Topsoil screener design comments requested

To process tons of sod and soil will require a machine you can't afford to build, or shouldn't, it's not cost effective. Have the dirt processed by a professional. They will come and pick it up, and then deliver the finished product back where you want it.

I operated such a machine at a fertilizer factory. It was a drum screen, about six feet in diameter, much like a clothes dryer in construction, without the sheet metal cover. The raw material was fed by a conveyor. Good stuff fell thru to a conveyor, and bad stuff exited to another conveyor. That will separate the dirt from the roots. Now you need another screen to separate the dirt from the stones. It's one thing to screen sand to remove stones. Dirt clumps and must be beaten to separate out stuff.

Just dumping a load of dirt on a screen will not do much. Vibrating it will separate some, but a lot will escape and have to be re-screened. Vibrating threaded rods will break them.

I would suggest you go on-line and look at some examples of small portable screens for use with skidloaders and TLBs like you have. A solid welded frame will likely serve you better than a wood/steel contraption as you will likely be shaking and scraping the screen with the bucket of your loader. There are lots of good examples out there to copy so don't try to reinvent the wheel.

You might be able to pick up a drum screen, e.g. try a local quarry.
If not, have a machine shop roll you a flat weld mesh sheet, or similar.

Weld up end supports to carry your "spin drier" drum and rotate it using
the tractor pto. This will grade your "raw" earth into more manageable sizes.

I would not attempt to use a flat screen, the loadings are enormous.
You need regular small(ish) quantities "passing through" not static loads.
If you have to go "flat" I would incline the grid to help off-load the rubbish.

May I definitely recommend "over-build and under-load!" Good luck.

jt.

The harder I work the luckier I seem to get?

I have seen an excellent drum based screening machine made in a basic workshop and outside in the field. It probably cost less than £1000 in secondhand parts, plus the owners labour. The cylinders were made out of 3/16 inch punched mild steel, and were bent into rings with basic workshop clamps and levers.

Feed the debris to be sorted into the mouth of a fine mesh cylinder at 5 feet high. The first cylinder slopes into the mouth of a courser cylinder which drops out the gravel for your roadways. Large debris roots etc fall out of the lower end. We did consider making the second cylinder conical to reduce pass through to the waste pile, but actually we just passsed the output back into the front again and that sorted it.

We found 15 degree slope on the combined cylinders worked well, and a few lengths of angle welded to the inside of the drums tumble the contents to break up sods and dislodge mud etc.

System was powered by a 3hp motor via pulleys and belts.

Hope this helps

Thanks to all for the suggestions. Speed is not a big factor for this work. I'll be happy with a slow process... after all it is fun using the tractor and I like experimenting. I appreciate the suggestions re a drum type system; probably a bit involved for me at this time though. I found out during the excavating process that the sods/rocks/soil are indeed VERY heavy. In the long run a screener that is about one notch down from qualifying for America's Funniest Home Videos would suit me fine. Will post pictures and action if I get it done.