Pedal Power Mulcher

My family team created a pedal powered mulcher for the Innovate or Die contest.

The bicycle cranks are connected to a cutting drum that cuts, grinds, and feeds the material in. In the back is a, free-wheeling, cutting drum provides the opposing cutting edge.

Its purpose: To turn yard waste into mulch for landscaping and reduce the size of organic materials to speed up the process of composting.

The Consumers Guide to Effective Environmental Choices by The Union of Concerned Scientists lists 7 High-Impact Activities to avoid due to their "especially high environmental impact".

Powerboats
Pesticides and Fertilizers
Gasoline-powered yard equipment
Fireplaces and wood stoves
Recreational off-road driving
Hazardous cleaners and paints
Products made from endangered or threatened species

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• cycle
• innovate
• or
• die
• specialized
• mulch
• compost
• bicycle
• pedal
• power

[battlehappy]

I know right? Why would you want to do any exercise when you could sit on your ass and criticize anonymous strangers?

[terve41]

That thing is direct-drive and geared too low to really chop up the big stuff...you need to incorporate the deraillier and bike chain too! Then you'd have a range of gears, and variable chopping power to service that guy in Riverside.

[selsigpoeth]

This could be useful to break up small twigs as you show but also to break up old food eg. carrots potatoes for composting. But would require a better stand, hopper, larger capacity and gearing. Would definitely buy one then.

[egnurevets]

Seems like a great first step! I'd love to see larger capacity (bigger blades and hole), chain drive with derailleur for variable speed/torque, and a flywheel to supplement cutting force. Maybe also a hopper and a higher drop, to increase capacity. Then you'd have a seriously marketable product. Wish I could do it: but I'm a writer, not an engineer.

[montysimmons]

great idea!!!! more gas for me.

[Lucas166537]

In honor of this video, I put a gasoline engine on my execise bike.

[phdharok]

what did you use as the blade? I definitely want to build one of these

[NOLIMIT69NOLIMIT2000]

Yep I feel the need to go out and fire up the gas one. This video made me feel a bit femonon.

[iy9g86]

It is elegantly simple and I just happen to be looking for such a device. No bio-mass leaves my property; it all goes back to the soil. I am not keen on small engine powered products in general.

So I would like to build one.

I was wondering what you used as the cutting blades, something off the shelf??

[HDFoxra]

lol um, only problem i see here is that you can't really do any real yard work with this.. i mean, ok i can put one or two little tiny branches into a small hole and get a tiny pile of scraps... and on a larger scale, all your "efficiency" goes away because you'd have to convert your pedaling through gear boxes so you can actually turn the larger blades to chop bigger things, thus lowering the actual speed of the blades, and thus its effectiveness diminishes.

[hootergirlsrhot]

you should sell that, i would buy it

[thomasuras]

nothing like getting smacked in the nutz of face with a stick wile your mulching