making a feather plucker..

[jvls1942]

here is the chain and sprocket whizbang I built.. the frame is
solid red oak.. and yes, those are wheel chair tires..



this is the sprocket arrangement I came up with.. It reduces
the 1725 RPM at the motor, down to 192 RPM at the spinning
featherplate.. those heavy 1 inch bearings came from a salvage
yard,, each set of 2 bearing blocks, and the 1 inch stainless steel
shafts cost me only $5.oo a set ..

like I said, scrounge around ..

 

[Huntress78]

Hi Huntress.. You are close enough to stop by and take a look see, anytime you like..

Thanks....I might just take you up on that! Maybe in Spring as I think I'll be doing meat birds for next Fall again.

 

[bstromgren]

I'd have to go back to youtube and find the video again to see how they attached the bungee cords. It did appear to work very well tho.

 

[jvls1942]

this is another view of the whizbang plucker.. It does not show up in this view, but the motor is mounted on 4 bolt posts,, I can tighten the tension on the chain by turning the nuts holding the motor to the posts..





this is the view of the feather plate before the tub is installed.. the feather plate spins inside the tub and does the feather removal.. there are about 72 plucker fingers in the feather plate.. they are stiff enough to hold the weight of the bird being plucked without bending..
I do not think bungie cords are stiff enough for this kind of application..

the plate is 1/8 inch thick by 22 inch diameter aluminum, with a 10" pulley bolted to the underside of it for stiffness..

to drill the 3/4 doa holes, a drill press comes in really handy ..

at 7 o'clock and at 1 o'clock on the featherplate, you can see two black buttons.. those are 4 of the fingers installed pointing down under the featherplate to sweep the feathers to the discharge chute ..

.......jiminwisc.........

 

[jvls1942]

this is the partially completed solid oak frame I built for the whizbang plucker.. the bearings and shaft are visible in place waiting for the featherplate..

I mortise and tenoned all the rails into place.. and there are 3 coats of clear polyurethane varnish on all wood surfaces..

.....

 

[jvls1942]

in this view you can see the studs I have for the motor mount.. there are 4 studs , one for each hole in the motor base..
I also mounted a motor in this fashion on a V-belt set up..

the motor is mounted behind a solid wall to help protect it from water

.

this is what the V-belt arrangement looks like.. that is a 2" pulley driving a 16 " diameter pulley .

I want to point out why it pays to visit scrap yards.. that cast iron 16" pulley cost me only $5.oo
that double set of bearings and the 1" diameter X 14 inch long stainless steel shaft cost me only $10.oo complete..

you can see a 10 inch dia pulley bolted to the under side of the feather plate.. that pulley does double duty,,
first it stiffens up the 1/8 inch thick aluminum feather plate..
second ; it gave me a means to mount the feather plate to the end of the shaft ..

the 3/4" holes are visible in the feather plate.. I installed the fingers later on..

as always, click on the picture to enlarge it for better viewing..

..........jiminwisc........

 

[jvls1942]

I have lots of photos of the plucker in progress as I was building it.. If you are planning on building one,, contact me here and I can send photos and comments to you..

the ones I built were based on the whiz bang plucker,, I made many improvements on the plans..

..........jiminwisc..........

 

[jvls1942]

maybe this will be of interest to some of you.. I took the round heating element out of an old brooder and built this 2 ft x 4 ft brooder.. it is shown here, upside down..
I wired it so that one light can be turned on/off with a switch,,
another switch controls the on/off for the heating element with it's indicator light..
another switch controls the spare outlet ..


this is the end where all of the switches are located..
it doesn't show up too well, but the thermostat adjustment screw is just to the side of the switch plate..


the brooder is sitting on top of the push cart I built.. the wheels came off of an old wheel chair.
it handles 200 pounds of feed over grassy ground quite easily..

I have built mobile breeding pens and a 12 ft x 25 ft all wire enclosed breeding pen also..

as always,, click on the picture with your mouse to enlarge it..

..........jiminwisc..........

 

[blucoondawg]

How much space is there between the bottom plate and the inside surface of the barrel? I want to build one possibly next summer, I can get the blue barrels for free from work, they carry a food grade adhesive that is easily washed off, I have to scrounge up some pulleys and a motor but the rest shouldn't be hard to get ahold of. I am up in Pelican Lake, by the way, used to work in Wausau quite a bit.

 

[jvls1942]

Hi Blu, you will need enough room between the feather plate and the bottom of the barrel to allow 4 fingers pointing downward.. 3 1/2 to 4 inches.. It depends on how long the fingers are.. and then about 1/4 to 1/2 inches of clearance so the fingers do not drag..

in a nutshell,:
length of finger plus 3/8" ( plus or minus 1/8")

have you checked out the cheeseheads thread ?

go to the forum "Where am I, Where are you " and search for a post from the cheeseheads and check in.. we are a friendly bunch, usually ..

I did some construction on Pelican lake on one of the islands.. I built the windowed sunroom on that cottage.. I also built the deck ..

.......jiminwisc.........