Mini tractor made in the Far East

Mini-tractor Amurchonok: design and components

Our magazine has already written more than once about Krasnodar, Stavropol, and Ural tractors, motor plows, rotary rippers, and electric mowers created in clubs by young designers. These machines are a good help both on the school plot, on the experimental plot, and in the field. The mini-tractor “Amurchonok,” described on these pages, was built Read more…

Homemade sprayer

DIY electric garden sprayer from a sewing machine motor

I made it for treating plants in the fight against garden and vegetable pests. I assembled it from available materials, mainly an electric motor from a sewing machine and a gear oil pump from a Ural motorcycle. I mounted them on a common base and connected them with a long drive shaft. The sprayer is Read more…

“Butterfly” on the waves

Moth dinghy build: hull, mast, rigging and sail

The ultra-light international Moth class dinghy — the “Moth” (fig. 1, 2) is simple in design, easy to build, and possesses all the most important qualities of a racing boat — it is fast, maneuverable, and responsive to the helm. All this makes it worth recommending as a first racing sailboat for those who dream Read more…

Teen buggy

Buggy-350: school microcar based on a motor tricycle

On the roads and cross-country tracks of Latvia, new sports microcars — buggies built at the republic’s Central Station for Young Technicians — have recently appeared. One of them, the school “Buggy-350”, was displayed at NTTM-74. These nimble, agile machines move with equal success on dirt roads, highways, and heavily rugged terrain. They are also Read more…

Pneumatic all-terrain vehicle

Single-seat pneumatic ATV for winter ice fishing

A familiar winter TV story is the rescue of ice-fishing enthusiasts from a drifting ice floe. Almost every year we are shown how emergency services specialists on helicopters, boats, or all-terrain vehicles save unlucky anglers. Such incidents are not uncommon on the country’s freezing bodies of water. Moreover, anglers often drive out onto the ice Read more…

Bicycle in a suitcase

Teen folding bike that fits in a 650×450×150 mm case

A folding bicycle is nothing surprising today. However, even when folded, its dimensions are not that small, and storing it at home — let alone carrying it on a bus or tram — is not always convenient. I set out to develop a convenient folding bicycle with the smallest possible folded dimensions. I wanted it Read more…

Solar-powered dryer

Solar fruit dryer: design and operating principle

Fruits are dried in different ways. Most often — by the air-solar method, which, besides obvious advantages (simplicity, availability, etc.), has well-known drawbacks. The proposed solar dryer design is free of many disadvantages inherent in other constructions. The “greenhouse effect” works in it, as they say, at full capacity, providing a temperature under the film Read more…