composter repair question

tdump · Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:19 pm

Does anyone here have 1 of these composters from back in the 70's-80's?
I do yard work and lawnmower repair and sometimes I do it in trade for stuff I want.
I traded for this composter and a shredder chipper last year.
Also repaired a ford tractor for a troybilt Horse but I will have to replace the engine on it.
I have made a couple bins of compost and I like using the thing. But 1 of the wheels on the axle that you crank to rotate it is busted and It is difficult to rotate it.
Can parts be had? has anyone fixed 1 like this? Advice?

If I later come up with a "fix" I will post it.

tdump · Fri Jul 24, 2015 3:07 pm

Do I have the only 1 left of these on earth or something?

Susan W · Fri Jul 24, 2015 5:26 pm

I could be wrong, but isn't that a Mantis? Check with the company.

LIcenter · Sat Jul 25, 2015 6:56 am

If you are handy, and from your first post, I'm guessing you are. A simple piece of rod stock, and some skateboard wheels would probably do the trick.

tdump · Thu Jul 30, 2015 12:39 pm

Well I finally got it empty,and have the rack in the shop. It appears Mantis is the company.
The wheels were pinned to the shaft and this wheel has broke the pin and cracked. I have a couple ideas and will post the solution I come up with.

tdump · Thu Jul 30, 2015 6:26 pm

Ok, I got the rack in the shop with a fan blowing on me so I could work without sweating myself to death.
I spread the split wheel slightly and slid it over on the axle. There was a roll pin that had been driven thru 1 side of the wheel into the pipe axle.It had rusted and broke off when the wheel cracked.
So What I did was I drove out the pin,found that a 10x24 bolt would fit the hole. I could not get a bolt the right length so I used threaded rod and 2 nuts.
I drilled thru a different side of the wheel and guided the long 1/8 bit through the hole in the pipe and then out the other side of the wheel. Re drilled the holes for the 10x24 rod and then I was planning to countersink the holes a bit so I could keep the nuts below the surface. It seems the wheel was semi hollow. But I still accomplished the counter sinking,just went in a bit further. I then squirted a bunch of epoxy on,in and around the entire mess. The groove you see in the photo is full now. There is alot of epoxy on it,in it and such.Let it set some and then applied the rest of the tube to it. The photo shows the first application. Kinda tacky but best I could figure out. I wrapped electrical tape around the outside of the wheel to help contain the epoxy until it cured. So that was the method of "patch" for the problem. I am a bit skittish of calling it a "repair".

I think the key to helping the "patch" last will be to not overload the barrel.

tdump · Thu Jul 30, 2015 6:27 pm

Oh yea, you should see the compost this thing makes. The cabbage plants in the other post I made about my raised bed,were pulled up and thrown in this thing on the 11th and today, only 2 stems were recognizable.