DIY Compost Sifter / Trommel -- From Reclaimed Materials!

I built a simple machine to sift my compost. It was a super fun project and I learned a lot. I also used mostly materials and parts I had found or just had lying around; it's always so satisfying to find new life and purposes for old junk. All for the purpose of making a machine that saves me tedious work!
Jeremy Fielding's channel: / @jeremyfieldingsr
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Produced by White Hot

[@kenbellchambers4577]

I once made a nearly identical device that was powered with a microwave motor. I used it with water and sharp sand in it for tumbling rusty nails and screws to remove rust from them. It worked wonderfully well, and it was quiet as a mouse. It was only about a gallon sized plastic bottle with a large sized lid. It probably had been a catering sized mayonnaise bottle or similar. My nails and screws looked factory fresh after slowly tumbling for a few hours. I left it behind when moving, so I will now be making another one for derusting hardware. Thanks for reminding me with your simple sifter.

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Sure thing! And who knew that one could de-rust hardware in a tumbler? Today I learned! Thanks 🙂

[@Lineman052]

I just made the sifter and rotate it by hand. What a great idea. Thanks for sharing this great idea.

[@phillipjthomas3476]

Most people are just using drills. This was a stroke of genius.

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

If I had a nickel for every time someone called my work "genius", I'd have... about a nickel. Thanks! You made my day. 🙏🏻

[@phillipjthomas3476]

I’m amalgamating techniques…yours is among the best I’ve seen. Now I’m on the lookout for Hotwheels. Haha. Thanks again.

[@Katzbynite]

Nice video. I agree Jermey Fielding is the KING of Repurposing Motors and so much more! Love that channel!!!

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

👍🏻

[@uhhhhhhhggg]

Well done! This tutorial, ahem, rolled along rather smoothly

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

😄Dad joke approved!👍

[@michaelgaryanderson]

Love this project. I’m going to attempt to build one myself.

[@kathrynweller5828]

I need this in my life!! this could be a rock tumbler as well!!

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Nice idea! Make it so!

[@shigatsuningen]

When you said you took the battery from a kids science fair project I immediately felt sorry for the kid who must have failed the science fair as he lacked his battery... :o :D LOL... Fully agree with your view on Jeremy's channel. Thanks for a great little project. You're quite inspirational your self.

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Ha! Thank you very kindly!

[@geminiimatt9295]

Oh sift! Thank you for this excellent video.

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

👏😄

[@Anamnesis]

"I could sift it by hand, but who would wanna do that?" ( me guiltily walking away ) 😂 I really need to build something like this one day with all the dirt I go through. Landscape suppliers mostly just deliver piles of rocks and trash these days, it's pathetic. Very well done!

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Thanks!

[@roseymalino9855]

That was a lot of work to save a little work. It is a wll done video of a resourceful project.

[@rickpearce7876]

A dimmer switch on the 12 volt. Variable speed options.

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Hmm, good idea! I'll have to try that out. Thank you for the suggestion!

[@seananon69]

Great video! Speeding up the frames made it way easier to watch. Some of the videos out there are 45 minutes and it's untenable. Great ingenuity too!

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Thanks! Yeah, no need to make it into a saga -- you guys get the point after a couple of seconds!

[@johnduffy6546]

Well done! I love your resourcefulness

[@lis819]

Awesome! Thanks for posting:-))

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@reallygoodsoil]

This is the best one I’ve seen so far and I’ve been watching a bunch. Good job

[@lovelyyluciddreams4352]

Freakin awesome! Just what I was looking for

[@truedesireelements2040]

This Blew MY MIND!!!! WOW... Thanks so much...

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Thank you very much! 😁

[@alistairmaclennan3791]

bravo , brilliant video and very well presented, from Yorkshire , U.K.

[@mikeash7428]

Good creative product. Thanks

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Glad you like it!

[@bilalraja6745]

You can use a power control switch to control the voltage output from the 12v battery

[@Robmanmanman]

This is very well done!

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Thank you!

[@rickmoore52]

Excellent build.

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Thanks!

[@AnimalScenes]

Not sure if anyone mentioned it but you could use a dimmer switch to control the power from a twelve volt battery

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Yeah, someone else suggested that, but thanks!

[@scootertasmania6619]

Good effort...well thought out.

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Thank you!

[@z3phyrdok]

Use additional casters on the closed end to help guide. I saw a video where the used grip tape on the plastic in the wheel track, bc it's slick.

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

The casters fit in the channel so snugly that I don't think there is room to add grip tape. Adding casters on the sides and/or the top might be my only option. For now, I just turn off the machine and put the trommel back into place, which isn't ideal, but it's good enough. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@aquilip1]

Great video. That black thing that drives the trommel is called a coupling

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Ah, excellent! Now I know! Thanks very much for the comment and contributing to the journey!

[@rhoula]

I think you should go with a 12 volt battery and add a speed controller. I also think you should have used more parts from the jeep, the gas pedal could be used as a speed controller and I also think you could have used the switch in the jeep to make it either go forward backward or not move at all. I suggest that you also add something to the top to stop the bucket from coming off the track like you mentioned. Over all great project and excellent camera views. Thank you so much for sharing. I big Thumb up.

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Yes, definitely good suggestions. I guess I was so new at salvaging parts from something like the kids' jeep that it didn't occur to me to grab those other things you mentioned! But good things to think about for the future. Thanks very kindly!

[@JennySimon206]

Very nice!

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Thanks!

[@j.m.k.3406]

Pretty cool man

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Thank you!

[@jenshillmann7123]

Wouldn’t you want to position / angle the cylinder such that the too big pieces fall out of the open end by gravity after a few spins to be collected a back-to-compost bin / second wheelbarrow?

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Yes, that's the set-up I had going. Not sure if it was apparent in the video, but there was a smaller wheelbarrow below (which, by the way, was also something I picked up for free on rubbish day, but incidentally has since broken and been tossed out) to catch the larger pieces. Thanks for the comment!

[@sauromstark5517]

Exelente trabajo gracias

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

¡Muchas graçias, Señor!

[@themarkofmadness8502]

Should try to put a dimmer switch on it

[@Ishkatan]

How long does the battery last and have you worn out the bucket?

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

So far, I've gone through about two times of emptying the white 55-gallon compost tumbler using the sifter. The battery still seems to be doing fine so far; the only problem is when the load on the system is too heavy, and the sifter slows down or the casters don't stay in the channel. The bucket hasn't worn out at all -- I'm not very concerned about that. I think that to address these issues, I hope to at some point incorporate ideas suggested in the comments about going with the 12V battery and a dimmer switch in order to control the speed, as well as casters on the other sides of the bucket to keep it in place. I tried using an old AC adapter instead of a battery (obviously, in order to avoid using a battery at all) at one point during the initial development of the machine, but it didn't work with the motor -- the motor would continually start and stop, start and stop, start and stop... I think this StackExchange question is more or less what's going on: electronics.stackexchange.com/q/419562/323054

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Actually, this is the forum thread that very closely matches what I was trying to do, and likely what the problem was: www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=18073.0

[@igortrcek9832]

The plastic part is clutch

[@allonesame6467]

aWeSome!

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Thanks!

[@sotm2]

That black thing was probably a drive pinion for the hummer.

[@amealnet2495]

Where is the video for the white 55gal barrel?

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

There isn't one. You can find the instructions by searching on the web site of Family Handyman magazine.

[@Ninjaa320]

I built an entire 5 bedroom 3 bath house for only $18. Besides one door handle, I got all of the materials for free.

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Um, wow? Sounds like it would make an amazing video!

[@wowyummyyy]

L I K E 👍👍👍👍👍💯 💯💯 💯😻😻😻😻😻😻

[@amealnet2495]

Where is the white 55gal barrel video?

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

😄Ha. I didn't make a video of that project. But possibly even better than a video, these are the instructions I used (and it's not a bad idea to buy the PDF and cut list as well): www.familyhandyman.com/project/diy-compost-tumbler/ Good luck!

[@frommypointofview7173]

Try a variable speed switch

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Good call! Thanks!

[@tycox8704]

A thought: Why not design a tumble composter that serves both purposes? Mechanically, the composter and sifter are nearly identical.

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Hmm, a very fair idea and suggestion. I certainly hadn't thought of that.

[@buttonmonkey6845]

Could you have a swappable door made of the mesh to go on you composter? Then “just” add a motor 😀. Great video by the way .

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

@Button Monkey: Also a good idea. 👍🏻

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

However, after some more thought on this, one issue with using the same tumbler for both the composting phase and the sifting phase is that the sifting wouldn't work, I don't think, if the tumbler were still full to the brim with compost. There has to be enough capacity in the drum for its contents to fall around when the drum is rotating, or else there won't be that action that separates contents of various sizes from each other (nor would compost stuck near the axis of a filled up drum really experience much turbulence, for lack of a better word). I suppose that issue could be solved by emptying the compost out of the drum and then shoveling it back in, bit by bit, once the machine has been transformed into sifting mode, though...

[@buttonmonkey6845]

That sounds like a lot of work 🤔. Thinking time required 🙂

[@jackkerouac6186]

A Lionel toy transformer delivers electrity in volts

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Can you elaborate? What are you suggesting?

[@jackkerouac6186]

@@ThumbsUpWorkshop it might make more sense now. I edited my comment

[@barnes29510]

......andddddd subscribe! 👍👍

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Ha. Glad you liked it!

[@Golden-dog88]

hey mate im guna steal ya design😂😂😂 hope ya dont mind

[@ThumbsUpWorkshop]

Totes, bro! That's why I made the video! Good luck!

[@BadJuJuAdventures1701]

Environment…. eye roll. I sprinkle it under baby bird nests…..🪺