# Show Me Your DIY Wood Conveyor !



## Ductape (Sep 13, 2009)

For the past year or so I've been wanting a wood conveyor, but no way I can afford 7 grand or more for a factory made conveyor. No doubt there are plenty of folks who've turned a hay elevator into a wood conveyor, or made one from scratch. I'd like to see what you have. Heck...... I'd like to see your factory made one too...... maybe it'll give me some ideas. opcorn:


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## redprospector (Sep 14, 2009)

This one I made from an old bale loader. When finished it turned out 16' and loads my trailer pretty good. It's not the best, but I ain't got much in it either.











I thought I had some better pic's, but I'll have to try to find them.

Andy


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## Steve NW WI (Sep 14, 2009)

Haven't made one yet, but I've got an old 40' hay/grain elevator out back that will donate most of the materials, and hydraulic drive with a belt instead of chains. I've seen the chains used before, but it always seems to become trouble when small pieces of wood get stuck in it.

I've got a lot of projects in line in front of this one, so it might be a year or 2, but when I rework my splitter, it will get plumbed to run a conveyor.


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## cowtipper (Sep 14, 2009)

I was also thinking about building one. Did some looking on the web for designs and can across this side. Looks like it has almost everything need to build one.

http://www.loyal-roth.com/Bale_Handling5.html


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## rick2752 (Sep 14, 2009)

Just thinking out loud.......I wonder if you could take a chain drive hay elevator and switch it over to a belt........might work with some minor mods


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## Butch(OH) (Sep 14, 2009)

Was going to use and old hay/grain elevator but they seem to have suddenly become valuable around here with all the horse farmer wannabes moving in. So I am building one right now to go along with the processor I just finished. Like the processor it is a low buck deal. The conveyor is largely made from used concrete form steel and junk scafolding that I purchased for scrap price. I will try to remeber the camera and get some pics of it. Mine is going to use belt instead of chain because belting was what I could find cheap, had it been chain for cheap I would have gone that route. My drive is going to be Chonda, (Harbor Freight Honda clone). They are on sale this month for $99 6.5 HP. I am thinking about going back and buying 2-3 more and putting them away. My old conveyor was a 12' single chain corn elevator and as somebody else said a chain outfit does suffer from the occasional wood splinter getting into places it should not be.


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## Steve NW WI (Sep 14, 2009)

rick2752 said:


> Just thinking out loud.......I wonder if you could take a chain drive hay elevator and switch it over to a belt........might work with some minor mods



Exactly what I am planning. Just need to replace the drive sprockets with a set of rollers made from pipe with a shaft welded in the center, and hunt down some belting the right width.


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## crashagn (Sep 14, 2009)

Steve NW WI said:


> Exactly what I am planning. Just need to replace the drive sprockets with a set of rollers made from pipe with a shaft welded in the center, and hunt down some belting the right width.



Go find a farmer with a round bailer and see if he has old bailer belts laying around. I know my other employer has a stack of them and also the zipping tool to make new metal zippy thingy ends. I would think a couple of those side by side i think would work good. If you dont have the zippy tool you could try using flat rivets but i dont know how those would hold up over time


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## redprospector (Sep 14, 2009)

Steve NW WI said:


> Exactly what I am planning. Just need to replace the drive sprockets with a set of rollers made from pipe with a shaft welded in the center, and hunt down some belting the right width.



Better put some sheet metal where the belt will run on it.

Andy


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## Steve NW WI (Sep 14, 2009)

crashagn said:


> Go find a farmer with a round bailer and see if he has old bailer belts laying around. I know my other employer has a stack of them and also the zipping tool to make new metal zippy thingy ends. I would think a couple of those side by side i think would work good. If you dont have the zippy tool you could try using flat rivets but i dont know how those would hold up over time



LOL, that's what runs the buzz saw on the front of my M! I thought of baler belting, but I'm thinking a single wider piece would give less trouble. I've got plenty of time yet to scrounge. If I get lucky, I know where there is some that came off of pea and bean combines, but I think they're too wide. I've made belts before with the alligator lacing, and we have the tools for it at work.



redprospector said:


> Better put some sheet metal where the belt will run on it.
> 
> Andy



Mine is a hay/grain combo elevator, the sheet metal is already there. Just need to unbolt a couple sections, shorten it up and make a belt drive system. 2 sections = 20 feet, should be plenty long enough.






I'm thinking of a hyd lift as well, I remember all too well running the hand crank on that thing!


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## LEES WOODC (Sep 14, 2009)

Got tired of fighting slippery wood on my belt conveyor in the winter and found this at a mill I have dealt with. Almost done rebuilding it.
New chain, welded on new paddles, and sprockets. Had to slow it down so I found a 30 RPM output gear drive.
Got some 6x6 supports today and it's goin' in the processor building this week. My newer old conveyor is for sale if anyone is interested.


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## Oly's Stump (Oct 23, 2009)

I converted an old farm conveyor into a firewood conveyor. Bought the conveyor for $150 and bought an engine from Northern Tool & Equipment. Works pretty good but does jam up sometime when a piece gets wedged and comes back underneath.


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## mrdinks (Oct 23, 2009)

I would take a picture of my wood conveyor but she is at work like she should be


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## beerman6 (Oct 23, 2009)

lol...Mines making dinner.


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## sctstoys72 (Oct 23, 2009)

lol..mines unloading the truck while i'm on here.


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## Blazin (Oct 23, 2009)

LMAO!! Mine is startin to whine when we gotta move a big pile of wood, time to trade up for two twenty's! :hmm3grin2orange:


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## CUCV (Oct 23, 2009)

Can't seem to find any of the good pictures. Come see it in person if you want.
Basically consists of a sheet metal frame, hay conveyor chain, honda 3.5hp with gear reducer, two stages of belt drive gear reduction, screw jack and an axle. In the early days it was chain drive with a cluch and it sucked!!! The chain rusted, siezed, broke, fell off etc. The belts slip when something binds, never seem to wear out even when wicked dry rotted.


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## archertwo (Oct 30, 2009)

This one's attached to the processor I built this summer and is dumping into the dump trailer I built last year.
The conveyor is 1 1/2 sheets of 1/16" x 4' x 8' steel bent to shape. You can see where it folds together at 8 feet making it a pretty compact unit.
It is run by a Charlynn hydraulic motor which like most everything else on the processor is powered by a 9HP Honda engine which will soon be replaced by a 15HP I recently bought.


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## cowtipper (Oct 30, 2009)

archertwo said:


> This one's attached to the processor I built this summer and is dumping into the dump trailer I built last year.
> The conveyor is 1 1/2 sheets of 1/16" x 4' x 8' steel bent to shape. You can see where it folds together at 8 feet making it a pretty compact unit.
> It is run by a Charlynn hydraulic motor which like most everything else on the processor is powered by a 9HP Honda engine which will soon be replaced by a 15HP I recently bought.



Very nice looking conveyor, I'm looking at building something like that this winter. Where did you get the design for it? If you were to build it again what would you change? Do you have any other photo of it you would like to share?


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## Junkfxr (Oct 31, 2009)

archertwo said:


> This one's attached to the processor I built this summer and is dumping into the dump trailer I built last year.
> The conveyor is 1 1/2 sheets of 1/16" x 4' x 8' steel bent to shape. You can see where it folds together at 8 feet making it a pretty compact unit.
> It is run by a Charlynn hydraulic motor which like most everything else on the processor is powered by a 9HP Honda engine which will soon be replaced by a 15HP I recently bought.



Cooool!!! How do you get the conveyor to stack all of the wood so neatly?


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## archertwo (Oct 31, 2009)

cowtipper, I just thought that if I had a 1" lip at 90degrees to start with on both sides then 2" for the second bend then go down 7" at an angle nothing specific just something I thought would let the wood slide easily, then 8" after that for the top of the conveyor. The other piece was straight down 6" then for the base of tha conveyor I wanted 8" since I had a 7" belt I was going to be using inside and wanted a bit of leeway both sides.
Adding 1" to 2" to 7" twice then adding the base which is 8" I got 28" for the trough part of the conveyor. The second piece which is the box under the trough is 6" high and 8" wide so 6" twice plus 8" which just happend to add up to 48" which is the width of a sheet of steel. 
I was actually pretty apprehensive about the 1/16" steel plate since when we took it to the press it bent over and was actually touching the floor between the shop guy and myself but when it took the first 1" 90 degree bent it stiffened up pretty fast.

Here's a pic of the conveyor when I had just finished assembling it. This is what it looks like when it's folded over. It actually sits updide down over the processor for travel. 
If you look carefully you can see wnere it hooks up to the wood splitter part of the processor.

Junkfxr, that was the hardest part to figure out.


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## cowtipper (Nov 1, 2009)

Thanks for the detail archertwo. If can ask one more question, do you have a photo of each end... thanks again


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## Ductape (Nov 1, 2009)

*I Second The More Pics !*

Feel free to include a bunch of your procesor too.


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## archertwo (Nov 1, 2009)

Here's a pic of the top end of the conveyor. Just used a flat roller here with a bit of weld and then tape in the middle to create a bump to keep it rolling straight.




Here's a a view of the bottom roller, the Charlynn motor and the Lovejoy coupling hookup.




Notice the bottom roller is a flat roller with 3/4" flat bar welded to it to give it grip.





Ducttape, all in due time. I'll have to start a new thread if I post pics of the processor. This is a thread for DIY wood conveyors.


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## archertwo (Nov 1, 2009)

cowtipper, if you or anyone else wants more detail about the conveyor just ask. Info is always a good thing to have and is easily carried around, not at all hard on the back, and as easily passed on to someone else to make their life easier.

Ducttape, I'll be making a post soon entitled "archertwo's processor".


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## ericjeeper (Nov 1, 2009)

*Archertwo*

I think you are going to fit in quite nicely around here.. Welcome to the site.


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## archertwo (Nov 1, 2009)

Thanks ericjeeper.


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## cowtipper (Nov 1, 2009)

Thanks archertwo... and welcome to thie site


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## Blazin (Nov 2, 2009)

Very nice work!!


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## epicklein22 (Feb 28, 2010)

Snagged this monster for $250. 30ft. long, electric motor (plan on changing it to a gas later on), power up and down. Works well and is plenty fast. Should go along great with a Super Split come May when I place my order.

I snagged this out of Loudonville area, I know a lot of members are from that area. I really like it down there!





















I will try to get some pictures of it out in the open and near a firewood pile.


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## cowtipper (Mar 1, 2010)

epicklein22 said:


> Snagged this monster for $250. 30ft. long, electric motor (plan on changing it to a gas later on), power up and down. Works well and is plenty fast. Should go along great with a Super Split come May when I place my order.
> 
> I snagged this out of Loudonville area, I know a lot of members are from that area. I really like it down there!
> 
> ...



I'm only seeing little red X's


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## Streblerm (Mar 1, 2010)

We have been using an old (unmodified) hay/grain elevator for about 7 years now. It was worn out when we got it, and it it is just a little bit more worn out now.

I don't know if there is any reason to replace the chains with a belt, we haven't. There is no binding and we split some big pieces for one guys OWB. We just lube the conveyor a little and so far no problems.


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## epicklein22 (Mar 1, 2010)

Let's try that again if the other ones aren't showing up....

<img src="http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/4628/ele4.jpg">

<img src="http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/4075/ele3.jpg">

<img src="http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/2188/ele2y.jpg">

<img src="http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/5858/elerc.jpg">


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## cowtipper (Mar 1, 2010)

epicklein22 said:


> Let's try that again if the other ones aren't showing up....
> 
> <img src="http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/4628/ele4.jpg">
> 
> ...



nice


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## Blazin (Mar 2, 2010)

Nice score for $250!! I've been lookin here for awhile and they're pretty scarce for that kind of money.


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## scdaddy7269 (Dec 14, 2014)

Little late to the party.


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## dannyrc (Sep 3, 2015)

Butch(OH) said:


> Was going to use and old hay/grain elevator but they seem to have suddenly become valuable around here with all the horse farmer wannabes moving in. So I am building one right now to go along with the processor I just finished. Like the processor it is a low buck deal. The conveyor is largely made from used concrete form steel and junk scafolding that I purchased for scrap price. I will try to remeber the camera and get some pics of it. Mine is going to use belt instead of chain because belting was what I could find cheap, had it been chain for cheap I would have gone that route. My drive is going to be Chonda, (Harbor Freight Honda clone). They are on sale this month for $99 6.5 HP. I am thinking about going back and buying 2-3 more and putting them away. My old conveyor was a 12' single chain corn elevator and as somebody else said a chain outfit does suffer from the occasional wood splinter getting into places it should not be.


Love the old corn elevators! Try to buy any that I run across. Most people cut up for scrap metal when it was 240 dollars/ ton a few yrs ago. I bought a Harbor Freight engine for it also. I have a Dyna 12 xp wood processor, they work excellent together. As far as the splinter getting stuck in the return, I cut a section out of the bottom to let stuff fall out. Problem was immediately solved.


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## cantoo (Sep 3, 2015)

Just brought home another grain elevator tonight. $100 and in tough shape but at least it's the easy parts to fix. Need new electric motor and a pulley. I already have a spare motor for it and pulley is only $50. I'm going to use this one for my 36" splits so I don't wreck my good one that I use for 18" splits. Pics later.


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## muddstopper (Sep 4, 2015)

Bought a couple of belt conveyors from a old sawmill. Ones 14ft, the other 18ft., $100 each. I would take some pics, but the weeds are higher than the conveyors right now. I intend to use the 14ft one to feed logs to my processor and the 18ft one to off bear the splits. Both conveyors are 12in wide. I see some folks using 7-8in wide ones. Since I havent done any modifications yet, I am just wondering is there any advantage to being narrow or wide. Wait, did find a couple of pic's of when I picked them up.


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## ChoppyChoppy (Sep 4, 2015)

Wider is better. Mine is only about 12" or so and the splits once in a while jam up at the bottom if they spin sideways (16" lengths). Mine is 20ft long, it's a bit short, won't go tall enough to load my big truck which has sides about 12 ft tall.

The other one is about 2 ft wide, 30ft long and it works better. Also holds more which is handy too.


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## muddstopper (Sep 4, 2015)

well, I guess mine will stay at 12in wide. Dont know how high the 18ft'er will reachm maybe 10ft, but I dont plan on loading any triaxle dumps. I'll just have to wait and adapt once everything is up and running.


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## fordf150 (Sep 4, 2015)

Will take pics of mine when I get a chance. 12" belt conveyor with 1" angle iron bolted to the belt. Jams up constantly from the splits turning sideways. Can't have it at much of an angle and if it's wet/snowing the splits don't travel up it very well even with the angle iron cleats added. I want to build a new one that is chain drive with closer to 2" tall cleats and 18" or so wide


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## Joesell (Sep 5, 2015)

Mine is an old 20" wide by 35' hay elevator. It works pretty well most of the time. If I'm splitting for my owb, I get a jam once in a while. But my splits are up to 24" long. When I'm doing 16" splits it never jams. 

My buddy has a 14" wide by 50' hay elevator. That thing sucks! It jams more then it doesn't. You have to make sure every split is sitting on there just right. If it slides at all it jams. 

I would think in this case 6" or 8" wide would be better. The split would be more likely to stay straight and wouldn't be able to jam as much.


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## muddstopper (Sep 5, 2015)

Ford150, you just hurt my feelings. 12" wide belt with angle iron cleats is exactly what I had planned. Joesell, Your description hurt too. I plan on 20" splits for my stove, but will be able to do 30" long splits. Just when I thought I had it figured out, you two folks come along and burst my bubble. I guess its better to find out now than to find out after all the welding is done. 

Ford150, post a picture of your conveyor when you can, I would like to see it.


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## Joesell (Sep 5, 2015)

Mudd, If you can, I'd make yours more narrow. Then the splits would stay straight in the trough. All the jams happen when things get a little sideways.


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## muddstopper (Sep 5, 2015)

Joe, I think I have a plan that might work. The conveyors are what they are, and I dont want to start cutting them down to make them more narrow. What I think will work, maybe, is since I have to make sides for it anyways, I will just make the sides adjustable and vee shaped like a trough. I will add the angle iron to the belt just wide enough to clear the sides. Once I have used it for a bit, Depending on how well it works, I can then decide what changes need to be made. I prefer to do this one time, but I can see now that it might take a little trial and error before I get it just right. Making the trough capable of being adjustable in width might just save me some fabrication time if I have to start over. Maybe once I get over my shoulder surgery, I can get back to completing this build.


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## fordf150 (Sep 5, 2015)

muddstopper said:


> Ford150, you just hurt my feelings. 12" wide belt with angle iron cleats is exactly what I had planned. Joesell, Your description hurt too. I plan on 20" splits for my stove, but will be able to do 30" long splits. Just when I thought I had it figured out, you two folks come along and burst my bubble. I guess its better to find out now than to find out after all the welding is done.
> 
> Ford150, post a picture of your conveyor when you can, I would like to see it.


i did you one better. about half way through the video is the conveyor. mine is hydraulic motor with belt drive and we use belt speed to load the truck from front to back without ever moving the truck or conveyor. at full speed i can throw 16" splits about 15' off the end of it and slow it down to the point that it becomes overloaded with wood and just the weight of the wood on the belt will stall it.


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## muddstopper (Sep 5, 2015)

Looking good. It looked to me that your wood was piling up right off the wedge though. Make me wonder how mine will work out. Your processor has what looked like a 4way wedge???. I am planning a 12way, thats a lot of spits hitting the conveyor at one time. I am starting to think I might run into more wood than the conveyor can handle. I guess it will still be trail and error until I get it right.


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## fordf150 (Sep 5, 2015)

4 way. Mine needs a wider conveyor with a funnel. I added 2 feet of grating after the wedge to help get rid of the trash before it goes into the wood pile. When I build my new conveyor that grating will be moved to the output end of the conveyor. The grating right after the wedge let's the wood pile up and turn sideways before it ever hits the conveyor. 

All the added hydraulics to the processor work great and made it so much les labor intensive and faster than it was from the factory but the modified conveyor was a failure along with my idea to get rid of the trash.


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## muddstopper (Sep 6, 2015)

Note to self, No grate after wedge. I havent been thinking much about the accumulated trash and chips. I know i need to come up with a plan. The 6way wedge on my current splitter leaves lots of splinters. These make great kindling, and I use them in my firepit as well as my shop stove. Thats just off about 4 cord a year, Dont know what I am going to do with all of it once the processor starts throwing out big piles.


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## fordf150 (Sep 6, 2015)

I will take pictures. There is a small section of grating after the wedge that works ok. I just wanted more of the trash to fall out so I added another 2' section of grating and that is where the problems come from


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## msmith (Sep 6, 2015)

Subbed for info. I have been looking at building a conveyor and need some ideas.


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## Kevin in Ohio (Sep 6, 2015)

I got my belt conveyor from a closing Kmart. It was just stationary so I made up the undercarraige. No paddles yet as I don't need to go way high. I use it to go into building and into trucks. Belt is a textured type so it grips pretty well.







I use it as a level table as well. It'll adjust to different heights as I fill that building for instance from a truck. That's about 9 ft high there.











Scissor jack puts table up to 56 inches which is great for loading/unloading off the side of a truck.






Axle is a box in a box so you can slide it flush for putting a truck next to it.











Also made knuckles on the end that allow 90 degree lockable position. Wheels have 3/4 squares in them so you can move it all easily with a 3/4" drive ratchet. Think swing move into a truck/trailer/pile or storing it by yourself.






Made up a removable pivot hitch if moving while up is needed when attached to pull vehicle. Nice to have options with stuff.

Below is a link to the whole build. It may give you some ideas. The nice thing about this conveyor is that since it's electric, I have forward and reverse with switches at both ends. Pretty handy.

http://imageevent.com/kevininohio/conveyor?n=0&z=2&c=4&x=0&m=24&w=0&p=0


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## fordf150 (Sep 6, 2015)

Well I am already ashamed to post pics of my hacked up conveyor now


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## Kevin in Ohio (Sep 6, 2015)

fordf150 said:


> Well I am already ashamed to post pics of my hacked up conveyor now



Let us be real here. It doesn't matter what it looks like if it saves you work and gets the job done.


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## fordf150 (Sep 7, 2015)

here is the grating i was talking about. I guess its only about 18" long. Does a great job at letting the trash drop out. I clean out about a wheel barrow load of bark and splinters every 2 cord of wood or so. Several ways i could have made the grating/funnel work better but none of them would really fit my space. having the grating stay full width and dropping the wood into a funnel that was made onto the conveyor might solve my issues but i didnt have the height/space to do that. the conveyor at the angle pictured works great but much steeper and the pieces will sometimes flip over backwards. Taller angle iron would cure that but because of the design of it i could only add 1" angle without major modifications to the underside of the conveyor. This was my first attempt and it works ok but lots of little things i would change and do different.


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## fordf150 (Sep 7, 2015)

this is what i want to add to the new conveyor if i ever get to build it. getting rid of my grating and letting the wood fall directly off the factory grating onto the conveyor and getting rid of the trash with this style grating would probably eliminate 75% of the trouble i have with my setup.


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## muddstopper (Sep 7, 2015)

After looking at the grate, I can see how the angled sides would cause a choke point. I have to admit, Your design is sort of what I had in mind also, so glad you posted the pics. My spitter wedge box frame will be 30in wide which means for a 12in conveyor, I would really have to cut the grate area in half where it enters the conveyor. I'm seeing a major problem in this area now. Off the top of my head, I am now thinking to place the conveyor all the way up under the wedges and let the wood drop straight down on the conveyor. Not sure how the belt material might hold up if the splitter ram was to push a piece of wood into it. Well anyways, my project is on hold until after the surgery and I dont have the processor even half built yet, I guess i have time to figure out a solution.

We posted at the same time, yep, I think the grate at the end of the conveyor might be the best bet.


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## fordf150 (Sep 7, 2015)

for all the complaining about my conveyor it does work reasonably well. Here is what has came off the end of it in just the last couple weeks of evenings. The lean to part of the building is roughly 13' high and 21' deep. The pile is the length of the building and 30' or so wide.


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## muddstopper (Sep 7, 2015)

Thats just wrong, You should have put all that wood inside the shed. LOL. Actually I have a smaller portable carport, 14ft wide and 20ft long. I laid down pallets to stack my wood under. Never have had it completely full, usually about 4 cords to start the winter. I think it would hold a easy 7 cords, maybe 8 if I stack to the top.


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## fordf150 (Sep 7, 2015)

i already have 4 cord sold. by the end of november i am hoping to be out of wood. sell my 30-40 cord and call it a year. The shed will be full of hay equipment within the next couple weeks. we are finishing up baling the last of the hay today then it will be time to clean everything up and get it in under roof.


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## showrguy (Sep 8, 2015)

Here is mine, I bought it last fall from the guy who did all the fab work..
He had the same problems as others with wood jambing, before he added the angles on both sides...
I've only used it a few times so far, but it works great..
We had it running for a couple of hours at the Pa GTG this spring.....The chain jumped off of the sprocket at the high end,,,,it musta had a piece of bark or sliver that that got between the bottom of the chain and the sprocket and derailed it...


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## msmith (Sep 8, 2015)

showrguy said:


> Here is mine, I bought it last fall from the guy who did all the fab work..
> He had the same problems as others with wood jambing, before he added the angles on both sides...
> I've only used it a few times so far, but it works great..
> We had it running for a couple of hours at the Pa GTG this spring.....The chain jumped off of the sprocket at the high end,,,,it musta had a piece of bark or sliver that that got between the bottom of the chain and the sprocket and derailed it...View attachment 446052
> View attachment 446053


 
I like it. This is the route I will most likely go. What gauge is the sheet metal?


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## showrguy (Sep 8, 2015)

msmith said:


> I like it. This is the route I will most likely go. What gauge is the sheet metal?


It looks to me to be 3/32 nds", the catch box is steel, the long angled sides are galvanized,,,,, I think he used whatever he had laying around..
He also converted it to a single chain, made new axles at each end, with bearings..


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## briantutt (Oct 3, 2015)

Anyone use a 205 Owatonna conveyor? Neighbor has one for sale.

Brian


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