Topic: what is a good rotavator

[windygale]

Hi All, well last years around september time i bought a brandnew al-ko mh-350 costing £250 plus, after around 6hrs of work on my allotment the cable for the drive broke, being upset by this i went back to the shop where i bought it and had a few words >:( ??? >:( ::) it got fixed by the warrenty,
so next day i went back to my plot (last week to rotavat some ground what was not in use) to have a play again, but after a half an hour every thing stopped  :'( :'( >:( no drive again  ::) ::) ??? ??? the drive belt had came off  >:( :'(, so i rang up the shop and told them to come and pick the machine up from my allotment and fix it again, 
so the bloke came and picked it up and was looking at the size of my plot and then he said i think your machine is to small for the plot size ??? ??? ??? ::) :o :o
SO my question is, What is a good machine for an allotment size 100ft x25 ft  i thought an al-ko MH-350 was (but i'm not so sure now)
any ideas ??? ;)

 ;D windy

[Fork]

Did you dig your plot over before you rotovated or did you just rotovate?

Those "slasher" tines are not really suitable for going over "undug" ground.Your machine will be working very hard to break up the ground.

My machine is 5hp and quite old but is superb for the job.I have three different types of tyne for different ground/jobs.

I googled your machine and it looks quite small but cant really tell from the picture.

[Buster54]

This is my first year and most on our site always say dig  before rotavating to loosen the soil and puts less stress on the machine  :-\

[windygale]

HA! HA!  ;D Thank you two for the replies, i've had my plot for around four years now, and have double dug all the plot over now (crop rotation etc, etc, where potatoes and beans go) but i had to buy a rotavator now as i suffer from a bad back problem, (a crumbling spine) caused from 14 yrs of farming.
i do have a lot of knowlege  ::) :D about soil preparation and useage of farming machinery, as i can subsoil & ploughing the soil, cultivate for a seedbed, drill the seed, combine the crop, etc,etc,etc, and repair them all as i was a mechanic for T.H.WHITES, Devizes,  Wiltshire, many years ago, :o ;D that was good times,

fork :D the size of my al-ko rotavator is just a bit smaller or the same size as a merry tiller, i used to use one that my brother in law had , but with my back problems i thought i would buy my own ;)  so i can use it when i want to, rather than keep asking for his every year,
but yes the ground is soft and well worked that you can push a stick into it very easy to around two foot down, in places, as i showed the bloke,

buster 54, yes best way, and a good way to clear the soil of weeds, and incorporate manure into the soil,

[mcgillnorfolk]

I bought a Mantis 4bhp rotavator/tiller last year on ebay (brand new) for £180.00 (I believe the recommended price is about £390).  It is a Chinese make and is suprisingly sturdy when compared to an equivalent JCB version.  We have 2 plots of about 90 by 30 and we have rotavated both plots this year without any problems.  I wouldn't recommend that you do an entire plot in one day but it certainly beats digging over all the time.

Details:  PETROL ROTAVATOR TILLER CULTIVATOR
Tilling Scope: 360mm
Tilling Depth: 130-260mm
Engine Model: 4.0HP
Engine Type: Single cylinder OHV engine, 4-stroke
Displacement: 127ml
Max Power: 3.0kw
Rotate Speed: 6500r/min
Tungsten steel blades
GS, CE, EPA approved

[Buster54]

Apologies windygale  :-[

[Mr Smith]

I have not seen a  new garden rotovator yet that is made from the same spec materials like my 1973 Mountefield, if you are any good at mechanics why not buy something off e-bay going cheap-cheap and buy one of the brand new 5hp engines based on the Honda that are also on e-bay :)

[Fork]

HA! HA!  ;D Thank you two for the replies, i've had my plot for around four years now, and have double dug all the plot over now (crop rotation etc, etc, where potatoes and beans go) but i had to buy a rotavator now as i suffer from a bad back problem, (a crumbling spine) caused from 14 yrs of farming.
i do have a lot of knowlege  ::) :D about soil preparation and useage of farming machinery, as i can subsoil & ploughing the soil, cultivate for a seedbed, drill the seed, combine the crop, etc,etc,etc, and repair them all as i was a mechanic for T.H.WHITES, Devizes,  Wiltshire, many years ago, :o ;D that was good times,

fork :D the size of my al-ko rotavator is just a bit smaller or the same size as a merry tiller, i used to use one that my brother in law had , but with my back problems i thought i would buy my own ;)  so i can use it when i want to, rather than keep asking for his every year,
but yes the ground is soft and well worked that you can push a stick into it very easy to around two foot down, in places, as i showed the bloke,

buster 54, yes best way, and a good way to clear the soil of weeds, and incorporate manure into the soil,

So after all that................you obviously bought a crap machine!

[windygale]

Fork, i think your right really, ::) ;D but it does look the part, and fit the price and weight,  :'( :-\

Mr Smith, i'm heading that way to the honda's but i need a light weight oneas i cant lift much into my car, but as for ebay ??? ::) i'm fed up with other peoples junk and having to fix it to make it run or work or even look good

[Dadnlad]

Can vouch for the Honda FG100
After much research, then tinternet scouring, we got one new from US Ebay for 250 dollars, then had it sent by sea to reduce shipping cost to another 50 dollars - but that was 4 years ago
The handle folds in half so it fits in the boot and stores easy, its 4 stroke so I dont have to mess about mixing oil, and it easily copes with a 100' x 30' plot each year

[Larkshall]

As I am now nearly 80 I find that I am unable to handle the larger Wolsley Webb Major, so I have bought a new Mantis Electric (I have sufficient lead and power points to get to all my garden, 1/4 acre). They also make two petrol models (two stroke and four stroke).

The normal rotavators use the tines to propel themselves forward, the Mantis does not do this. You pull the Mantis back against the pull of the tines, It has 40 tines as against the normal 16, it works extremely well. The electric and the two stroke models weigh 9.5Kg while the four stroke models weigh about 12Kg, so can be handled easily.

Regarding the rotavating of uncultivated ground, this is not a job which rotavators are designed for. There is a basic flaw, the drive case (be it chain or shaft/gear drive) will always be pushing against hard packed soil. The only way around this is to zig-zag the machine which is hard work. Digging it over first may be easier.