Soil riddle

[Ian47]

Can anyone help? I seem to remember from my dim and distant past reading that you could once obtain a replacement cement mixer drum in the form of a sieve for shifting large amounts of soil. The article was possibly written by an exhibition grower of carrots etc so it would seem reasonable that I was not dreaming. However, I've tried most places without success. Has anyone seen or heard of one ? Any ideas where I can try ? Many thanks.

[richard p]

never seen one, but its basically a mixer drum with holes in. it would be relitavly easy to cut holes in the side of a drum and bolt in mesh panels leaving enough of the origional drum to provide the rigidity and shape. it would probably be more fiddly to build a new drum from scratch but not immposible.

[Johnboy]

Hi Ian,
I have an electric Alko with such a drum. It is certainly old but I cannot remember how old. It is certainly more that 25 years old and still going strong. I seem to think that I saw one advertised in the not too distant past but cannot vouch that that is entirely true.

[Ian47]

Thanks for the suggestions chaps - at least it gives me somewhere to start.

[peter]

JB, older municipal litter bins used to have a heavey guage galvanised wire mesh inner bin.
Might one of those be a good starting point before cutting up a usable cement mixer?

[Johnboy]

Hi Peter,
Think you have the wrong person. Richard is the hatchet man not me.
To actually fabricate as Richard suggest would be extreemly difficult looking at what I have from Alco.

[peter]

Oooppss!

Must take more water with it.

[sandersj89]

Bit of a daft idea maybe, but how about an old shopping trolley?

Line with mesh or chicken wire, shovel in the soil to be sieved and push back and forth with a bit of force and the cleaned soil will drop through.

Might be a bit more exercise but should work for smallish quantities.

Just a thought.

Jerry

[peter]

Jerry, that prompts my addled brain to suggest a wire shopping basket and an adapted A frame, to hang the basket handles from.
Regards, Peter.

[sandersj89]

Nothing wrong with being addled!

[Arnie]

Hi Ian,
The cost of this might be a bit heavy but have a look, its a Scheppach Rotating Sieve which costs
£539.00 inc vat.

www.gardenlines.co.uk

Hope this is of some help.

Regards

Kevin

[Allan]

Looking at the original question, I presume that when he says "shifting large quantities of soil" it should read "sieving large....."
Otherwise I suggest a wheelbarrow would be more apropriate.
Generally, square sieves are much better than round ones, more efficient on a to-and-fro motion

[Ian47]

Many thanks. Its like Scrapheap Challenge for Gardeners! I still like the idea of the proper thing, so if Johnboy wants to sell his or if EBay can help then all will be well. If not, I'll dig out some dark clothing and a balaclava and pop down to Tescos or the council carpark. Sorry for the initial confusion. I grow a lot of fruit and veg. under cover in containers. I mix my own compost using the previous years bean trenches (4 trenches - 15 ft long by 2 ft x 2ft) to good effect and a Rotoseive and a barrow certainly help, but a motorised version as a big boys toy would be better. Regards, Ian.

[richard p]

how about an old washing machine? the outer watertight drum would need a large hole chopped in the underside to let the soil drop out, hopefully the holes in the inner drum are the right size? on a wash cycle the drum rotates reasonably slowly . or on spin the centrifugal force would force the soil through quicker? with a cutting disk in an angle grinder the hole in the drum will take about 5 minutes. make it easier if it was raised on a stand to get the wheelbarrow under.

[Ian47]

Thanks Richard. Our washing machine is on borrowed time so I'll bear it in mind next time we have a replacement. Save the local Council a problem anyway.