Gonna be a big time pellet producer...

[Pellet-King]

Hell if I know... with an attitude like that I could run the government!

It an intriging idea... plenty of sawdust here in the area. How much would I need to make a 40 lb. bag? I would think 40 lbs! How much can i load in a 5X10 trailer? Who knows... but I can get it almost free.

The mill is powered by a 15 HP diesel engine... the cost? Somewhere south of $1000.00... plus freight.

Maybe I can get a container load of illegal garment workers to babysit the thing from Ching Fang Foo... or wherever it comes from.

$1000?, cheapest mill i ever saw were min $4000.

 

[Excell]

Have any of you seen this .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chxL9ias3Xc

 

[kenny chaos]

Or this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chxL9ias3Xc

 

[kbjelka]

Moonshine Premium Pellets

 

[jtakeman]

Moonshine Premium Pellets

That's got a nice ring to it. A small sample stashed in each bag for some extra warmth would be a plus! :lol:

 

[krooser]

the only problem with the pellet machines at home is HOW DO I GET DRY SAWDUST???
The sawdust your going to use will have at least 19% moisture due to that is how much moisture that is in the atmosphere. So unless someone has a kiln in there back yard i dont know how the machine will produce good pellets.

I understand commercial are dried AFTER they are compressed. Some pellets are produced with dry wood from furniture makers, etc. Some are made from sawdust coming from pallet manufacturing, sawmills (and others) that have "green" wood waste.

I understand that 14-15% is the target moisture content for a heating pellet.

You'd have to engineer a small dryer.... I've seen guys adapt an electric home clothes dryer for other puposes... maybe that could work.

Interesting concept to be sure... but there are guys doing it NOW in their driveways and garages.

 

[NWfuel]

I don't see how the power is transfered to the gear box. Is it hydraulic or is there a gear or chain turning the die? Never mind I see it in the video.
Thomas

 

[rowerwet]

man for the kind of money they want for that mill you think it would have a better pellet shute, almost half of the pellets missed the bucket, even when he picked it up close.

 

[krooser]

man for the kind of money they want for that mill you think it would have a better pellet shute, almost half of the pellets missed the bucket, even when he picked it up close.

a taller bucket would fix that.

 

[krooser]

Ok... I haven't actually BOUGHT this but it's affordable and would be super cool to make your own pellets.

Start saving your sawdust for me... can't wait for the "these things burn like crap" reviews...

Now if I can get a deal on shipping... maybe they can hide it in a shipment of egg foo yung

If you start making them now....you might have a ton ready for NEXT year at this time...!!

http://www.woodpelletsforsale.net/videos/pellet-pros-personal-mill-demo

I could mount the pellet mill on top of my hopper and just keep it cranking out product.

 

[kbjelka]

I'd sooner go back to 30 ton splitter than try to find raw materials and feed that contraption.

 

[tjnamtiw]

the only problem with the pellet machines at home is HOW DO I GET DRY SAWDUST???
The sawdust your going to use will have at least 19% moisture due to that is how much moisture that is in the atmosphere. So unless someone has a kiln in there back yard i dont know how the machine will produce good pellets.

The material that's used to make the pellets needs about 15 to 18% moisture, I believe. You also need a binder to help keep the pellets together since the small machines don't generate the heat to turn the lignin into a good binder. It's a lot of work and you DO need a hammer mill for most stuff. I got a quote from China for a 22 hp version of the mill and a 22 hp hammer mill plus three sets of dies and hammer mill screens including shipping for less than $4000 including duty and shipping to my door! Still too much work for me!

 

[krooser]

I'd sooner go back to 30 ton splitter than try to find raw materials and feed that contraption.

There's three sawmills within 10 miles of my place and the sawdust is free.

 

[Havlat24]

I'd sooner go back to 30 ton splitter than try to find raw materials and feed that contraption.

There's three sawmills within 10 miles of my place and the sawdust is free.

And unfortunately wet. Sawmills spray their saws with water continuously to increase saw longetivity.


You'd have to dry the sawdust.

 

[tjnamtiw]

The moisture problem is the biggest factor that prevents me from even considering it. If it's not right, it WON'T WORK. To dry the raw material, what ever it is, you need to expend energy, which is just the opposite of what you want to do - save money. The only alternative is to mix in dry material to get the moisture correct. More work.............. Darn, it seems like a great way to make pellets on a small scale but just too many problems to overcome. A few round bales of hay and you have a supply for the winter. Corn stalks - same thing.

 

[jtakeman]

The moisture problem is the biggest factor that prevents me from even considering it. If it's not right, it WON'T WORK. To dry the raw material, what ever it is, you need to expend energy, which is just the opposite of what you want to do - save money. The only alternative is to mix in dry material to get the moisture correct. More work.............. Darn, it seems like a great way to make pellets on a small scale but just too many problems to overcome. A few round bales of hay and you have a supply for the winter. Corn stalks - same thing.

The mill's burn the fines from the production process to dry there material. Most are getting from saw milles that are using wet saw too. You could burn some of the saw dust to dry some as it is free material. No cost to you just labor to dry.

Heck in the fall you could burn leaves to dry your material. Any biomass for that matter.

jay

 

[tjnamtiw]

But you could make pellets out of the leaves instead of wasting them. The system works but the moisture thing is a killer. Realistically with two people mixing, feeding and spreading pellets on cooling racks, you could make about 150 to 200 pounds and hour but you would be humping. Another reason I didn't do it. )

 

[Boondockdogs]

Hi from a newbie to the site & corn/pellet stoves.
I've been looking at those things too. Decided against it when I saw where it was from.
While surfing around the net, I run across something that gave me an idea on how to make one.
If I'm right, I should be able to scavange most of the parts from junk/scrap sources to build it. Shouldn't cost more than a few hundred bucks to build, I hope.
If it works, I'll post the plans and video on my website.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Could be interesting! There's a LOT of pressure between the die and rollers so you need heavy duty bearings for sure. Also, plenty of power. Even the 22 hp diesel version can get bogged down from what I read. That's why they have versions for PTO's. IF I were doing it, I would cryogenically treat the die and rollers to make them tougher. Also, getting heat into the die is another real problem since you are putting 'wet' material into the machine and cooling it back off. If you can figure a way to heat the die, you really make the situation better.

 

[krooser]

Hi from a newbie to the site & corn/pellet stoves.
I've been looking at those things too. Decided against it when I saw where it was from.
While surfing around the net, I run across something that gave me an idea on how to make one.
If I'm right, I should be able to scavange most of the parts from junk/scrap sources to build it. Shouldn't cost more than a few hundred bucks to build, I hope.
If it works, I'll post the plans and video on my website.

Believe me I'm no fan of Chinese crap either. But it would be pretty tuff to find any US/Canadian manufacturer of one of these deals. I'd feel better about buying one from a country that isn't bent on destroying ours, too.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Believe me I'm no fan of Chinese crap either. But it would be pretty tuff to find any US/Canadian manufacturer of one of these deals. I'd feel better about buying one from a country that isn't bent on destroying ours, too.

That was ANOTHER reason I didn't buy the setup I spoke of! I'm all for foreign trade but it has to be EQUAL TRADE. I will buy $1billion of your crap if you buy $1billion dollars of mine. No deficits. Jobs magically reappear. Need for corrupt politicians magically disappear. .....

Buskirk Engineering in the US makes a small pelletizer but the price is way out of sight.

 

[warmncozy]

Here's a link to a distributor. Funny thing is there only about 8 miles from me.

Didn't see anything they sell for $1000 though.

Make Your Own Pellets

 

[tjnamtiw]

Yep, it's Chinese or nothing

 

[krooser]

Here's a link to a distributor. Funny thing is there only about 8 miles from me.

Didn't see anything they sell for $1000 though.

Make Your Own Pellets

Talk about a poorly designed website... how can you actually find any prices?

The quote I got was for $950.00 FOB some dock in China... didn't get a freight quote but I know a guy who bought an automotive hoist direct and it cost $300.00 for shipping to Baltimore.

I don't have any $$$ this year so it ain't gonna happen for me... I'd have more $$$ but we're buying too much crap from China and building enough stuff here

 

[Excell]

Thats to bad I was really interested . I am to old to start that now I would never recover my costs . I will probably never recover the cost of the stove ,but I don't care it is fun .