When making a feed conveyor, the main part is a screw auger, which is not so easy to find in a suitable size, and is expensive to order from a turner. In addition, the machined auger is heavy, so in most cases it is better to weld it yourself. For this, a special technique has been developed that can be repeated at home.
Materials:
- Sheet steel 2 mm;
- tube or rod.
Screw manufacturing process
The auger can be made from a spiral by welding it onto a shaft made of round timber or a tube.
The whole difficulty lies in making such a spiral. It is made from cut stretched washers welded together. The problem is that washers, when stretched, shrink in both outer and inner diameter. That is, they need to be cut out yourself with a clearly calculated margin in size, so that when stretched as a result of compression of the diameter, you get the correct spiral.
The calculation of the diameters of washers can be carried out using a MS Excel table, available for download at the link https://www.patreon.com/posts/41672326. In it you need to enter the value of the shaft diameter (ID), the required outer diameter of the screw (OD), as well as the pitch of turns (PITCH). As a result, we obtain the value of the outer and inner diameters of the washers for the spiral.
According to the calculations made, washers are cut from sheet steel.
It is important that they are round without any irregularities, so it is better to sharpen them well.
The washers must be sawed crosswise in one place and then pulled out to obtain a short spiral.
These parts are then welded together.
A long spiral is put on the shaft, welded on one side, and then evenly stretched along its entire length.
After this, its second edge and each turn around the circumference are welded.
This way, you can make an auger to fit into any pipe or gutter. At the same time, it will have even turns, so it will not begin to jam when moving bulk materials.
