I love this comment, that's exactly what I was thinking!

Good Goat: it could well be that the dimmer switch allows for using the machine with other grains. Because it allows for the change of force relative to the weight of the grain.

​@@daphneraven6745 instead of a hard-to-find blower, maybe a sliding door to adjust air and just connect a fan from the motor pulley? Or bathroom vent fan?

@@TheRainHarvester : Tyvk for sharing your idea; That sounds a whole lot more efficient than mine.

@@TheRainHarvester you can use the reverse side of a shop vac as well. they can be had pretty cheap on sale if you dont feel comfortable using your existing shop vac near things that will be eaten

I can see how those pre-made bundles that would make the threshing a lot faster! However, I'd still be taking the time to line up the heads in the field...I wonder if that would end up being faster overall or not. Thanks for sharing that.

@@VegetableAcademyI wonder if you made a bigger feed system to beat the grain out, and had a second vent to blow air from the front to back to push big pieces out before the reach the separation stage where they get caught and backed up would work. Also, it’s not necessary cause to pick through that doesn’t seem like a whole lot it’s not exactly perfect but nothing is and it does it’s job wonderful. But I wonder if you could build a second little chamber on the side you could dump into for a second screening to cut out the bigger pieces your left with. A lot of work I know but just a opinion!

Not true. Ceiling fans use special dimmers for AC.

​@@TheRainHarvesterthis isn't a special dimmer though. If you plan on using an AC motor, you will need a special dimmer or AC motor controller.

​@@TheRainHarvesterI have been using the same dimmer a regular Home Depot 12 amp dimer for 30 years to control a Riobi Router and it keeps working. I am not sure if todays dimmers are as good 🤔

That's good to hear Debby. If you ever catch me working there, do stop by to say hello.

What neighborhood is this. I would love to see it too

Way to go Quentin!!

Make a video of it the process & functioning? Please!😁

@@sherryhayhurst3027 There are plenty of them on KZfaq to watch. It's pretty much the same as the others.

@@sherryhayhurst3027 This is not mine but looks very similar. This one is a little better built but they do work great. Once set you can clean seed quite quickly. There are plans on the web so you can build one. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/q5qTZJCSz7mtfHU.html

You're welcome Karen. This was a fun project for me and it's nice to be able to share what we've learned so far. I'm glad you found it helpful.

Thanks for the comment. I'm glad you enjoyed this.

That's nice to hear Meredith. I'm glad you appreciate them.

That's an interesting idea that I hadn't thought of. It would certainly add another degree of disturbance that could help release the hulls. Thanks for sharing that.

hi 1incutheta, have you become a flat earther yet?

Yes. You're not the first to mention that. Thanks for looking out for me.

Really? Where would you buy one of these from?

The process of growing and processing wheat into flour is really very complex. This video illustrates only two of the many steps needed ---threshing and winnowing. ALL of the steps have been massively industrialized, producing very cheap flour as an end product. So I really can't see much of a reason to replicate the whole process on a very slight scale of production, which would inevitably require LOTS of labor. Of course, everybody needs a hobby, but that's the only basis I can see for replicating grain and flour production as a home industry. What would be your reason for adopting this kind of process? I might adde that for several years an apple tree on the public right of way near where I live was neglected and all it's fruit fell on the ground each year. I hate food waste, so for several years I picked the apples, washed them, cut them up, shredded them in a food shredder then squeezed them into cider, straining out pieces of apple along the way. That produced a hugely good apple cider, but at the cost of a LOT of labor! The lesson I learned was just how much labor goes into producing food. Producing your own flour would be FAR more labor intensive than my apple cider, I suggest. So---- please explain why this attracts you as an activity?

> I presume you've used the old fashioned method of just beating the wheat stalks against something to break loose the wheat grains. And you can winnow thew grain by tossing it up in a stream of air to blow away the chaff. That sounds like small scale threshing and winnowing to me. What am I missing?

@@SeattlePioneer Yes I sure have, but it gets to be a VERY large job when we are talking 2 acres of grain. I also find that method isn't very efficient and a lot of grain gets wasted. Something like this would be nice. www.google.com/search?q=treadle+powered+thresher&oq=treadle+powered+thresher&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIICAEQABgWGB4yDQgCEAAYhgMYgAQYigXSAQgzOTYwajFqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:2e856ac9,vid:MxXGS8nxZTo,st:0

Welcome here. At the moment, this is just a threshing machine that we will continue to use personally, but people are encouraged to take inspiration from this design to build one of their own.

Yeah. An adjustable gap would be key, as would the ability to apply uniform pressure along the belt surface. I think only one of the belts would need to be moving. thanks for the idea. I was thinking about rollers and spinning discs to create the rubbing effect, but never belts.

@@VegetableAcademy What about vacuum beaters. Do you think something like a vacuum beater would work it loose?

@@DavidTuckerII That is a neat idea. If you built a custom sized chamber around the spinning vacuum beater and ran the grain through the chamber, you might just cause enough friction to clean off the last hulls. I don't think it would break the grains, and the spiral brush configurations on most vacuum beaters could be really helpful in moving the grain through the chamber.

@@VegetableAcademy U need a set of concaves around your cylinder that are adjustable like combines,,,ur cylinder speed needs to be increased for oats around 1100 rpm

.....or also I could see a set of two adjustable face plates ,oscillating against each other with the right gap between them; much like the pad of a palm orbiting sander does.

I'm glad you found this encouraging! The thresher definitely makes the grain harvesting more pleasant and efficient than just beating it with a stick and tossing everything in the wind to separate the chaff. I have no worries about increasing our grain production next year now, knowing I will be able to handle the threshing with ease. Please send me some photos if you end up building something similar.

Thanks for the idea. A hinged door would definitely make it easier to access the stuck straw. However, I need that straw to still pass down the same channels because there is always wheat or oats mixed in there too that I wouldn't want to just discard. I've found that as long as I keep long pieces of straw from entering the machine in the first place, things run a lot more smoothly and I don't need to use the clean out poker all that much.

Only if you have a child-grade mentality. If you stick your hand into a ' plugged-in ' and/or ' running machine '. You deserve to get injured.

​@@redstone1999screw-ups happen. I've fed vines into a shredder and had them catch me, yanking me towards the machine. Luckily the vines broke instead of breaking something in my arm, or dragging me in. I'd been working for a bit, wasn't thinking and had got too comfortable around the machine. It just takes a second of being distracted and off-balance. You lean against the flap to stabilize yourself and whoopsie!

@@samuelmellars7855 I had to stop an adult helper from sticking his hand into an electric wood chipper to unblock it. His excuse was the motor was going to tripped the fuse. I said, " Unplugging the chipper was 100 % safer way to unblock the machine". Loose clothing around equipment is another thing I see people do that begs to get someone hurt.

The spinning bars are rotating upward and back, drawing the grain heads into the chamber. If they spun in the opposite direction, a lot of the grain would spew out the front (with this shape of chamber anyways).

Thanks. Maybe adding pins would help strip the oat hulls a little better. I found I could clean them pretty well eventually by running them through the machine a few more times, but perhaps if there were just more pins on those spinning beater bars, I could accelerate the whole process. There is already some mesh between the upper drum and lower winnowing chamber. You can see this around the 1:50 mark. I've tried a few different sizes and settled on the 1/4 square mesh for now. I like your idea of mounting the mesh to a wooden frame to help make the insertion and removal a little easier.

@@VegetableAcademy glad to help. I’ll be making one of these in the next year so I’m glad you’ve done a how to video.