Suggestions for a soil riddler vibrator

[CompoSimmonite]

I live in a disused quarry and as such all the soil if full of rocks and stones. In the past I've riddled by hand with a standard round sieve but now, due to health issues, can't do that anymore so am looking for a powered alternative.
One idea is make a mesh that will fit on the front of my little Belle concrete mixer - load up with soil, tumble then tip up and hopefully the loosened soil will fall though the mesh leaving pebbles and stones in the drum. Only problem is mixer has Honda petrol power therefore will need a lot of starting and stopping so am forgetting that idea and not viable unless I convert to electric power.
Next idea is a simple frame that supports a standard round sieve on bungee cords then have my reciprocating saw on slow speed attached to the frame with a length of bar etc from the blade holder to the sieve.
I did think of using an orbital sander on the sieve but don't think it would vibrate enough.

Any other ideas / suggestions ? I don't want a large device so a standard sieve of around 12" dia is going to be big enough.

Paul H

 

[rtbcomp]

I've mounted a tumble drier motor on a wooden frame. The frame will take various sized meshes and is itself mounted on rubber exhaust hangers to allow it to move.

The motor has an eccentric weight fixed to the shaft, and the sieve is sloped with a hopper at the top and open at the bottom to allow a continuous flow of material.

I use this for sieving broken glass, I'll put some pictures up later.

The orbital sander will be too fast and not enough stroke.

 

[octo0072000]

video of modified mixer

a simple one made of wood

 

[rtbcomp]

This is my sieve

 

[octo0072000]

here's a simple one using a cheap jigsaw fits over a wheel barrow just need to scroll down for instructions for build

http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3150&highlight=

 

[awemawson]

Can't see that jig saw lasting more than a day or two

 

[Robotstar5]

Can't see that jig saw lasting more than a day or two

3 year warranty on cheap Aldi stuff, burn it out and take it back?

 

[MattF]

You're obviously going to have to shovel to get it onto the sieve, so just go with the simple approach. An oblong frame with a couple of legs to hold it approx 45 degrees from the ground covered with chicken wire or some other mesh. Chuck the shovels of soil at the meshed framework, and what goes through is usable and what rolls down the front isn't.

 

[rtbcomp]

The trouble is useful stuff gets stuck on top of stuff that won't go through - you need to agitate the frame to get it to shift. Too steep an angle and good stuff will roll off with the bad. Also you get bits that stick in the mesh, these need to be shaken loose too.

 

[captain-destructo]

quick look in machine mart for ideas?

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/p...red-rotary-garden-sieve-230v?da=1&TC=SRC-soil

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/clarke-crs400-rotary-soil-sieve?da=1&TC=SRC-soil

 

[awemawson]

My wife uses the manual one in the last link above - seems to work. If I was involved I'd mechanise it, but I just produce the pigs that produce the manure (and also the sausages, bacon and hams )

 

[Robotstar5]

.... but I just produce the pigs that produce the manure (and also the sausages, bacon and hams )

Tell us more

 

[awemawson]

Well up till earlier this year I had Martha the sow, who had given me four litters of piglets over the past four years, but she became barren, so in January I bought in four weaners to fatten. My pigs are mainly for our own consumption, but we sell sausages, burgers and bacon to friends and family. As is the law, they have to be slaughtered in a registered abattoir, and although I have in the past butchered them myself it's darn hard physical work. So now I have a local commercial butcher cut them to my specification, and I make bacon and hams. f the four weaners two went off a few weeks ago and are now in my freezer (apart from the bacon steaks we had this evening for super ) - the other two I'm running on for a few more weeks to get the loins up to a larger size for decent 'eyes' in the bacon. I'll probably buy in a couple more weaners in late August, as we have holiday lets on the farm and the pigs are actually quite an attraction !

Martha did get in pig in her youth!



And this is where they live:

 

[julianthegypsy]

I'd go with a box sieve driven by a geared down motor with a crank to push it backwards and forwards. It shouldn't need to vibrate at huge speeds, as long as its being pushed backwards and forwards it should work. A slight angle on the box should get all the stones to shake out of the end.

 

[the snooper]

I was going to post the same as Julian and would be the way I would go very simple to make and effective

 

[rtcosic]

I've mounted a tumble drier motor on a wooden frame. The frame will take various sized meshes and is itself mounted on rubber exhaust hangers to allow it to move.

The motor has an eccentric weight fixed to the shaft, and the sieve is sloped with a hopper at the top and open at the bottom to allow a continuous flow of material.

I use this for sieving broken glass, I'll put some pictures up later.

The orbital sander will be too fast and not enough stroke.

I made a very similar one.

25mm angle frame and legs to stand over the wheel barrow. Add some 0.8mm sheet guides to ensure sieved material went into the wheel barrow.
Second 25mm angle suspended on many short stiff springs liberated from an old bed frame. Chute at end for the oversize to flow into a second wheelbarrow.
25mm angle hoop mounted on the movable frame. This carried an old electric drill with chuck removed and eccentric weight screwed in.

Sieve was that green plastic mesh from a garden centre.

Worked amazingly well and the plastic mesh lasted for ages. Used it to sieve soil for the vegetable patch - 1m deep, 5m wide and about 15m long - that's a lot of soil!!

The drill still worked afterwards too.

Thinking about it, much of the static frame may have been made from the bed frame angle and I'm sure the guides and chute were cut from the roof of a scrap car.

 

[captain-destructo]

spotted this

http://www.heavyequipmentforums.com...me-made-Screen&p=257740&viewfull=1#post257740

 

[DAPPH]

I'm classed as 87% disabled in total , I have a spinal problem , joint problems and a 42 % damaged left shoulder so I have had to adapt things for an easier life .

I've been using a simple stainless steel 15 inch diameter riddle ( £6 .00 out of /Aldi last year with 5 , 8 & 10 mm screens ) & a kiddies sand spade fixed on the butt of a bust sea fishing rod to load loosened soil and small stones into the riddle , ( I chuck out the stuff bigger than a duck egg by hand when filling the barrow without cleaning it . The riddle is sat on two laths laid across the wheel barrow ( work from the high end), using a hose pipe on a good spray I wash the soil and grit off the stones , use a simple cut & shaped for good handling piece of floor board as a stirrer /paddle to move the washed stones around to ensure full wash .

As the barrow fills with soil and water the excess water drains off and the slurry is wheeled away & dumped to the side to dry out over a couple of days .
The washed stones went into making the lean mix we made & used as the sub base for the four foot wide 4 " thick concrete paths around the property ( about 130 mtrs of them ) .

I have a ladies border spade & modified pitch fork ( now has four tines ) on old fashioned pitchfork shafts .. these are the loosening & big stuff moving tools.
Being long I can stand straight and simply chip away at getting the stones and soil loosened & fill the big two wheeled barrow .
I then dump the contents on the concrete , sit down and start the fill the riddle & wash exercise .

If I'm lucky I can get three barrows of washed off soil in one day .. other times I have to give up even before I get the unwashed barrow's stuff a 1/4 filled ( my version of full / fill is about 1/2 of a normal persons ) .

 

[Pete.]

I made a great automatic sieve from a shopping trolley and electric motor. I bolted the motor to the front of the trolley and fitted a flywheel with a big nut welded to it. I lined it with rabbit hutch mesh because the trolley mesh is too coarse. The was great because you just shovelled in dirt and it shook let all through leaving a layer of stones in the basket. Just lift up the flap and tip them into a wheelbarrow.

Later I robbed the wheels off it for something else and when I went to use or again it was useless, wouldn't shake any dirt out at all.

 

[DAPPH]

Pete , the castors allowed the oscillations from the off balance motor to vibrate & move the chassis , with out them your dead right it won't work , you could sit it on four 25 mm tall, light duty " cotton reel type) rubber engine supports and it will ( should ) work again .