Martin Koenig

Kyle;  Your CFT is very similar to what I had in mind.  How many castings were you able to harvest on a weekly basis.  You stated minimal harvest.  If I was to use conduit or heavy duty fence pipe with 1” spacing could I use push pull sliders on the top of the pipes to scrape the bottom of the pile for harvesting ?  I’ll look into wattage for ground heat loops as well.  The heating would only be used during extended cold snaps that we occasionally get here in central VA.  
I may start OT with a 48x24x36 bin at first and if I need to expand then I’ll bolt them together and I use a horizontal separator screen to migrate worms between bins as needed

The bin depth will be around 36” in deep and I will only be disturbing the bottom 2” of castings.  If I see worms in the collection tray I will know that they are not high enough in the compost and I’ll wait another week or so before sliding the draw bar across the grate

I have looked at several types of continuous flow composters using worms and have the following questions.  I compost around 2or 3 five gallon buckets of kitchen waste per week

If I am using a drawbar slider sitting between the castings and the grate, under the compost what size should the grate be ?  1/4” 1/2” 3/4” 1” The grate will be in direct contact with the castings.

I am planning on using a 24” x 96” expanded metal panel bottom with a 24” piece of 2x4  angle iron sliding against the grate and shaving the underside of the compost inside the bin.

It will be powered by a small 110v boat winch to drag it from one side to the other to cause the castings to fall and sift through the grate.  

The inside of the box, and lid will be insulated with 2” foam panels and then lined with PVC panels.  The grate under the box will be exposed in the warmer months and closed off and insulated with a slide in panel in the winter.  I also have incorporated (2) 100w waterproof seed heating Matt’s on both ends of the box down near the bottom to kick on if the soil temp gets to cold.  

The bin will be located inside an open woodshed and protected from direct sunlight.  

Thoughts and suggestions on design are welcome