They’re Using Bikes To Clean Grain
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Do you need to thresh, clean, and dehull a small plot of oats, emmer, einkorn, or dry beans? Free plans are available to build your own bicycle-powered thresher, fanning mill, and dehuller/flour mill. They also include instructions on how to build a pto for a bike to run the machines. A Sustainable Ag Research and Education (SARE) grant supported the Grain Bikes Project, which was completed in 2016. All plans are available from SARE and on the Farm Hacks website.
The plans at both sites provide detailed information and images. On the sites, Jan Yoder, project leader, offers extensive commentary about the machines, their development, and their use. The quotes below are selected from his various commentaries.
The Grain Bikes Project resulted from the need of several small farmers in Massachusetts to process bean and grain crops. One of them paid half the cost of prototyping. Yoder described the option for most as threshing out and sorting dry beans at about 3 lbs. per hr. and restoring antique fanning mills to clean small grains. Small-quantity dehullers for rice and other hulled grains were simply not available.
The project produced prototypes, videos, and detailed plans. The machines cost around $600 partly because they were repurposed from discarded bikes and exercycles. The bikes provided bearings, transmissions, and gears; wood was used for most other parts.
Initially, Yoder planned to move a bike from one tool to another. He quickly discovered that with free bikes, building the bike into each tool made more sense.
Another change came early with the dehuller/flour mill. Yoder started modifying a flour mill and ended up designing and building his own mill with dehulling pads made from silicone caulk. His design accommodates commercial steel or stone burrs for flour milling. He also provided instructions for making crude steel burrs with an angle grinder to grind flour.
“The dehuller is adjustable for different sizes of grains and how hard the grains are abraded during dehulling,” says Yoder. “The original prototype pads were expensive rubber glued to the two substrate disks. First, we found one rubber disk rubbing against one abrasive disk worked better than two. Then we found that cheap, universally available silicone caulk makes a better rubber disk at one-tenth the cost.”
The prototypes proved the machines’ abilities and defined their limitations. The thresher processed 1/2 lb. to 1 lb. per min. of rice, wheat, and most beans.
With its two screens, blower, and shaker, the fanning mill exceeded 1 lb. per min. for all crops and 5 to 10 lbs. per min. for most grains. Yoder noted that some crops require multiple passes. He found that rice required a pass before dehulling and a second pass after.
“The big expense and difficulty with the fanning mill is obtaining the exact right size screens for each crop,” says Yoder.
Throughout the design process, economy was a prominent driving force. Yoder went with flat drive belts instead of V-belts. Not only were they lower cost, but he provides instructions for making them by hand. Sheet metal is bent with pliers, not with a brake.
The plans are designed for simple modifications by the user. For larger throughput, bike power could be replaced by an electric motor.
The plans themselves don’t use blueprints or 3D CAD files. Yoder describes them as design platforms to match a farm’s needs and resources. In the case of the dehuller/flour mill, a pto and transmission with multiple gears are not needed if dehulling is the goal. However, a pto/transmission is recommended for flour milling.
In addition to the plans, Yoder and company also made videos of each machine in operation and an introductory video.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, SARE (https://projects.sare.org/project-reports/one16-277/) or FARM HACK (https://farmhack.org/tools/bicycle-powered-thresherfan-mill-and-dehuller).
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They’re Using Bikes To Clean Grain GRAIN HANDLING Accessories Do you need to thresh clean and dehull a small plot of oats emmer einkorn or dry beans? Free plans are available to build your own bicycle-powered thresher fanning mill and dehuller/flour mill They also include instructions on how to build a pto for a bike to run the machines A Sustainable Ag Research and Education SARE grant supported the Grain Bikes Project which was completed in 2016 All plans are available from SARE and on the Farm Hacks website The plans at both sites provide detailed information and images On the sites Jan Yoder project leader offers extensive commentary about the machines their development and their use The quotes below are selected from his various commentaries The Grain Bikes Project resulted from the need of several small farmers in Massachusetts to process bean and grain crops One of them paid half the cost of prototyping Yoder described the option for most as threshing out and sorting dry beans at about 3 lbs per hr and restoring antique fanning mills to clean small grains Small-quantity dehullers for rice and other hulled grains were simply not available The project produced prototypes videos and detailed plans The machines cost around $600 partly because they were repurposed from discarded bikes and exercycles The bikes provided bearings transmissions and gears; wood was used for most other parts Initially Yoder planned to move a bike from one tool to another He quickly discovered that with free bikes building the bike into each tool made more sense Another change came early with the dehuller/flour mill Yoder started modifying a flour mill and ended up designing and building his own mill with dehulling pads made from silicone caulk His design accommodates commercial steel or stone burrs for flour milling He also provided instructions for making crude steel burrs with an angle grinder to grind flour “The dehuller is adjustable for different sizes of grains and how hard the grains are abraded during dehulling ” says Yoder “The original prototype pads were expensive rubber glued to the two substrate disks First we found one rubber disk rubbing against one abrasive disk worked better than two Then we found that cheap universally available silicone caulk makes a better rubber disk at one-tenth the cost ” The prototypes proved the machines’ abilities and defined their limitations The thresher processed 1/2 lb to 1 lb per min of rice wheat and most beans With its two screens blower and shaker the fanning mill exceeded 1 lb per min for all crops and 5 to 10 lbs per min for most grains Yoder noted that some crops require multiple passes He found that rice required a pass before dehulling and a second pass after “The big expense and difficulty with the fanning mill is obtaining the exact right size screens for each crop ” says Yoder Throughout the design process economy was a prominent driving force Yoder went with flat drive belts instead of V-belts Not only were they lower cost but he provides instructions for making them by hand Sheet metal is bent with pliers not with a brake The plans are designed for simple modifications by the user For larger throughput bike power could be replaced by an electric motor The plans themselves don’t use blueprints or 3D CAD files Yoder describes them as design platforms to match a farm’s needs and resources In the case of the dehuller/flour mill a pto and transmission with multiple gears are not needed if dehulling is the goal However a pto/transmission is recommended for flour milling In addition to the plans Yoder and company also made videos of each machine in operation and an introductory video Contact: FARM SHOW Followup SARE https://projects sare org/project-reports/one16-277/ or FARM HACK https://farmhack org/tools/bicycle-powered-thresherfan-mill-and-dehuller
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