Grain Cleaning Machines

I believe that understanding and purchasing a machine for cleaning grains is a great stride towards growing of grains. Before I can clean my grains, the threshing process is important. Threshers separate the grains from the stem of the plant. Many grains such as rye and wheat leave the combine harvester ready for cleaning and drying.

Fanning Mills

Fanning mills use shape, size, and weight to clean the grains. When a batch of grain is fed into the mills, a series of screens vibrates back and forth to clean the grain. This machine has three screens with a mesh of varying size. The first mesh removes large foreign material from the grain and also remaining grain stems. The second screen has a smaller diameter and thus is responsible for removing any material bigger than the grain desired. The final screening stage involves the use of pressurized air which utilizes the principle of the weight to sift off all material lighter than the grain. An example of a fanning mill is Clipper Eclipse 324.

Spiral Cleaners

One key difference between fanning mills and spiral cleaners is that the latter has no moving parts. This cleaner has a finned central part that allows the grains to trickle down the fins and hence efficiently cleaning them. As the seed moves down, centrifugal force pulls the grains onto the periphery of the cleaner hence separating it from the other foreign materials. Spiral cleaners work well when grains of comparable size, but a marginally different shape is involved. A good example of spiral cleaners is Amos spiral cleaner.

Gravity Tables

Gravity tables utilize vibration and pressurized air to separate grain from foreign material according to the mass of the material. The air pressure, the flow rate of the grain and angle of the deck is adjusted depending on the type of grain being cleaned. After the process, the denser grain settles at the bottom while the lighter material settles on top hence easily separated. An example of a gravity table is Garratt Pro-Series Gravity Tables.

Why Plastic is Still the King of the Garden

The war on plastics swept in like a storm. It is like the world went to sleep one night and left plastics as harmless products only to wake up and find they were destroying the whole place. Suffice to say there has been a lot of misinformation about the whole plastics agenda.

The bottom line remains that it is not plastics that are bad; it is we humans who use plastics badly. If used properly – with re-use and proper disposal – humans can co-exist in a safe and clean environment.

To this end, plastic remains the most popular packaging product for several reasons.

It is clean

Generally, plastic is a hygienic packaging material both in itself and in preventing entrance of dirt from outside. It is non-reactive under ordinary conditions, meaning the packaged product will remain in the same state from the day of packaging until it is needed for use.

The hygienic quality of plastic makes it ideal for products like pharmaceuticals and foods.

It is non-porous

A major concern that has to be factored when packaging products for transportation is the absorption of moisture. Plastic comes is a perfect solution since it does not allow passage of any moisture once the package is sealed.

This quality makes it superior to packaging products like paper in the sealing of items like electronics which eliminates the risk of short-circuiting and rusting.

It is tough

Depending on the amount of stress a package is likely to be exposed to, there are several degrees of toughness available for packaging. Some plastics are more pliable, while others are stronger and can hold heavier loads or withstand harsher external forces.

It is cheap

Production of plastic is cheap regardless of the quality or volume of production. As an overhead cost, manufacturers find that using plastic to package their products is marginal.

The importance of plastic in packaging and production of everyday products cannot be overstated. The sooner we all learn to co-exist with plastic, the easier our lives will get.