Gleaner Converted To Stationary Seed Cleaner

Gleaner Converted To Stationary Seed Cleaner GRAIN CLEANERS Scott Ravenkamp modified an older Gleaner combine to serve as a stationary cleaner for alfalfa and clover seed He modified sieve screens tightened down the cylinder and put a dump box on the feeder housing “Harvest alfalfa and clover seed with a modern combine and you end up with something that looks like ground hay ” says Ravenkamp “Old combines like the Gleaner F had screens for different crops ” When Ravenkamp couldn’t find a clover screen he built his own using aeration tubing He flattened it out and screwed it to a frame Ravenkamp had initially set the combine up for a hemp seed producer He opened up the cylinder by removing bars and they ran 3 000 hemp plants through it by hand “We spent $1 500 on the old Gleaner and it worked perfectly versus a quarter-million-dollar hemp seed harvester ” says Ravenkamp “It separated out the seed and captured all the leaves and stems that came out the back ” When the hemp producer no longer needed the Gleaner Ravenkamp brought it back to his place to try it on clover seed He built a hopper out of plywood with an angle iron frame that he bolted to the housing It was sized to fit the feeder throat with triangular ends and an angled front side that directed seed into the throat With the modified screen in place and cylinder bars returned and tightened down Ravenkamp put the Gleaner rethresher to work “We used a forklift to carry totes of unthreshed grain to the hopper on the combine ” he says After seed passed through the cylinder and the screen it was augered to the clean grain elevator Ravenkamp disconnected the drive belt on the elevator and opened up the cover under the elevator base The seed dropped into a hopper for a load-out auger that transferred the seed to an empty tote The Gleaner was parked at the edge of a decline and bits of straw and other non-seed materials simply blew away “We ran around 20 000 lbs of clover seed and trash through it in one day and it was shocking how well it came out ” says Ravenkamp “We filled a Pro box with about 500 lbs of seed ” The stationary thresher worked so well with clover that Ravenkamp decided to try organic alfalfa seed Like the clover it was mixed with non-seed material “The alfalfa seed producer had previously run the combined materials through a hammer mill to break up the trash and then run it through a seed cleaner ” says Ravenkamp “He was losing 20 percent of his seed We ran it through the Gleaner and threshed out 400 bushels of organic alfalfa in a weekend ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Scott Ravenkamp 52570 883 Rd Verdigre Neb  68783 ph 719-740-0705; sravenkamp@icloud com

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