Thursday, April 1, 2021

MacGyvering a new broadcast spreader "Earthway" style Agitator

 

  • Increases soil water-holding capacity resulting in increased drought tolerance and increased irrigation efficiency
  • Increase soil nutrient holding capacity, maximizing plant nutrient uptake
  • Acts as a chelator of nutrients, holding them in the root zone when otherwise they would be leached from the soil
  • Boosting organic matter by 1% can increase drought tolerance by 50%
  • High compost solids result in lower rates of application vs. other wet compost
  • Granular crumble allows for the use of broadcast fertilizer spreader and a wide application swath vs. a specialized compost drop spreader or shovel and rake
  • Pellets break down quickly after rain or irrigation
  • No odour when wet

So the cotter pin agitator with the stolen Earthway design broadcast spreader - it does not agitate properly and this is also a problem for the original Earthway design (that this Chinese company copied).

 2.5 inches long and 1/16 in diameter

That was the claim but I think it must be 1/8th inch diameter.

So I was spreading compost today and one of our compound members asked me if I needed a better broadcast spreader (since I was actually just using my hands to broadcast - which worked fine as the compost was very fine grain and so spread out evenly).

So I said well actually I should be able to find a better agitator.

Someone got a patent for a new agitator design - but it's a minimum of $35 and for a different type of broadcast spreader 

Install process is basically the same for all older and other 3 hole spreaders also.

So I also have a 3 hole spreader - but the Earthway design spins all the way around - unlike the Lesco design that goes back and forth.

So that's a fancy agitator design for salt.

So that's the "patent design" - someone is selling this thing for $500 on ebay and someone stupid bought it at that price!! Why? Because the Lesco spreader itself is also very expensive.

So the Earthway agitator is just a "Hairpin" cotter pin or R Clip cotter pin. It really doesn't do much at all.
 




Oct 25, 2013 · 7 posts · ‎3 authors
It takes some tweaking because if you make the agitator to much larger in diameter or to long in length the agitator will not rotate sometimes with different prill sizes of fertilizer that are heavier because the agitator will not rotate if it becomes to large and causes the drive wheel of the spreader to lockup.

So here we have the problems with the Earthway agitator cotter pin or Hairpin R Clip. 

 


 So you can see that the cotter pin Hairpin or R Clip agitator really doesn't even access the holes in the bin.

So here was my first attempt to mess with the agitator:


 So I created a new type of cotter pin called a "Twist Pin" - I did a blog post on that before.

Right so if you go to that blog post you see the SAME problem - it stays in place better but it doesn't really agitate the holes.

So here is what I designed:

So this moves - "flips" - but definitely covers the holes. I used two 12 inch 1/16 inch Stainless Steel wires.

Earthway 2600A-Plus Spread Issue

Someone tells the person to 

  still just deal with it. I've read around the forum that a lot of spreaders just don't operate that great on low rates...unless you get a high end Lesco or Spyker, but if I spent $300-$500 for a spreader my wife would bury me in the compost pile.

 So no - we should not just have to "deal" with it.

Time to start MacGyvering!

 

Better than this?

Yes most definitely!

So I used two wires because the Earthway cotter pin was advertised as 1/16 inch diameter. I find that hard to believe but that's what someone "answered" on Amazon.

The cotter pin that came with the spreader I have is definitely closer to 1/8th inch diameter. Maybe it's less though.


So here is someone else's MacGyver creation.

They say a coat hanger would probably not be strong enough - the diameter is 13 gauge - it's actually a bit thicker than 1/16 inch.

ah but that's not stainless steel whereas I made sure to get stainless steel - it was very difficult to bend.

So here is an "Echo" agitator for a similar design.

So I'll try this 1/8 inch diameter stainless steel rod

if my design is not up to snuff. So it is  Stainless Steel 304

 and at 1/16 diameter then it's breaking point is 500 pounds! Should be strong enough since I have two of them.

I bent that 1/8th inch cotter pin before - but it was not easy. haha.

Tensile strength specifies the point at which a material goes from elastic to plastic deformation.

1 megapascal (MPa) = 145.04 pounds per sq. inch

 520 MPa is stainless steel. = 75,400 pounds per sq. inch.

So I get a 22 pound tensile strength for 1/16th inch. Hmm. That does make sense since I was able to bend it. But I did wrap the wires together. So... a 44 pound tensile strength....

Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2019
Verified Purchase

Tensile Strength: 75,000 psi

https://www.mcmaster.com/rods/metal/stainless-steel/bend-and-stay-multipurpose-304-stainless-steel-wire/diameter~0-064/ 

 OK that computers to a 225 pound tensile strength by converting 1/16 inch diameter to square inches.

hmmm.  we'll see what happens. I guess I did my math wrong the first time? 

Let's start over.

.003 is the square inch rating for 1/16 inch diameter.

so multiple times the 75,000

225.

well then again I can BENCH 225 pounds. So maybe I was actually bending with that much force! Holy smokes.



 

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