Introduction: Rolling Compost Tumbler From Trash

About: Neo-Renaissance Man

I needed a compost tumbler and did not want to pay upto 100 dollars. For a plastic barrel!
so i  found
Some Hinges (from old cupboard)
A Plastic Barrel (found on side of the road)
A Rolling garden hose stand (had one rusting out in the yard)
Some kind of Lock (replaced deadbolt on door used old one)
A handle (this was in the garage no idea)
A hodgepodge of mis nuts and bolts (had jars of these)
Two pieces of PVC tubing the same length of the barrel (i have tons of misc PVC my grandfather collected)
Four really long screws
Some Wire (cloths hanger)
Two Really long bolts for the reattachment of the wheels
Dark colored spray paint

TOOLS NEEDED
drill
screw driver
wrench
socket wrench
pliers
your own two hands
hacksaw


Step 1: Step One: Disassemble the Rolling Garden Hose Stand

Pretty much everyone has one of these rusting in there yard.
  Take all the screws out
keep the two sides the wheels and the handle , and the "gear" parts with the crank
Keep the sides the wheels the hose guard pretty much all the plastic pieces, i recycled all the metal parts and used the small hose for a floor sink.

Step 2: Step Two: Cut a Big Square in the Barrel

This is pretty easy to explain, just make a big square the less then half the circumstance of the barrel.
with a hack saw.
 make it wide enough to be able to dump it all out. but leave like 2-4 inches on the sides for support


Step 3: Step Three: Attaching the Sides of the Compost Tumbler

Turn the barrel on its top, put one of  the "wheels" (this is the center part that the hose winds up on, check out the picture you will understand)  from the rolling garden hose stand.
   I had to hack of the center part with a hack saw on the side your attaching to the barrel.  To make it level, Then drilled a hole in each "spoke" and threaded a bolt through, then did the same on the bottom of the barrel.

Step 4: Step Four: Adding the Hinges and Hardware

 Now that the hole is cut get out your hinges and place them on the barrel marking the holes where your going to drill.
   Do the same with the holes in the dead bolt, and the handle.
Drill the Holes, the thread the nuts and bolts into place.
i tried to use pop rivets but the plastic was too thick, though one of the hinges held on with them.
make sure to line it all up before bolting it together, i did not and had to remount the deadbolt again.
 learn from this


Step 5: Step Five: Attaching the Sides/legs and Crank

OK now attach the plastic triangles that act as the stand for your compost tumbler.
 Take one of the triangles and attach it to the top i don't think they are different, so it doesn't really matter what side you use.
 One side will be attached with the "hub cap" this is where the hose part came from, mine had 2 screws i just reused those.  
  The other attaches the triangle with a crank, also two screws reused those old ones
Now your compost tumbler has a stand, and a hand crank set it up give it a spin!


Step 6: Step Six: Attaching the Wheels, Braces, and Handle

I lucked out and found two almost perfect sized bolts, had to cut a small length of pipe to secure to fill the space, but i was planning on cutting the metal rod that came with it and using that, But this was a lot easier. So securing each wheel back into its place on the triangle frame.
   Attaching the braces, take your 2 PVC pipes and and secure them in the bottom corers of each plastic triangle. I used a long screw and drove it thought the plastic on the one side through the PVC and into the plastic on the other side these held pretty well. 
   Attaching the Handle get the handle for the wheeled garden hose parts, mark adn drill four holes through the PVC pipe in the center on the one side.
  Take your wire and wind it though all the holes on the handle and through the pipe,
I first used zip ties but they snapped right off.


Step 7: Step Seven: Paint and Compost

 I spray painted it green, darker the color the better.
 Then added some yard clipping and my lunch scraps.
  And since it has wheels i can roll it right to were i want to lay my compost and open the door.




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