hopper crushing grain pellets?

[Katherine McCullough]

Hi all, 

I have one FED3 device that seems to be crushing the grain pellets which is leading to clogs. 

I will load the correct max amounts of pellets and the next day there is a lot of pellet dust in the hopper, which I then have to clean out. 

I have 15 FED3 devices going and this is the only one that has this problem. 

Could the plate inside the hopper be too loose or too tight? 

Thanks, 

Katie

[Justin Wang]

Hi Kate, 

I'm a GR2 student in Lex's lab. For newly assembled FEDs, we usually do an overnight "burn-in" period to ensure that the motor is running smoothly and we found that also helps with minimizing jamming. Other things to troubleshoot:

- Check the torque on the set screw securing the hopper disk to minimize play. Disassemble the hopper disk and clean pellet dust from under the disk.

- Add pellets slightly below the recommended fill line, this can help with smoother operation of the hopper and prevent pellets from accumulating at the bottom of the disk, where there is a gap.

- Use our reinforced disk design if you aren't doing so already. We found that reducing flex in the disk helps a lot with jamming. You can find our latest designs here: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/0QaiVw7KR3Y

Let us know if you have any other issues!

Justin