Suggestions on shaker motor for topsoil screener

[RonL]

Larry

Using the pneumatic shaker is probably your best bet, but it must be sized for the load. The pneumatics isolate the power source (air compressor) from the shaking. If you decide to use an engine driven shaker I would suggest mounting an eccentric between a pair of pillow blocks and connecting it to the motor via a flexible shaft. That will save the motor bearings and probably the motor itself.

RonL

 

[BobReeves]

I think "Have Blue" has the best answer for the least amount of cash. I wouldn't think an old lawn mower crank would be that hard to come by.

 

[RonL]

Larry

I just got back from Vibco's site. Their recommendation for a self cleaning screen is a vibrating force of 4 times the weight of the material in the screen plus the weight of the screen. If you plan on dumping 1000 pounds of soil on the screen and the screen weighs 250 pounds you would need a force of 5000 pounds. The VS 160 produces 160 pounds of force, so it is very undersized. It is a high speed, low force unit. For 5000 pounds of force in a rotary turbine you would need the CCF 5000. It uses 45 CFM at 80 PSI. Of course, with this powerful a vibrator it would sift the dirt quickly, hopefully before the reserve in your air tank ran down. A way around this might be to size your vibrator large enough to shake the screen and slowly dump the dirt onto it. I could find the specs for the rotary turbines but i could not find the specs for the force putput on the piston shakers. Maybe I was looking in the wrong place. Maybe Vibco could help you with this.

RonL

 

[have_blue]

Here we go again:

Since there is too much force involved for ordinary shafts and bearings, why not use axial, or end thrust?

I can envision a turntable with cams. The turntable would look like a large "Lazy Susan", with 2 thick metal plates. There would be wheels, casters, or bearings on the outer part of the plates for strength. Atop the rotating plate would be wedges, like little ramps. The ramps could be as many or as few as needed to get the right shaking frequency. A rugged anvil or follower on 1 corner of the shaker would engage the wedges, and springs on the opposite corners would return the shaker for the next swat.

The motor would be totally isolated this way, and all force taken up with thrust bearings (wheels, casters etc), which is many times stronger than an overhanging shaft. The table should be mounted on something real heavy and well anchored. I can just hear it banging happily away, making tons of clean dirt for Larry.

 

[Taylortractornut]

Larry the answer is in the front of an old combine. Just find one take off the wobble boxe that runs the sickle mower on the header. It should already have a pulley on it. You could attach it to the chanlink with a tie rod with a loose fitted mount to get the desired shake. Or ou could get a wash grate out of a quarry screen and put rollers on it and let it shake its self in a frame. Just a few ideas lol.

 

[Larry_Van_Horn]

RonL,
The 55-2 Vibco Piston model lists as having between 4000-10000 pounds in the bin. I don't see where in the catalog it lists the pounds of force, but that seems like quite a bit.
Larry

 

[Larry_Van_Horn]

This is an interesting idea! Let me go one step further and what do you all think about mounting an electic jack hammer horizontally to the screen? It seems like that mechanism would work great?

 

[Larry_Van_Horn]

Have blue,
You certainly have some great ideas and a flair for engineering (that likely exceeds my own). What do you think about the electric jackhammer idea? Larry

 

[bobodu]

Could let you have the wife's MTD "tractor"....back it into one of the corner post and rev up to anything above idle.I sank enough into that piece of crud this week to buy another Gravely L. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[KiotiJohn]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Get an old mower crankshaft and rod and put it on a pillow block with a big pulley. Attach a pin the size of the wrist pin on one corner of the frame. Use a small pulley on the engine. It'll shake the fillings right out of your teeth. )</font>
I was going to suggest pretty much the same thing, except I was going to recommend an old washing machine motor with a pulley to the crankshaft. Pillow block the shaft with a pully on the end and connect the shaft to the screen in such a way that it will be vibrated as the motor turns the pulley. I can envision it, but I can't describe it very well. John