Solution to Poor Chubby Stove Shaker Design

After ranting on other threads about how awful it is to shake the grate on my Chubby stove some 50 to 100 times after an 8 hour burn, I've tried to devise a solution to this problem. Supposedly the original Chubby was built with some cross bar/lever that connected to the two little brackets next to the loading door. This shaker went across and somehow rocked the ring on the end of the shaker handle. I've never even seen a picture of the original shaker design, but I'm bringing it back.

My solution so far was to cut the ring/loop off the end of the shaker handle. I then threaded the end of the shaker handle with a 24 Fine Die. On the end of the handle I screwed on a 3/8" heim joint. I got two of them for $5 on ebay from an auto-parts supply store. Now I'm in the process of fabricating a cross bar from 3/8" steel rod. The orbital socket on heim joint allows the cross bar to move in any angle needed as it rocks back and forth, which is good because the angle of the cross bar to the original brackets where it will mount is anything but level. And, it moves left and right little as it comes in and out. I plan to drill and tap the end of the cross bar that goes down in to the brackets. From there I can put a washer and bolt on the end of it. Or maybe weld it to tiny piece of pipe with 3/8" ID and get it tightly fitting between the brackets. Also might have to weld tiny piece of that same pipe to stop the hiem from sliding in towards the stove when over extended.
Anyway, so far just after getting the heim joint on there, it's a 100%+ improvement in shaker action. And, that's with a burn pot full of coal. I'll post more once I get the solution finished. I'll still have to shake it 50-100 times, but as Archimedes once said "Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world!" I'm VERY ENCOURAGED to have a potential solution to the terrible Chubby Stove shaker dilemma! This could be huge for me, since the shaker is the one and only design flaw I see in the Chubby.

The trouble with any round horizontally rotating grate is that the center gets hardly any agitation at all. Many of the antiques used the ransom duplex grate which had a center of separate rotating grates to clear that center portion.

Those grates with a draw center also provide a means to clear that area, though not as good.

Larry does recommend reaching through the air intake slots to use a hooked poker to aid in clearing.

I do like what you have cleverly done which should at least make it easier and I learned what that type of joint is called. How well it will stand up time will tell.

There must be a way to hook an electric motor with a piston like movement up to your invention. I like the heim joint.

[quote="warminmn"]There must be a way to hook an electric motor with a piston like movement up to your invention. I like the heim joint.[/quote]

....are you suggesting a Rube Goldberg?

I had the same trouble with a pot belly stove, the center appears to be moving but nothing is really happening.

Very good .
One thing I learned with the Sunnyside and the Golde is that the grate's spaces where the ash go to the ash pan MUST be much bigger than what we think. Plus welding some spikes on the top of the grate at the right places also helps a lot to move the ash down. If the spikes are too agressive, they may be grinded down to the best results. Grate testings should be conducted for at least one week to really see the results. The first few shakings are always good...
Good luck.

jrlearned,

I posted a number of pics of the solution I came up with for the chubby's I have in my collection. Do a search and it should come up. If not, I can probably find the pics and re post them.

the snowman.

Ok, I finally got around to finishing my shaker handle with the heim joint. Here are a couple pictures. I ended up drilling 1/8" holes in 3/8" steel rod. I'm using a cotter pin on the bottom of the rod that sinks down through the pre-existing brackets. A washer is between the cotter pin and the bracket. Between the elbow and the top bracket I put a compression spring. This puts constant upward pressure on the handle. You want the elbow as far up as possible to come close to level with the height of the heim-jointed shaker. A design note: I had to weld the elbow a little over 90 degrees to get the horizontal arm up to meet the shaker. There's very little room for play between the pre-existing bracket and door bracket above it. But, it's close enough to work well.

On the horizontal arm, I welded a big nut to stop the heim joint from moving left. I ended up putting a couple washers between the heim joint and the nut to take up some slack. Then, after the heim joint, another washer and a cotter pin. At the end of the handle I drilled another 2 holes, one on each side of the spring handle. Sandwiched between washers, the spring handle is compressed just a little so there is no slop in the handle hold.

And.... it works... GREAT! I ran a coal fire last week one night to test out the first iteration of this design. The action is smooth, it takes all the stress off my shoulder, and it has a full draw in and out (the nature travel of the shaker rod connected to the grate is uninhibited).

And Im guessing the fat part of the rod fits into the hole in the stove?

Nice job!

JRLearned wrote:And.... it works... GREAT! I ran a coal fire last week one night to test out the first iteration of this design. The action is smooth, it takes all the stress off my shoulder, and it has a full draw in and out (the nature travel of the shaker rod connected to the grate is uninhibited).

Nice! That looks like a patentable idea you have there.

JRLearned, looks like both of us had great ideas to tackle the poor shaker design on the Chubby. This is my 3rd attempt but I have high hopes for this one. I just fired up the stove so I'll keep you posted. Here is the link to my fix: Coal Chubby. Best of luck my friend.

I'm having the same issue with my sons chubby but I came up with a fix I'm going to try this afternoon by lifting the great off the tabs that support the great Up little and stop the rubbing of the great on the tapered pot I'll take some pics when I'm finished see if its a failure or I He get through this season

dad123456, I had the same issue when my grate warped a bit causing it to sag and rub on the support tabs. I spoke with Larry about this and he advised me to put a washer on the center pin under the grate. It raised it just enough to get it off the support tabs.

I think he may be missing the bottom great I'm not sure how many greats the Stoves have I bought Two chubby stoves both only had one great I read that thread and got a little confused they must have two

UPDATE: I ran the stove the past 4 days straight. Was running a full load from 7am to 6pm between shakedowns. The action is great on this handle. I was able to completely shake down a full load of ash in 75-100 shakes with minimal effort and no strain on my arms/shoulder. I am very satisfied with this design. I used to dread going down to shake out the ash after a long burn, especially first thing in the morning. No more, it's easy now!

Glad to hear it worked out well for you JRLearned. I made my shaker rod longer to get full strokes and rotate my grate more. I used to have to run my poker through the grates after shaking to clear the ash. Now I never need to run my poker through the grates, the greater rotation allows more ash to fall. Like you mentioned, much easier on the shoulders and arms too.