Derald wrote:
songbird wrote:

other fun stuff, designing a bean shelling
"machine" in my head as i work on different
things.

In the 1970's, I worked with a fellow who had a home brew shelling machine
for cowpeas. I remember a contraption with a hopper that fed a wringer from an
old-fasnioned washing machine. He, too, used controlled airflow for winnowing.
The arrangement was a small-cage fan into a square-section duct with the
"Venetian" blind style dampers at the fan end. The trick is to provide adequate,
evenly distributed, easily regulated airflow over a fairly large area.

three pieces of cardboard with stripes cut in them
would work fine. four (giving a second axis of
movement) would provide even finer control, but is
unlikely to be needed.

it's the dust that is the hardest thing to deal
with effectively. the field combines just blow it
out their asses. when changed to an in place
operation then the risks of explosion and fire get
a bit too high for my comfort level. static
electricity can build up quickly and easily so there
is likely a need for a conductive coating or ground
wire mesh system embedded. hmm, yes, i think it is
a good idea to let this one pass for the simpler
method. i don't really want to get into even more
epoxyness. i have enough experience with that
already through doing seamless flooring for chem
labs, etc. and don't really want to be breathing
more of those fumes if i can help it... these days
concrete, stone, wood and dirt are about as
complicated as i wanna get...


I forget
how the rollers on the wringer head were adjusted. He abandoned the project
because in order for his mechanical marvel to work, the peas had to be too ripe
for his taste. For dried stuff, the stomp-the-pillowcase trick might be perfect.

so far it really is the simplest, low tech,
quickest, cheapest method, but you have to be
patient for the wind to get calm enough (around
here that is often a challenge).

shelling green peas in the pod would take a
whole different method than stomping. ew.
that'd be a mess... hahaha. green toe jam...


songbird