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Repaired Broken Tumbling Composter Even Stronger & Better

I got a tumbling composting bin that had broken off legs and built a new stand using all free pallet wood. The new stand is rugged and way stronger than the original wobbly tube stand that it came with. My new composting bin should last a lifetime.

 

A friend of mine gave me this a while back and I immediately knew what I wanted to do with it. I got a piece of electrical conduit to use as a new shaft through the composting bin and some pipe hardware to act as bushings for long life.

 

 

Besides that all I needed were some recycled deck screws from my old RV porch and some free pallet wood that I had laying around.

 

I first had to cut off the raised plastic on the ends of the composting tumbler. These were the original tabs that held the flimsy tube framing in place. The plastic could not bear the weight with time and the metal tubes tore out of the sides. I used my Dremel tool and cut off the raised plastic to give myself a flat work surface.

 

 

 

 

Next I cut four pieces of 2x6 lumber that I had laying around into 10 inches long. Then I used a spade bit and my battery powered Ryobi drill and drilled a hole in the center of each piece of wood.

 

I put one piece of wood on the inside of the tumber on one side and then put a second piece of wood on the outside and lined the two up. I put four 3 inch deck screws through the outside board, through the plastic and into the inside board. This will prevent the plastic from ever wearing out again from the weight of the compost inside.

 

I did the same thing on the other side of the composting bin. Then I ran the conduit through the holes to see how it fit.

 

Finally I put on the pipe flange on the outside of each end of the tumbler to act as a sort of bushing. These will never wear out and will give extra strength to the composting tumbler.

 

 

Now it was time to build the frame and stand to hold my new composting tumbler.

 

I used a small wood pallet as the base for my composting bin. Then I used two pieces of pallet wood as a stand on each side. I formed a V shape on top by crossing the boards at about 9 inches from the top. I screwed them together to hold them in place. On the base of each leg I screwed them into the pallet directly. Then I used a board across both feet on each side. This I screwed directly into the frame of the pallet and then screwed the legs into that. This gives me added strength to ensure the feet never fall off or rip out of place.

 

Finally I put my composting tumbler on the new frame so see how it fit. Then I put a board on each side at an angle from one leg to another. This stops side to side wobble.

 

My newly restored composting tumbler is now very strong and rugged. There is no wobble and I am sure that this will last me many years with no problem. I am very satisfied with the results of today's labor and it only took about an hour from start to finish.

 

 

You can watch my full video of the job here: Repaired Broken Tumbling Composter Even Stronger & Better

 

While you are over there please subscribe to my YouTube channel and watch our daily videos as we strive to become self sufficient and off the grid on a budget.





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Troy Reid

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