GRAIN HANDLING EQUIPMENT: PART 1
As a grain producer, you’ll likely be familiar with some of the necessary equipment you use in your day-to-day operations. In this article we’re going to be looking at some of the additional handling gear that can make your life as a grower easier: whether you’re a small or large scale producer.
In part one of our grain handling series, we’re going to look at the turn heads, drag conveyors and bucket elevators specifically designed for a current job underway in Rannock, New South Wales. In part two, we’ll look into towers, spouts and specialised and customised augers.
TURN HEAD:
The turn head is best thought of as the grain distributor, putting the grain down the correct spout. An Optimum designed turn head has eight positions from which to select, and is able to rotate 360 degrees clockwise; allowing it to stop accurately above the selected position.
A turn head allows the unloading of grain into different silos, with no carry over or contamination occurring, and means each load can go out to a different silo, and that outloading can happen between loads.
The Optimum design team pulled out all the stops with the design of the turn head for our current job at Rannock, NSW. Features on this include ring gears around the rotating spout, geared breaked motor, limit switches, springs, nylon slip plates, custom rolled spouting, and electronic control, with parts finished off with fire bright red powder coating, for optimal durability over time and use.
DRAG CONVEYOR:
A drag conveyor is used to move grain horizontally using a 6-inch steel chain with nylon scraping paddles which is soft on grain, therefore maintaining its high quality. Because the paddles sweep along the bottom of the conveyor, they ensure a high-quality clean, meaning there is no carry over or contamination when silos are changed; reducing your downtime and maintaining the quality of your stacks.
BUCKET ELEVATOR:
A bucket elevator allows for the efficient vertical transport of grain, working with the rest of your handling system to ensure uniform movement of grain. The bucket elevator is a reliable way to move grain on an incline, as it is unloaded from the truck. It incorporates a long belt (in this case, 78 metres) with nylon buckets attached. The belt is operated by a 30-kilowatt, three-phase geared motor, and with a massive amount of torque and power, spins the drive pulley.
On this particular job at Rannock, all the custom designed parts were laser cut and pressed to the millimetre. Once all components were made, they were matched and marked in our workshop to ensure accuracy, efficiency and precision.
If you’re interested in speaking with our team about designing a piece of equipment to suit your needs, get in touch today.
Optimum handling equipment is designed and fabricated to specifications, using the highest quality Australian materials, in our recently-expanded manufacturing facility in Young, NSW.