I want to make one of these, but I'm having trouble sourcing large rings to serve as the frame. Standard recipes call for bike rims, but I can't find any in my area and I don't want to downcycle perfectly good rims from a working bike. I've also seen culvert piping used, but I don't have any and buying that new is expensive too.
This is where I usually try a request in my localfacebook community group. I've had all sorts of things; blocks for a building project, plants, seeds, wood chips by the truck load and my best was a mantis tiller if full working order for very cheap!
Moderator, Treatment Free Beekeepers group on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/treatmentfreebeekeepers/
I've seen 5 gallon buckets being used as the ends of a trommel. If that's too small, those blue plastic 30-55 gallon drums would be perfect. Or a 55 gallon steel drum.
Barring that, can you get some thin metal from a big box store and make it into a loop? If a guy had enough bendy willow branches he could maybe craft a strong hoop from a bunch of them together.
would metal culvert pipe work? or a more general term is 'corrugated metal tubing'. there would be some width to it, but I don't know if that would be a good or bad thing. the sizes I found through just a bit of looking ranged from 12" diameter up to 24" diameter from big box stores, to over 100 inches in diameter from special sellers.
sections of 24" corrugated metal tubing a few inches tall are sold as fire rings, if you didn't want to try cutting it yourself.
I have discovered my inner Beavis through interpretive dance. I learned it from this tiny ad:
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