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Mini Thresher Winnows, Too
“I recently threshed 50 lbs. of grain in 4 hrs. that was so clean it was ready for the cooking pot,” says John Howe, regarding the capabilities of his recently updated mini thresher/winnower that was first featured in FARM SHOW (Vol. 34., No. 6).
    With interest from a variety of people who want to grow and process their own grain, he was inspired to make small changes to improve his first thresher.
    “Every time I run it, I’m amazed. The primary thing we’ve added is a curved screen between the thresher and winnower. It prohibits most of the chaff from dropping down into the winnower zone,” he says.
    He notes that his equipment is unique because it’s a two-stage operation – threshing and winnowing. A local Norway, Maine, sheet metal shop cuts out the parts and Howe assembles them, adding the screen, fan blades, a 12-volt winnower-fan motor and other parts.
    Howe spent time with the design to get the inclines right so when grain or beans are fed into the hopper, the majority of the chaff blows out in the threshing stage. The bottom winnower cylinder has a damper to adjust the flow to remove the last of the chaff while letting the wheat kernels or beans fall clean into a container.
    Howe sells the 70-lb. unit for $685 (plus $100 for shipping). To ship in one carton, he disassembles some parts of the 30-in. long thresher, which only require 6 bolts to put back together. Customers provide their own 1/3 hp motors to operate the thresher/winnower.
    “If people come to pick it up, I can demo it and include the thresher motor in lieu of the $100 shipping cost,” Howe says. “People have come from as far as Canada.”
    The unit has simple adjustments to thresh beans (20 lbs./hour), winter rye and spring wheat.
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, John Howe, NOTE: JOHN HOWE PASSED AWAY IN 2018


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2014 - Volume #38, Issue #1