I'm a little suprised to not find the autoflow composter in the archives. I've been composting with tumblers for a few years now and am rather versed in the disadvantages of different kinds and so forth. I have a very small yard space and too-close neighbors so I can't compost on the ground. I saw the somewhat new Autoflow 200 and decided it would solve my problems with harvest. It's designed to tumble out finished or aged compost from the core center out the right side of the drum while allowing continuous feeding rather than batch finishing.

Great design, great idea, but the one thing that set me back very quickly is the left side support where the drum hub pops into the stand. Bearing very little weight, far below capacity and in cool weather, the tiny lock-in tabs wore flat and the drum popped right out of the no-so-rigid frame. I wrote to the company and explained in detail what happened and why and was suprised to get no response. It was not defective, it's a design flaw. This hub needs a locking ring to bear weight, not tiny tabs. I didn't want to pay to ship it back and I really wanted to give it a try so I bought a 4" black plastic drain grid for $2 and attached it to the drum hub with self tapping screws. The frame is now trapped onto the hub and can't pop off yet still turns freely. It also forces the frame into correct posture. I was able to get 8 screws applied and it should last quite a while. If anyone else has one, I like to know if yours has done the same. It costs twice as much as most other plastic tumblers and is a good design concept. It'd be a shame to let this flaw bring it down.