Well, I decided I didn’t want to shovel or pail pellets anymore, so I built a wooden hopper inside the grainery last week.
I also didn’t want to pay $3000 and have the bin raised on a steel hopper.
It took one woman, a DeWalt nailer, a mitre saw, a skilsaw, 38 4x4s, 11 sheets of OSB, 7 lengths of foam pipe insulation and some nails.
Here are a few photos and description of how I built it.
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- First, I pounded a nail in the centre of the 14 foot diameter bin, and drew a 2 foot diameter circle on the floor. Next, I cut both ends of the 8 foot 4x4s at a 44 degree angle and leaned them against the wall, 24″ centre to centre, nailing the end on the floor at the edge of the circle. Then I took an 8 foot 4×4 and cut it at 5 feet long, which gave me the brace up against the wall plus the 3 foot long brace partway down. Nailed the OSB gusset on and toe-nailed the vertical braces to the floor. Next came the pie-shaped 7/16″ OSB which I cut a bit of a curve on the top with the skilsaw, and put foam pipe insulation on the edge to prevent pellets from falling through the crack against the wall. Thanks to my Dad and Mom Norma King for that idea. :) Did this all the way around to the door, then covered the “wall” beside the door with OSB.
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- The finished hopper.
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- With the 6″ auger placed in the bin. I had to extend the rod handle for the control valve so I could reach it from outside the bin.
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- Ready for the pellets.
