feed pellet machine?

[BHD]

I have been interested in making a small pellet machine for feed,

I am finding that some of the critters do not like the fines in the feed and in time will leave a good amount in the bottom of the feed pans, and I figure if I could pelletize the feed there would be less wast, and many times easer handling,

I know that most pellet machines use some type of rotary system to make pellets, usally some type of press wheel and a round die

but I was thinking of a type of extruder,

I would like to make pellets about 3/4" square or round, for cattle, and then smaller ones about 1/4" to 3/8" most likely round, for the goats and possibly for chicken feed,

my thoughts have been to use a hydraulic cylinder, maybe even the wood splitter with attachment, to make them,

my Idea is a hopper for the raw feed stuffs, and then most likely some type of a side chamber with a movable press to move loose feed into a chamber to be compressed, and then a long cylinder to compress the materials through a die system to make the pellets, my guess is to make the chamber about 4"X4" square, and about 24" long and then it would press out 4 pellet units at once on the large and the smaller size, would be many,

(my Idea for the side chamber is so the materials would not be pushed up and out back into the hopper,



I know I may have to use brewers grains or wet some of the product to get the "glue" to stick them together, I know the heat created helps glue the pellet as well from the compression of the products,

any one have a valve configuration that would make the system automatic, (I am sure there is a simple way to make some type of lever system that would snap the valve to reverse the system and make it a automatic operation),

any Ideas, or thoughts,

 

[BHD]

nearly 100 views and no Ideas or thoughts or opinions,

what do you think the out come would be workable? to slow? be jamming all the time,

any one know of a hydraulic valve that would cycle the cylinder automatically? or a system to make it cycle?

my be you all just think I gone off the deep end,

or is this not the forum or section of the forum, I should be posting this type of discussion in?

 

[fowllife]

OK, I'll bite....Your plan sounds good in theory, but I don't know if it would work. You could look at some of the smaller wood pellet mills for a base and see how your design compares. I think that most feed mills use heat, and I'm not sure how much, or what you would do to reliably get some for your operation.

 

[rd_macgregor]

If it was just extrusion, you could use a pottery pug mill...but I'm not sure about heat.
BOB

 

[BHD]

thank you for the ideas and replys, will check into the pottery mill idea, and have wondered about the heat as well,

 

[scor440]

Try pelletpros.com .

 

[BHD]

thanks