DIY - Compost Bin and Trommel - "Your trash is our cash"

This has been an ongoing project and its finally reached a satisfactory completion for now.

Over multiple posts I have documented the compost bin and then the addition of the trommel. After searching long and hard for a gear motor that was already reduced to the correct RPMs, we gave up and went with a standard motor and geared it down ourselves. Its not a complicated process, just involves more moving parts and thus more room for something to go wrong. The idea for this design came from a video I found on youtube.

Over Thanksgiving we completed the frame around the trommel. With the addition of the castors on top, it made it very difficult to manually turn, so I was concerned there would be too much friction for the motor.

Dad got the motor a few days ago. It is a 1 HP single phase motor registering 1750 RPMs. Through the system of pulleys we got it down to 30 RPMs. This gave good agitation in the trommel to allow lots to pass through.

We got everything hooked up and plugged it in. It worked extremely well and we didn't have to make any adjustments. We then took it outside and got it in place. It handled all the addition of material very well, greatly speeding up the entire process.

I was having trouble keeping up with the demand for composted soil. Manually sifting it was too much work for not enough return. This will greatly speed up the process and allow me to sift by myself.

The top and bottom of the frame.

Wiring the motor.