Well I finally finished my plucker today. I bit the bullet and bought a motor locally instead of online. Here are a few shots of it. The first pic is of the wiring arrangement. Hopefully it will be watertight.
![](https://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/7343072/width/600/height/448)
The next pic is of the speed reducer with the feather plate attached to it. As you can see it's a very clean set up with no belts or pulleys. The feather plate was plasma cut and welded to a standard hub, then powder-coated.
![](https://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/7343051/width/600/height/448)
This is looking down into it. I was very unhappy with this old plastic barrel. It was very hard to get a decent diameter measurement. I fear the feather plate may be a bit too small for it, and it was a real PITA to build a frame to fit it.
![](https://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/7343081/width/600/height/448)
An overall shot of it. I hauled a load of lead ingots last winter from Florida to Minneapolis and they let me keep the dunnage which was all nice treated 2x4's.![Smile :) :)](/styles/byc-smilies/smile.png)
The fingers were from Amazon. I got 100 for $53. The motor was about $260 with the C flange adaptor. Speed reducer was $120 but it's rated for 1.5 hp. I used a 3/4 hp motor so I could've saved a bit if I'd bought online, but this one was right in town. The electrical stuff costed a bit more than I expected, but not horribly so.
Oh the feather plate ran me about $75 finished. If i had wanted to, I could've done this build for about $200 less than I spent, but I'm still quite pleased since a speed reducer type plucker will usually run north of $1000. I hope to test it tomorrow. I will post a report if i do.![Smile :) :)](/styles/byc-smilies/smile.png)
![](https://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/7343101/width/600/height/448)
The next pic is of the speed reducer with the feather plate attached to it. As you can see it's a very clean set up with no belts or pulleys. The feather plate was plasma cut and welded to a standard hub, then powder-coated.
This is looking down into it. I was very unhappy with this old plastic barrel. It was very hard to get a decent diameter measurement. I fear the feather plate may be a bit too small for it, and it was a real PITA to build a frame to fit it.
An overall shot of it. I hauled a load of lead ingots last winter from Florida to Minneapolis and they let me keep the dunnage which was all nice treated 2x4's.
![Smile :) :)](/styles/byc-smilies/smile.png)
The fingers were from Amazon. I got 100 for $53. The motor was about $260 with the C flange adaptor. Speed reducer was $120 but it's rated for 1.5 hp. I used a 3/4 hp motor so I could've saved a bit if I'd bought online, but this one was right in town. The electrical stuff costed a bit more than I expected, but not horribly so.
Oh the feather plate ran me about $75 finished. If i had wanted to, I could've done this build for about $200 less than I spent, but I'm still quite pleased since a speed reducer type plucker will usually run north of $1000. I hope to test it tomorrow. I will post a report if i do.
![Smile :) :)](/styles/byc-smilies/smile.png)