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

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

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.

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

Trommel sifters we used for gold mining had a feeder end and an output end.
On the feeder end was a cone shaped feed, then a 90 done with several bends
that fed into the center of one end. The trommel was made to tilt so that
when the trommel was filled with oversize, it was tilted, and the oversize
material came out the other end. It operated at a slight tilt so as to take
materials from the feeder end to the discharge end. Most times, at the
right angle, it was almost automatic, as it would feed on one end, and when
full enough, the rocks would tumble out the other end, fines going through
the mesh.

HTH

Steve

On Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:26:02 -0700, the infamous
scrawled the following:

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!

Hey, that's a great idea. Howcomewhyfor you no paint de frame, mon?
A quick wirebrushing, cleanup with lacquer thinner, and spray
bomb away. Take ya half an hour.


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.

Perfect.

Create a stand with box for a FEL bucket's worth of soil, a foot or
18" higher than the base of the sifter barrel, somewhere between waist
and chest high.

Make the trough and connect it to the stand so it feeds the barrel.

Use a regular garden hoe to scrape the dirt onto the trough.

Alternatively, build a PTO and create a worm to auger the soil into
the trough slowly but automatically.

Submit that to Farm Show magazine, too, if you like. It's worth
sharing, Steve. Kudos.

--
"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of
ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
-- Thomas Jefferson

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.

--
www.wescottdesign.com

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!

On Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:34:57 -0700,
wrote:



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.


Forget auger and think conveyor. As in treadmill.

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

You might try looking at "chopper wagons". They use a manure
style chain/bar conveyor in the main bed and a
smaller/narrower version right in front. The front part,
maybe even just the drop-chute might work for you. If
nothing else maybe give you some ideas. Here is a picture or
two of chopper wagons:

http://sheboygan.craigslist.org/grd/1350784633.html

http://limaohio.craigslist.org/grd/1352442913.html

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

You could build a device called a Texas Feeder. It consists of a hopper of
a size appropriate for your loader. At the bottom is a flat plate that
slides toward the trommel and then away. It is driven by a motor driving a
crank with a rod hooked to the end of the flat plate away from the trommel.
As the plate moves toward the trommel it carries the material out of an
opening in the end of the hopper toward the trommel. At the same time the
material in the hopper fills the space on the end of the plate away from the
trommel. As the plate moves away from the trommel, the material cannot be
drawn back into the hopper because of the weight of the material in the
hopper so it falls off the end of the hopper into the trommel. The feed
rate can be controlled by the size of the opening in the hopper, possibly by
a sliding gate, or by the speed of the motor.
"Leon Fisk" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:26:02 -0700,
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!
snip

You might try looking at "chopper wagons". They use a manure
style chain/bar conveyor in the main bed and a
smaller/narrower version right in front. The front part,
maybe even just the drop-chute might work for you. If
nothing else maybe give you some ideas. Here is a picture or
two of chopper wagons:

http://sheboygan.craigslist.org/grd/1350784633.html

http://limaohio.craigslist.org/grd/1352442913.html

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email