Hi guys,

I'm going to teach you how to make one of the best gardening tool ever, "the wheel hoe".

Actually, it's not really a tool, it's more a tool bearer, you can set lots of different tools on it, like oscillating hoe, precision weeding disk, harrow, seeder, and much more!

If you don't know this tool, check out of this web page : http://www.terrateck.com, We will not really use this design, but it will give you an idea of the high potential of the wheel hoe.

I made my design using the work of "L'atelier paysan", french work group who designs tools, check it out, it's really inspriring : www.latelierpaysan.org/

For this instructable i'll try to show you a lot of photos, 3d designs, and tuto video to give you everything to build it by yourself.

Please, if you like it vote for the tool contest!

Enjoy, comment, share, experiment and don't forget, knowledge is nothing without imagination!

Step 1: Materials and Ressources

First, check the design of the wheel hoe, I posted a 3d design and a picture. I didn't make this instructable with my own wheel hoe, I did it with the second one I made, which is not yet painted and needs some final adjustments. It is important that you check the design because it will help you understand how the pieces fit together. Trust me, you will always get better results if you understand what you do rather than just follow the recipe.

If you want to make this wheel hoe you really need some specific tools, and i think it's a pretty bad idea to try to do it without these tools, you risk to damage your stuff and your body. Be carefull!

Tools :

Drill press with 11mm SSH and 8,5 SSH and 9mm SSH
Angel grinder with cutting disk and "sanding" disk
Welding machine with 2mm electrodes
Anvil can be usefull
Grinder
Hammer, meter, etc...

Then you need some steel. I'm used to using some soft steel, they call it A37 but i don't know if it's the official name. If you can, I suggest you buy "cut steel", in Europe it's not much more expensive than "not cut" and you save a lot of time. I buy mine on acier-detail-decoupe.fr

Steel :

Flat 60x4x55 x2
Flat 60x4x140 x2
Flat 60x4x70 x2
UPN 40x20x5x200 x1
Corner 40x40x4x105 x2
Flat 30x5x250 x1
Flat 30x5x370 x1
Pipe 30x1.5x1115 x2
Pipe 30x1.5x150 x2
Flat 30x5x80 x2
Flat 30x5x20 x2
Flat 30x5x250 x2
flat 30x5x330 x4

I will also show you how to make an oscillating hoe, here is what you need to make 2 of them, 80mm and 180mm

Square full 25x25x30 x2
Flat 30x5x65 x1
Flat 30x5x x1
Flat 30x5x60 x4
Flat 30x5x20 x4
Flat 30x2x195 x1
Flat 30x2x245 x1

You will also need some M10 and M9 bolts and nuts.

Step 2: Marking Parts

The very first step is marking all of the metal parts. Later you will have to drill some and to cut some others and it will be much easier if everything is ready.

To mark my parts I use a white or yellow posca marker, it's not perfect, especially if the steel is little bit "oily" but I don't have a better solution, feel free to give me one in comments!

You also need a set square, compass and meter.

I could explain all the measures and everything but i'm pretty sure it's much better for you to check out my 3d design.

I also give you my sketchup file, feel free to explore it if I missed some measurements.

Step 3: Preparing Parts

Ok, so now everything is ready, and we can finaly start the real job.

There are 6 different steps :

Punching : First we are going to punch all the parts, use an anvil, big hammer and an awl (i'm not sure for the awl...maybe hallmark?). Punch every point that you will drill so you are sure to be precise when you do. If you don't do it the drill could move a little bit when you start to drill.
Drilling :Now you can drill all your parts. Just little advice : when you drill metal there is a lot of friction between the drill and the steel piece, so it gets very warm and burns your drill, that's why you should use a lot of lubricant. You don't need to buy an expensive one, I use water with a little bit of soap and it works very well!
Cutting :You can now cut the 5 pieces that need to be cut (60x4x140, 30x5x250 and 30x5x370) with the angle grinder. Dangerous tool, be carefull!
Flating : Ok, I didn't really talk about that until now... You remember the pipe you bought in step 2? Well we will use them to make the handlebar, and it will be a very nice handlebar. BUT we can't set well a pipe on flat, especially in our case, we want to make it adjustable. So we have to flat the end of these big pipes, we will flat them on the last 10cm. For this you can just use a vice, it's very hard, so you can use the second pipe as a lever to help you.
Drilling again : When it's flat you can drill again on the pipe, we need two holes, 10,5mm diameter separate by 50mm center to center. Unfortunatly I don't have any pictures of this step...
Folding : The handlebar needs to be "open", like a "V", so we're going to give to the end of the pipe a little angle, something like 12°. Again, just use a vice and push a little bit.

Step 4: Welding

Let's weld!

I really like welding, I like the noise, I like the smell, the heat and the power. Learning to weld really changed my life!

Anyway, put your helmet on and let's go.

I'll try to explain what to do, but the best way is to check out all the pictures, they are in the right order but probably miss some specific information

Let's start with the frame :

First we're going to weld the 2 60x4x55 to the UPN. We weld them to get the 3 holes on the same axis.
After that, you can weld the 2 corners stuck between the UPN and this 60x4x55. Be sure to get them on the same axis! Use a straight edge if you need it.
Then we're going to weld a long 30x5x250 below the UPN. The tricky part is to weld the edge of this piece at 12,5mm of the center of the holes, it will be very useful when you will set a tool on it!
Now we can easily weld the 60x4x70 against the UPN and the 30x5x250, right-angled with the 60x4x55
We're almost done with the frame, we finish by welding the 60x4x70 on the other side of the UPN, they have to overlap 30mm on the UPN. Please check all the pictures to get it!

Now we will make the wheel frame :

Really easy step, you just have to weld a 30x5x20 to a 30x5x250 and 30x5x80 with right angle. Check the picture.
Do it again, you need 2!

To Finish, the handlebar :

Again, really easy step, you just have to weld the 30x5x370 flat to the 2 pipes at 560mm from the top. Use the edge you cut before to give the appropriate angle to the handlebar.

Step 5: Making Your First Tool : the Oscillating Hoe

I know, you just want to paint and assemble your wheel hoe, but trust me, you prefer making all the paint at the same time, it's a boring and dirty job, and it will be much nicer to do it only once.

Like I said before, the wheel hoe is a very versalil tool bearer and the very first tool you want is an oscilating hoe.

The oscillating hoe is a very nice weeding tool, you can use it in a regular way, so the hoe will stay parallel to ground and will just cut out the little roots and break the 1st centimeters of your soil OR you can us it in the oscillating way, it will open and break the 3st centimeters of the ground and weed bigger weeds.

To make the oscillating hoe you basicly have to repeat all the steps you did before for the wheel hoe with some specificities :

Punching : You already know this one, just check out of my design and punch your metal pieces in your anvil.
Drilling : You also know this one, but here you have to drill everithing on 8,5mm.
Sharping : This is a new one for you! We have to make the blade of the hoe. So take your 30x2x195 and sharp it in only one face (upper one) but on the two side. You don't have to sharp it in all the lenght, only on the middle. You can begin with grinder angle and sand disk, but finish with regular grinder to get nice result.
Bending : Now you have to bend the blade, just use a vice a blend it with your hands and hammer, it's pretty easy. Just remember, the sharp part must be on the upper side!
Threading : I will try to be clear for this part, but I don't have the vocabullary to explain it I think... As you can see on my design, the hoe get a whirl on his upside part. So you should have already drill this part, hand now you have to thread it on M10 on the upper side. I'm probably not using the right words, so please check out of my pictures!
Cutting : Now the funny part, You have to cut this little cube with a good angle, of course you can use an angle grinder with cutting disk but the result will not be that good, it will be much better if you do it with little metal saw!
Welding : Just Weld the few part of the hoe, of course not the blade and not the cube!

Step 6: Painting and Finish

It's all done now.

So you can paint it with a metal paint, but please, not in green, you want to find it easily when you forget it on the garden! Red is a cool color for this kind of project.

Anyway, when you finish to paint it and everithing is dry, you can build it with M10 and M9 bolt and nuts, set a wheel and go to the garden!

I hope you enjoy this instructable and you be able to do it until the end. Now I will try to make some new tools and improve it again and again, I promise I gonna give you some news soon!

Pierre.