Coal Moving Grain Auger

I got my hands on a 4" by 10' long Westfield grain auger from craigslist that I'd like to move rice coal with. Long story short they previous owner didn't design the bin very well and I need to get the coal into a better position without having to jump in the bin and shovel it over to my EFM auger throughout the winter. I've seen several threads on here about using them but don't know that I saw a recommendation for what RPM they should be geared down to. The unit currently has a 2.25" pulley on the motor and 8" on the auger. This would give me 490 RPM if I'm figuring right. I haven't gotten to try it yet but I"m guessing that it may be too fast for rice coal. Any recommendations for what types of RPMs I should be looking at for a once a year unload of my trailer? Thanks!

have you tried the pulley ratio calculators available online?
it takes a rather large drive pulley on auger
to get much speed reduction.
and the motor pulley cannot go much smaller than 2"

motor speed must be
1725 rpm,
never 3450 rpm unless a proper gearbox is used

I have a 5" auger and I use the smallest pulley on the motor I could find: 1-1.5" . It moves the coal pleanty fast. As I remember, the manufacturer specd 400 rpm for grain.

I'm using a 4" grain auger with the factory pulleys it came with to move rice coal. Works great. Loads up a 250# hopper in about 30 seconds.

Try it, it may work just fine as is.

I have a 5” at 345 rpm, a 4”at 383 and a 3” flex at 52 all with pea.
After running them for about 2 months, I think the 345 and 383 are too fast but work (some chipping/damage to the pea coal and jam bi weekly).
Will probably switch all to flex at 52 rpm this summer.(less chipping and no jam yet with the flex)

rwwsr wrote:Try it, it may work just fine as is.

I have a 5” at 345 rpm, a 4”at 383 and a 3” flex at 52 all with pea.
After running them for about 2 months, I think the 345 and 383 are too fast but work (some chipping/damage to the pea coal and jam bi weekly).
Will probably switch all to flex at 52 rpm this summer.(less chipping and no jam yet with the flex)

I looked at the flex-augers, they get their speed reduction through a gearbox...pulley sizes for those speeds would be jumbo.

rwwsr wrote:Try it, it may work just fine as is.

I have a 5” at 345 rpm, a 4”at 383 and a 3” flex at 52 all with pea.
After running them for about 2 months, I think the 345 and 383 are too fast but work (some chipping/damage to the pea coal and jam bi weekly).
Will probably switch all to flex at 52 rpm this summer.(less chipping and no jam yet with the flex)

Where are you sourcing the flex? What kind of cost?

For those who may not be familiar w/ FLEX Augers, they are commonly used to dispense animal feeds to multiple locations using *drops* out of the main auger line.

Coal Bin to Hopper Auger see Part1 You Tube

Part 2 You Tube

This size flex auger is okay for moving Rice size...for moving Pea size needs to be 3" or would be more prone to jamming.

Note: Moving around bends and up hill requires adhering to the mfgr's guidelines.

I looked at a 3" X 60' Flex Auger w/ geared motor that was on Craig;s List last spring, could of had it for $250.00, but I passed.(motor alone was worth the price)
For various reasons, I am looking to move my Pea/Buckwheat Coal w/ a 1 HP dust collector as the core piece. Stay Tuned for that.

Scottscoaled wrote:

rwwsr wrote:Try it, it may work just fine as is.

I have a 5” at 345 rpm, a 4”at 383 and a 3” flex at 52 all with pea.
After running them for about 2 months, I think the 345 and 383 are too fast but work (some chipping/damage to the pea coal and jam bi weekly).
Will probably switch all to flex at 52 rpm this summer.(less chipping and no jam yet with the flex)

Where are you sourcing the flex? What kind of cost?

I used Chore Time auger components because there are 2 supply houses in Delaware (lots of poultry houses here). Prices below are appx only.

Gear head $175
Pinion bearing $20
Motor $330 (ww grainger 4rgx4)
Anchor bearing $100
Gear head Weldment $30
Hopper level switch $60 for automatic operation
Asst other hardware $50
Model 90 auger $4 per liner foot

You can use 3” plastic electrical conduit, schd 40 pvc or dwv for the pipe. I used a double clean out tee for the drop and a 3x4 hole for feed. I would recommend sticking to one type of pipe as they have slightly different id and the coal seams to find any nook or cranny in the pipe (chipping). Use caution, these could take your fingers off in a heart beat and RTFM before starting auger project.

During cold weather it feeds from 400 to 500 lbs per day, about 80 lbs per cycle (heating greenhouse). Lots of on/off and no jams so far with the flex.

Chore Time has extensive manuals and parts pdfs at http://www.choretimepoultry.com/manuals.php

Thanks

jer,

Some guys feel that fast auger speed is ok, and will fluff the coal up, allowing it to move larger amounts. I used a 5" grain auger that came with a 1 horse motor. I can't remember what size pulleys it had, or what rpm it was setup for, but it was several hundred rpm. I geared it down with a 50-1 reduction box to apx 30 rpm. They are common on ebay.

Here's a thread.

Dave

Bin to Hopper Grain Auger 30* up < Pics

I have 15 ft of 4 inch Jet Flow auger. I have a 2.5 inch pulley on a 2hp 240vac motor. And a 12 inch pulley on the auger and moving buckwheat coal at about 45 deg angle. I started out with 10 ft section that just reached the coal bin. This came with a 7 inch pulley on the auger. When I increased the length to fifteen feet the auger stalled. I changed the pulley to 12 inches and put a cover over the exposed worm in the bin. I really don't know which change worked but it hasn't stalled all winter. Hope this helps.

Thank you everybody for the responses so far. You have given me a lot of great information to go on. I have a motor on the way and hopefully by the end of the weekend I will see what it can do. Once I can give it a test I will post my results and see if I am going to try and slow it down. My plan is to put a 4" pipe connection on the roof of my coal bin and when it comes time to fill hook the auger to that and have it dump out right above the auger of my EFM and give me a better fill and fix the angle of repose issues not addressed by the previous owner. I may also put a wedge in the bin to help as well. I am tired of having to shovel coal towards the auger!