Maize Sheller & Corn Thresher · Sourced From China
Hand-shelling ties up a family for weeks and loses grain to mould while it waits. One machine matched to your harvest clears it in days. We are XILINK — a China-based sourcing & export company, 13 years and 550+ orders to 45+ countries. We pick the size with you, prove the factory before you pay, and land it CIF at your port with its spares in the same crate.
Start Here · Capacity
Every quote starts with one number: how much maize has to go through the machine. Find your harvest below — the rest of the specification follows from it.
| Output | A full 8-hour day | Power it runs on | What the machine is | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5–1 t/h | 4–8 tonnes | 5–8 hp diesel, or a 4–5.5 kW single-phase motor | Small drum sheller on a frame, hand-fed cobs, grain out one chute | One farm, family labour |
| 1.5–3 t/h | 12–24 tonnes | 8–15 hp diesel, or tractor PTO, or 7.5–15 kW three-phase | Thresher with blower and sieve — grain comes out cleaned, husk blown clear | Your farm plus paid work |
| 4–6 t/h | 32–48 tonnes | Tractor PTO from 40 hp up, or 18–22 kW three-phase | Wheeled thresher you tow between farms, bigger drum and screen area | A shelling service round |
| 8–12 t/h | 64–96 tonnes | Three-phase or a dedicated genset | Fixed line — feed elevator, sheller, cleaner, bagging point | Trader, co-op, aggregator |
Not Only Maize
If you are searching for a bean sheller, a sorghum thresher or a sunflower shelling machine, you are usually looking at this same drum. What changes is the concave screen — it is cut for one grain size — and the drum speed, which is adjusted per crop. So the honest answer is: usually yes, it will shell beans, sorghum and sunflower, but only if the alternate screens come with it. Order them at the time of purchase — they cost little, weigh almost nothing in the container, and they turn a maize-season machine into a year-round shelling business that moves on to beans and sorghum after the maize is done.
The Second Question
The same drum can be driven three ways. This choice decides where you can work, what a tonne costs you to shell, and what breaks first.
Goes where the maize is
Cheapest per tonne
Power you already own
What The Machine Is Worth
A sheller sized only to your own harvest sits idle eleven months of the year. The buyers who do best size it one step up and shell for everyone else — farmers bring cobs and pay per bag, or you tow the machine village to village during the window when every farm needs it at once.
That changes what you should buy: wheels and a tow hitch instead of a fixed frame, a bigger screen area, a spares kit that keeps you running through the season, and enough capacity that a queue does not form.
It also changes where you go next. Shelling is step one — cleaning, milling and bagging is where the margin per tonne multiplies, and the same customers walk to you with the grain already in their hands.
The Honest Comparison
You are comparing a price you can see in town against a price you cannot see yet. Here is the real difference — including the case where you should not import at all.
You pay today and take it home today. No shipping, no waiting, no customs paperwork.
Somebody local to hold responsible when the bearing goes, and a shelf with the common spares on it.
Against that: you pay whatever margin the import chain added, and you can only buy the one model they chose to stock — not the capacity or the power option your farm actually needs.
You choose the specification — capacity, drive, screen sizes, wheels or frame — instead of taking what was stocked.
You pay the factory invoice. We add nothing to it. We are paid out of China's export tax rebate on the shipment (9–13%), not a kickback from any factory — which is exactly why we have no reason to steer you to one supplier over another.
Against that: 30–45 days from order to port, and the freight only makes sense once there is enough in the box — one machine plus a season of spares, or your sheller consolidated with other equipment into one container.
The Part Nobody Asks About
Shelling is an abrasive job. Four things wear: the concave sieve screens, the beater teeth or hammers, the drive belts and the drum bearings. None of them is expensive in China. All of them are expensive when the machine is standing idle in harvest week and the part is six weeks away.
Screens matter twice over: hole size decides which crop you can run. A screen cut for maize will not do beans, sorghum or sunflower properly. If you want the machine to earn outside maize season, order the alternate screens with it — they weigh almost nothing and they double what the machine can do.
This is standard practice for us, not an upsell: on a recent full-farm order we shipped 295 individual wear and spare parts in the same container as the machines, so the first season could not be stopped by a part.
Why The Price In Town Is Different
Searching "maize sheller price in Kenya" or "price in Uganda" returns a shelf price with somebody's import already inside it. A price from China is built from parts you can see:
The factory's own invoice for the model and drive you chose. You pay it; we add nothing on top.
The season's wear parts and alternate crop screens, packed with the machine instead of ordered later.
Factory to Chinese port, the ocean leg, and cover on the load — together these turn the factory price into CIF at your port.
Charged at your border, not by us, and different in every country. Work it out before you commit.
Two of our free calculators do the last two steps for you.
How This Runs
Tonnes, the days you have to clear it, your power situation and whether you will shell for others. That is enough to size the machine.
Not the showroom — the line that would build your machine. Drum welds, screen thickness, bearing brand, engine make. Photos come back to you before any deposit.
Machine, spares, screens, crating, freight and insurance to your port. One invoice, itemised, so you can see what each part costs.
We run the machine at the factory and photograph the load going into the container. You approve, then the balance moves.
Invoice, packing list, bill of lading, certificate of origin — the set your clearing agent needs, not a box of surprises.
A sheller alone rarely fills a container. If you are buying a mill, a tractor or feed equipment too, they travel together on one bill of lading.
Straight Answers
Divide your harvest in tonnes by the number of working days you have before the rain, then divide by eight hours. That gives the tonnes per hour the machine has to do. A one-tonne-per-hour machine clears four to eight tonnes in a working day; a towed thresher at five tonnes per hour clears forty. Add margin — feeding, moving and refuelling all eat into the day.
Electric is cheaper per tonne wherever you have reliable three-phase power. Diesel costs more per tonne but goes where the maize is, which is worth more than the fuel saving if you shell for other farms. Single-phase power realistically caps out around 5.5 to 7.5 kW, so it only drives the smallest machines — check what you have on site before choosing.
Usually yes, but only if you have the right screen. The concave sieve is cut for a particular grain size, and drum speed often needs adjusting too. Ask for the alternate screens at the time of order — they cost little, weigh almost nothing in the container, and they are what turns a maize-season machine into a year-round one.
Often not, and we will tell you so. One small machine needed this month is usually better bought locally. Importing pays when you are buying a larger machine, when you want spares and alternate screens shipped with it, or when the sheller travels in a container alongside a mill, a tractor or feed equipment. Tell us the whole list and we will say honestly whether the freight earns its place.
At minimum: a spare set of concave screens, a set of beater teeth or hammers, drive belts and drum bearings — plus the standard service parts for the engine if it is diesel. These are the four things that wear, and they are the difference between a two-hour repair and a month of downtime in the middle of harvest.
Yes. We walk the factory line before the deposit and photograph it, then run the finished machine and photograph the load going into the container before the balance is released. If something does not match the specification you approved, it gets fixed before it ships, not argued about after it lands.
Size Your Sheller
Tonnes, days, power and whether you will shell for others. We come back with the sized machine, the spares that should travel with it, and a CIF price to your port — usually within one business day.
Factory walked and photographed before any deposit
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Keep Exploring
The next step
Shelling is step one. Clean, mill, sift and bag is where the margin per tonne multiplies.
The whole yard
Tractors, implements and harvest equipment — consolidated into the same container.
Background reading
Threshers, huskers and processing lines, and what suits which crop.
Free tool
Turn a factory price into what it actually costs delivered to your yard.