Screening Plant Project

[MJPetersen]

Looks good for a try. thanks for the pic. I saw on the weather that it had truly turned winter again there. We have daffodils blooming and the fruit trees are starting to pop. But we had a VERY mild winter.

It will be interesting to see how long that spindle can take an out of balance situation.

Mike

PS. You will of course put an OSHA approved cover over everything moving or rotating, right?

 

[akpilot]

It was spring like for a week or so, we had Mallard ducks in the spring feed pond below the house, the trees were buding......Wed it started snowing dropped to 12 F and snowed about 8"

Yes I will be putting a cover over rotating parts, my first test had a couple tack welds and I had a little more throttle than I relized........A few seconds of pure mayham!!! I dove under the boat, luckily all the loose pieces fly the other way......needless to say I did a little more welding before another attempt!!!

The spindle has a grease zerk, but...who know how long it will last

 

[KentT]

I dove under the boat, luckily all the loose pieces fly the other way......needless to say I did a little more welding before another attempt!!!

Do you happen to know a good source for drag-racing scattersheilds? May need that more than covers...

 

[toivo1037]

OK, I have had this project in mind for quite some time. I almost built one last summer, but did not have the time. I have been working over plans in my head, then I came across this website!

A fundamental difference in my vision, and just about every design I have found on this site, is that all the ones on here seem to want to make the screen bed, and consequently the screened material, move vertically. That is shake the bed up and down. I first thought about that, and then started to lean toward shaking a screen from side to side. My thinking is that it would take much less brute force to shake a given weight of material from side to side, then to left it and drop it. I was thinking of powering a flywheel with an electric motor (maybe from a washing machine) with belts (just in case it does need to slip). The flywheel would be connected to the shaker table with a connecting rod, and would work similar to a steam engine. The table then is suspended from wither rods, chain or maybe even springs. You do have to have a strong common connection point at the top of the table as a pivot, but is there a reason someone has not designed a table in this fashion yet? Am I missing an obvious design flaw?

 

[akpilot]

toivo1037 Welcome to the site.
I'm hardly an expert; however I think you are overestimating the force required to move the screen. The vibration unit is spun via a belt, so not much actual force is put on the motor. My concern with a side motion is root balls or a clump of grass will get on the screen and simple go back and forth, the vibration units will move them down and off the screen. Again i'm far from an expert!

 

[akpilot]

The ground has finally thawed enough to test the screening plant Overall it worked real well, a few items I will need to re-work. So it's back to the shop for final weld and paint.

 

[Skerby]

wow, looks like it works fantastic! nice job...
i used to work at congoleum on the granulator machine that screens off fine particles of chipped pvc sheets to conform sizes for the higher end products like fashion-floor, and esteem. since then i always wanted to build something like you have! 'been about 25 years and it's still just up in my head

 

[AlanB]

I was wondering if you could put a sheet of plywood "under" the screen angled back towards the tractor.

That would slide the "screened topsoil" back out towards the tractor so that you did not have to scoop under the vibrator to get it out.

Or is that not a problem?

 

[sam2145871]

One thing I saw in your first set of pics when it was in the garage is that the muffler is pointed towards the belt. You may want to turn that slightly or reroute it so that the belt doesn't get all that heat put on it. Just my .02!

Marcus

 

[akpilot]

Thanks for all the nice comments and suggestions.

Sam2145871 Very observant....Yes it does, the deflector is adjustable I didn't take the time to fix it yet, during the test the belt was bouncing enough that they didn't seem to heat up. I still have to build an engine guard, so when that's done, I will figure out the best direction for the exhaust. Welcome to the site!!!!

AlanB When it's finished there will be plywood on the inside of the frame to maintain separation and contain the screened material , the overall depth is not enough that I could accidentally have a rock hit hood of my tractor, so I don't think it will be a problem.