Homemade soil screener

[ishiboo]

K, now seeing as you have a ton of horsepower to spare with that engine, figure out a way to build a simple shredder feeder so that the clumps/organic material/etc. are broken up

Do you run the material through twice ever?

Since you load from the "wrong" end, what about a second screen below the first with the opposite angle, cutting a hole in the top screen to drop material below, and switching the steel sheet to the other side? So the material would zig zag, hit twice as many screens and you would load material and clean top soil from the same side.

May not be helpful to you, but I have a lot of stuff which clumps/etc. and I'd love to make a compost soil mix.

 

[Zick]

Very excellent videos!

I love how simple it is. :thumbsup:

 

[tractorgp]

K, now seeing as you have a ton of horsepower to spare with that engine, figure out a way to build a simple shredder feeder so that the clumps/organic material/etc. are broken up

Do you run the material through twice ever?

Since you load from the "wrong" end, what about a second screen below the first with the opposite angle, cutting a hole in the top screen to drop material below, and switching the steel sheet to the other side? So the material would zig zag, hit twice as many screens and you would load material and clean top soil from the same side.

May not be helpful to you, but I have a lot of stuff which clumps/etc. and I'd love to make a compost soil mix.

So far I haven't run anything through twice but at times I probably should, especially after screening dampish soil as some of it gets to the "junk" side

 

[tractorgp]

Thanks Zick

 

[rasorbackq]

I have no guesses as to what has failed 3 Xs. But I will be using some ideas to build my screener very soon.
Going to guess....... the belt. Maybe its too long and required more idler tension.

 

[tractorgp]

I have no guesses as to what has failed 3 Xs. But I will be using some ideas to build my screener very soon.
Going to guess....... the belt. Maybe its too long and required more idler tension.

Nope

 

[sparc]

the belt.

 

[tractorgp]

the belt.

Nope

 

[tractorgp]

the belt.

Nope

 

[quicksandfarmer]

It's a nicely done video. It's a good how-to, but the video has nice editing and composition.

My guess is the bearing on the vibrating pulley has failed.

 

[tractorgp]

It's a nicely done video. It's a good how-to, but the video has nice editing and composition.

My guess is the bearing on the vibrating pulley has failed.

That was what I thought would go first as it was cheap and no grease nipples. But no it has held in and working fine. Thanks for comments.

 

[the old grind]

If that turnbuckle is for belt tension, it's also transmitting vibration to the rest of the device and in doing so its attachment points would be taking a beating. Perhaps it could be eliminated and the idler pulley used for tension, even another added to keep slap to a minimum. There must be enuf hp there to overcome a bit more friction in the drive train. Loosening that connection might also mean a lighter bob needed on the top pulley.

I'm imagining bent rod belt guides similar to those found under Craftsman mowers/decks if slap gets to be excessive.

Among my WAGs, it's conceivable that if steel belted tire rubber was used that metal within could fatigue and leave the rubber less able to hold the screen in position. These would be small refinements if needed at all.

The videos are among the best organized and edited I've seen in a long time. Way better than 30 sec of useful info/shots and five minutes of some guy hollering over the racket while explaining why he built something. IMO, just the right amount of seeing this well executed machine in action. "Two thumbs up!"

 

[tractorgp]

If that turnbuckle is for belt tension, it's also transmitting vibration to the rest of the device and in doing so its attachment points would be taking a beating. Perhaps it could be eliminated and the idler pulley used for tension, even another added to keep slap to a minimum. There must be enuf hp there to overcome a bit more friction in the drive train. Loosening that connection might also mean a lighter bob needed on the top pulley.

I'm imagining bent rod belt guides similar to those found under Craftsman mowers/decks if slap gets to be excessive.

Among my WAGs, it's conceivable that if steel belted tire rubber was used that metal within could fatigue and leave the rubber less able to hold the screen in position. These would be small refinements if needed at all.

The videos are among the best organized and edited I've seen in a long time. Way better than 30 sec of useful info/shots and five minutes of some guy hollering over the racket while explaining why he built something. IMO, just the right amount of seeing this well executed machine in action. "Two thumbs up!"

Very insightful comments old grind! Here's a photo of the three turnbuckles (belt tensioners) that have failed. This has been the only failure on the machine so far. The second photo shows a top link, that if it were small enough, would be the ideal replacement for the turnbuckles that I have been using. Two of the turnbuckles shown have been used extensively in other applications prior to being used on the screener so that might make a difference. The planes of the two turnbuckle mounting surfaces are not in alignment on my screener, so this puts a pretty hefty non-linear load on the turnbuckle. If everything were perfectly aligned the turnbuckle would be alternating between tension and compressive loads only. That would be bad enough with cheap turnbuckles I have used but with the misalignment we also get extra metal fatigue thrown in and that might explain the resulting breakages shown in the photo. When adjusted and tightened, the turnbuckle, vibrating pulley, bearing mount and screen frame are intended to be a "solid" unit that vibrates together.
No problems at all with the tire springs and tire hinges. I thought that the two springs might sag with time and usage so I built-in a provision to make an adjustment for this by making two in-line holes at the "bulge" of the springs through which a bolt and nut can bring in the bulge if needed. (I will post a graphic of this a bit later).

Think that doing away with the turnbuckle spring tensioner might be another approach that could be taken. But have to say that I'm more than happy (and a bit surprised) with the operation so far.

And - thanks very much for the kind words re my videos, really appreciate that.

A word re HP. The 6-1/2 HP engine cost me just $100 (on sale) and these are often available here. Also with the screen size in my screener, and when you dump a heavy load on at once, you really appreciate the available power. Of course this is especially true if the load is damp at all.

 

[tractorgp]

As promised here's a graphic showing the holes made in the tire springs that are intended for a bolt and nut and washers. So far the springs have held up fine so no need for the adjustment feature to be used.

 

[tractorgp]

I just finished uploading the screener info with additional still photos and other information to the Instructables web site.

You can check it out here: Homemade soil screener/sifter

 

[rasorbackq]

Link works well.
Thanks.

 

[tractorgp]

Link works well.
Thanks.

Your welcome rasorbackq - getting real good interest at the Instructables site too