Homemade soil screener

[tractorgp]

Sections of tires take the place of regular springs and hinges to suspend the screen on the main chassis. About 100 tons of material screened so far. Just posted a video on Youtube. I'm also working on
a video showing more details on the build. Found an old galvanized table at scrap metal yard that was just the right size for the chassis. 6-1/2 HP gas engine drives the screener.

 

[OldMasterTech]

Works well - would like to see the "shaker" mechanism closeup?

 

[rasorbackq]

Sifter is my next project to be built. Seems to work well.

 

[tractorgp]

Works well - would like to see the "shaker" mechanism closeup?

Here's a closeup. I made it so that the weight can easily be adjusted.

 

[ishiboo]

Wow... going to have to build one of those. Amazing how much easier screened soil is to work with in the beds.

I never thought the weight would be so easy to build... I thought you would drive a shaft on an eccentric to really get the bed going. With such a simple vibration you have going it seems pretty easy to do!

Very cool, thanks for the post

 

[Gordon Gould]

Very nice. I never imagined the mechanism could be that simple either. Sure beats a screen over the bucket and shoveling on dirt to be screened by hand. Thanks for posting that video.

 

[tractorgp]

Very nice. I never imagined the mechanism could be that simple either. Sure beats a screen over the bucket and shoveling on dirt to be screened by hand. Thanks for posting that video.

Had to do some experimenting to get the weight "right". Started with a much heavier weight first and things got pretty hairy vibration wise so just reduced it to what you see now. I'm considering increasing the weight a bit to handle wet soil better - but not sure about that yet.

 

[CNC Dan]

You might be better off if you were to load from the other side. Looks like you might bust a headlight with a rock.

 

[Arc weld]

Screens are usually loaded from the other side so any big lumps or rocks don't hit the loader and create a pile preventing you from dumping. I think the 100 tons is just a little exaggerated based on the video. 200,000 lbs. of loose soil like that would be well over 500 bucket fulls in your little loader. I think it would be better to mount the engine higher so you don't need such a long belt. The way the belt is slapping around, I don't think it will last too long.

 

[tractorgp]

Screens are usually loaded from the other side so any big lumps or rocks don't hit the loader and create a pile preventing you from dumping. I think the 100 tons is just a little exaggerated based on the video. 200,000 lbs. of loose soil like that would be well over 500 bucket fulls in your little loader. I think it would be better to mount the engine higher so you don't need such a long belt. The way the belt is slapping around, I don't think it will last too long.

The video shows just a sample of the material processed - your estimate of 500 buckets full would be somewhere in the ball park of what has been done so far. (I'm building a road and lawn and use both the sifted soil and the rough output for these jobs). The idea was to load from the other side but because I had an existing frame (chassis) and I didn't want to cut it down to suit my BX25. So I ended up burying the output side of the screen in the ground about 6 inches to make it comfortable to load from the output side. I've had a few heavy rock hits (as CNC Dan mentioned) but no damage. Loading from the output is much more fun as you can just sit and watch the screening action. I'm trying to get another video done showing more of these details. I will post it if it looks good enough.

 

[ishiboo]

I keep coming back to this thread, I just love how simple of a build it is yet clever.

I have a 6x10 dump trailer with the stake pockets for wood sides, I am thinking it may be easier for me to build a unit that actually sits in the stake pockets or on top of the wood sides, so that I fill the dump trailer with the good, screened soil and can easily dump it. Think that'd beat up the trailer any? It's an EZ-Dumper so probably one of the better trailers.

 

[tractorgp]

I keep coming back to this thread, I just love how simple of a build it is yet clever.

I have a 6x10 dump trailer with the stake pockets for wood sides, I am thinking it may be easier for me to build a unit that actually sits in the stake pockets or on top of the wood sides, so that I fill the dump trailer with the good, screened soil and can easily dump it. Think that'd beat up the trailer any? It's an EZ-Dumper so probably one of the better trailers.

Thanks for the comments ishiboo. A person by the name of Dick Searle has been putting screener videos on Youtube for some time and he uses a very efficient system that reminds me of what you are thinking about (not the same but along the same lines). Try checking out his ideas to see if it is similar to your thoughts - search "dick searle" in YT and you will get to his videos.

 

[the old grind]

Lots of interesting points to compliment here! Use of tire rubber means fewer rusty springs or brackets to machine or weld up, replace over time, etc. I particularly like the 'chaff-resistant' belt guard and combination hands-free inspection cover. Belts are quite forgiving of slap, more so than chains, and with vibration the worst possible result hardly out of line with using this obviously well thought out project. Great video, shows enough to imitate this with variations allowable for parts on hand. :thumbsup:

btw: Getting hairy with a heavier wight adjustment might be accommodated with a simple lowering of engine rpm or different pulley on either shaft. Admonitions may come from those of us who haven't built our own yet, but I'll bet back pats outnumber them several-fold. (take a bow, OP!)

 

[tractorgp]

Lots of interesting points to compliment here! Use of tire rubber means fewer rusty springs or brackets to machine or weld up, replace over time, etc. I particularly like the 'chaff-resistant' belt guard and combination hands-free inspection cover. Belts are quite forgiving of slap, more so than chains, and with vibration the worst possible result hardly out of line with using this obviously well thought out project. Great video, shows enough to imitate this with variations allowable for parts on hand. :thumbsup:

Thanks old grind - Never thought about springs rusting etc. when I wanted to build a screener. My main concern was how to mount regular springs for this kind of project - so I was pretty excited when I came up with the rubber tire idea - lots of tires around and they're free . I have lots of video footage on this project including the belt jumping off with the heavy weight, but all of that was part of the development process. Right now I'm trying to see what to include in the next video on the screener.

 

[tractorgp]

Very nice. I never imagined the mechanism could be that simple either. Sure beats a screen over the bucket and shoveling on dirt to be screened by hand. Thanks for posting that video.

Hi Gordon, thanks! Just finished another video showing more screening action. It's a bit long but might be interesting to those who might be planning to make one. Still plan on putting together a video showing some build details.
Here's the link to the new "screening action" video: Homemade soil screener screening action - YouTube

 

[4shorts]

Does me proud to see a fellow Newfoundlander putting out nice work like this. Well done sir :thumbsup:

 

[tractorgp]

Thanks Paul and I very much like your work too.

 

[sparc]

very nice. like the use of tires for hinges and springs.

a idler pulley would tame that belt slap.

 

[tractorgp]

very nice. like the use of tires for hinges and springs.

a idler pulley would tame that belt slap.

Thanks sparc... yes another idler pulley on the other side of the pulleys would fix that but the system overall is working well so no real need.

 

[tractorgp]

Just uploaded video on build details for the soil screener. After many tons of screening one component failed (three times)... any guesses?