COAL BIN Pics

Just prefabbed these in my shop and hauled the panels to the basement this afternoon. Did the assembly but still have to make up the spacers to acommodate the pallet lift.
Next is to make up my chute and the opening in the house wall then it's time for BULK!
Tom

Pete69 wrote:I've learned so much from everybody on the form, I thought I'd share some pict's. Running late as always, not complete yet but here's what I've done so far.

Leveled the first course on a mortar bed, drilled 1/2" holes into floor for rebar, dry-stacked the rest of the blocks in a staggered pattern as usual, and filled the cores solid with concrete. I built the door opening using corner blocks with the groove facing out. I will sandwich 3/4" plywood between a 2x4 frame leaving 3/4" of the plywood extended on the sides, this will slide in the groves in the block. It will be a split door-hope this will work? Final dimensions will be 4' from wall, 4'6" high and 13'6" long.

Having 5 ton of blachak delivered on Monday Dec. 8th. It will be loaded through two trap doors on front porch which is recessed into the house and directly above the bin. The porch floor is the basement ceiling the same dimension as the bin.

Is that a Bosch 4000 portable table saw in pic#3 ? Nice. I just bought the 4100.

It's the Bosch 4000. They didn't have the laser sights when that saw was purchased, it must be a nice option.
It gives me a lot warmer feeling looking at the full coal bin than the nice saw.

Okay, mine is kinda crude and rude but it doubles as my utility trailer by summer and my coal bin by winter. It's an old home made trailer built around an axle from an old construction/contractor trailer. Channel frame an home made tung but the leaf springs are a bit short. Body is pt 2 x 6 and 2 x 12 lumber. I've hauled 2 ton in it but wouldn't want to go far because it's too bouncy. I extended he sides to so it can hold ~ 3 ton, once I finish it I back it up to a concrete pad near the man door into the garage. I load a week's worth of spackle (or in my case former honey) buckets and store them just inside the door. My ash can is there too. Good for about four days of ash in this weather.

Here's a couple of photos with a load from Superior thanks to help from super superior members Wood'nCoal and coal berner - can't thank them enough for a great day!

My first bulk delivery of 3 tons Blaschak rice. This is the first time my homemade bin had coal in it. She's no longer a virgin!
I wrapped a couple tie-down straps around the outside of the bin, Just-in-Case my bin engineering calculations were wrong. Good news, no bowing and nothing broke. I even have the bin on wheels, so it can be rolled around the slab its sitting on, but who wants to move 6000lbs! If you notice, the 3 ton did not all fit in the 4 x 4 x 8 bin I made. About 500lb had to be dumped on a tarp in front of bin. (I think they delivered more than 6000lbs). Surprisingly, there was very little "frozen chunks" and of the ones that I saw, easily broke up in my hand, or with a smack from the coal shovel. Very little water in the rice, and I questioned the delivery driver about it. He said they don't wet it down, since the rice was so clean already, coming from the breaker.
Whooo! Whoooo! No more bags!

Chris F.

Nice coal bin, nice looking coal! My coal has 50 years of basement dust laced through it. I see you have a pulley to assist the lid.

Dann757 wrote: I see you have a pulley to assist the lid.

You have good eyes! Yep, got a counterweight off the back to make the top lighter. I can leave the top up, to dry the coal out. Especially this week, its going to be a warm week.

Chris F.

I am re-posting my coal bin pics, with more detail. I got alot of PMs requesting more info on my Rolling Coal Bin. I used 5ea. 1000lb rated wheels. you can find them here:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/ ... 0250_40250
All 5 wheels are of the full-swivel type. If I had it to do over again (maybe this summr) I would make 2 of the wheels non-swivel, so the bin could be pulled more easily by my tractor.
I have about 5800 lbs in the bin, so thats about 1160lb per wheel. The wheels are EASILY handling the weight.

ALL joints are "Glued-and-screwed". I bought a case of Liquid Nails to use on the bin. Exterior grade decking screws, from 1 5/8" to 4" are used.

Pic #1 shows the bin overloaded with rice from Baschak. The top will remain in the upright position until I use a few hundred LBs. There are two trap doors in the front that open INTO the bin. These will allow me to scoop/shovel coal out once the level gets low. One thing I did not have time to build, was the coal shoot & sliding door in the lower middle. This will be added this summer.

Pic #2 shows a side view, proof-positive there is no bulging of the front or back. Without adding additional framing, I incorperated a little idea of mine. I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you

Pic #3 shows the details of adding the 5 castors. Notice the 4x4 framing has lap joints for strength. Ther are 9 lap joints because I use 3ea. 8ft long pcs, and 3ea. 4ft long pcs of 4x4. The cross in the center of the framing is where the 5th castor is.

Pic#4 shows the back of the bin, with the Lid-lift-pulley system. The weight is about 5-10 lbs more than the lid, so it will always stay up, unless I pull it down and latch it at the front. During the summer months, I will move the bin behind the barn, so the rope holding the lid can just be untied and thrown inside the bin.

Pic #5 shows my AWESOME Blaschak Rice. No, I did not pick out the sticks and weeds, this is EXACTLY as it arrived.

Any questions, I'll be happy to answer. Or PM me if you want to come over and get measurements if you plan to make your own bin. Then I'll tell you the secret of how to keep the front and back from bulging without extra framing

Chris F.

For those of us with kids, you will recognize my "inside" coal bin

Chris F.

I suspect a bit of pretension was applied!

CapeCoaler wrote:I suspect a bit of pretension was applied!

No,, but thats a great idea! Each wall comprised of a double layer of 5/8" plywood, put into a jig to force center line pressure with a weight( a 2000lb lump of lead?) , glued with liquid nails and screwed together! What a strong bin that would make! Next time...

Chris F.

So what is the button just above and to the right of the hasp?
Looked like and is in a good position to be a cross bolted rod.
The box looks like it bows inward at the center also.

CapeCoaler wrote:So what is the button just above and to the right of the hasp?
Looked like and is in a good position to be a cross bolted rod.
The box looks like it bows inward at the center also.

A nice reinforced place on the back with the same mysterious button......

CapeCoaler wrote:So what is the button just above and to the right of the hasp?
Looked like and is in a good position to be a cross bolted rod.
The box looks like it bows inward at the center also.

You have good eyes... thats a cross bolted rod, made from a 4ft length of 3/4" black iron pipe. I cut and re-threaded the ends to stick out of the bin about 1 inch on each side. On the back, it is supported by a double-layer of 3/4" press treated ply glued & screwed together. On the front, it is supported by one layer of 3/4" press treated ply, glued & screwed to a 2x6 on the flat. I made the nuts from a 3/4" FPT Tee, cutting two of the ends off with a sawzall, then ground them round.
I did not think I needed a cross-bolted rod for the sides, and did not include one. For the sides, it is all 3/4" press-treated ply, glued and screwed to several 2x4s on the flat.
Everything seems to be holding together so nicely (Knock-on-wood), I removed the "Just-in-case" tie-down straps.

Chris F.