Conveyor2

Haven’t gotten around to building my own conveyor, but a neighbor offered this one on semi-permanent loan.  The kind of arrangement where, if he needs it, he’ll come back and get it.

conveyor10It’s old, loud, worn, and fits right in with the rest of the plant.

The axle is only good for field transport, as I realized after burning all the grease out of the bearings on a short road trip.  And that at slow speed.

conveyor9Having no prior experience with conveyors, I ran most of this spring’s production through it, making notes of all the things that needed improvement/repair.  It has no proper hitch, indeed chute, or drive chain protection.  From time to time the splits that fall off close end wind up in the chains, which then derail or break.

conveyor1Hitch mock-up.  I’m going with a removable coupler to keep the infeed clear.

conveyor2The red tube stock is left over from the Bedford Diesel frame.  Takes a little sting out of buying a receiver tube from the local Tractor Slurpy.

conveyor3Tacked.

conveyor5

Joining the side brackets.

conveyor6
Rudimentary infeed trough.conveyor7

 

Mud flap keeps some of the debris from going to the stockpile.

This thing hastens progress with the small splitter.

conveyor8Here I am swinging oversized logs from the pile to the right, to the splitter.  With the conveyor in play, I don’t have to move the little splitter around as the pile grows.

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Summer ’14

Infeed trough needs taller sides to avoid spillover.

conveyor2This is more salvage metal from the original processor rebuild.

conveyor3Don’t have much clearance between hitch and truck.  A longer removable drawbar sorted that out.conveyor4I was running the conveyor off a generator, as it came to me with an electric motor.  The generator desperately needs a ring job, and the fuel consumption is higher than it should be.

This Honda motor showed up for $80 on Craigslist.  Don’t really need that much HP, but the price was right. Needed a fuel tank (available from Surplus Center on the cheap), and a section of fuel line, but fired right up.  Buyer reduced the price to $60 without prompting…

Turns out it also needed a coil, but that was no big expense, and simple to replace. Also interchangeable with the motor on my portable compressor.
conveyor6View of chain reduction drive. Parts from Surplus Center.  Chain is the same size as the pump drive on the processor.

conveyor7And from the front. The big cog is located such that the oil check plug is still accessible.

I can pull start the conveyor without difficulty, so no clutch is needed.  If the flites jam, (as they do from time to time) the belt slips on the small drive sheave.  At some point I need to set up a remote emergency ignition shutoff at the processor controls.conveyor5No pictures, but I also replaced the running gear on the conveyor.  The original was a ‘farm and field’ axle, and the bearings overheated after a few short trips over the road.  I had a spare ‘no brakes’ Dexter axle removed from my car carrier trailer that fit perfectly once narrowed.

That also took care of the mismatched and dry-rotted tires.