current project

[chickenman]

still in developement

 

[johnk]

A giant rotiesserie for Ostrach???

 

[crbr]

A giant rotiesserie for Ostrach???

It has potential...



I like the abandon-looking travel trailer up against the shed. Any chance of getting the skinny on that? A few pics maybe?

 

[chickenman]

here are more views.

it's a rock and stone picker to remove them from my horse training track

 

[weldingisfun]

Wow! That setup must have a 500 foot turn radius? Sure hope your training track is a large circle.

 

[sandman2234]

I like it!
Not much use for it down here, but reading about all you guys picking up rocks and all, I can understand it's a big deal to figure out how to make this work.
I wonder how slow the tractor has to go in order for the tube to dislodge the dirt it is picking up.
When I first looked at the pictures and saw the shovels, I assumed you were hand feeding this monster. The last picture shows just a little bit more and I realized you pull this thing thru plowed dirt with probably great results.
Any chance of putting a couple of hydraulic cylinders under that rear catch basin so you can just dump it, instead of having to shovel them out?

CRBR,
You really shouldn't talk about a man's home that way!
I also have one of those out back, but mine is a old Airstream, probably an early '60 vintage. The guy who built my house in 1965 used it to live in. It was moved here from another location so it is older than 1965. I have never been inside of it, as me and snakes don't get along well enough for that. It is full of stuff and really needs to be cleaned out.
David from jax

 

[chickenman]

i lift the hopper out with the forks and dump the stones on a pile

i use the rake to pull the rocks to the rear, i wanted to keep it simple

 

[sandman2234]

I noticed it being a basket with retaining lugs AFTER I hit the submit button. Figured you had a reason, but you have to admit it would make it easier to drop them off it you had a cylinder on it to flip it over.
W.I.F,
The turning radius might be shorter than you think. I just built a trailer with almost 21' of bed and 6 foot of tongue with hitch on the trailer. It corners pretty well considering it is a triple axle trailer. At least I haven't run over anything with it yet!
Chickenman,
I am impressed, to say the least. Great project.
David from jax

 

[chickenman]

hydrolic dump would have added to complexity and cost and i couldnt have dumped in a pile due to hight

 

[3RRL]

chickenman,
I like that thing. I could use something like that at my property too. Do you save the pile of stones for some other projects? I bet since they are clean and free of dirt, you could do some landscaping with them.
So are you inventing this thing to get the stones or to sift the stones out of a field or something ... to de-stone it?

 

[Willl]

Too cool, I've been thinking of some kind of screen system like this.
Although mine would be stationary with some type of hopper to dump into.
Would love to see some closer shots of the front end, particularly the drive system for the screen drum.

 

[Jae]

Wow, that auger/conveyer belt setup is downright brilliant. I can't even begin to imagine the math that went into the gearing setup! A smaller scale version of somthing like this would be invaluable to me. As a horse owner myself, I curse all large rocks I come across in our arena and round pen.

Just one question comes to mind...

How many PTO HP does that little deere of yours put out, does it run the whole works without any trouble?

(runs off to his drawing boad with some new ideas...)

thanks for sharing...

 

[chickenman]

not much power, it can be turned by hand

the math was that looks good and vary engine speed

if i was to start again id do some things differently but i had to make do with what i had so in some respects its a kludge

i may upgrade it in the future

 

[sandman2234]

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

 

[3RRL]

Can you post a bigger photo of the pick up tube ... where & how the dirt is collected?
I can't tell for sure, but it looks like you have an auger screw to do this?
Thanks

 

[HC-80]

I would be interested in seeing more closeup pictures as well. I'd like to see what makes the machine work. As a kid, I spent a lot of time picking up those big rocks from the arena.

 

[chickenman]

the screen is mad of 2 pieces of 24" steel pipe and expanded metel rolled to a diameter of 24' with 2 strips of 1/4x6 steel rolled to splice it all together ill post a pic later

no problem really with stones clogging the screen

i made some mods yesterday and today it works better but i still need to add something to make it more efficient

ill post more pics when i get a chance

 

[Renze]

Very nice way of recycling an old potato digger !

A local landscape contractor has a BIIIGG rotary screen just like that, only its fed by a wheel loader.
Instead of using a pressure washer to clear small gravel from the holes in the drum as someone suggested here, this machine is using a rotary broom to push the gravel and vegetation out of the holes by the nylon threads. SM 720 PROFI

 

[3RRL]

Hey Renze,
I thought your were Dutch?
That link is all in German. I was hoping to see a Dutch link.

 

[sandman2234]

Yeah, I am a little rusty on my German, also.
David from jax