Well I finally finished it. Hand Crank Rotating Bucket Sifter. 50+ parts, 21 ball bearings, 472 holes.

[RatherBeDigging]

Note I have since trimmed down the all thread that's excessively long in the short. Have to tweak one thing, it needs a few lock washers in one area. The legs come off for transport. It was suggested I add backpack straps to it so I can sherpa it to sites. Thinking about it. It's all hinged so I can empty the pail and lower screen. Once the 1930s school dump put dries out this is going out.

I was really channeling Rube Goldberg here to make something unnecessarily complicated for the simple purpose of finding a marble or bead in dump soil.. just no monkey with cymbals trigger a chain reaction. Built 100% from scratch with a home depot bucket and a lot of CAD software usage, 5/16" hex bolts, brass screws, 1 x 2, deck stain and ball bearings

 

[oldmxrat]

I like it, very ingenious!
It looks like it would process large amounts of material very quickly.

 

[RatherBeDigging]

I like it, very ingenious!
It looks like it would process large amounts of material very quickly.

Thank you. It was a lot to build from scratch. I have a few 1 inch ball bearings I can put in the pail to break up dirt if needed. It's not really for high rpm. My only dilemma is on the down cycle and up cycle that threaded rod connected to the lower screen box likes to twist 1/8 turn clockwise and 1/8 counter clockwise. It could just be a tolerance thing as the hole in drive arm has bearings so arm should slip on the threaded rod in theory...might try some lock washers and see if I can get it to stop moving altogether. It seems to self correct though as the a mini level doesn't change much through a full cycle.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Impressive! That is one classy looking piece of kit, and your engineering skills
are evident. I'd almost hate to see it get dirty...

 

[RatherBeDigging]

Impressive! That is one classy looking piece of kit, and your engineering skills
are evident. I'd almost hate to see it get dirty...

Thank you. Yeah I feel like I made it too pretty ha 😅 can you tell I was a physics major??