This was quickly built and a few things will be different next time,
but thats normal with any new equipment design.
This is another project I just had to start, a bellows style dry washer.
I really enjoy watching those puffers doing
their thing out in the washes. Ka-Woomp Ka-Womping along. It's like traveling
back in time when things moved
at a slower pace. This project will take a couple months to finish
as I'm in no hurry. Also I have to order a few of
the parts, notably the motor and pulleys. I want to use it as a test
bed for different electric motors too.
This was quickly built and a few things will be different
next time,
but thats normal with any new equipment design.
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Here are two motors I have already tried. The one on the left is a surplus
model I hope it will
operate the puffer, It seems to be very powerful and draws little current..
The wiper motor on
the right did not have the speed and draws two much current running at
its highest speed setting.
Now I've got the motor, pulleys, shaft, bearings, connecting
rod, and crankshaft mounted.
It seems to runs ok in the yard with no load but may be a different story
when I get around to
throwing some dirt at it. I need to put a load on it and run it for a while,
thats next.
Got my prototype Bellows Style Dry Washer finished now and we finally got
to go out to test
it in the desert. The dirt was damp and it didn't want to feed
and I realized that it was hitting
the sluice in the wrong spot. (too low and the top had no dirt
to cover the cloth so lots of air
escaped without doing work) I changed from a 1 1/2 inch pulley on motor
to a 2 inch to speed
it up a bit more. My battery started out strong but after 10-15 min started
dropping so it wasn't
up to snuff like I thought it was. The motor only pulls 2-3 amps and that
should not have been
much of a factor. So its back to the shop redo a few things, charge the
batt, and try it again.
Got the puffer redesigned now, worked on the sluice and hopper designs.
Now it feeds better and a little slower, and the sluice got a flex plate
for
the upper end. The flex plate allows material to hit the sluice anywhere
at the high end but sends it moving and spreading out to the riffles below.
Also changed the motor to a new different surplus type to check it out.
Here is that new motor it is a bit faster than I wanted but
it certainly
has the Umph to run things. I put the smallest pulley I had on it to
slow down things. Now don't start e-mailing me that I have the belt
to loose here in the photo, I did it on purpose, this pulley is so small
and the belt is so stiff (new) I'm letting it work a while before I snug
it up more. Also one thing I found out is if you run the belt a little
on
the loose side the motor draws a lot less battery current.