Making wood pellets

[RCW]

Isnt mesquite used for smoking meat?

It is, and got me thinking apple is too, right?

We do have a lot of wild apple around here. Thorn apple makes great firewood, if you have the patience. Wonder if it would be good for smoke pellets??...

Tough part is its REAL hard...

I have a buddy with a bandsaw mill. Mostly hemlock and pine goes through it. His sawdust mulches his garden, flowerbeds.

Hmm.....

TJ - looking forward to more pics!!

Thanks!

 

[skeets]

See Frank I told ya people would be interested!! I stopped at TS yesterday and asked about some pallets to stack fire wood on, guy said they send all theirs back but they had a BUNCH of scrap ones they don't send back, cool, they were all smashed up, guy said I thought you might want some fire wood,, and I thought gee them things would chip pretty good,, guess they would work too Eh

 

[RCW]

Ray - part of my back yard. Most of it is Sugar Maple. They help me make a few gallons of syrup every spring.

 

[CaveCreekRay]

RCW,

Awesome! Trees are fixin' to turn.

Yeah, I spent two years on "Longuisland" and there is a load of pine down there but upstate is gorgeous and thick will all sorts of trees.

My buddy that owned the band saw mill lives in New Hampshire about 30 mi out of "Menchesta." Every year they have a hefty ice storm and people call him to take out trees. He hauls the wood home, cuts it, splits it and stacks it to season and then sells it back to them the next year. This guy has several million in his retirement account but hasn't taken a dollar in over a decade because he enjoys doing odd jobs. He lives very comfortably but teaches school part time and drives for FedEx during the Christmas rush just to earn spending money.

He's my "hero."

 

[Tooljunkie]

Did some chipping today, some stuff thats been outside for a while. http://youtu.be/JVVDM8zqq88

Another wideo of chipper and hammer mill coming.
http://youtu.be/ofO6WOjc03s
Just showing the setup
Just over two totes full of chips.
Maybe tomorrow will make attempt at pellets.

 

[Daren Todd]

Nice set up

 

[ShaunBlake]

Great setup, and thanks for the action shots -- dramatically increases the drool factor!

 

[bmblank]

What does the cyclone do?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[ShaunBlake]

What does the cyclone do?

Blows the material -- note the shots of the chips swirling inside the tube, and how it spews out into the bin. Cyclone. Wonderful addition to woodworking dust collection!

 

[Tooljunkie]

Fan blows chips, the funnel creates a swirl,making low pressure at bottom end so chips fall out bottom and wind finds its way out top. Can fill sealed containers and bags.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Stuff is too wet. May end up running it twice in order to dry it down. Even the dry stuff. Need a way to cook it. Get it up to 180 or something like that. My moisture tester shows it as good, but warm it up to 100 degrees and moisture shows twice the moisture. Go figure. Ran some but video wont upload on utube.

 

[olthumpa]

Place a pot of water on the stove on the stove and place a hygrometer above it and take a reading. Now turn the burner on to start heating the water. As the water gets hotter, the reading will increase. The hotter the water is the quicker it will evaporate. Think cloth dryer verses hanging on a line. The same thing is happening in the material that you are taking a moisture reading on. As the water evaporates the relative humidity in the immediate area increases thus increasing your reading.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Wish stuff was dry, would make useable pellets. I preheated die with my hot air heat gun, so it didnt take long to start pelleting.
So wet they were falling apart. This was my dry material, so i thought.

http://youtu.be/8K-CFhOBV70

Looks like it works, actually it isnt. Success is always reached through failure. Trick is not to fail too big.

Finally got it loaded on youtube, took 6 attempts. App isnt happy with ios9 i guess.

 

[Daren Todd]

Wish stuff was dry, would make useable pellets. I preheated die with my hot air heat gun, so it didnt take long to start pelleting.
So wet they were falling apart. This was my dry material, so i thought.

http://youtu.be/8K-CFhOBV70

Looks like it works, actually it isnt. Success is always reached through failure. Trick is not to fail too big.

Finally got it loaded on youtube, took 6 attempts. App isnt happy with ios9 i guess.

Very interesting process. Been haunting this one out of curiosity. l like the sound track on the video

 

[OldeEnglish]

Can you Tent off the pile of product you want dry and throw a dehumidifier in there? That would dry it out in a few days with turning the pile so the dry air hits it all.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Dehumidifier works great, over 65 degrees.its barely that now.
Im using those plastic 250 gallon totes,experimenting with calcium chloride suspended in bags and a catch basin below.
The real wet stuff has a fan blowing into tote, and i roll it over every couple days.
Guess i need a shed i can heat with a pellet stove.

My grain bin became a shop catch-all. Its not easy to fill and empty so its out.
Have to come up with something quick.

 

[OldeEnglish]

Your a pretty slick guy Frank, I've never seen someone make pellets before. It looks like you have it down to a science! I don't burn pellets but your system seems like a great way to make heating fuel out of bio mass. I love it when something gets made out of nothing .

 

[skeets]

Frank,, a dumb question, you say the pellets are to damp? Wouldn't running them through the press again heat them and drive off more moisture?

 

[Tooljunkie]

Frank,, a dumb question, you say the pellets are to damp? Wouldn't running them through the press again heat them and drive off more moisture?

It sure does. I will do it as a last resort, but was hoping to avoid it. Had to do it last year, it works but costs double the fuel. Still cheap, but double the work.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Your a pretty slick guy Frank, I've never seen someone make pellets before. It looks like you have it down to a science! I don't burn pellets but your system seems like a great way to make heating fuel out of bio mass. I love it when something gets made out of nothing .

Nah, i'm just wingin it.
Its a constant experiment, try something and keep going or move on to another plan.

I made a conveyor from an old treadmill, cut belt crossways and split it lengthwise, sewed ends together and made v bars out of silicone sealant.
Built my own foot switch and use it to load cooled pellets into storage bin.
It will appear here eventually.