Jora Composter JK 270 - Outdoor Dual Chamber Compost Tumbler - 70 Gallon - Galvanized Steel Construction

This is a really solid, well-designed piece of equipment. I was concerned about the stability of the steel tubing stand, but it is rock-solid when assembled, thanks to the cross-bracing on the bottom and back side of the stand. The materials used appear to be very high quality. The bolts are stainless steel, and all the metal tubing appears to be as well. The main drum is made of galvanzied steel sheets that have been powder coated (a low-visibility sage green color). The handles are solid molded plastic, and are pre-attached to the side panels. Not all side panels have handles on them, so pay attention to which panel goes in which location while you are assembling the unit. The compost tumbler was shipped and delivered much faster than the "advertised" time -- a Fedex Ground truck showed up at the door two days after I ordered, a pleasant surprise. It comes in two large boxes, and everything is double-boxed to prevent damage during shipment. Assembly instructions are sparse, with a number of small illustrations and almost no text. The manufacturer has an online video to guide assembly. I found it unnecessary. If you pay attention to the drawings, the unit goes together well. The assembly instructions strongly advise having two persons available for the assembly job. This is good advise, although I was able to do the entire job myself, using one tool (a 3 foot pipe clamp) that is not specified in the assembly manual. Assembly is straightforward and fairly easy until the last step, which is to assemble the 8 sides onto the two end panels to make the 'barrel." The side panels are lined with stiff plastic foam (insulation to keep the compost mixture warm as it "cooks"), and that foam must be compressed with a good deal of pressure to bring the pre-drilled screw holes into alignment for each panel. (Two stainless steel M3.5-15 sheet metal screws are used to hold each end of each panel in place.) I found the assembly went much easier if I used a pipe clamp (a woodworking tool) to hold the side panel in place while inserting the screws. It's tempting to use a power drill with a Phillips-head bit to drive those sheet metal screws into their holes. Don't do it. Stainless steel is not as hard and strong as carbon steel, and it is very easy to strip the heads on the screws with a power driver. I stripped several screw heads in the process and had to buy replacements. The only other "trick" in assembly is used in attaching the two end panels to the hexagonal sheets of foam that go on the ends, and similar assembly of two sheets of solid plastic to form a "sandwich" with the foam sheet in the center partition that separates the two sides of the composter. These sub-assemblies are held together with nylon bolts. There are no holes in the foam sheets (about 1.5" thick) so you have to push each bolt through the foam. I found it easier to push the bolt part way through one direction, then remove it and push it all the way through the other side. One could use a power drill, but it is not necessary. The sparse assembly instructions assume a certain basic knowledge of mechanical systems. They do not, for example, say which size wrench to use for which bolts.The 9/16" wrench is used on the head of the six metric bolts that attach the cross-braces. The 1/2" wrench is used on other nuts. (Metric equivalent wrenches would be 14 mm and 13 mm.) The instructions also don't describe the orientation of the self-locking (aircraft type) nuts that are supplied for application to the six M8 bolts and two long steel shafts at the top and bottom rear of the unit's stand. If you are not familiar with these nuts, the plastic "rim" that is visible on one side of the nut points out toward the thread end of the bolt (away from the head). Read the assembly instructions carefully and make sure all the parts are in their correct position before bolting things together, and you'll do well wih assembly. At the time of this review, I haven't actually started composting with this product, but it certainly looks like it will do the job well. The heavy duty components and thick foam insulation should help to retain heat in the composter and speed the composting process.

Well, I finally got a compost tumbler. After much research (I originally wanted a mantis) I found that most people using a tumbler preferred the Joraform. It looks nice, is sturdy, well made. Why not? I don’t spend large amounts of money on myself, so I asked for it for Mother’s day. My husband finally ordered it around June. (Late, I know.) It arrived the last day of August. So shipping through Amazon was unexpectedly long. No biggie. I have a lot to learn about composting and wasn’t expecting to get it going in any real significant way this year. It wasn’t until mid September that I had a spare day to assemble it. Since my hubby had a project going outside, I thought we could spend the day doing our projects together, 6 feet apart. (Sounds Covid-y.) He started installing his cold air intake and I started on the Joraform. I actually did as he did and pulled up the assembly video (made by Joraform) on youtube and watched the whole thing first. Then I rewound it and started with each individual step. It was surprisingly easy. I even stopped to help hubby with a fee issues he was having with his project. It finally came time to put the panels on. It all went to hell from here. Now, to be fair, the assembly video said you “may” need a second person to do this. It should have said “You will need a second hand and a 250lb gorilla to accomplish the next several steps.” I managed to place the first panel on my own. It was tough, but I got it and my false sense of accomplishment set in. Then, panel number two. Holy crap. There was no way that thing was going on. The foam inside, while snug, was so tight fitting that there was no way I could line up the holes. I struggled. I got mad. So I stopped and helped hubby finish the cold air intake in exchange for help with the Joraform. We attacked together. Even my husband, with his sexy arms of steel, were no match to push down on the panels to align the holes for the screws. We maneuvered and turned and swapped places with no avail. There was no way of getting enough pressure onto the thing to align it all. I finally suggested we should lay the thing in it’s side and have him and his 200lb self sit on the panels. It mostly worked. I still had to exude large amounts of force to get the screws to go into place. I did not realize, but at one point I was grunting to get the screws in. I glanced at my hubby and he had that silly grin and was raising his eyebrows at me. He mentioned liking the noises I was making. I very quickly made sure there was no more grunting of any kind, but that didn’t stop him from copping a feel every moment he got a chance. I finally told him to finish the screws. (Another cheeky grin from him.) But alas, my weight was no where near enough to press the panels down to align the holes. Fatty had to go back to sitting while I did all the work. We finished a couple hours after I started on it. I think it’s going to be a great tumbler, but don’t order it unless you have a gorilla or a horny hubby to help you assemble the darn thing. Don’t trust the assembly video. It is NOT an easy process. On the upside, he got his cold air intake installed and I got my tumbler assembled and we both got a workout in more than one way!! 😉

I love my Jora Composter. It took a little work to assemble. Review online Youtube videos before to orientate. It robust, and rotating and aerating is a breeze. No smell. I enjoy it a lot.

We've just started using our composter. It seems to be great - I have high hopes of great easy compost for the garden. It took two grown men over 3 hours to assemble - it's fiddly and the assembly instructions aren't IKEA standard. The instructions on how to use were in Swedish (not super helpful for non-Scandis). However, I found the instructions on-line and downloaded.

Had high hopes of this product, it arrived well packaged and I and a couple of friends set about assembling it. Very disappointed to encounter problems with panels that didn't go together as expected, the insulation seemed to be proud on a number of panels and only through brute strength did we manage to get the self tapping fixings in place. Noticed that there was daylight between most of the panel joints and wasn't overly surprised when water ingress through these ill fitting panels made the proposed compost very wet. Used a silicone sealer on the ill fitting joints and things are better but I will wait and see how things develop. Perhaps I just got a 'Friday afternoon' unit or maybe it's a very good idea poorly executed ( and I speak as someone who built up an engineering manufacturing company from scratch such that I was able to sell it for many millions and retire at 56 I.e. I am not a mug punter when it comes to manufacturing and engineering) Overall I would think that caution should be exercised if you buy a Joraform, at the first sign of ill fitting parts, package it up and send it back, I should have !