wrote in message
...
On Sep 15, 5:26 am, wrote:
Hi,

Here's a motorized compost trommel sifter I built:

http://steveandlizthompson.shutterfly.com/

It works great, but after loading two yards through it with a shovel,
I looked at my tractor with a FEL, and thought that there must be an
easier way!


Thanks,
Steve

I would use the front end loader to get the material up high and into
a bin. Then an auger in the bottom of the bin to push the material
out of the bin and into a chute that empties into the trommel. If the
bin has three sloping sides, the auger would not have to be very
long. Alternate would be air driven ram with the piston pvc pipe for
the cylinder.

If I remember correctly, there was something about making augers in
sci.engr.joining.welding a good while back. Ernie was probably the
one who posted how to make them. Or part of a grain auger.

Dan


huh! if i may be so bold as to offer my two cents. i think if it were me
i'd build a 5 foot wide "U" shaped trough on the infeed side, dump the
material into the trough with the loader and push it in bit by bit with a
hoe (or some other custom made implement). probably with lip of the trough
protruding two or three inches inside the trommel, probably with a close fit
so the material won't dribble out between the trough and the drum. maybe
with a (short, 6 inches?) sheet metal extension on the infeed side of the
trommel drum? as you're suggesting the lifting and loading of the material
is probably the
hard part. i'd imagine simply only just removing the lifting and loading by
use of the front end loader would substantially reduce the effort. oh, and
of course put the trough on an incline so the material more or less kinda
wants to go into the trommel anyhow.
i'd think it would be very difficult to completely automate the feed on such
a small scale. it would seem to me it would need some sort of feedback
mechanism, too much material, too little material, etc. but then i'm not a
trommel designer/builder.
btw, very nice impressive trommel. good luck with it in any event.

b.w.