Trommel Compost Sifter made from Harbor Freight Cement Mixer and 55 Gallon Barrel
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- čas přidán 10. 06. 2024
- Trommels can be handy for sifting and sorting many things like garden soil and compost. In this video I make one from a Harbor Freight Cement Mixer, and an old 55 gallon barrel.
Gardening in rocky heavy clay soil isn't much fun, and the only solution is adding organic matter to the soil. Compost around here is either really expensive or very low quality so I make my own. The hardest part of making good compost is sifting it. So I finally got around to solving that problem. I can also use the tromel to sift the rocks out of my own top soil so it can be used in planters and raised garden beds. My 106 gallon Jora compost tumbler produces about 50 gallons of finished compost with each fill up. It's insulated so it still works in the winter time, but the winter compost tends to be really wet making it much harder to sift than when it's made during warmer weather. During the warm months it can churn out a batch every two weeks, I just never have enough time to sift it that often. Since this has worked out so well I have opened up and joined together some of my homemade concrete remesh tomato cages to use as additional compost towers. I'm hoping to produce a total of 500 gallons of finished compost by April 15th. I need that much to fill the portable raised bed pallet planters I'm building. The first 4'x4' planter can be seen in the background of the video. It's not yet finished, but it will be getting filled with this batch of compost so I can get the potatoes planted in it next month. I like growing potatoes, but it's always 100 degrees outside at harvest time. With the pallet planter I can move the whole planter into the garage and harvest them at night when it cools down some.
----------- Contents of Video -------------
00:00 - Introduction
01:02 - Opening up eye bolts
05:35 - Barrel mounted
07:02 - Sifting Compost - Jak na to + styl
Excellent video! I love your use of the metal barrel instead of a very expensive outdoor mesh trash can that I saw in a different video. Your approach will save me $200. Thanks mate!
Your welcome. Those metal trash cans weren't cheap anymore when I built mine either. The barrel is still holding up really good on mine. I would say to be careful to not cut through ribs on the barrel, they are where most of the strength comes from. Also a brick or some other weight tied loosely to the inside that is able to flail around really helps keep the mesh from getting clogged up if your compost is too wet. It also helps to break up any clumps.
This is genius, beats my 2x2 sifter by miles, I'm stuck in the stone age man.
Thanks, I gave up on my 2x2 sifter, it took me hours to sift the compost raking over it with a hoe. It never just fell through the screen like I saw in other videos. I'll admit I'm a lazy gardener, if I can find a way to do things easier I will. I can't wait to see how these work out: czcams.com/video/J8-U-IZUb_c/video.html
Awesome build
Thanks!
@@tinker-tinker It worked better than we thought it would.
Yours is a lot more fancier than mine, same basic design using an older HF mixer. Only spent $15 on hardware cloth and I used materials I had on hand to cobble mine together. Not pretty but it works.
If it were just for the compost using only hardware cloth would have been ok, but I also wanted to be able to sift rocks out of some of my local hard clay soil which would have just beat the hardware cloth to bits. (by rocks I mean quartz boulders) I got to give you kudos for the $15 build though. Doing things in a budget friendly manor is good for everyone. I see people build things all the time on youtube with things they are able to get for free that would cost me a fortune.
@@tinker-tinker I have sifted some gravel, not big rocks, but big enough that if it was just hardware cloth it would have been destroyed. The frame work for the cylinder is concrete remesh which gives it a bit more strength. The hardware cloth is wrapped around the remesh. I didn’t think it was gonna last this long but so far so good.
I’ve seen this build before. I wanted to see how it turned out. Forwarded to the final segment where it was working and it was hard to watch with the camera moving like it was on some frightened animal. It was all over the place.
My first video, I've gotten much better at editing since making that. The tumbler is still going strong without any issue. I've even used it a few times to sift rocks and junk out of some of my local clay soil. The only time I have an issue with it is when the compost is too wet. It then has a tendency to ball up instead of going through the screen. I've thought about adding a few "flails" to the inside to make it shake some as it rotates to help clear keep the screens clear.
All good. Wasn’t trying to be rude. Sorry if I came off that way.
It's all good, I know the video turned out pretty rough. I really should redo that one some day.
Questions for you Sir, can it operate without that two wheels support?
Would it tipping over without support?
The two wheel support is needed. Without it would tip over even when empty. This is because the barrel is cantilevered beyond the base of the cement mixer. I typically store mine under the eve of my garage with the barrel straight up. It's still a little tipsy in that position, but it's stable enough that I don't worry about it falling over.
Does this remain outdoors year round?
I do leave it outdoors year round. Though I do try to tuck it up under the eave of the garage to give it some protection from the sun and the rain. As with anything painted and made of metal it will last much longer if stored under cover. All the electrical stuff is sealed, but the sun light can degrade that over time. There are a lot of things you can do with a cement mixer. For example I need to clean all the old rust out of my car's gas tank before I redcoat the inside in preparation for an e85 conversion. I can strap it to the tumbler put some bb's in the tank with a little solvent, and just let it tumble for a few hours to clean it up. You can also use it to clean rust parts and tools by putting sand in it with the parts, and just let it tumble for awhile. Put a pulley on it, and you can use it for just about anything you would use a Lister diesel engine to power. It really is the redneck kitchen aid mixer.
Как то надо по другому закрепить.Например хомутом быстросъемным.
Thanks, Could use the lid of the barrel as it attaches with a band style clamp with a single bolt. I think they make a quick release style as well.