I would think stationery would be more troublesome than movable, due mainly to having to handle the material three times. Once to load it, once to haul off the clean dirt and once again to haul off the rocks. Plus allowing room to manuever around it, high enough to get under it, etc.
I ran stranding machines for years that were just big tubes, made of 1.5" thick steel by 100 foot long. Most were run by belt drive with rollers underneath for them to spin on. I often wondered why they didn't design them to just power the rollers since the weight of the tube wasn't going to allow it to slip. Must have been a reason, but it always slipped past me.
What I want to know is where did you get that tube? Seen some things similar but never exactly like it, and it looks just like it was designed for that purpose.
I wonder how much trouble you will have keeping the small rocks cleared out of the holes in the tube. Since they are inside trying to get out, a pressure washer might be the way to force them back in and continue to the rear. A daily maintence of a few minutes with a pressure washer might be all that is needed to keep those rocks from filling all the holes.
Chickenman,
The design ideas that you would consider on your next one is what everyone here is interested in hearing. Things that you learned by building this one would save the next guy from having to do the same learning curve. Kind of hard to admit one's mistakes, but in reality, they are the same thing each and everyone of us have done. There is always a better way and you have the most experience at it so far, so that makes you the expert!
David from jax
