He Built His Own Corn Cleaner
Max Dunlap, Zearing, Iowa, heats his house and shop with shelled corn for less than half the cost of propane. To remove any foreign matter in corn that he buys from neighbors, he pours it down a home-built wooden chute equipped with a 1/2-in. screen. He says the 1/2-hr. a week job keeps his furnace running cleaner. He feeds the “fines” to birds.
Dunlap set up the wooden corn cleaner in his shop. It measures 8 ft. long and stands at a 45-degree angle on 2 by 4 wooden legs. It measures 5 ft. high at the top and 1 1/2 ft. at the bottom. Dunlap used 1 by 8’s to make the sides and to enclose the bottom of the chute, extending the sides and screen about 1 ft. beyond the bottom board. There’s an angled aluminum scoop at the end of the bottom board.
Clean corn falls off the screen and into a bucket placed on the floor. Any fines in the corn fall through onto the bottom board, and are diverted by the scoop into another bucket.
“It’s so simple that it shouldn’t work, but it works very well. It didn’t cost much to build,” says Dunlap. “I store the corn in a 120-bu. bin outside my shop. We burn about 2 buckets of corn per day in our house during the winter, so it takes about 120 bu. for one heating season.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Max Dunlap, 73962 130th Street, Zearing, Iowa 50278 (ph 641 487-7733;
mj2thelake@netins.net).
He Built His Own Corn Cleaner CROPS Miscellaneous Max Dunlap Zearing Iowa heats his house and shop with shelled corn for less than half the cost of propane To remove any foreign matter in corn that he buys from neighbors he pours it down a home-built wooden chute equipped with a 1/2-in screen He says the 1/2-hr a week job keeps his furnace running cleaner He feeds the “fines” to birds Dunlap set up the wooden corn cleaner in his shop It measures 8 ft long and stands at a 45-degree angle on 2 by 4 wooden legs It measures 5 ft high at the top and 1 1/2 ft at the bottom Dunlap used 1 by 8’s to make the sides and to enclose the bottom of the chute extending the sides and screen about 1 ft beyond the bottom board There’s an angled aluminum scoop at the end of the bottom board Clean corn falls off the screen and into a bucket placed on the floor Any fines in the corn fall through onto the bottom board and are diverted by the scoop into another bucket “It’s so simple that it shouldn’t work but it works very well It didn’t cost much to build ” says Dunlap “I store the corn in a 120-bu bin outside my shop We burn about 2 buckets of corn per day in our house during the winter so it takes about 120 bu for one heating season ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Max Dunlap 73962 130th Street Zearing Iowa 50278 ph 641 487-7733; mj2thelake@netins net
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