Conveyor and Tumbler

[labradorguy]

Who is making a decent firewood conveyor and tumbler? I've looked at a few and they are either mickey mouse junk or so over the top expensive that it's just nuts. I know a person gets what they pay for, but 35k for a conveyor/tumbler set up is just.....wow.

[OH logger]

blockbuster, cord king, multitek, abs has a different design but u said it...get your wallet out :(

[labradorguy]

I'm looking at that blockbuster conveyor a little harder. I've only saw pictures, but to me it looks like it is built a bit better than the Cordking or Multitek.

[OH logger]

that's why I bought mine from blockbuster ;). the pan is all bent as one piece (sides and bottom are one piece if you follow me) in 10 foot sections. its a great elevator that was a little more spendy than some of the others but its a nice elevator. personally  I like the blockbuster tumbler that has a chute on the infeed side of the tumbler to dump in(less spendy and less moving parts as the hopper style they make).  they told me at the bunyan show that they could put a  short conveyor on the outfeed side of that tumbler to directly load a truck right out of the tumbler, ...for an extra 5 grand

[Ljohnsaw]

This tumbler is 10k http://www.automatedfirewood.com/firewood-tumbler.html .  It's a new design, but seems to work well.

Add a conveyor for 7-8k and you're about half your 35k figure..

That's a pretty neat design.  The photos show the "wheels" being out of sync on the same rod to give a side to side wave effect but the video they are in sync.  The video looks like the in sync moves some of the smaller stuff to the output conveyor.  I'd like to see a video of what appears to be the new out of sync setup.  Would take a lot of time but it sure seems like an easy build, especially if you have a CNC plasma cutter!

[Gearbox]

I saw that tumbler demo at Expo this fall It works well .

[lopet]

Gotta sell a lot of wood to pay for that. 

If you're cheap like me you can make something like that for very little money.



 

[barbender]

I looked at that one at the Expo too, Gearbox.  It looked like it worked well, but it seems mighty spendy for what it does. I really like their splitters though, I about bought the smaller one.

[OH logger]

how did u make that outfit lopet? lets hear some details before you patent it! ;)

[lopet]

There isn't that much to it as you think. I had this old manure spreader and put it on a different running gear, put it on 45 degree angle and lowered the top beater to the level of the floor. I used a hydraulic motor of a swather reel to run the beater and a second one to run the apron chain. Also built a funnel at the front to dump the wood in. A piece of plywood hanging on chains just over the sidewalls of the dumper guides the debris  away from the trailer.  The pile on the ground is from about twenty loads. I do about 35-45 loads a year and scooping it up twice just works fine.
Been using it for about five years now and the only thing I want to change on it , is to speed up the apron. Need to fidel around a bit with some chain sprockets, but obviously it's not on the priority list.  ;)

It's actually one of those things I built who didn't end up in the scrap bin or got to feel the cutting torch . :D

[labradorguy]

Cheap is my middle name and that is pretty slick what you came up with. It doesn't need a fancy name, it just needs to work.

[Wood Shed]

Here is a pic of mine (never called it a conveyor, never will).  This elevator is as old as I am and still does what I want it to do,  pile fire wood. 

[Bill Saf]

Wood shed can I ask you what size ele motor you have on yours and what size pulleys or gears mine runs to fast.

thanks

Bill

[Wood Shed]

Bill,

I'll have to take a look and try to post back.  It certainly does not run too fast. 

I bought it in 2008, and have not had any major problems.  It has been kept inside all its life,  that has a lot to do with why it still works.

[Wood Shed]

Bill,

I do not know the hp. rating of the motor as could not read the tag once I got down on my knees but I know by looking in my operators manual that two motor options where available,  one at 1750 RPM and the other 1160 RPM.  The faster motor can either have 12 or 13 sprocket teeth and the slower motor can have either a 13 or 14 .  The larger driven sprocket has 66 teeth.  This is original equipment.

[Bill Saf]

Wood shed thank you that helps a lot even though mine is not a j.d some one had to of change the gear drive at one time it pitches 2' splits 3-4 feet off the top end not good when you have some stacking off the pile and me running it.