Old Alvan Blanch drier - output auger

[MattR]

We have a 1960s AB cascade drier and I've been wondering about replacing the discharge elevator (the one with a few lengths of angle iron with a chain either side) with an auger going across the bottom to pull the grain out one side. Have people done this - it might be fairly common I don't know? Would the grain feed evenly from across the width of the drier?

(I know the standard response will be to scrap it and get an opico etc but it does the job, I've looked at mobile driers and not really sure if I can justify the expense - a smallish one is not really a huge increase in output - I thought by doing this I would at least be able to increase throughput when drying say only a couple % when the limiting factor is the elevator rather than heating/cooling capacity)

Cheers

 

[B R C]

We had one of these, and swapped it for a masters. In seriousness how would you control the rate of discharge as the current elevator is variable speed is it not? I'm not sure an auger would pull the grain evenly from across the width either and this is essential. We put some more 'angle iron' on ours to speed it up. If you speed it up the grain will come out hotter as well, not a problem if you can cool in store/bins.

 

[T C]

We have a 1960s AB cascade drier and I've been wondering about replacing the discharge elevator (the one with a few lengths of angle iron with a chain either side) with an auger going across the bottom to pull the grain out one side. Have people done this - it might be fairly common I don't know? Would the grain feed evenly from across the width of the drier?

(I know the standard response will be to scrap it and get an opico etc but it does the job, I've looked at mobile driers and not really sure if I can justify the expense - a smallish one is not really a huge increase in output - I thought by doing this I would at least be able to increase throughput when drying say only a couple % when the limiting factor is the elevator rather than heating/cooling capacity)

Cheers

I have a discharge augers from a 1995 DF2200 if is any use. We installed a second hand

 

[Barleycorn]

I would imagine that that the set up with the angle iron is part of the cooling / drying process, else they would have put an auger in from new. Also this set up takes corn from across the tray so it comes down evenly. You probably would find that your auger would take it all from one side.

 

[MattR]

. In seriousness how would you control the rate of discharge as the current elevator is variable speed is it not? I'm not sure an auger would pull the grain evenly from across the width either and this is essential. We put some more 'angle iron' on ours to speed it up. If you speed it up the grain will come out hotter as well, not a problem if you can cool in store/bins.

Yes the output elevator is on a variable pulley which is fine within its limits. There's also a big and small pulley so you can "change gear" that way, then the other thing is to take angle irons on and off to adjust speed which is pretty awkward. I was wondering about an auger with a variable speed motor - something I asked about on here a while back - https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/auger-motors-vfd.235520/

I have a discharge augers from a 1995 DF2200 if is any use. We installed a second hand

Thanks, I'll bear that in mind. Got some old augers in our 'junk store', might have a look at those to see if they'd fit.

I would imagine that that the set up with the angle iron is part of the cooling / drying process, else they would have put an auger in from new. Also this set up takes corn from across the tray so it comes down evenly. You probably would find that your auger would take it all from one side.

Yep I wondered that. However I think the original idea was to fill sacks off the output so they needed an elevator for that - obviously a horizontal auger would just bring the grain out on the ground - fine for us as there's a pit with a vertical auger next to the drier. And yes that would be the big question - whether it would it draw it evenly from across the width of the drier or just from one side. Anyone think that it would draw evenly?

 

[grainboy]

Or buy a Svegma 13 ton hr that I have for sale, £3500, all Dismantled ready to transport.

 

[Barleycorn]

Yes the output elevator is on a variable pulley which is fine within its limits. There's also a big and small pulley so you can "change gear" that way, then the other thing is to take angle irons on and off to adjust speed which is pretty awkward. I was wondering about an auger with a variable speed motor - something I asked about on here a while back - https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/auger-motors-vfd.235520/



Thanks, I'll bear that in mind. Got some old augers in our 'junk store', might have a look at those to see if they'd fit.



Yep I wondered that. However I think the original idea was to fill sacks off the output so they needed an elevator for that - obviously a horizontal auger would just bring the grain out on the ground - fine for us as there's a pit with a vertical auger next to the drier. And yes that would be the big question - whether it would it draw it evenly from across the width of the drier or just from one side. Anyone think that it would draw evenly?

I think that you would need a full width adjustable slider to control the amount going into the auger.

 

[Dman2]

Or buy a Svegma 13 ton hr that I have for sale, £3500, all Dismantled ready to transport.

That will be a good drier
We bought a S/H one about 6 years back, best thing we ever did
Saved us a fortune in diesel

 

[Pilatus]

Although Alvan Blanch driers are a very old design I still think they are very good drier,reasonably simple design ,can deal with a wide range of crops without many adjustments.

 

[rob h]

We have a cascade 45. It has a trough auger built in at the top to take it to one side its driven from the same motor as the discharge elevator.would not be too difficult to add one to yours .

 

[MattR]

Or buy a Svegma 13 ton hr that I have for sale, £3500, all Dismantled ready to transport.

I think I remember enquiring about that one or similar a while back, (?) think I thought at the time it was a bit too big for our shed possibly. I don't know much about them though, is it a batch drier or continuous? How does it fill/empty? Diesel? Fairly easy to put together/operate?

That will be a good drier
We bought a S/H one about 6 years back, best thing we ever did
Saved us a fortune in diesel

That's always good! You find it fairly straightforward to use/maintain etc?

 

[Dman2]

The actual drier itself has very few moving parts
But of course you have to get the grain in and out of it still
Diesel fired 2 stage burner

 

[MattR]

The actual drier itself has very few moving parts
But of course you have to get the grain in and out of it still
Diesel fired 2 stage burner

The grain just pours out the bottom and you have auger/elevator it away I take it?

 

[Dman2]

yes
We have a flow and return conveyor which fills from the top of the drier
The grain is released according to the moisture you want it by a set of rollers which turn so many
seconds a minute, into a conveyor which then feeds an elevator

To be fair ours is only an 8t per hour model, so a fair bit smaller than the one on here
Only other moving part on the drier is 1 main fan