Dirt sifter?

[raykos]

Hi all,

When I was reading through some posts at the "CountryByNet" site, one of the members mentioned something about having to get busy sifting some dirt through his dirt screen; that made me think about this site. Some of the projects I've seen posted here are really clever and ingenius, so, has anyone ever made a dirt screen to be used/moved/driven by the tractor?

Thanks,
Ray

 

[RedDirt]

I think one of the "road building" post some time ago had a guy that built an inclined screen on skids built from 2x4 material. He'd drag the screen where needed and dump material on the screen with his loader. Changing screen sizes would give options of segregating different sizes of materials. As I recall the top of the screen frame was high at loader full height dump height and inclined downward at about 45 degrees.

A three stage screen could be built along similar lines with two screens of different sizes at opposed angles, one above the other. EG. first screened material graded to the right, medium material to the left and fines below.

Mounting the screen frames with a pivot on one end would allow you to adjust the angle of the screens for the optimum speed of the material traveling down the incline.

Sorry, I did not earmark the post.

 

[Dmace]

After the excavator was done with our front yard, I had tons of loose dirt/soil and rocks left over. I wanted to sift out anything larger than 3-4" and all the roots and tree branches all over the yard. I built this little 4ft x 4ft sifter out of 2x4's and a chainlink fence door. Total cost was about $40 and it took a whole 30 mins to piece together.



Click thumbnails for large images.

It worked really well, you can see that I added a couple of ratchet straps to one side of it so I could tighten up the fencing as it streched after dropping a few large rocks on it. I made it just wide enough so my FEL bucket could fit under it and scoop up the good stuff and the large stuff rolled down to the front where I could pile it up.

 

[sandman2234]

I remember a guy that built one from a large tube, about 4' in diameter and maybe 20' long. Turned it with his tractor, loaded it with a scoop digging into the ground that had a path built for the dirt to be carried on and dropped into the turning drum. Dirt fell thru, rocks went to the end where they ended up in a wooden box.
David from jax

 

[Temp97]

Here are some pictures from the one I built for myself. It's not pretty but it worked well. This spring/summer I will take the current screen/frame and mount it onto my dump trailer with a 4x8 sheet of expanded metal on top of the current screen. This way as I'm re-screening the left over soil all the clean top soil will be in the trailer and I can haul it around the property. I tested it out in fall and the process worked well.

 

[raykos]

Ah Ha!

I know there has been a lot of positive things said about this site and I, too, would like to add my kudos; as I said in my original post, "clever and ingenious"! Any 'motorized' versions, for when I want to load up the sifter with dirt that is not entirely dry & loose or siftable?

"Temp97",
Really liked your pictures, as they say, "one picture worth a thousand words"! Thinking about some dirt that is not, entirely dry & loose or siftable, if the angle of the sifter was smaller, (probably, almost flat) and if you raised your bucket so it wasn't pushing down on the screen, do you think it would be possible to drag some 'bad dirt' on the other side just to get the rocks out? Some of my dirt is not the best in the world, but unfortunately, I've got to do the best I can with what I've got . And, of course, sifting the rocks out is the starting point.

Thanks,
Ray

 

[raykos]

Whoops, sorry,

Hit the "submit reply" instead of "preview post" before I was ready. Another case of the computer doing what I told it to do instead of doing what I wanted it to do! Anyhow,

"Dmace",
As I mentioned to "Temp97", I just love picures when it comes to understanding something. It seems I can sometimes have a problem understanding with words alone...just ask my wife! And, I also like the idea of using fencing, my neighbor is in the fencing business and I'll bet I could probably get a some scraps from him!


"RedDirt",
I'm searchin this site for "road building", because as I mentioned my dirt is not the greatest in the world, and I need as many options as I can find!

Thanks guys,
Ray

 

[Temp97]

You can try that with your bucket but after a while I would imagine that something on the screen frame would eventually loosen up or break from the pressure. The dirt I had is from a pile that I was about 80 tons worth (so I was told) and packed down TIGHT. The key is to keep the dirt moving as fast as you can. I had some that were more flat and had shaker motors on them but modifications had to always be made and I was running out of season.

 

[RedDirt]

"RedDirt",
I'm searchin this site for "road building", because as I mentioned my dirt is not the greatest in the world, and I need as many options as I can find!

It may have been a "driveway" post. The design was similar to the photos posted above.

It sounds like a rotating drum type screen may be what you need to break up your soil. These are much more complex to build and you'll likely need an auxiliary power source to rotate the drum. If the drum is open ended and set set at an angle the dirt could be fed into the drum at the upper end via a hopper. The fines would settle below the drum and the graded material would pile at the low end of the drum.

 

[chickenman]

here's a simple one i built to sift stones