DR Combine?

[Orange Krate]

OK. So, there's a number of us here who plan for when TSHTF. I used to be a farmer but am dependant on manufacturing now. In an effort to get back to basics this year, my family reaped, gleaned, threshed, winnowed and ground 100sqft of wheat from a near by field all by hand. What a chore! Rewarding to eat, but a chore.

Next year we are going to extend the experiement and grow our own 2500 sqft of wheat which should theoretically yield enough to feed us bread for 1 year.

Now I beg the question of you other DIYers whose skills would prove invaluable in an apacalypse: How do I build a small combine to get the job done?

I'm picturing a combination of a DR Trimmer like cycle mower and the free snow blower I just scored off CL.

 

[Orange Krate]

Oh, like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJBcwNMWvRE

 

[devino246]

Hmm, well you'd need some sort of spinning blade, I would think a cylinder blade like they used on old push mowers would be perfect, you'd just want to turn it at and angle so it doesnt just chop everything up.

 

[Bluethunder3320]

may be very tricky.

find an old combine? for cheap and fix it up?

i have never been doing work like this on a farm. so im not totally sure what has to be done to the wheat.

cut from the ground at the bottom, and ground up?


something tells me, bagger lawn mower. but you have to really clean it enough so you can eat the stuff...

 

[devino246]

may be very tricky.

find an old combine? for cheap and fix it up?

i have never been doing work like this on a farm. so im not totally sure what has to be done to the wheat.

cut from the ground at the bottom, and ground up?


something tells me, bagger lawn mower. but you have to really clean it enough so you can eat the stuff...

No, you dont want to just chop it like a lawnmower does.

Another idea would be to figure out a way to make a blade similar to a hedge trimmer, but on a bigger scale.

 

[bighead]

No, you dont want to just chop it like a lawnmower does.

Another idea would be to figure out a way to make a blade similar to a hedge trimmer, but on a bigger scale.

Just use two trimmers mounted facing each other? run both at WOT. They would go right thru wheat.

 

[Bluethunder3320]

or just use a hedge trimmer and have someone behind you scooping them up into a wagon or something.

 

[sexyvicta]

an articulating trimmer attachment for a weedeater would work.

i have one and you can set it up to trim at ground level

Wouldn't take that long to do a small field.

would be faster than a scythe

edit: or maybe just put a cutting disk on a scrub cutter. You'd do the field in a couple hours. Get wife and children + a donkey with a cart to pick it up after you've cut it

 

[Orange Krate]

find an old combine? for cheap and fix it up?

I'm thinking this might be most practical. I know of one sitting(in rough shape.) It's design is well proven and most replacements could be made rom scratch. Plus, my dad knows the workings of it inside and out. Only problem, requires a tractor and too big to fit into a yard.

not bad, could be converted to a threshing drum.


The cutting part is pretty straightforward, it's the threshing and winnowing part that's tricky.

I bettter identify the objectives here

Small enough to get into a backyard

Cut: self explanatory

Thresh: beating the grain out of the head and chaff

Winnow: seperating the heavier wheat from the lighter chaff by blowing it away with a fan. That's where I thought the snowblower could be useful.

 

[Orange Krate]

I'm not alone

http://lawnstoloaves.wordpress.com/

 

[fowler]

i am lucky eniough to come from a large farm where we have two new holland headers with 36 and 40 foot fronts

first off there are two types, there is rotory and conventional u will want rotory as this will be simpler to build to an efective level
the basic parts of a rotary header is the front with has a knife and comb on
the broad elivator with draws the material in
the rotors (u will only have one) which threah the crop and spread it over the sivs while also drawing the big material to the back and droping it in the choppers
the sivs are just sivs that shake while having huge volumes of air pumped up them to seperate the grian from the chaff (the grain falls early and the chaff is held up untill it reachs the back and falles into the return elivator
the return elivator drops the chaff back on the sivs for a second run (this creates less waste)
finally the grain is dropped into the bin and the waste is dropped into the choppers
the chopper is the best part as it is a giant drum with knife attached to it and it spins upto 10,000 rmp and itll puverise anything, including people (but u dont need one of these)

on to your topic
get a knife from a header front and power it with a small motor (they are very easy to shorten)

a hedge trimmer wont work as there is no dividers so the trimmer will just push the lpant side to side and not cut it

to multch the crop u would go well to use that old stye mower blad and mount it in a drum and off set it so there is room for the crop to enter in the top at the front and get crushed on one side

the sivs are just hundreds of slats that lay over and overlap each other, they must be adjustable, this could be done eaiyerly but itill take alot of time

this is no diy challenge u have here
havesters look simpe but to make them efieiant they have to be perfectly engineered and most parts will have to be custum made

also the power and rmp involed is huge as well as the wear on parts

a 13hp briggs wont cut it u are looking atleast 60hp
and to make a rotor efective it ill need to spin at 600rpm whcih sounds ok but remember the crop isnt going in evenly it is kinda thumping in

when im driving during havest time and the moisture gets up u will hit a big thick but of crop and if u dont stop in time then u will stall out the machine
this is two 4 tonne rotors stopping dead from 600rpm


on a good note

iv seen tiny headers, they are called trial plot headers. They are used to harvest trial plots and are about 6 ft wide

a trial plot is about 100m by 30m with maybe 6 differant speices in it

only problem is they have to be super accurate so they cost $$$$$$

 

[Orange Krate]

This is like the combine we had on my farm growing up. A far cry from your New Hollands.

heres the one I would get if I were to fix one up.

 

[fowler]

this is our new one

 

[devino246]

this is our new one

Dayum, hard core farmers. How long is that head?

 

[Doc Sprocket]

I always wondered- Why's it called a "combine"?

 

[devino246]

I always wondered- Why's it called a "combine"?

Because it combines tasks. For wheat, they cut, threash, and winnow.

 

[Orange Krate]

I always wondered- Why's it called a "combine"?

It's a combination of a reaper and a thresher.

 

[fowler]

Dayum, hard core farmers. How long is that head?

its 40 ft

that the one my dad drives

mines the older 36 ft one
well 38 ft after dad ran it into a fence post

we also have a 5o ft seeder to plant it all

scary thing is we are small for our area

in aus we call them headers or harvesters

 

[Orange Krate]

Hey Fowler, How would you like to trade in your 36 feet for one of these?

At 6 minutes this video shows all of the operations of a simple combine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H29uvZ_-GTU&feature=related

 

[Orange Krate]

I'm pretty much over building one. I'm still going to look into the mini self propelled in the second post but I'm enamored with rebuilding the All-Crop I know that's sitting. Can Get parts and help here:

http://www.allcropharvester.com/