Anyone used a rotary sieve (Trommel)?

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It screens soil and rubble (or a mixture) into fine material and coarse. Think of a mortar mixer with the drum made of mesh

ae235


I was wondering if one would be suitable to improve the flinty clay of my "lawn" without having the whole lot dug out and replaced with new.

No longer listed by Screwfix but presumably they can be hired or bought.

 
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I'm thinking about one again.

A few have been cropping up on ebay, doubtless from people like me who would do the garden once, then not need it again.
 
Always wondered about making one of these by bolting a strip of mesh in between the two halves of my mixer drum. Never did it though, just bought new soil in.. Let us know how it works out!
 
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Had no idea they existed in a retail size- got 2 jobs in mind for one of those straight away :)
 
I believe the Scheppach is one of the brands of tools they carry
 
For sieving soil, I borrow my allotment neighbours home-made one. A wooden frame strengthened with some angle beading using a mesh the size required and strengthened with some 3” wire mesh underneath (the sort you use for reenforcing cement). Use it on trestles or straight on top of a wheelbarrow. Shovel the earth on, push it around with your hands using thick rubber glove’s, tip the big stuff that’s filtered out onto your waste pile (or paths if you’re on the allotment). Very quick and easy to use.

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For sieving soil, I borrow my allotment neighbours home-made one. A wooden frame strengthened with some angle beading using a mesh the size required and strengthened with some 3” wire mesh underneath (the sort you use for reenforcing cement). Use it on trestles or straight on top of a wheelbarrow. Shovel the earth on, push it around with your hands using thick rubber glove’s, tip the big stuff that’s filtered out onto your waste pile (or paths if you’re on the allotment). Very quick and easy to use.

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I tried a similar lashup- works ok when the soil is dry, less well when it's damp. What sort of gauge is your sieving mesh - think mine might be a bit tight (10mm round holes)
 
This just reminded me that a neighbour has a similar thing that he built.. It's a frame like that, but with a Honda GX120 on one end, with an eccentric flywheel on it. The running engine shakes the mesh and he loads it up using a mini digger
 
A washing machine drum might do, but would need to tilt to tip the stones out. Mounted on a mixer frame?
 
If you were going to do that you'd surely just modify a mixer drum; it has the requisite strength to cope with having 50kg+ of soil loaded into it. An 8kg washer drum would need reinforcing and would be quite slow going due to the size
 
I'm coming round to the idea of just buying a new one and selling it on later.

The used ones on ebay get snapped up, and it's not worth a long journey to collect one.
 

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