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.