How to make a high-quality fan rake with your own hands

Description and benefits

Today, not a single summer resident can do without a rake, since they are necessary for loosening the soil, cleaning weeds, foliage and dry grass. A plastic and steel rake with a wooden handle facilitates soil cultivation and helps to keep the garden area clean and beautiful. The design of the rake, including the fan rake, is so simple that you can easily make them with your own hands, it is enough to have a wooden handle and a transverse nozzle with mini-teeth.

Depending on the tasks, folding rakes can be with a different number of teeth, different in weight, and can also be reinforced steel or plastic. Painted iron rakes are often heavy and bulky. Therefore, for processing the garden plot after the emergence of shoots, a fan rake is necessary, with which you can easily process the soil without damaging the young shoots.

The fan-type mini rake resembles a small broom in appearance, as the thin teeth are fan-shaped. Working area - fine wire teeth with slightly bent ends. Such mini adjustable rakes are not suitable for soil preparation, however, in other cases they have undeniable advantages:

• for cleaning small debris, the option of a plastic tool will be excellent, since its teeth are more elastic and easily rake debris in an uneven surface;
• harvesting leaves in hard-to-reach places, for example, under bush plants;
• "Combing" the lawn before mowing it;
• surface aeration of the soil;
• The steel wire rake is good for thinning the lawn.

If we are talking about cleaning the garden area, then it is better to use a nozzle with straight teeth, so as not to damage young shoots and grass cover. It is better to choose a nozzle made of plastic or soft metal. A rake with a triangular fan nozzle can easily cope with flat areas and corners of the site. A special lock on the tool allows you to independently adjust the working width, pressing force and processing area.

Video "Using a fan rake"

This video tells you how to use the fan rake, how to adjust it and set the desired range between the wires for convenient operation.

Design features

The standard size of the fan-shaped design is a width of 50 cm with a handle height of 130 cm.However, in addition to the established standards, you can purchase a rake with a longer handle (up to 180 cm), as well as a mini-rake with the ability to independently adjust the width of the teeth up to 30 cm. A very convenient option is a sliding fan rake with a metal handle, where the handle is adjusted to the height of a person.

The total weight of a garden tool is 5-6 times less than a traditional metal rake. Among the features of the adjustable folding structure, the following should be noted:

1. The placement of thin teeth at an angle of 90 degrees allows all work to be carried out neatly, without damaging the roots and young shoots, since when contact with an obstacle occurs, the teeth rise up and there is no contact due to this.
2. Increased "density" of the teeth. On average, a fan-shaped sliding rake with a metal handle has from 20 to 30 phalanges, however, the frequency of their placement can vary from 2 to 5 cm, depending on the purpose of using the tool. In this case, the principle of a thick "comb" works, which perfectly "comb out" small debris from the lawn or garden bed.
3. A fine fraction of the soil after using such a tool is necessary for sowing exotic crops, as well as plants such as poppy and asparagus.
4. The folding rake is incredibly light due to its special wire fan of teeth, so you can easily control the load on the ground yourself.

Making a fanned surface

You can make a fan wire rake with your own hands from scrap materials. First, for this you need to select a material similar to the factory one. The second nuance is the correct fixation of all parts for normal distribution of the load. And third - whether it is a "homemade" rake or a fan rake with a factory-type compensator, they should look aesthetically pleasing. Let's consider the manufacturing stages in more detail.

1. Making a fan base. For fine teeth on garden tools, stainless steel wire is ideal. It is this material that does not burst, is easily amortized upon contact with the surface, and bends only with solid physical exertion. Next, you need to buy 15 meters of wire with a thickness of 0.4 mm and cut it into pieces 50 cm long. Using a vice, clamp the ends by 5 cm and make a right angle. Leave the other end of the wire untouched as it is adjusted at the end.
2. We set the pitch between the teeth. In order for the step in the hand fan rake to be the same, two metal strips are required for work (length 15-20 mm, thickness 1.5 mm, length - 50 cm). Using an electric drill, we make two through holes with a diameter of 5 mm, insert the bolt and screw in the nut, cut off the rest of the bar with a grinder. As a result, you will have two metal strips, between which the teeth are fixed. Next, we put our fan on the anvil and clamp it between two plates. With each blow of the hammer, a funnel (deflection) is formed, which is necessary so that the folding knitting needles of the fan do not move during operation.
3. Connection of a fan into a ring. To collect all the teeth into a bud, a pipe with a diameter of 30 mm is required. Stick all the ends of the wire 5-8 cm into it and hammer in this edge. Thus, on the one hand, you will get a nozzle with a fan, and on the other, a hole for the handle.

We make the holder

A pine tree is best suited for making a holder for a garden rake fan. However, a fan-type gardening tool should be light, so oak or deciduous wood will do. In this case, the mini-tool will be 2 times lighter than a conventional rake.

1. Preparation of raw materials. A chopper holder is suitable as a handle. On one side, make a cone so that the diameter of the cutting is 1-2 mm larger than the diameter of the pipe. Another option is a pipe from the heating system made of plastic with a diameter of 25 mm. You choose the length according to your height.
2. Finishing. Covers wood with anti-mosquito and varnish to keep it intact. It would be nice to work with a stain or impregnation, and as soon as the surface is dry, cover everything with varnish.
3. Connection of parts. Melt the epoxy, dip the edge of the handle and insert into the pipe. This fixing method will allow you to firmly connect two structural parts. For added security, you can hammer in a nail.

So, with your own hands, you can make a fan plate rake or, a fan rake with a compensator, with significant savings in money, and the quality of such equipment can turn out to be an order of magnitude better than the factory one.

Video "How to make fanned ones yourself"

Video instructions for making a fan rake using improvised means.