Homemade compost tumbler

[greeners woman]

My man is an organic gardener, he bought me my very own worm factory for Christmas and has now built me a compost tumbler and my first raised bed. The tumbler only costed about $100 and is built to last a long time. With the exception of the wood, hinges, latches and the turning rods, everything else is recycled.

We used a 55 gallon plastic drum with an aluminum pole. We painted the barrel black to draw the sun and heat it up, drilled air holes and put in numerous steel bolts to make spikes on the inside to help aerate the compost. The frame looks very tall, but that is so it will fit over my raised bed. Once my compost is done, all I have to do is open the wide aluminum door and dump it into my raised bed, rotate it around and load it up again. He is so inventive; we had a flat piece of aluminum but needed it to be curved to fit the barrel correctly. Here's the secret: we put two 4x4's in the yard and laid the door across them. He then lined the pickup truck up and rolled over it. He had to run over four times, but now it is the perfect curvature to fit the barrel.
Once the tumbler is empty and the bed is full, it can be moved to the next bed and start a new batch.
[img]https://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/trish42088/Front-1.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/trish42088/Back.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/trish42088/Side.jpg[/img]]
These long rods on the end make it easy to turn.
[img]https://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/trish42088/Sideclose.jpg[/img]
Pieces of wood on the inside and outside of the 55 gallon plastic drum make it stronger.
[img]https://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/trish42088/Outsideend.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/trish42088/Insideend.jpg[/img]
Long steel bolts make spikes on the inside to help work the compost when I turn the barrel.
[img]https://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/trish42088/Inside.jpg[/img]
The large aluminum door makes it easy to load and dump.
[img]https://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/trish42088/Frontopen.jpg[/img]

[cynthia_h]

Wow! Very nice workmanship.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[Diane]

It looks like your husband thought of everything. Happy composting and gardening.

[smokensqueal]

Very VERY nice!

[a0c8c]

Nice tumbler. My brother in-law says he can get me a couple 55 gallon drums for free, but I'm not exactly sure whats been in them. Hopefully I'll get a clean enough one and make something nice like yours.

[huskie]

Super cool!! Thank you so much for posting this!!

[vintagejuls]

Wonderful craftmanship and functionality!

My only suggestion would be to place something on the ends of the 'turning rods'. You don't want a lawsuit or a tragedy from an injury. Some kid (or adult) playing around and running into the end of those rods.

[731greener101]

The plastic covers on the turning rod are already in place. We are still modifying as we go. Our next modification is a removable sifting tray built onto the frame. We will keep you posted.

[vintagejuls]

From the pics, it's difficult to tell but it seems as though you're thinking everything through. Good for you.

[Sharon Marie]

Wow.. I am impressed. I am going to try and get my dad to build me something like this. I am very excited!!!

[Sharon Marie]

Ok, I emailed my dad about this. I am super excited about building one! Can you explain how you did the "door" again? I know you said you used two 2X4 and ran over with a truck, but how did you get the curve? Sorry if this seems silly but my compost pile got ruined this year b/c of a drainage problem and this type of set up would work wonders for me.. I want to build 3 smaller scale ones - so I can have one done - one going - and one started.

[greeners woman]

We actually used two 4x4s. We laid them side by side a short distance apart in the grass and laid the piece of aluminum across them. Then he drove the front tire of his pickup truck across it, lining the tire up between the two pieces of wood. This created a curve. It also spreaded the wood further apart, so I lined them back up and he backed over it. We did this 3 or 4 times until we had the curve "just right." This is called the "redneck" way of doing it.

[Sharon Marie]

Ok, I get the idea now. I was having a hard time picturing it lol. You have no clue how excited I am about this. Since losing all of my compost this year making these moveable ones is going to be so beneficial for me! I'm going to try and do three of them Wish me luck

[greeners woman]

Wishing you bunches of luck with them. We got the beginning idea from www.instructables.com, search compost tumbler. And if we can do anything to help, just let us know.

[Sharon Marie]

Thank you for the link! Once I get mine finished - I will post pictures.. hopefully soon!