Late night soil buffet. Properly portioned.

[BillsBayou]

Problem: Client wants a custom blend of aggregates: 50% pumice; 25% red lava; 25% Haydite. The aggregates ship in a 12”x12”x6” box. 864in³, 3.74 gallons. You have a 3-gallon bucket. Portion it out as close to client specs as possible.

My solution was to cut two pieces of cardboard to fit the bucket, then slot the two pieces together so that the bucket is divided into quarters. Make the first three gallons then put the cardboard back in the bucket to make enough to fill the shipping container.

…well… I thought it was kinda cool…


Keep the cardboard in place by adding a little of each ingredient before filling the container all the way.


Looks almost impossible to do. That pattern runs down to the bottom.


I found these cool 12”x12” square bags with just enough plastic to tape it shut over the soil, but not so much plastic that it takes up too much room.

The cardboard solution to portioning worked well enough that I’m going to remake it out of MDF.

Thirds shouldn’t too difficult. I’m going to have to crack open a geometry book (or Google) to figure out how to do 10% increments.

 

[pandacular]

This is really clever, I might give it a shot!

I have some other ideas on mixing soil, but it involves computer vision and ai…so maybe I should stick to the practical!

 

[vesper818]

Great idea. You could do that right in the box with bag liner, too!

 

[San Franpsycho]

Problem: Client wants a custom blend of aggregates: 50% pumice; 25% red lava; 25% Haydite. The aggregates ship in a 12”x12”x6” box. 864in³, 3.74 gallons. You have a 3-gallon bucket. Portion it out as close to client specs as possible.

My solution was to cut two pieces of cardboard to fit the bucket, then slot the two pieces together so that the bucket is divided into quarters. Make the first three gallons then put the cardboard back in the bucket to make enough to fill the shipping container.

…well… I thought it was kinda cool…

View attachment 574645
Keep the cardboard in place by adding a little of each ingredient before filling the container all the way.

View attachment 574646
Looks almost impossible to do. That pattern runs down to the bottom.

View attachment 574647
I found these cool 12”x12” square bags with just enough plastic to tape it shut over the soil, but not so much plastic that it takes up too much room.

The cardboard solution to portioning worked well enough that I’m going to remake it out of MDF.

Thirds shouldn’t too difficult. I’m going to have to crack open a geometry book (or Google) to figure out how to do 10% increments.

For 10% all you need is a 2$ protractor. a circle has 360 degrees. 360 divided by 10 is 36 degrees.
Trace the bucket on a piece of paper, mark out your 36 degree pie pieces, use it to mark and cut little slits around the rim of the bucket, and leave corresponding tabs on your dividers to slide into those slots. Cut a round plug of MDF or ply to perfectly fit in the bottom of the bucket, and use the same paper to cut a pie piece pattern so your dividers can fit down into those slots.
For the top center joint you can use tape or, if you want to be fancier, maybe a wooden disc with the same 36 degree slits [tricky to cut, so maybe several with different proportions? ]