Looking for ideals on making a hopper vibrator did a search on here but nothing showed up could anyone share any suggestions on making one.
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a hooper or a hopper ?
Hi Gregg. A vibrator is a easy device. A electromotor with a offbalance weight bolted tight on the hopper.
Howewer, Non stop operation might bring problems with makeing the charbed too tight.
Ok very easy. go get yourself a small engine starter just the round body type. Some have mounting systems cast into them stay away from those. Get a 1/2" shaft couple and weld or mount something to it to off balance its center. Tear off the drive gear off of the starter and mount this to its shaft. The body of these motors are generally 3" so get some 3" U bolt clamps and use those to clamp the motor to a plate that you can then attach to your hopper.
Now wire up a small engine starter solenoid and fire this from a timer. Go to Ebay or Amazon and type in “Timer Relay Board” or " Cycle Timer" Then pick your flavor and get it sent. Wire this to fire the solenoid and wahlah! you will have a hopper vibrator.
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Thanks for the advice
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Hi Gregg,
On the Forum page in the upper left side under Drive On Wood is an “all categories” box. Click on the box, then click on
Small engines, then click on " My first small engine run".
Here I have many detailed pics on just about everything I built. First timers might find some of the answers on “how to” there. Hopper vibrator can be found on entry 111 and 410. Below is the only missing pic of the off center weight welded to a pulley on the motor. One of my videos shows a short burst run.
This vibrator’s support arms were too long, so I later shortened them.
Hope this helps.
Pepe
OK, I just found the vibrator video. It’s part of a longer video on run time of an IC small engine ( no load).
Here’s a couple pics of the shortened vibrator mount on my new monorator hopper.
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thanks for your help
I like gleaning a few ideas from the “professionals”. The US Forestry Services Biomax 25 gasifier used a vibrator from Vibco. Here’s their website: www.vibco.com.
There is also Syntron for an electromagnetic vibrator. I’ve got another brand on a hopper that was feeding a stoker with corn cob. I can check for that brand if you want. If you have compressed air - there are pneumatic vibrators - both hammer type and with a rolling element. My rolling element type were a large ball that ran in a loop. The impulse used less air and were better for fine material. The rolling element had a lower frequency but higher amplitude which worked better for larger material. There are also air pads (Evasser) that use compressed air to loosen material.