Soil Sieve Sifter Machine

I wanted a really easy way of sifting soil for my vegetable patch. I already owned a Belle electric mixer which you can pickup very cheaply. I also purchased another barrel which I cut about to make my sieve.

You Will Need

1. Belle Mixer Barrel
2. Wire Mesh
3. Wire Cutters
4. Angle Grinder
5. Cutting Disks X5
6. M10 Nuts Bolts & Washers. Around 15 required.
7. 2x 17MM Spanners
8. Paint

Step 1: Remove the Barrel

I removed the barrel of the mixer by sharply rotating the barrell harshly to the left. The will undo the barrell and you will be left with the thread from the motor. See the video,

Step 2: Mark Out the Barrel.

Mark out the barrel where you want to cut out for the wire mesh.

Step 3: Start Cutting

Using an angle grinder with a cutting disc cut out the holes. Make sure you wear ear & eye protection as being a drum its very LOUD !!.

Step 4: Finish Off Cutting

There's a lot of cutting to do so make sure you give your angle grinder a rest and don't over heat it.

Step 5: Bolt in the Mesh

Cut out your wire mesh and bolt into position. I used M10 bolts with large washers. The bolts were rather long but was very handy has they never fell out when adjusting the wire mesh.

Step 6: Finishing Off

Tighten all the bolts cut the bolts down and cut of any sharp edges and paint to your desired colour.

Step 7: Time to Play !!

Screw the barrel back on the mixer and put on the stand and you're ready to play!

I managed to sift through a few ton of soil in a few hrs. This machine has saved my hundreds of pounds. I hope yours will too!"

Comments

[graham.globe78]

Looks Great just trying to build. Hardest thing seems to be finding strong enough mesh. All the UK stores seem sell stuff for pet cages or building merchants have a 2" mesh.

[Ryan110]

I'm not sure of the specs in your country but any small mixer would work very well using the same sort of design !!

[OwzyM]

You could also use an old top loader washing machine drum with enlarged holes.

[Ausray]

Many thanks for this instructable; Fantastic idea and one I would make to sieve a garden and any other material requiring a sieve; I confess that I am a seriel siever; I would even go back to the standard cement mixer to mix garedn soil or make my own potting mix; Thanks again,

Ray from Australia.

[sos13]

This is terrifficcc!!! Great when working with compost piles- but you gotta recycle the worms!

So I am now on the hunt for an old mixer . . .

[pgs070947]

I like this a lot.

I can see from the vehicles that you are UK based, but where you are looks a lot better off soil-wise from the solid chalk I live on.

To get anything like growing soil, I used to have to sieve everything and was going to make an oscillating riddle, but I was also thinking along the lines of using a concrete mixer to mix compost.

It's a cracking idea and must save a lot of backache.

To miguipda, Belle mixers are widely available in UK and Europe and any of the big suppliers like Toolstation, Screwfix or Axminster Power Tools will list them as well as spare drums etc.

[blenderbender]

I made a similar sifter using a Harbor Freight 3-1/2 cu. ft. cement mixer. Using the easy to find 20-25% off coupons they can be had for around $165 - $180. The mixer barrel portion is two halves bolted together. I removed the front half, discarded for re-purposing, and then modified a 55 gallon steel drum by removing much of the barrel skin with plasma cutter, leaving the ribs and rims intact, then welded four angle iron stiffeners lengthwise along the outside of the drum. I left the bottom of the drum intact and cut out the top, then lined the inside with a length of 1/2" wire mesh. The bottom barrel rim was nearly a perfect fit to weld onto the rim of the mixer barrel. It works great.

[Soose]

Very cool! Kudo's to the author!

In the deep deep past, I've made a flat frame with wire mesh or screening mounted on it. The idea was to sieve the garden soil so I could grow straight carrots. (Plus we have a lot of chirt in our soil here.) You've cut out the manual part of that operation and really sped up the amount of soil that can be sieved. I'm impressed!

[DIY Hacks and How Tos]

Nice. I need one of these in my garden.