Ginger harvester mod

  • Job DurationLess than a month
  • Project LevelMedium Level
  • Project deadlineExpired

Project detail

Hi, I am a retired heavy earth moving and mining diesel mechanic with 40 something years of experience. I am a competent welder & have designed & built many things out of my head.
I am now growing ginger on a small farm in Far North Queensland. I have purchased a machine to harvest the ginger.
It has a strait cutting edge that cuts under the ginger & lifts the dirt with the ginger in onto a conveyor made of steel bars linked together & traveling up & back, while on the conveyor the dirt is supposed to drop through the conveyor & the ginger stay on the conveyor , until it reaches the end then drop back onto the top of the ground, then I walk along the harvested bed and pick up the ginger for further washing & packing.
The problem is that when the ground is moist, which it is for nine months of the year in the tropics, the dirt sticks to the ginger & travels the whole length of the conveyor & drops, with the ginger back to ground, making the picking up task MUCH harder & slower.
What I want to build is a second conveyor that the first conveyor drops onto.
The second conveyor will be made from a closer link mesh, it will raise the ginger & dirt higher to allow a trailer to catch the ginger as it falls of the end.
The second conveyor will have a section that is parallel to the ground, this section of the conveyor will run on powered eccentric rollers that cause the conveyor mat to bounce the dirt and ginger up & down, shaking the dirt from the ginger before it falls into the trailer.
The dirt that has fallen off the ginger will fall through the vibrating top string, & land on an under pan which the lower return string will run on & scrape the fallen dirt forward before it drops back to ground & thus stopping it ( the fallen loose dirt ) from dropping in the trailer.
The conveyor & the vibrators will be driven hydraulically, & separately by two hydraulic motors powered from two hydraulic remotes on the tractor. This will allow the speed of the conveyor mat & the vibration to be adjusted independently to the best speed.
The whole assembly will need to be able to pivot up to a vertical position or even further so it sort of folds over the top of the harvester. this will make it’s length shorter & in doing so will make it easier to pick up & move, & also enable easy access to hitch & unhitch the trailer.
The inside of the sides of the machine is 1 metre 195, or 1195 wide & the conveyor chain is 1150 wide. The rear cross bar with the hammer on it will have to be re positioned further forward to allow the new conveyor to be positioned under the end of the existing conveyor so that the dirt & ginger can drop onto the new conveyor.
As can be seen in the attached picks there is frame work that can be used to anchor the ram, or rams, used to raise & lower the new conveyor. Also the rear wheels can be re positioned if needs be.
The small green trailer in the pick is for demonstration only just to show my idea. I will be using a different trailer for the job.
I have the equipment & resources to construct the second conveyor, I am looking for a detailed plan to work from
Forgot to mention, my name is Don.

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Freelancer type required for this project