Thailand Live Monday 14 October 2024

[bucklt]

A friend, in his 70's, has asked me to try and find a supplier/shop for large sieves that can be used with garden soil/earth. Any ideas?

Tony

[Dante99]

find some wire mesh with the size of opening needed, buy it and take it to a welding shop to have them make a frame the size you want and attach the wire to it. have the corners braced for strength. or get the wire mesh and some of those L shaped lengths of steel used for making shelving and make your own frame and attach the mesh to it. might have it mounted on a triangular frame to raise one side or put it on legs for easy use

[drtreelove]

find some wire mesh with the size of opening needed, buy it and take it to a welding shop to have them make a frame the size you want and attach the wire to it. have the corners braced for strength. or get the wire mesh and some of those L shaped lengths of steel used for making shelving and make your own frame and attach the mesh to it. might have it mounted on a triangular frame to raise one side or put it on legs for easy use

I've never seen a manufactured one for sale here in CM, but Dante99 is right you can make one. The attached file has a photo of a compost screen that was bolted together with the frame material that D99 may be refering to. Welding would provide a more stable frame as this bolted one wobbled and loosened up as I used it. The easiest to make without additional welding cost, but less durable would be just to nail or wire the fencing material to a wooden frame that you nail or bolt together, and then place it on top of a wheelbarrow or bucket or prop it up as needed. The wire mesh fencing material is available in different size squares at many neighborhood hardware stores and big building supply stores like Home Mart, Home Pro, Home Mall and Global House. It comes in 1 meter width and is cut to the length you order. Some places have 1 1/2 meter width in the 1" squares.

compost screen.pdf

[xen]

Also a suggestion but if there are any suppliers for bonsai equipment , they will have very good screens. I am not in LOS at the moment so i am not sure where any bonsai nurseries or equipment suppliers are.

I have a very good stainless steel one with interchangeable screens so u can sieve down to the desired particle size. It is only about 300 mm diameter but a good size if u are doing a lot of sieving by hand. Too big and you will tire quickly or you only get thru the same amount as having a smaller sieve. Probably not cheap if it comes from japan but will last you 3 or 4 lifetimes if you decide to hang around that long .

[xerostar]

You can buy a wooden window frame from your local hardware supply.

Buy the mesh you need and nail it onto the frame.

Support the sieve between a stack of bricks or four stakes hammered into the ground.

If you can, get a window frame that's about 30 cm wider than your wheelbarrow.

Fix it about 30 cm above the wheelbarrow so the sieved earth drops directly into the wheelbarrow.

That just saves double handling.

Depending on the moisture content of the earth you may need two helpers to

jiggle the sieve up and down to get the earth to fall through.

Dry earth is easier to sieve of course.

Then again a mechanical sieve is the best solution for large quantities.

You can usually get them from amateur gold miner's shops that sell the electronic detectors.

I don't know if you can buy soils sifters in Thailand, but any self respecting Thai blacksmith could weld one up for you if you supplied a simple design such as the one in the video.

See this video:

Edited January 15, 2011 by xerostar

[bucklt]

Thanks for all those responses Folks...have passed your suggestions to him.

Tony

[Bobby814u]

A neighbor showed me a set of nested classifiers for soil science ... cute, expensive and small production. One might find prospector's classifyer's ... for small scale production ... several cooking tools can do nearly as well to sift soil or drain noodles, but still on a small scale. the variouys size plastic wash tubs are great for mixing and moving soil around.

Having a classifyer constructed on a sturdy frame with stainless steel hardware cloth seems functional if something else doesn't present itself.

Am not presently in LOS, but I have a Thai wheel barrow ... square box/bed, 2-wheeler, hinged box/bed for dumping ... and a compost pile to sift for the garden. For sifter I have a metal bread rack (from a bakery) that fits over the box and a plastic nursery flat with c.7mm square holes ... placing the compost into the nursery flat and giggling it about the bread rack does the job ... and having the prduct conveniently in the little dumping wheelbarrow is very convenient.

[jaideeguy]

A quick easy soil seive that I use for small amounts of soil for seed beds is those plastic baskets that they have everywhere.....especially in those 19baht shops.....but the ones that I like with a 1/4th inch hole is only 10thb.