I have tried several different types and styles of control units and have settled on this as the most trouble free. My lease is six hours from home so there is no budget, if I can get a better unit it will be done. The base is secured to the bottom of the barrel with self tapping screws. A few of the things you can't see in the photos are nylon lock nuts on everything except the door to the box. "T" brackets are squared and brazed. Dayton motors (from Grainger) for all replacements. All electrical connections are soldered and crimped. Dielectric grease on battery connections. Nylon dust shield on exposed motor shaft. Pipe is 2" black pipe. The photos should complete the story. Use the control box lid if you are just changing out the control box (I keep a spare control unit) and the 2" cap if you are going to leave it overnight or longer - the coons will remove the lid and empty the barrel!

Would like to see more pics, right now it looks like a puzzle that's missing most the pieces.

I will say the 2" metal pipe is a great idea over what all my feeders have. When you actually have to work on the housing it would be pretty easy to stop the feed from pouring out. I'll also add dielectric grease on all the connections is an excellent idea and something I need to do.

Well, I have been thinking about how unravel the puzzle and transfer how my little mind works to a post. I am planning to mount everything on a new barrel as soon as I get a funnel installed (22 1/2" funnel into a 22" barrel) so I will try to get everything into a chronological order as soon as it is warm enough to work in the shop. Stay tuned, the barrel hanger design is pretty neat too.

Cover the spinner area with chicken wire. That’s what i’ve Finally done on every feeder. There are plenty of spinner types that supposedly will keep the coons and squirrels from stealing your corn, but they all eventually fail in some way. So if you won’t be around close, chicken wire is your friend.

Finally got back to the shop. Word to the wise: buy the barrel funnel before you buy the barrel. You cannot use a 22 1/2 inch (diameter) funnel in a 22” barrel. The base plate is 4” X 1/8” flat (1/4 would be better to counter sink/weld studs). The self tapping screws were not acceptable this time, needed a little pulling power on a convex barrel bottom. Decided to use a varmint cage from Academy on this feeder so I built a whole new base plate that was longer. The funnel fits inside the 2" pipe and prevents any tendency to tilt (screwed the funnel to the barrel anyway). I haven’t had a coon “problem” on my lease (because my tripod is 16’ high?) but this feeder is going on a friend’s lease. Will see how it works.

Photo I left out.