4-in-One bucket

[BAGTIC]

I have a question for those with a 4-in-one bucket.

Suppose one attached a spacer that would keep the bucket halves from closing all the way, a 1/2 inch to 1 inch gap. If one picked up a mixed bucket of rock and dirt and jostled it a bit would the dirt fall through the gap onto the ground.

I know it is a pretty poor excuse for a rock separator but it might be better than nothing until something better was available.

 

[MossRoad]

The problem I would see with that would be as soon as the gap got covered by rocks a little larger than the gap, no more would fall through, even though you jostle it around.

 

[toy]

I had the need to sift through some dirt this summer to get the rocks out to do a little fill work. I made a fram and used chain link fence for the grate, it worked for a small project but when I get one of those round tuits I intend to make a more sturdier one using cat walk in a frame that is tilted so that when I dump dirt on it it will grate out the rock and the rock will hopefully roll off the grating to be loaded up afterwards. A small motor rigged up to a shaft with a peice of key steel to throw it off balance would vibrate the fram and hopfully help in the seperation process. I beleive someone on the forum has a gizmo set up like that or at least I saw it somewhere and loged in the back of my mind for a future project. Hope this is a helpful suggestion for you.

 

[tracdoc]

I think TOY has the right idea here. I too have jury rigged chain link fence in a box frame (three layers, criss-crossed on top of one another to decrease the hole size) to do what you want to accomplish.

I have the 4n1, and I don't think it would function as you would like. The volume of the bucket is relatively small (~ 5 cu ft), and when you open the jaws the small stuff at the bottom falls right through, and the larger stuff wedges the opening, preventing more from going through. If you try to "shake" the bucket, I think a lot would want to shake out of the front/top opening. The 4n1 is great for controlling the distribution of evenly sized materials such as pea gravel, crushed aggreate, etc., and I don't think it would act as a good sieve.