In the household of any farmer, there should be a variety of equipment that facilitates the work of caring for animals and growing plants.

A straw chopper is one of the types of such equipment. Such a unit can save time and effort during agricultural work.

1 Application

This technique mulches straw for further use in agriculture. Chopping hay and straw is necessary for:

• production of feed for animals and birds;
• flooring in the barn;
• for cooking;
• production of fuel briquettes;
• covering the ground under strawberries.

For work on the field, it is more productive to use a hay bale chopper. With it, you can process several hectares of land in one trip. Thus, fuel can be saved.

A private house always involves a lot of housekeeping work. You can buy a chopper in a store or you can make such a unit with your own hands. An industrial device has advantages over home-made ones, but the price is very different upwards.

1.1 Variety of purchased equipment

Equipment that is produced at enterprises can be of different sizes and differ in power. A popular model is the straw chopper m15. This unit has a convenient bunker for filling hay or and has the following characteristics:

• works from a network 220380B;
• 1500 rpm makes a drum with knives;
• 3 kW - power;
• Weight 130 kg.

These options allow use a hay and straw chopper in small farms and in private households in the presence of poultry and livestock for the manufacture of roughage and processed into flour.

Numerous positive reviews can be found about the KP02 straw and hay chopper.

This model is compact with good performance. It has great features:

• engine power 1.54.0 kW;
• network 220380 V;
• weight 65 kg;
• productivity 25 kg/h.

Such equipment takes up little space in the courtyard and consumes little electricity. It is able to provide a whole farm complex in chopped hay.

2 How to make a do-it-yourself unit with a drill?

If the owner is a little versed in technology, then he can do it. Such a do-it-yourself hay chopper will cost several times cheaper than a purchased one, but you will have to make a little effort to assemble it.

The first type of hay and straw chopper with your own hands can be constructed on the basis of a drill.

The principle of its operation will be similar to the work of a food processor. The body can serve as an iron bucket. Well-sharpened knives are attached to a dual-mode drill. When turned on, the drill wraps the knives, and they grind the straw.

Such an apparatus will be able to grind small batches of straw. This amount is enough for. The knives should only be sharpened at the bottom so that the hay does not get tangled around them.

2.1 How to make a unit from a vacuum cleaner?

2.2 Features of the manufacture of knives and the entire design as a whole

The main part of the technique are knives. They must be made of a special material - a hacksaw blade. With the help of a grinder, the required number of blanks is cut out, most often four are needed.

In each part, a square hole with sides of 26 mm is cut in the center. The width of the blanks depends on the rigidity of the material itself. For sharpening, a high-quality sharpener is used. The knives are placed at the bottom of the tank. The outlet for chopped straw is thought out at the bottom or side. In a metal case, a round hole can be made using a grinder.

The design of the support on which the chopper will be mounted is carefully thought out. In order for the unit to be stable, it is necessary to make the base of the support larger in size than the device itself.

The grinder is attached to the support with bolts. So, the unit will not vibrate much during operation, and the hay will not scatter. And the platform on the base will protect the engine. Manual loading of hay should not be dangerous for the owner.

Therefore, the wrapping mechanism must be deep inside the container so that it cannot be directly accessed.

2.3 Assembly from the pump

If the household did not find the right drill or a suitable vacuum cleaner model, you can use a pump of a certain power and model. The most commonly used brand is Agidel or another pump with a power of at least 3000 rpm and a 220V network.

In this design, you will need a large aluminum pan and a hacksaw for working with wood. You will need several of these tools. They are indispensable for the manufacture of chopper knives.

To start the unit, you need a button. It can be removed from a night vision device that has failed, an automatic washing machine. The starting system requires an electrical wire and plug. The motor is located under the pan. And the trigger mechanism is located behind the platform.

To keep your grinder running long and productively, need to design only according to pre-prepared drawings. They will help to avoid mistakes when assembling the unit.

A hay cutter or a straw cutter is an indispensable unit in the subsidiary farm. With it, you can quickly and easily grind hay for poultry or young animals, as well as grind straw for warming beds or winter roads, making briquettes for heating. It is not difficult to make a hay chopper on your own, and the practicality and functionality of a home-made device will not be inferior to store-bought counterparts.

The simplest hay and straw chopper is made from a conventional vacuum cleaner. An ordinary plastic or aluminum bucket serves as a working chamber where raw materials are placed, and then a knife is lowered, mounted on a rotating shaft. You can make such a device in a few minutes, but it has one significant drawback: low productivity and impracticality. If the number of poultry or livestock is large, you will need a more reliable hay crusher.

The working unit is the most important part of the straw chopper. It consists of a steel bunker, inside of which there are knives. The knives are attached to the engine axis with a special axis. Usually the bunker is made in the form of a cylinder, and for greater safety, the walls are left high. You can do it with short walls, but then equip the device with a lid.

The main components of the straw chopper:

• Working chamber with lid
• Support,
• Motor,
• gain strip,
• Knives or cutting disc,
• Raw material receiver.

materials

A do-it-yourself hay cutter is assembled at home from materials available to everyone. And its manufacture does not require special technical skills. To make a hay chopper with your own hands, you need to have a locksmith kit, a welding machine, a drill and a grinding machine. From the materials you need:

• Motor (an electric motor from a washing machine is suitable),
• Sheet of metal, with a thickness of about two millimeters,
• Sheet of metal, about three millimeters thick,
• Steel sheet, ten millimeters thick,
• Pipe cut (do not use a diameter of more than 25 mm),
• A strip of metal, 3 mm wide, 25 mm long.

Manufacturing

Instead of knives, you can take a disk from a circular saw or a powerful food processor. A barrel or a piece of pipe with a diameter of at least thirty centimeters is well suited for the role of the body of the device.

Before you make a straw chopper with your own hands, it is advisable to find clear and detailed drawings of the apparatus on the Internet. They will prevent errors in the location of parts and fastening. Manufacturing begins with marking and cutting the workpiece from a pipe cut. An additional bottom is attached to the resulting container by welding, and already to it - a holder for the motor. Several holes are pre-drilled in the steel sheet to simplify the process of mounting the motor. A do-it-yourself straw cutter made from a pipe will turn out to be stronger if metal corners-kerchiefs are welded to the sides. A container for an already crushed product is attached below. Only after that the engine is installed. It is attached to a steel sheet, and cutting knives or discs are mounted on the axis and securely fixed.

The last moment: an electrical cable and a toggle switch are mounted, as well as a cover and an indicator light. The device is ready to work.

A simpler and less powerful do-it-yourself hay chopper can be made from an ordinary washing machine. In addition to the machine, you also need:

• Knives or cutting disc,
• electric wire,
• bucket,
• metal corner,
• fasteners,
• Locksmith set.

A word of advice: if you plan to grind not only hay and straw, but also tree branches, then it is better to use an additional gasoline engine.

How to assemble the device

At the bottom of the case, a small rectangular cutout is cut, approximately 20 by 7 cm in size. Its perimeter is sheathed with metal plates for greater strength. A stand is made from the corner. The height of the stand depends on what is planned to be used as a crushed raw material receiver. For buckets, the stand is made higher than for boxes.

To attach the engine, two small holes are made on the shaft, after which a threaded sleeve is installed on it. The engine is mounted on a shaft, and the whole structure is attached to the bottom of the tank with metal studs. After this, cutting discs or knives are put on the shaft. It is very important to choose the size of the discs so that they do not come into contact with the walls of the working chamber.

Before connecting the motor to the cable, you need to decide on the working and starting winding of the motor itself. This is easy to do with a special tester: the working winding has less resistance than the starting winding. Connect the motor like this:

1. One of the ends of the starting winding is connected to the start toggle switch,
2. The other end is connected to the main wire and the working winding,
3. The free end of the working winding is connected to the main wire and wiring from the start toggle switch.
4. The hay grinder is ready.

It is difficult for owners of their own farm to do without the help of small-scale mechanization. One of these assistants is a hay and straw chopper for private farmsteads. You can buy a ready-made unit, but such models are not cheap. For those who are well versed in technology, it will be more profitable to make it with their own hands.

What is a grinder for?

Hay becomes the main feed for livestock during the winter months. It is also used for barn flooring, soil mulching, making fuel briquettes and so on. Therefore, it is necessary to harvest hay in large quantities. For ease of use and storage, it is recycled. The easiest way to do this is with a hay and straw chopper for private backyards.

Such crushers are manufactured in various capacities and sizes. The principle of operation of the device is based on the operation of rotating knives. Hay is fed into a special bunker. Passing through the drum with knives, it is ground and enters the recoil hopper.

Design features

The design of the straw and hay chopper includes the following main elements:

1. Electric motor. The processing speed will depend on its power.
2. A container into which untreated hay or straw is fed. It can have different dimensions, depending on the amount of raw material that is planned to be ground.
3. The shaft on which the knives and counter knives are mounted. They must be made of durable steel and well sharpened.
4. The bunker for the fulfilled raw materials. For convenience, it is mounted on a floor slope.
5. Supports. Most often they are made of pipes with a diameter of at least 25 mm. Their height is selected based on the dimensions of the electric motor.

Popular factory models

For those who do not have the desire to spend time and energy on the manufacture of such a device, it is better to purchase a finished model in the store. Among the most popular hay and straw shredders for private backyards are:

You need to choose a specific model based on the amount of raw materials that will have to be processed. If your livestock is small, it makes no sense to overpay for powerful units. It is better to save money and buy a small capacity grinder.

Choose goods only from trusted manufacturers. A low quality shredder with an underpowered motor will not perform well and break down quickly.

The absence of complex parts and fixtures in the design allows an experienced craftsman to make a grass and hay chopper on their own. It is enough to purchase an engine of sufficient power, all other elements can be found in every household. Before making a chopper, study its drawing

How to make a grinder yourself?

If you do not want to spend a lot of money on the purchase of equipment, then you can make a hay and straw chopper with your own hands. To do this, follow a few recommendations:

1. Choose the right motor. If you plan to process up to 200 liters of raw materials, then give preference to models with a power of 2 to 5 kW. For a small amount of hay, take a smaller capacity unit.
2. The assembly of the device is carried out in accordance with the drawing. Today on the Internet you can find a lot of options. You just have to choose the right one.
3. For the manufacture of metal parts of the structure, use metal with a thickness of at least 3 mm. Choose a thicker material for the engine mount.
4. The working part of the unit is a metal cylinder, inside of which a disk with sharp knives is mounted. The axle must be securely fixed in the engine.
5. As a container for loading hay, you can take an old metal barrel.
6. A support under the engine is welded to the working part. For reliability, they are supplied with scarves.
7. The engine is fixed to the support with bolts and self-tapping screws.
8. It is possible to mount an electrician only after all parts of the structure are assembled and securely fixed.

If you have the skills to handle the welding machine and understand the operation of the electric motor, you can make such a unit in one day. If some subtleties are not clear to you, watch a video on how to make a hay chopper:

(Last Updated On: 11/14/2017)

For various agricultural needs, crushed vegetable raw materials are often required - this is top dressing for planting, and covering material for crops that are afraid of the cold, and food for livestock. For quick and convenient preparation of such crushed raw materials, you can use a variety of grinders, including self-made ones. For example, you can make a hay chopper with your own hands, for which you can find a lot of applications. At the same time, it will be many times more efficient than popular grass cutters, because hay is much tougher than simple grass, therefore, stronger knives and a more powerful power unit are needed to work with it. That is, it will be possible to grind grass with a hay chopper, but the reverse option may not be possible.

Varieties of equipment for chopping hay and straw

Depending on the power, performance, dimensions and, of course, the price, such equipment is divided into 2 large groups:

• industrial - these are large installations designed to work with a large amount of raw materials, they are used on large livestock and farms, special choppers are also produced that are installed directly on combines, in this case the cut hay immediately turns into a chopped mass;
• household - these are, as a rule, small devices, the performance of which is sufficient to cover individual needs in chopped hay or straw, it is these choppers that can be made by hand.

At the same time, regardless of the size and power of the grinders, the principle of their operation remains the same:

• raw materials are loaded into a special bunker, for this you can adapt a special conveyor, or you can throw hay and scrap manually. It is important to remember that the raw materials should not contain any foreign objects and solid debris;
• from the bunker, the raw material enters a special drum, where it is chopped into small fragments;
• then the chopped product is fed into the crusher, where it is crushed to the end.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated here, so it will be possible for any craftsman who knows how to handle tools and materials to make a straw chopper with their own hands.

Self-made straw cutter

Hay/straw chopper drawing:

The first step is to make a project and, in accordance with it, mark the metal. Then, the necessary elements are cut out of the marked sheets: the bottom, the counter deck. The body of the receiving hopper can be made of tin or other soft metal. For the manufacture of knives, you can take strong bolts, cut them to the required length and sharpen them on an emery stone. The resulting blades should be fixed on the disk, and also fastened to the counter-cutting deck. It is also necessary to weld blades into the space between the cutters for tilting the chopped straw.

A hole is drilled in the bottom to bring out the motor shaft, to which a disk with blades will be attached using a special bushing. After that, we can assume that the hay and straw chopper is made by hand. If everything is calculated and done correctly, then the performance and safety margin of such an apparatus will be quite enough for the needs of a small private economy. Of course, for manufacturing you will have to tinker, if there is no desire or opportunity to assemble the chopper on your own, you can buy a factory model, however, the price of such equipment may not be the smallest, so self-production will save a lot of money.

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In agriculture, a hay chopper, like hay itself, is a necessary and useful thing.

The role of the chopper in the economy

Hay is both a covering material for crops, and animal feed, and fertilizer for any plants, and much more. With all this, most often the use of hay is necessary in a processed, crushed version. For this, special hay and straw choppers are used, which effectively process raw materials from large armfuls into a fine fraction. They are quite compact devices - crushers.

The hay chopper in the farmstead is distinguished by power, size and configuration. They can be purchased at a specialized store, and their price will be far from cheap. But, having studied some important points of the device, it is quite possible to make a straw chopper with your own hands, and thus save money.

What is a straw and hay chopper

Before you get down to work on making this device with your own hands, you need to study how the feed cutter is arranged. The straw cutter consists of the following structural elements:

• electric motor
• Capacity for loading raw materials (hay or straw). Its dimensions depend on the planned mass of raw materials for processing. To do this, either an ordinary iron barrel (about 200 liters) is taken, which is suitable for grinding small masses, or the container is manually welded to the required dimensions.
• There are some requirements for the container - loading straw into it must be safe, because it is there that sharp knives will work. Therefore, it is desirable that this private bunker has a high cylindrical shape. In principle, it can be low, but in this case, it is advisable to equip it with a lid with a hole where the raw materials will be loaded.
• Area for the engine. Such a platform is a steel plate, 10 mm thick.
• Bracket for engine mounting. In its manufacture, 5 mm metal is used.
• Chopper support. For them, metal pipes are used, with a diameter of 25 mm, and the height depends on the size of the engine. Most often, the support looks like a tripod, but you can also make the design at your discretion.
• Shaft, knives, counter knives. In a do-it-yourself device, the shaft can represent any kind, but must be clearly balanced and even, otherwise the straw chopper will shake mercilessly, which will greatly complicate the entire recycling process. Knives are welded to the shaft and counter-knives behind them, and the distance between them should be minimal. This is what guarantees high-quality and fine-grained grinding. Knives must be very sharp.
• Unloading device. Here, flour, hay and other crushed raw materials are unloaded from the main tank. It has the form of a side pipe attached to the tank, but in such a way that the chopped hay flies out in a centrifugal motion. The branch pipe for convenience should have an inclined look. It is also worth taking care of the container in advance, where the cut will fall, flying out of the nozzle. You can use a regular plastic barrel by cutting a hole on the side.

electric motor

The electric motor is the heart of the machine. It underlies the whole structure, because it sets it in motion. The characteristics of the engine depend on what mass it will need to grind. The larger the mass, the correspondingly, it should be more powerful. For example, for 200 liters, 2.2 - 5.5 kW is suitable, the speed is 1500 per minute. In any case, the revolutions should not exceed 2000 per minute for the safe operation of the entire structure.

Of all these elements, in stages, with their own hands, a straw cutter is assembled for chopping straw.

Manufacturing process

The most important link in the production of a grinding device is its preliminary drawings. It is there that a general view of the structure is built, all dimensions are taken into account and calculated, and the required material and drawing are calculated. For all metal elements, sheet metal 2 - 3 mm thick is used, except for the bracket. According to the dimensions of the drawing, metal blanks are first cut out for each structural element separately, then they are welded.

Required Tools

To make a hay and straw chopper with your own hands, the following tool will be needed in the work:

• Drill
• Grinder
• Locksmith set (the standard version will suffice)
• Welding machine

Installation of equipment

The working unit of the products is a container welded from metal, inside of which there is a disk with knives. It, in turn, is rigidly fixed on the axis of the electric motor. The first is the body of the product, or container. To it, from below, the bottom is welded, and to it - a bracket. A hole is made in the plate for the engine. Then it is securely welded to the bracket, in a strictly vertical position.

Supports are welded to the tank at a certain angle, they can be equipped with scarves for rigidity. It is also advisable to weld "thrust bearings" to the supports. After that, an unloading device is attached to the container.

The household electric motor is attached to the stove by means of bolts and self-tapping screws. A disc with knives is mounted on its axis. Everything is securely fixed. After all this, the installation of the electrical node of the system takes place. Such a homemade straw chopper, with some skills in locksmith tools and welding, can be made by hand at home in one day.