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You can't do without a good shovel in winter, because every now and then you have to free the front doors, garage doors, a car in an open parking lot and just garden paths from snow drifts every day. In one season, many tons of snow have to be removed, which requires a lot of time and effort. But you can make it easier for yourself with the help of a well-chosen tool. Indeed, a huge number of different shovels are on sale, the quality and ease of use of which vary. We will try to offer an overview of all possible options, note the advantages and disadvantages of various types of this hand tool.
Is the shovel so simple
Not many people know that there are about 100 different types of shovels. They differ in their design and material of manufacture. Traditionally a shovel for snow removal was a wide scoop fixed on a handle. Our grandfathers also made this type of hand tool from wood. Wooden snow shovel used today. You can buy it or make it yourself. However, this classic device has long been replaced by more reliable, practical and convenient shovels made of metal and plastic. The snow blower manufacturer strives to improve each specific model, making it more ergonomic. As a result of constant transformation, the design of some shovels has changed significantly, scrapers, engines, dumps, and automated snow blowers have appeared.
Material classification of shovels
When choosing a shovel, you must first of all pay attention to the material from which the handle and the scoop are made. The ease of use and durability of the tool largely depends on the material. For the manufacture of a scoop, manufacturers often use:
- Plastic. It is the plastic tool that is the lightest and most convenient to use. Snow perfectly glides on its smooth surface, it is easily captured and dropped. Even wet snow does not stick to a plastic shovel. When choosing plastic inventory, you should give preference to durable polycarbonate, which will withstand even strong shocks and frosts down to -400C. At the same time, polypropylene tools are not distinguished by high strength, but they have a relatively low cost. Plastic shovels with a metal or rubber lining on the edge are more reliable, capable of better removing snow from the tracks.
- Metal. In the manufacture of snow shovels, manufacturers use aluminum, galvanized steel and duralumin. Metal shovels are very reliable and durable, but heavy, which makes the job much more difficult. Aluminum inventory is the lightest among other metal options. Duralumin surpasses analogues in its strength. Steel shovels make a distinctive sound when interacting with snow, which can irritate the worker. On metal surfaces, snow glides well and even the melted mixture does not linger on their surface. In addition to substantial weight, the tool has another comparative disadvantage: high cost.
- Wood. The surface of a wooden snow shovel is made of plywood. Many craftsmen do this type of tool with their own hands. Wooden shovels have a relatively low cost and many disadvantages: in wet weather, snow sticks to them, the tree absorbs moisture and becomes heavy. After work, the wooden shovel must be dried.Tool life is short. In addition, manufacturers strive to protect the wooden surface of the scoop with an iron plate on the edge.
Comparing the advantages and disadvantages of materials, it is possible to assess the adequacy of the cost of one or another variant of the shovel. In this case, the material of the cutting plays an important role. Today, many manufacturers offer not only traditional wood cuttings, but lightweight, durable plastic options as well. Telescopic and folding structures are modern.
Design features
Having only one snow shovel at home is not rational. So, for example, it is convenient to remove packed, heavy snow cover with a tool with a small metal or plastic scoop. For light, freshly fallen snow, shovels with a wide plastic grip, like a scraper (engine), are great. Only a metal shovel can effectively remove ice from the paths. If you use only one type of tool in all the above cases, then it will not last long and will not be able to perform the work with high quality.
Small snow shovels have a shovel width of about 35-50 cm. The plane of the main gripper element can be flat or curved. It is convenient to use shovels with raised edges to prevent spontaneous snow sliding. You can deal with ice with the help of the simplest metal shovel with a working width of 30-35 cm. This type of tool is often equipped with a T-shaped handle made of plastic or wood.
It is very convenient to remove freshly fallen snow with a scraper. This type of hand-held snow removal tool features a U-shaped handle and a very wide shovel. With the help of a scraper, or as it is also called an engine (dragging), you can shovel the snow into a heap, but it will not be possible to throw it, for example, over a fence with the help of such a tool. The shovel engine for clearing snow can have a working surface width of up to 1 m, which makes it possible to increase labor productivity when working with a thin layer of fallen snow.
Trying to eliminate the disadvantages of conventional snow shovels and scrapers, manufacturers have come up with a kind of constructive hybrid that easily shovels snow and allows it to be thrown aside. You can see such a unique shovel in the picture below:
Mechanized devices
All the models of snow shovels proposed above are manual, their work is based only on the use of human labor. But some mechanized devices can simplify the process of snow removal:
- A shovel with a rotor allows you to easily cope even with strong snow drifts. This type of tool is a prototype of an automated snow blower, however, in the case of using a mechanized tool, a person becomes a replacement for a gasoline engine. It is the worker who sets the super-shovel for snow removal in motion, as a result of which the rotor begins to rotate and move the thickness of the snow to the side. In order for the work to clear the snow to be of high quality, a limiter is installed on one side of the shovel scoop. You can see the design of such a device below:
- A manual bulldozer is called a special device for cleaning snow in a domestic environment. It is a rigidly welded structure with 4 wheels, like a bogie. On the outer end of the snow blower, a large-width blade is fixed, which, depending on the thickness of the snow cover, can be adjusted by turning in one direction or another. The advantage of a manual bulldozer is that the worker does not have to constantly bend over and lift a heavy shovel. It is enough just to push the mini bulldozer in front of you and shovel the snow into a pile.
- A shovel on wheels is a variation of a conventional scraper.The wheel axle allows the shovel to be easily lifted to overcome small obstacles. The disadvantage of the tool is its low productivity.
- Snow shovels on one huge wheel were invented in Europe and, it is worth noting that they are very popular there. Such a novelty has not yet reached our stores, but for sure someday domestic users will also appreciate its merits.
The essence of the idea is that the employee, without bending his back, moves the structure around the site. In this case, the shank of the shovel is fixed on the axle of the wheel by means of a hinge, and as soon as the batch of snow is delivered to the place of storage, the person presses the handle and overturns the shovel. The disadvantage of such a shovel is the inability to work with large snow cover.
Thus, the thoughts of the inventors allow us to constantly improve an ordinary shovel, endowing it with great capabilities, increasing its productivity. If desired, each "Kulibin" will be able to independently make a wooden or metal structure for snow removal. Unavailable for self-production is that a plastic shovel, due to the nature of the material itself. Some ideas on how to make a do-it-yourself inventory with a handle can be highlighted from the video:
Detailed recommendations will help even a novice craftsman to make a high-quality, convenient and reliable tool.
Dump for snow on the Niva
In some regions of the country, the issue of snow removal is especially acute. During heavy snowfalls, harvesting equipment is insufficient and many streets, and sometimes even entire villages, are blocked by snow drifts. In this case, you can fight the snow using a car and a special blade. Such a device can be designed for any brand of machine. The domestic auto industry offers factory blades with reliable attachment to the Niva.
The dump is a shovel up to 2 m wide. With the help of a special mount, it is quickly installed on the regular place of the car. The installation process takes no more than 2 minutes.
Such a blade does not have special lifting devices for dumping snow. The bucket is designed so that it automatically tilts when the vehicle is moving backward. The cost of such a shovel for Niva, manufactured at the factory, is about 19 thousand rubles. A simple device allows you to easily solve the problem of cleaning roads on your own in small villages.
How to make a do-it-yourself dump on the Niva
The cost of a special blade is quite high, and not every owner has a Niva, so information on how to make a blade for clearing snow on a car with your own hands can be useful to many craftsmen.
To make a blade you will need:
- One barrel with a volume of 200 liters.
- 6-meter section of a profile pipe, with a section of 20 by 40 mm.
- 2-3 meters round pipe, 20 mm in diameter.
- 6-meter section of a profile pipe, with a section of 40 by 40 mm.
- Roofing screws and self-tapping screws for metal.
- Conveyor belt.
Having the necessary materials and some tools at hand, you can quickly and easily make a blade as follows:
- Weld the dump frame from the profile. Its width should be greater than the vehicle's wheel track. An example of a welded frame can be seen in the picture below.
13 - Cut off the bottom and lid in a 200-liter barrel, cut the resulting cylinder in half and slightly unbend the resulting planes.
- Attach metal sheets to the frame with self-tapping screws.
- Treat the lower edge of the mouldboard with a conveyor belt.
- Find the place of possible attachment of the blade on the car. For example, pieces of a U-shaped profile with holes can be welded to the standard eyes of a car. Each time, as required, the profile from the blade can be bolted to the welded profile.
When creating a blade, some craftsmen use springs that soften the impact on the car when interacting with various obstacles, as well as traction, which helps to control this structure.
Another option for making a do-it-yourself blade for a car can be seen on the video:
In the video, the specialist will not only give practical recommendations and share his experience, but also emphasize some especially important points in the design of the blade.
Conclusion
Thus, the variety of models on the market poses a difficult choice for the buyer. Different design models with different price categories allow you to solve some problems pointwise. So, even in domestic conditions, it will not be possible to use only an aluminum or plastic shovel. In the barn of the real owner, there is always a place for several different types of tools at once. Indeed, only in this case it will be possible to perform any type of work as efficiently as possible, while maintaining the integrity and quality of the inventory. We tried not only to emphasize the variety of models and determine the features of materials, but also offered several options for making a shovel on our own. Maybe the hands of another master, on the eve of winter, will create another new shovel that will meet all the personal requirements of the owner and can easily cope with even the most lush mountains of snow.
