I am putting up another Behlen wire crib and I want to put the slot thru it for sheller drags. Can anybody tell me a width and depth dimension that would work. We have a MM sheller now but now drags for it. Maybe some day another MM or JD sheller will show up with the drags. Anyway, any help in sizing this would be a help. I am also open to any other ideas or pictures of what a person would do if they were doing it.
I just went out and measured mine. The tunnel is 18" wide and 14" deep (from the top of the cement). We had a MM Model E sheller. There was a channel cut at the top of each side about 1-1/2" deep & 1-1/2" wide to hold short pieces of 2x6 or 2x8 to cover the tunnel before you filled the crib. Then when you start shelling you remove the boards one at a time as you work your way into the crib. Make sure you throw them well out of the crib when shelling - they make a heck of a commotion if they accidentally get fed into the sheller!
Were the 'U' shaped metal tunnels that were made by Behlen missing? They acted both as a ventilator and a run for the drag. I forget how they connected to the round verticla ventilator that ran up through the center of the crib.
My Dad's wood crib had a slot running the length of the crib, as previously described, and when setting up the sheller, he would tie a light rope to the dog's collar, and have her run thru the 'slot' and then the rope was used to pull the drags, as they were assembled, thru to the far end.
-- Edited by Art From De Leon on Saturday 4th of September 2010 02:29:31 PM
If you can find those u-shaped tunnels, you do not need to form up a slot in your concrete floor. However, you have to brace the tunnel so all the pieces stay in a very straight line. Otherwise, the falling ear corn willl knock them around and the drag won't go past the first crooked section. We use two bridge planks running side-by-side, with a telephone pole underneath to keep the middle propped up. Gravity keeps the bridge planks spread apart and the tunnels straight. Of course, a slot in the concrete is always straight, but the tunnels might save you time and a lot of concrete formwork.
