Many of us have heard the name Archimedes screw – but not everyone knows the word screw conveyor. These people are (sadly, videographers) [Breeze Media] We are not told their name or company name) There is a process of making screw conveyors in a fine industry.
Screw conveyors are useful, but many people move away from them because they are harder to make. In this video, we see how it is done. The crew in this video is doing this in metal for large machinery, but the same methods can be used on small scale plastic sheets or paper.
It starts with washer cutting and radial slitting. The hole closes when these are deformed to the final shape, so the hole is slightly larger than the pipe made in the center. They are then given a slight spiral (think a lock washer) by wallpapering with a sledgehammer. It works. The slit edges are welded together to form a ‘compressed’ spiral and the end is welded to the pipe
Now for the cute bit. They have a long gantry, a few pipe poles with a crossbar placed in the factory yard. Below this, they dug a well. The free end of the pipe goes down the well. A baseplate is enclosed around the well below the spiral. After that, the pipe is lifted to form the final shape. Finally, everything is welded in place.
In the video after the break, they are making a screw feeder. It requires a lower pitch for sections under grasshoppers. So they clamp several turns, pull out the main part, weld, then remove the clamp and make the feeder section.
The hacks are partly art, and the screws are visually appealing. This Piggy Bank has one. Put your next hack one!