Wildflower Seed Processor / Leaf Shredder

I made this to shred leaves and break apart wildflower seed heads. This instructable shows an electric weed trimmer model; another instructable to make it gas powered is Gas Powered Shredder. The gas trimmer seems to have more torque and lower rpm which keeps everything from shooting out of the top of the can.

You'll need:

A Round Trash Can
A Old Electric String Trimmer (gas if you're really good at mods)
Some Scrap wood 1x2s
.25" Hardware Cloth
1" Deck Screws or Similar Screw

Note: One picture below shows the machine upside-down; snap off the screw ends with some pliers.

Step 1 Cut Holes in Trash Can

*Sharp Edges, be careful!*

Mark and cut the holes for the trimmer shaft (actually this center hole becomes a lot bigger later on so the head spins freely)
Mark and cut holes for your hardware cloth screen. Leave enough metal/plastic to support the motor.

Comments

[lusheeta]

excellent idea! We live across the street from a park with a forest of maple leaves and every fall the prevailing winds blow them in my yard. I rake them together, let my kids and the nieghborhood kids beat the heck out of them by jumping in them, raking them back up and then doing it all over again for days. this really reduces the size of the pile, the kids love me, and I felt like I saved money on having to buy a shredder, although the yearly residue piles are not composting fast enough to keep up. So last year I finally bought a cheapy leaf blower that was supposed to also shred. It works fantastic ... If you feed 1, (2Max) leaf at a time. I Guess what I am trying to say is You have just given me the solution. Thanks!! Great instructable!! PS: one thought I had - With the motor underneath where all the finaly shredded leaf particles are going, wouldn't it create a hazard of clogging the motors air vents? Maybe even a fire hazard? and if so what if one made a "cage" of smaller mesh (like metal window screening) around the motor?

[DIY-Guy]

You may want to measure to determine if a very large soda bottle could shield your motor, or a bleach jug cone cut out to slide over the motor. The shaft of the motor would go up through the neck of the cone shaped container.

[robbtoberfest]

Yes, good idea. There should be some screen there to keep the motor from getting too full of stuff. I would turn the can upside-down like in the picture and turn on the motor to clean it out too.

[robbtoberfest]

This is the commercial version of this idea.

[kistner101]

 where do you find the commercial version?

[duleonar]

You can get them at harbor freight. http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=shredder&Submit=Go

[PrinceJ57]

I was think of doing this but using a old table mount router and some sort of blade system instead of that annoying weed eater string....great instructable!

[theburn7]

5 star and fav

[Dr. Spiff]

Another alternative for supporting the trimmer motor would be to cut a circle of plywood, 1/4"~1/2" thick, that would fit inside the lip of the trash can base. Mark the holes on the plywood and remove them with a jigsaw. Then screw the support on in place of the wooden blocks you used. Plywood is pretty stiff and even 1/4" spread over the entire area would be much stiffer than the 4 wooden blocks. Just a thought... Dr. Spiff

[robbtoberfest]

A variable speed rheostat control for electrical motors for $20 on ebay fixes the speed problem on this machine.

[robbtoberfest]

Coming soon: Gas powered seed processor/leaf shredder. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! I overloaded the electric motor too much before I learned my lesson. If you hear it bog down, that's too much stuff in the can.

[robbtoberfest]

I finally got flower seed heads through this thing; man does it work well. I use a tarp to catch everything.

[Sedgewick17]

Interesting idea! I wonder if you used piano wire for the blades if you would be able to make wood chips from small branches.

[robbtoberfest]

bicycle chain or old chainsaw chain might work too, if you can keep it balanced. But this would make it more dangerous like a homemade hammermill. I'm sticking to the heavy duty trimmer string for now.

[jvangurp]

Hey great project. I have an old whacker in my shed and will give it a try, although seeing this makes me wonder about beefing things up to make something that will demolish twigs too.... hmmmm...

[bensever]

Excellent instructable. Glad to see it after a lot of not so interesting instructables lately. I'll probably get to build this soon, as there are always old weed eaters and buckets on the curbs around here about this time of year.

[Ghondi]

Looks good, but what do you do with all the shredded leaves that accumulate that wouldn't be easier to do with whole leaves? (Not trying to be mean, but actually wondering.)

[robbtoberfest]

Just faster composting and takes up less space.

[jtobako]

?Make the legs longer so that you can put hooks on them to hang a bag from. That way you can collect all the seeds as they fall.

[JakeTobak]

What is the screen part for? Wouldn't the newly shredded leaves fall out through there and make a mess? Well, I know only a little would probably come out, but still, I'm sure none would come out that end if there wasn't a screen there. And by no screen, I mean no giant holes either :P

[jtobako]

That's the point of the shredder-it ends up standing in a pile of shredded leaves. The screen isn't to contain the shredded leaves, but to make sure that they are shredded.

[Idontbelieveit]

Three legs would be better and get your angle grinder out and grind those dangerous screw points off

[crapflinger]

yeah...a right side up picture would help alot hehe...took me to the last step to go "OOOOOOHHH...you put the leaves in the other end!"...other than that well written..and a nifty device...could even be used to threaten neighborhood children "you throw one more ball in my yard...your toes go in the chipper" (just kidding by the way)

[lemonie]

It's reasonably obvious, but could you add a picture of this standing the right way up on it's legs? L

[Tool Using Animal]

Tis a thing of beauty. And certainly beats my technique of bashing a ziplock bag with my hands to breakup seedheads.

[Sedgewick17]

Cool idea man! I bet if you tried using piano wire it could also be a wood shredder