Homemade garden shredder based on a washing machine: manufacturing steps

There is always a lot of organic waste in the country house or in the garden: weeds torn out in the beds, branches left after sanitary pruning of trees, grapevines, tops from vegetable crops. Of course, all this can be trivially burned, or it can be crushed and used with benefit. Milled branches and grass are an excellent compost base and soil mulching material.

The shredder significantly facilitates and accelerates the process of organic matter processing. a gasoline or electric motor that drives knives or gears that crush branches. The principle of its action resembles a chopper in an ordinary food processor - they loaded vegetable waste into a receiving tank, turned on the machine, and chopped them with knives.

It is expensive to buy a garden shredder in a store, but you can make it from improvised means. For example, from an old washing machine.

The main parts of the shredder do it yourself

The basis of a garden shredder from a washing machine is a motor. The engine must be quite powerful - at least 180 watts to deliver at least 1200-1300 rpm. The more powerful the engine, the thicker the knots will be able to process the unit.

It is better to use an electric motor from old models of washing machines, and not from modern automatic machines. They are often "tied" to electronic control, so it is not always possible to connect and run them directly.

The second no less important element is the receiving tank, into which branches will be loaded. The container should be not only roomy, but also strong so that a stone or some other foreign object accidentally caught with the grass does not damage it.

The inner tank from the washing machine is a very good option. It fits both in shape and size. An external tank from antediluvian washers made in the USSR is not the best choice: they were stamped from thin low-grade metal. Such a container will have to be additionally sheathed with an iron sheet.

If only the motor remains from the washing machine, then a large galvanized one is suitable as a container a thick-walled bucket or metal barrel that can be shortened with a grinder if its volume is too great.

To prevent chips from scattering, it is better to weld a lid to the tank. And the hole from which the chopped branches will spill out must be covered with a box on top. This is to ensure safety during operation. Small particles, under the influence of centrifugal force, fly out from under the knives at high speed. They can injure someone standing next to you.

The third element is knives. Here the flight of fantasy is endless. You can use just sharpened strips of metal, a disc from a lawn mower, circular saws. It is permissible to install a knife as one or several. It all depends on the volume of the tank and the power of the engine.

The knives must be of such length or diameter that they do not touch the walls of the receiving container.

The fourth and last important part of a washing machine shredder is the stand or frame that will hold the appliance.

For the convenience of transporting the shredder around the site, it is better to weld or screw on the wheels to the frame.

Assembling the shredder from the washing machine

If the entire washing machine is available, then first of all, you need to extract the engine from it. It is worth having a couple of screwdrivers on hand to pry off the engine if necessary. Prepare also a spray with silicone grease or WD-40 to make it easier to disassemble those parts that have become attached. Please note that on old machines (with inverter and activator motors), you need to block the rotor.

The second stage is to prepare the tank. In the bottom it is necessary to make a hole through which the engine shaft will be placed. If the design of the motor allows, then it is best to weld it to the container vertically from below or fix it with bolts. But first you should only make money on it. This is necessary in order to find out at what height of the sleeve to attach the knife and where to cut a hole to remove chopped grass and branches.

The next step is to install the knives. It is most practical to place the blade about 5–6 centimeters from the bottom. It is convenient to mount them on a bushing (a type of fixing element, with threads on one side and holes for fastening on the other), mounted on the motor shaft.

After installing the cutting elements it is necessary to make a hole to remove chopped branches from the tank. Its lower edge should be slightly below the level of the knives. Choose the dimensions based on the dimensions of the tank. However, it should be borne in mind that chips will be difficult to remove from a narrow gap.

Bolt the protective box over the hole. It can be cut from anything: from trimming sheet iron, from galvanized, from a piece of unnecessary gutter.

Check the integrity of the engine winding with a tester. If everything is in order, then assemble the chain - connect a cable with a plug to it. If the skills of an electrician allow, then you can attach an on-off button.

Place the chopper assembled from the washing machine on the frame. It can be welded from angle pieces, channel bars or thin metal pipes. It is more practical when wheels are welded to the frame for transportation.

That's it - the garden shredder (grass cutter, shredder - whatever you name it) is ready for use. With the help of this device, assembled in a couple of hours with your own hands from improvised trash, you can fertilize the garden or mulch the tree trunks in the garden with shredded plant waste.

An option for creating a homemade grass cutter based on an engine from a washing machine in the video.