Hand Crank Washing Machine

Hi folks and welcome to the new Homesteader News blog!
I will try to keep this blog fresh with news and articles on homesteading, off-grid and simple living.
I have been an off-grid homesteader for about 15 years now and live a very simple life in a small solar cabin I built myself in Utah near the foot of the high Uintah Mountains.
I am surrounded by about 1 million acres of Ute Tribe land and another million acres of Federal BLM land. That means even though my own property is small I have a huge backyard to play in any time I want.  I have many fishing streams and lakes near by and hunting for deer and small game at my door step.
In fact today there were two bucks- a 4 point and a spike just out my backdoor laying in the orchard. I don't need the meat right now but that buck will probably end up in my freezer by fall.

I am semi-retired and run a small pest control business. I work abut 7 months a year and in the winter I write books and enjoy my other hobbies. I don't need much money because I have no house payment and no monthly utility bills.
I am a scounger and wannabe inventor and I am always looking for ways to make my homestead more sustainable by reducing my power needs and simplifying my life. I do this because I don't ike spending money and because I hate waste and prefer something homemade to storebought.
My most recent project design is for a hand crank washing machine that can also be used as a tumbling composter. Below are the simple directions for that project. The idea for this project came to me as I was watching a PBS special on people in India and they showed how many of the people living in rural areas still washed their clothes by beating them on rocks in the river. I thought- there must be a better way and surely someone has designed a simple off-grid washing machine that could be put together from scavenged materials.
Well, I did some research but all I could find were small commercial units like the wonderwasher- which I own and does work for small loads.
So here is my design:

Compost Tumbler or Clothes Washer
This project is built from a plastic 50 gallon barrel, five 2x4x8's and a 1 inch diameter 5 foot long steel pipe. You will also need a short piece of strap hinge, S hook latch and a 1 inch drain plug.
Step #1
Cut a 1 foot by two foot door on one side of the barrel. Use the cut out piece to make the door using the hinge and the S hook latch.

Step #2
Drill a one inch drain hole on the bottom side of the barrel opposite the door and insert the drain plug.
Step #3
Attach a 1x2 scrap to the top end of the barrel using glue and screws to be a handle for turning.
 

Step #4
Drill a 1 inch diameter hole in the end of each barrel and slide the length of pipe through these holes
Step #5
Build the frame using the dimensions shown here and attach the wood together using glue and screws. The upright frame member is two 2x4x3'5" glued together.


How it works
Just slide the 1 inch pipe through the barrel and the frame and you are ready to compost. Put in all your kitchen food scraps except for meat and add in your grass and weed clippings.
Using the attached handle give the composter a few turns back and forth to aerate and turn the compost every few days. In a few weeks you should have rich black compost that can be added to your garden, fruit trees or shrubs.

If you want to make compost tea just pour in a gallon or two of water and let it steep for a day and
then drain the liquid off into a bucket using the drain plug. This compost tea is an excellent fertilizer for your house plants and vegetables.

To Make The Clothes Washer

By just adding a few agitator boards to this project you can also make a very good clothes washer.
 

Insert three 1"X2"x3' boards through the door (don't cut end of barrel) and attach at even spaces around the sides of the barrel as shown in the picture with roofing screws and rubber washers. Screw in the screws through the outside wall of the barrel in to the wood agitator boards.

How it works
Just put in your clothes to below the middle and fill the washer up with just enough water to cover the clothes and your biodegradable detergent. Close the door and using the handle start rocking the barrel back and forth. The agitator boards will scrub the clothes clean.
Drain the dirty water into a bucket for use on your shrubs or fruit trees. Refill the barrel with water and agitate again to rinse the clothes. Repeat as necessary. Drain the barrel and agitate the clothes to spin out excess water. Hang the clothes in the sun and you are done.
The clothes will still be quite wet but will drip dry usually in a few hours hanging on a clothes line. To speed up the process you could use a hand wringer or bucket wringer. Here are a few products from amazon that you might be interested in:
Columbus Washboard 2072 Family Size Washboard
Behrens 00-OV 4-Gallon Oval Steel Tub
Crawford-Lehigh LA84P-1 Large Capacity Deluxe Parallel Clothes Dryer
Wonderwash