Grainswest - Tech 2022

Tech 2022 grainswest.com 25 straw chopper and swather components to shred the plastic prior to heating it. A step taken by other plastic recyclers, Farkash determined it was a waste of energy because the rolls can be fed into the unit whole. He clearly relishes such simplifications. Ease of process paves the road to profit. Because Farkash can use soiled plastic, farmers and agricultural companies from across North America have called with offers to send him plenty of it. Oil companies that use high-density polyethylene pit liners also want to donate plastic. The counties of Vermilion River and Minburn have provided standing verbal agreements to supply him with plastic when the time comes to begin mass production. He has already lined up buyers that include several stores in B.C. In the meantime, Farkash continues to fine tune his ambitious project. The major troubleshooting phase is behind him. Earlier frustrations included the melted plastic cooling too quickly and becoming stuck in the extruder. To re-energize his inventiveness, Farkash has taken occasional breaks from working on the machine, which has allowed his ideas to percolate. The satisfaction he feels when he devises a successful solution to a nagging problem keep him returning to the challenge. “With everything, we try it. If it doesn’t work, we take it apart and we do that thing again,” he said. A SELF-TAUGHT INVENTOR The fencepost machine is set up in a corner of Farkash’s farmyard he refers to as his mad scientist’s laboratory, an area where creativity and innovation collide. This tight clutter of machinery and materials also includes a Quonset- style machine shop in which much of the fabrication for his ironworks business is conducted. Raised on his parents’ farm, Farkash has lived in the Vermilion area his whole life. His own farm was much larger in years past, but he now tends cattle and a mix of crops on 400 acres. His iron fabrication business has become his main focus. He and two employees, former oil and gas sector welders, produce a steady supply of cattle panels, feeders and wind fences constructed of reclaimed steel oilfield pipe. The wind fences incorporate cedar planks manufactured with Farkash’s sawmill from discarded telephone poles. Key to the operation is another Farkash invention, a machine that straightens the piping, which comes to him coiled up on massive wooden spools. Powered by an electric hydraulic pump, it uses 36 rollers to straighten the metal. A cutter fitted with a segment of grader blade, and also powered by hydraulics, shears the metal into desired lengths. He has built an additional device to flatten and shape smaller individual components. The demand for these cattle yard products has grown steadily over the last eight years. A history buff, Farkash derives inspiration from great inventors of the past, Ford included. As he works on individual projects, he also watches YouTube videos posted by fellow inventors. “They may have one good idea,” he said. “If you can take that idea and link it with something else that might be the missing puzzle piece, that makes the whole picture work.” Unlike Ford, who apprenticed under a machinist, Farkash picked up his interest in mechanics from his brother Ken, also a farmer. Ten years his senior, his brother taught him how to fix cars when he was a kid. “I was kind of a reluctant learner, but he inspired me.” Though the ironworks business doesn’t allow much free time, Farkash spends many of his spare hours on this and other inventions. “I think my wife would like me to stop doing this,” he said with a laugh. He and wife Rhonda have four adult daughters. In addition to fenceposts, Farkash would like to someday make plastic power poles and railway ties, which he believes would save governments, railways and energy companies billions of dollars while lending the environment a substantial hand. “It’s not enough to have a good idea,” he said. “You must do something with it.” The fencepost machine extrudes liquid plastic by means of a wheeled PIG commonly used to service petroleum pipelines. It is driven by a hydraulic ram.