for a small farm. At first, we bought ready-made feed, but it was not very profitable.

Then they began to grow the raw materials themselves and transport them for processing. This option also turned out to be costly both in terms of money and time. And then we decided to buy two feed choppers: a root cutter and a grain grinder. On this, all the difficulties with the preparation of feed ended. Now we independently crush all the ingredients to the desired consistency, mix them in the required proportions - in a word, we prepare high-quality balanced feeds for all living creatures of any age.
Alexander, 49 years old, Podolsk:

No wonder they say that laziness is the engine of progress. So I'm lazy for routine work. But I really like to invent and do something with my own hands. My wife often asks me to help grate vegetables for animals (you have to grate a lot - 5 piglets and a full yard of birds), but I'm too lazy. I decided to automate this process.

I took an old grinder, made a round grater, attached it to the grinder and installed it instead of the bottom in an old bucket so that the grater did not rub against the bucket during rotation. Now beauty: I threw vegetables into the bunker, turned on the grinder, a couple of minutes - and everything was rubbed.