Building a small scale thresher

[zbeckerd]

One last picture.

 

[OldMcDonald]

Sorry it has taken a few days to get back, but I have not been on-line. I will contact ITDG (I think they have moved) but would appreciate the title of the book/publication that the photos were in. Old McDonald.

 

[zbeckerd]

Tools for Homesteader, Gardeners and Small-Scale Farmers. Published by Rodale Press and Intermediate Technology Publications Limited. 1978.

I am amazed that this kind of stuff has not yet made it to the web where it could benefit people living in out of the way places.

Here is something I came across the other day
http://www.vintageprojects.com

 

[OldMcDonald]

My sentiments exactly. There is simply no second hand market here (except for trade-in tractors) and anyone with slightly more than the amount of land that can be handled by donkey power is relying on buying new, or. as I have just done, contracting - and that is limited to haymaking. Not a combine harvester anywhere in the vicinty. Reaper binders there are, hence the need for a thresher!!!! Thanks for the other info, and the site looks interesting from a quick glance, I will have a better look later. Old McDonald.

 

[princeton]

I hate to make my first post and bring back a dead topic but I found this at the same time I found this forum

Sustainable Seed Systems

 

[BHD]

Class Definition for Class 460 - CROP THRESHING OR SEPARATING
or the second one is more printable,
http://www.uspto.gov/go/classification/uspc460/defs460.pdf

dkimages - discover - technology - Combine Harvesters

Wheat -- The Inside Story

this is the closest I can come to "plans" no dimensions but usually the drawing are more or less to scale on each page.

thresher - Google Patents

try some different phrases grain separator, cleaner, thresher, wheat ------ ,rice, combine,

one thing to remember about patents, there ideas that have been registered, and that is all, not necessarily good or bad, but ideas, that some one went to the work of registering, not all of them are worth repeating or are they all poor, I guess in simple just because it was patented does not automatically make it good. the Patent protects the idea for few years an after that it is free to use, and if you doing it for your self and not profit on it I do not think there is any thing can even be said on one in force. depending on the type of patent it is the time is 14 or 20 years from the filing of it. What is the Difference Between a Design Patent and a Utility Patent? Patent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I usaly open them up in the PDF format, in my oppion it is easer to see and use.

 

[BHD]

I nearly forgot, a few years ago I made a grass seed harvester, that I pull behind the tractor and it uses a form of a spinning brush to knock the seed off the stock of the plant, it is a "stripper", and I think it would work for small scale grain harvest, one would still need cleaner of some type to blow out the chaff and so on,

the brush (which I made from string trimmer string), rotates turning upward and it has a hood and a box on the back side that it throws much of the seed into, that has a screen over it, so one does not jsut blow it out back,

Prairie Habitats - Pull Type Seed Strippers
the one on this page is similar to what I made.
Seedburo Equipment Company - Pull Type Seed Stripper

 

[FierceGeek]

Has anyone tried making the small scale thresher based on the plans at the following link...

http://www.fastonline.org/CD3WD_40/JF/JF_OTHER/SMALL/Rodale grain thresher - 1977.pdf

Looks pretty easy to build although I'm not sure how the chains are attached to the threshing rods. Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[chrisheaton]

Have a look at this think this is the answer for really small scale really simple


YouTube - grain thresher designs and winnowing - how to

 

[OldMcDonald]

I totally missed the 2008 and 2009 posts. The hand feed ideas are too small scale for the area I and my neighbours grow except if we grow a tiny area of wheat for breadmaking. I tried this in 2006 or 7 and it was too time consuming. I did not make a static one for this reason. I also ended up buying a reaper type mower for my few acres of hay on shares with a neighbour and we are considering cutting with this then picking up with a baler type pick up and into a threshing drum attached. No plans drawn up yet, just ideas.

 

[pickstock]

can you post some photos of what you made old mc??

im looking to build one or convert that im being given to stationary and a few other mods.

 

[OldMcDonald]

pickstock, I did not make one for the reasons stated in my previous post. There are a few sites in Asia, notably India and Pakistan that have some real small scale stuff and some videos on YouTube, but all too difficult to break down into enough detail to let you build. I would like to grow about 5 acres of oats for grain, so I need to be able to pick it up from the swathe or have a proper combine. An AC40 or similar would be enough for me, but we do not have the luxury of old machines that could be refurbished.

 

[Egon]

Is it possible to look up the workings of todays combines or an old fashion stationary threshing machine and get enough visual data to build your own?

For five acres a stationary unit may be simpler to design. Gathering the grain could be done with a larger loader attached to the tractor bucket.

What will the grain be used for?

 

[Egon]

New West Live Steam

New West Live Steam

They don't have the thresher listed on their website, but I contacted them through email and they confirmed that they have these drawings and copies are available./QUOTE]

There might be a source here. The above quote comes from a different website.

 

[hayhauler]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here's a scale model available on ebay with lots of good pictures.

1/4 Scale John Deere Combine Self Propelled Header Move - eBay (item 220730876406 end time Feb-03-11 09:15:37 PST)

 

[pickstock]

somthing i thought of that may help ol mac

based on somthing another forumer designed

how about a washing machine??
they have the holes in them already for most grains to fall through, put grain heads in (wouldnt take too much straw) and throw a load of marbles (glass balls) larger than the holes
turn it on and the marbles would smash the grain out of the heads and they would fall out of the holes. yes it would need a little modification and then needs to cleaned but **** it might just work

 

[OldMcDonald]

pickstock, I do believe we have tried most possibilities. The easisest way for small quantities is a big bucket and an electric drill with a paddle that whacks the grain heads about. Then hand winnow. Not a feasible option for more than a few square yards. We cut with a reaper mower last year. Leaves nice even swathes. Now try picking it up other than by hand - Egon suggested a foreloader. No go. Hand tying sheaves, as done in the past in most countries, and still here by my neighbours is the only way to ensure the heads are all more or less together at the same end of the sheaves.

We will post back to this thread with any reasonable information. I have a great deal of confidence in the technical ability of my associate to construct a satisfactory thresher to pick up behind a reaper and produce a good clean sample of grain.

 

[pickstock]

The easisest way for small quantities is a big bucket and an electric drill with a paddle that whacks the grain heads about. Then hand winnow.

i didnt think of that
this year i put in somthing different that i was given at tafe (i go to an agricultural school) i was only given a handfull of the seeds and told the germination rate was quite low so i put 5 in seperate pots and only had one single plant germinate, harvested the seed today with a pair of secitered and threashed by hand ie pulled every grain out individually.

we're coming into winter now so im planning to sow about another half of what i was given in the garden. ive going to irrigate this to get the best results and then will try either this mothod or my other method.


what i did to collect barley for seed a few years back was to put everything through my garden muncher, a few times really and then winnowed it. winnowing was pretty dodgy though and in the end i just put all the chaff in my bin aswell and will throw it in the paddock soon

 

[Brad_Blazer]

Check out this web page with nice diagrams of the grain separator.
DC-68G | Combine Harvester | Products | Kubota Agricultural Machinery India

Unless labor is free where you are it makes a lot of sense to just buy a new machine and do contract harvesting to pay for it. A good modern combine is a wonder to behold.

 

[pickstock]

was that aimed at me brad??

i could do that but the cost of outlay is far too high and the opertunity is pretty much filled here

if it was aimed at old mc donald well then i dont think they have dealers there or the fact that most people around him have very little either

instead of trying to make money of people im hoping we would be able to come up with a way to help the people of whatever places

BTW does anyone know, how do the amish do it??