[new_2_veg]

yeah had it out onese.

i re-rotavated a bit i did with my old machine and it came up like a perfect seed bed.

a bit that haddnt been tocuched for a bit came up ok just have to sorta inch it in or the tines grab the wheels came up and it quite rapidly skimmed the soil so have to sort of run after it

i think it needs a weight on the front, have to tell me what you think

[Baz]

Well, I finally got round to buying some oil for mine today, and fired it up, no problems  
They certainly didn't "skimp" on the metal in this machine, seems a very sturdy job and very "beefy" tines!



Next job is to put a "nudge" bar on the front, plus I was well pleased that it fits inside my 4ft trailer  comfortably  .........now if only it would stop raining every day.......I could get it dirty

[new_2_veg]

i made a bar from the front of the metal crate it come in.
 
the revs on mine change, not fixed.

wonder if theres a problem with it?

[HugglescoteGrower]

I just posted this in the what rotovator thread, so apologies if quoting it here is overkill.

"I have the "chinese model" as per the e-bay link, though the labelling on the box shows it actually came from the USA.

I'm happy enough with mine. I was keen to go for the self propelled type and couldn't afford, or justify the £1000 - 1200 that branded machines seem to start from. It is a lot easier to use than standard tillers which have the engine mounted over the tines, but bear in mind that the tines all rotate the same way, unlike the branded machines which often have counter rotating tines.

This all means that if you try and dig too deep into uncultivated ground the machine tries to run away with you. The answer is to make two or three passes at increasing depths. Even doing this I managed to do most of my 9 x 33 meter plot in an afternoon without feeling totally shattered afterwards, and it does have good depth - maybe not the 18inches / 450mm that it advertised but not far short of that.

There are concerns, of course. Will it last as long as the more expensive machines - I doubt it, and don't really expect it to. Will I find engine parts if anything goes wrong, there is an address with the machine for service spares but i doubt they'll carry much more than spark plugs etc but it's certainly doing the job for me so far."

I didn't mention the packaging which I thought was really good - and that steel frame makes a great cold frame cum cloche when covered with a bit of polythene! I have a mind to make some kind of front weight to fasten to those two bolt holes used for packing, as this may well reduce the bucking if it hits a section of hard ground. Can't fault that part of the build quality you can see, the tines are good and heavy - mine pulled a re-bar out of my plot and coiled it round the shaft. Not a mark on the tines and very easy to dismantle and remove the offending article.

I bought mine in October, 50/50 with my sister - £180 each. That about the same as hiring a machine for two weekends. Just hope the internal quality of the gears and the motor is up to the mark. As said before, if it makes 5 years I'll consider it good value.

[pipfit]

Nothing been said lately about the Chinese Rotovators are we all satisfied then

[digalotty]

im looking forward to a video

[HugglescoteGrower]

I was planning to rotvate again once the winter covers came off, however went down last weekend to put the first two rows of 1st earlies and the soil is still in perfect condition.

If that is the same with the whole plot i doubt miune will see use again till the end of the season.

[HugglescoteGrower]

Latest news on the chinese rotovator is that we have suffered a snapped tine.

The tines are sprung steel and bolt to a spindle which then slots over the half shaft and is held in place with a sprung pin. The tine snapped where it starts to widen and bend.

The good news is however, that having spoken to the company in the USA who assemble the machines, a replacement, plus spares are on their way, free of charge.

An increasing number of spares are starting to appear on ebay, engines, gearboxes and complete spindles, including tines all appear on a regular basis.

[Digger Tom]

  I am an avid motorcyclist & it is a well know fact that a brand new, off the shelf chinese motorcycle will probably have a terminal failure within its first three years of life. if it doesnt you wont be able to sell it for anything more tha peanuts as nobody trusts them. Japanese/german bikes just go on & on. Same can now be said of british bikes.
 It is the same for any Chinese manufactured pattern spare parts, they just fall apart/explode or simply die within months of installation. On this premis I would never ever by a chinese machine of any sort. They are inferior copies made by inferior engineers.

 I would not buy a Chinese copy of a Honda motorcycle, so I wont buy a Chinese copy of a Honda rotovator. It will all end in tears.

 Just my opinion but I stick by it.

[Baz]

"HugglescoteGrower"

Where on ebay did you find these spares (not that I need any yet) I looked all through the rotavator section, and saw nothing applicable

"Digger Tom"
I'm old enough to have been a motorbike enthusiast since 1957, when I bought my first bike, a girder fork, rigid frame BSA 250........about this time the Japs were building several two stroke bikes, and I well remember how they were "rubbished" by the British motorcycle fraternity and press

In what seemed "no time at all" the small jap bikes started winning in the isle of man at unheard of speeds for the little 125cc engines............that was the beginning of the end of the british motrcycle industry, now the Japs dominate the racing world

I think the chinese are following the same path, but likely to succeed faster on account of theirr vast manufacturing base

You say you would not buy a chinese machine of any sort........bet your computer was mostly made in China!

[HugglescoteGrower]

search "chinese rotovator", they'll come up. currentloy only tines, the seller is m_and_t_traders_retford

has previously had engines for £89 and gearboxes

remembering the one and only jap bike I had, a suzuki I am not overly enamered with japanese machinery.

[Manlea1]

I bought the maxtra 4.5hp tiller only a few weeks ago and im more than happy with the quality,been a mechanic all my life aswell as engineering so know a fair bit on engines 
The honda copy? engine fired up after half a pull straight from the box(after oil was added) which i was well impressed at  If the engine ever fails its not rocket science to fit a different make engine to the tiller as nearly all of the engine mounts nowadays are the same (have a look,next time in b+q etc)  :blink:
To hire a rotavator here for a day is £100 plus £50 every day after that  i only paid £200 for the brandnew machine and im sure ill use it for a fair few times yet  so win win in my eyes 

Lee

[gsc]

To hire a rotavator here for a day is £100 plus £50 every day after that 

That seems a lot - others suggested £26 I think in another thread.  I guess it depends on the power?

I'd be interested to know if you think the 6.5HP Maxtra rather than the smaller one would have been overkill for your needs?

I bought a RYOBI Petrol Brushcutter RBC430SES plus a cultivator for it and I'm dithering about whether to get a proper rotavator or not.

[HugglescoteGrower]

Hire costs here for a similar, power driven rear tine machin 9OK of better quality and probably better spec) is about £126 for a weekend, plus I have to pick it up and return it or pay a haeft delivery charge. So at £375 for our chinese jobbie from the fourth use onwards it's saving us money.

Worth noting that only the motor is chinese, most of the rest seems to be American. The company we contacted in the USA for spare tines make the gearbox and tine assembly.

Have to agree about reliability of the engine so far, fires up immediately and runs well.  Only the broken tine to blot the copybook but the customer service we received to sort that out has been excellent. I too was half expecting to have to put a new engine on before too long but so far i have been very impressed.

Of course a branded original would have been nice, but I have never seen a honda of this type. The next "model up" from this I found is a Husqvana with a list price of three times what we paid. That wasn't an option for us. Added to that the problems I had with my last Suzuki and I probably dont quite have such a high opinion of Japanese engines anyway.

[yanto]

I got one today. I couldn’t  find  which way round  the tines go in the instructions. I looked at the pictures on here. Baz pic  has them the opposite way round to  min200 pic,who is right?