On Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:28:12 -0500, Tim Wescott
wrote:

On Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:26:02 -0700, stevethompson 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!

But I'm stuck. How to create a system that is loaded by the FEL to feed
the sifter? Conveyor belt, corkscrew in a trough, modified small grain
silo? I'm a hobby welder with no industrial experience, and I don't
know where to look for ideas.

I've got a pvc pipe, 6 feet long, 18 inches in diameter, 1/2 inch walls,
that I could rip to create a trough. I even thought of modifying a post
hole auger, but it's not long enough. Any ideas feasible for a DIYer
would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

My trommel! You designed it for me! Thanks, man!

To start, I'd make a bin large enough to hit with your front-end loader,
with a trough that extends into the end of the trommel. Dump compost
into the bin and push it through the trough by hand -- you won't be
lifting it, so it won't be nearly as much work as shoveling.

When you get tired of that, someone suggested an auger, which is probably
an excellent second step.


O.P. here

Building a trough to hand push the compost would be too easy. This is
my first motorized project, and I'm on a motorized roll right now!

In all the homebuilt sifters I've seen pictures of, everybody built
the rectangular frame, and tilted the trommel inside the frame.
It was pretty easy to set the trommel in square and then tilt the
frame. I didn't know what slope to use, so I made it adjustable, 0 to
6 inches. If I were to make another, it would be fixed at 2 inches.

It killed me to have to buy new bicycle rims. I looked for weeks and
just couldn't find any 26" wheels. When I started looking online for
rims, I learned that since the late 80's, most rims are alloys. I
found steel rims, with spokes and hubs for $15 each, plus shipping.

I've been researching augers, primarily grain type, trying to get some
ideas. Too expensive to buy for this project, but I'll be watching
Craigs list.

Tthere's an organic compost and vermiculture farm not too far away. I
stopped to look at their setup. They have two commercial 15 foot
trommels supported 7 feet off the ground, so their FEL can pick up the
sifted material. To feed it, they built a 10 foot square platform on
the input side. The FEL puts a couple loads on the platform, and then
they SHOVEL IT IN BY HAND! Hundreds and hundreds of yards per year!

And I don't want to shovel 10-12 yards per year; I think I'm getting
lazy in my old age!