Soil screener

[seanandruby]

I remember using the old round coal riddler to get out the slack. i reckon toolie has a marketing product he can sell alongside his landscaping business. Always give it a go i say.

[TheTool]

Hi Sean

Thanks for your input, I aint trying to reinvent the wheel here I am just trying to give someone the option of being able to reuse what is seen by most as waste.

I know not everyone needs a screener but at the moment the price for one is £2000+ and I am trying to make my machine in the similar way you look at a Belle mixer.

Yes you can buy ready mixed mortars now but there is always times when you need a small mixer.
That's how I want my machine to be viewed.

If you have a need for a lot of screened soil then yes it is probably worth while bringing in some big waggon loads.

But Most landscapers are doing small residential jobs.

Plus I guess it could be used by hire shops for weekend gardeners who want to screen their veg plot.

Thanks again for your view, I welcome anyone's point of view its how you make a better product.

[JMC Landscapes]

Hello the tool,

I reckon I might be one of your target markets but not good news from me I'm afraid. This may have been mentioned but I made a screener from a spare belle drum, cut four holes in the side and covered with mesh. You've probably seen them online. It turned out soil at a decent rate but it's still too slow to make the numbers add up. It's been out of my lock up twice.

Home gardeners and people on allotments may buy them, where time isn't money.

[TheTool]

Well the difference with my machine is the over size falls off as your loading, meaning you just keep shovelling without emptying the machine.

Wait until I have the finished machine ready and then we will see if its fast enough.

I am trying to make it big enough for a mini digger as well as loading by hand.
A bit pointless if I don't try and get the machine to do this as most people use mini diggers.

Its a learning curve for me but if it takes off I have plans for a screener that is about 1800mm in length and maybe have a conveyor.

[lutonlagerlout]

as a commitee member on an allotment site with over 200 members I can confirm that most allotment holders wouldnt spend tuppence unless a gun is held to their head

when i saw your machine i thought about all the long hours that I have spent with the riddle

potentially there is a hire market for it,

make a prototype and see where it goes

cheers LLL

[GB_Groundworks]

A bucket mounted one would be better, a smaller rotating bucket screen. Riddling with a riddle bucket shaking it on the bucket curl does your machine no good.

http://www.northerntrack.com/attachments.php?DOC_INST=9

How does it deal with heavy wet soils? That's what we mainly have up here?

[TheTool]

Well the trouble with any screen is plugging, there are ways around keeping a screener clean i.e. the brushes on the side of trommels

Usually you have to fit a certain screen to suit the material your screening.

I guess I would have to get in touch with my screen supplier for there recommendation regarding screen pattern.

Riddle buckets will wreck you machine if you use them a lot, wear on pins, bushes and hydro's.

I think the trouble with the market is the big companies are not interested in small units, not enough profit for them.

The way things are going with land fill costs etc the costs to dispose of your waste is going to go one way and that's not down.

What I am planning on doing is working out the costs of doing a project with a screener and one without.

Lets say you save £250 on every job you carry out when using a screener, after a few jobs it pays for itself.
Once its paid for that money goes into your hip pocket.

I am going to try and get all the information I can before I decide if I go into production, but If I do go ahead with it I intend to have all the info on a website.

[Thunderstruck]

Hi The Tool, I do hydro seeding works and this machine looks like it would be a great help when working on small jobs, do you know how many square meters you can riddle in a 8 hour working day? I am not interested in having a sledge hammer to break a walnut machine as sugessted by BG-Groundworks! FFS if I took one of them machines onto a private estate how would I park up the low-loader :laugh: It looks like a good piece of kit for the sole trader, Can you message me with a price for a small sustainable unit I can fit into a transit van please.

[lutonlagerlout]

well blow me down with a feather
only 1 in a 1000 people in the uk, live on the isle of man and yet thetool and thunderstruck both live there
what a coincidence :laugh:
LLL

[TheTool]

lol well it aint me

I guess you cannot escape the b@stards from over here :rock:

[dig dug dan]

inter forum skullduggery? or genuine? either way, thunderstruck has a point!

[Thunderstruck]

Yes, I seen it on a local forum & youtube with a link to here (this is a better looking forum than the Manx one that is why I have joined today) I think this small machine will be a god send on domestic properties!

[Thunderstruck]

lol well it aint me

I guess you cannot escape the b@stards from over here :rock:

Ha ha let me know what time you are online here and I will log back in for a chat

[TheTool]

The plot thickens haha, stay tuned to the next episode of "sifting the dirt" lol

What I was going to ask you guys was what size digger bucket would you use ?

I am hoping to make the screen area 1000mm x 600mm, so would a common digger bucket be 600mm wide ?

Ideally I am wanting the screener to appeal to both machine use and hand use.

[dig dug dan]

on the micro machines, a 450mm digging bucket or a 600mm grading bucket is the norm