Great shredder design

[johnlee1933]

Lookes like a old silage , hay or corn chopper to me .

Sure does but I bet it cuts finer.

John

 

[FmGrowit]

Lookes like a old silage chopper to me .

That's actually what I thought too. Silage chopper

 

[leverhead]

A little over a year ago, a Canadian HTGT member (Tea) posted pics of his converted reel mower used as a tobacco shredder. http://www.howtogrowtobacco.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4037&p=41993. It's a frightening thing. Stems? No problem. Fingertips? No problem.

Bob

If somebody screws up with that, they'll have a hard time picking their nose.

 

[Chicken]

I'm going to have to pick up an old reel mower and see if it can be modified to shred with any control on the size of the shred.

i have one,,,,and ive been spinning the idea, around of using it,,,'' ive seen that video of the one you referred to working''

very impressive,

the idea of more blades sounds good,,, if i split the reel in half, and incorporate the blades, to half of the wheel thingy,,,
then it will have twice the ammount of blades, with half the width.

i have acess to a welder, and scrap steel, this idea may come to life in the future,????

 

[jeapadrenaline]

Thanks guys now you have me kicking my own butt. I just lost my house to the bank 3 month ago, and not much time to move. Long story short, i left behind a reel mower in great shape as i figured i wouldn't have any use for it living out in the bush. DANGIT!

 

[deluxestogie]

I'm going to be radical, and say that any decent blade/anvil/bypass cutting arrangement will shred tobacco. I believe that the crucial missing element in most designs of tobacco shredders (other than the commercial ones) is a series of compressive rollers that will transform a stack of leaf strip into a tightly compressed sandwich, while it feeds it into the cutting mechanism.

Pasta shredders and paper cutters are engineered for cutting only a few layers of material at a time. Heavier-bladed, manual cutting devices suffer from depressingly low throughput. A plug cutter (designed to slice off a tall, thin flake of compressed block) requires that a press block of tobacco be prepared in advance.

Instead of focusing on the blade (just make it very sturdy), I would suggest concentrating design efforts on a system of compressive rollers. Then a plug cutting design would be capable of high throughput, without the need to prepare a press block ahead of time. If the rotational speed of the rollers is separately adjustable from the blade movement, then shred width could be continuously variable.

Bob

 

[johnlee1933]

I'm going to be radical, and say that any decent blade/anvil/bypass cutting arrangement will shred tobacco. I believe that the crucial missing element in most designs of tobacco shredders (other than the commercial ones) is a series of compressive rollers that will transform a stack of leaf strip into a tightly compressed sandwich, while it feeds it into the cutting mechanism.

Pasta shredders and paper cutters are engineered for cutting only a few layers of material at a time. Heavier-bladed, manual cutting devices suffer from depressingly low throughput. A plug cutter (designed to slice off a tall, thin flake of compressed block) requires that a press block of tobacco be prepared in advance.

Instead of focusing on the blade (just make it very sturdy), I would suggest concentrating design efforts on a system of compressive rollers. Then a plug cutting design would be capable of high throughput, without the need to prepare a press block ahead of time. If the rotational speed of the rollers is separately adjustable from the blade movement, then shred width could be continuously variable.

Bob

You suggest "rollers" Why not power sander (or similar) belts driven from one end and an adjustable pitch top piece with another sanding belt as an idler? This would catch and squeeze your leaves just before cutting.

One downside is the feed speed rate adjustment. That might take some playing.

John

 

[deluxestogie]

My guess is that a series of compressive rollers would need to begin at less that 1/2 psi at the contact surface of the first roller, and increase to maybe 2 psi by the last roller. Perhaps the leaf's brief tenure beneath the rollers might require a more rapid increase to a higher psi by the last roller. I'm not sure how belts could accomplish this in the absence of rollers to apply the continuous pressure.

Bob

 

[leverhead]

When I layed out my cutter I had been cutting my tobacco from "Cigars" about the size of my thumb with a utility knife blade. It was slow, mostly because of the time required to lay out the pile, fold it and roll it up with some long leaf halves. Just from a couple of layers of leaf halves, well under 1/2 psi, the "cigar" would get pretty dense. At about 15% moisture content the shreds would stick to each other pretty badly. The off side of the cut would break out from lack of support. Scaled up, the "cigar" is now 1 1/2" diameter and a steel support ring within a few thousandths of the blade so the break out problem is gone. The feed tube is not a great idea, pushing the "cigar" is like pushing a rope, if it starts to stick, it's stuck! I cut a "window" down the side 1 1/2" wide so that I can control the pressure inside the tube. The "cigar" takes me about 1/2 hour to assemble and weighs about 1/3 pound per foot and about 15 to 20 min. to cut.

For now it works for me, I'm not real happy with it but it works. Most of my focus right now is on growing and curing. I think that feeding a cutter is going to be a sleeper problem that will take the most effort to fix. My two cents worth.

From watching the "street vendor" video, he would leave me in the dust.

 

[Chicken]

you could rig, up 2 normal wooden
,,,, '' dough rollers'' as a feeding device, with gears, on both,,,, and a single hand crank,,,

with the 8'' reel blade spinning below, cutting it as it gets fed?

but would the baccy spin around in the reel, many times, and get too fine a cut, before exiting the hopper under the blades,?

..this creation, wouldnt be very difficult for me to rig up,,, ive got the motor,,, the '' reel lawn mower''..a welder,,,,,scrap, steel,,,,and im a graduate. of '' REDNECK ENGINEERING SCHOOL''.

it will be a weekend project,,, my new truck driving job delivering fertilizer, is taking me on long distances,,, im lucky to have 1 day a week to do my projects,,,

im teaching the family how to tend to my baccy,,, since i may not be here till dark, on some night's<>

 

[BigBonner]

From what I have seen the shredders use coveyor belt . Bottom is flat and the top is angled up and pulles the tobacco into the cutter with a slow gear .
Here is a picture of a belt on flea bay .
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Uni-Chai...873?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eb3b0bc81

 

[Grundle]

That thing would be good for sluicing gold

 

[Chicken]

i believe my idea will work,,,,

having acess to all the components is the big thing,

but will it be something the '' hobbiest'' which we all are CAN BUILD,

perhaps no, the old reel lawn mower is a dying relic,

if it dont work, im sure it'll be the greatest thing ive ever built,

but from the video ive seen of one built on a rougher design,,, it worked<

mines going to be upper rednecked,

 

[BigBonner]

i believe my idea will work,,,,

having acess to all the components is the big thing,

but will it be something the '' hobbiest'' which we all are CAN BUILD,

perhaps no, the old reel lawn mower is a dying relic,

if it dont work, im sure it'll be the greatest thing ive ever built,

but from the video ive seen of one built on a rougher design,,, it worked<

mines going to be upper rednecked,

Hey Chicken .
I have a idea seeing you need all your fingers for driving a truck .How about you get your wife or a friend to try out your inventions first . I would

 

[Chicken]

i agree, I NEED A GUINIE-PIG<

 

[jeapadrenaline]

For whatever reason, the Germans seem to always have the most unique designs for tobacco shredders that I've seen anywhere.

This is very similar to what I've been trying to build for a couple of years and it's the first time I've seen this manufactured product.

I think this can be reverse engineered quite easily. If somebody wants to build them, I'll put them in the "Coming soon" products forum store.

So today i tried this shredder out. I tried loose leaf before, and it works in a pinch, but not great. Pressed a brick today, but not in high enough case, almost to dry to smoke. The contraption is a bit flimsy for my likings, but could easly be reinforced. The shred works ok in a tube stuffer for a cigarette, but should be a bit finer... mind you i shredded this in the largest of 5 available settings as i was shreddinng a pipe mix of 40:40:20 harrow velvet:little dutch:bright leaf. Its deffinately a pleasant pipe mix, on the smoother side not harsh. The shredd burned well in the pipe.
Next try, the leaf will be in high case to make a brick, set machine to finer cut and aim for cigarette shred as i'll be processing virginia bright leaf.
Overall, this cutter was a good buy in my opinion, although not the most efficient nor uniform in cut (possibly fix with higher case brick).
After some more usage, i may become more efficient as well.

 

[Chicken]

just get the powermatic,,,

problem solved,

 

[Boboro]

I love old stuff.But You dont want to drive the old truck to the city.