It has come to light that a few clarifications are in order.
Very first off. The use of the Champion. The Champion is being used as a cracker and feeder. The screen holder needs a little minor modification. It comes with a grid which needs to be clipped out, and it needs to be attached (left as an exercise to the student) to the rectangular PVC fitting. You can see what I did - a light piece of sheet metal folded up and screwed on. That's it. Can you do it without the Champion? Er, yes, I guess you can, but you have to crack the nibs still, and then feed them by hand, and your efficiency will drop - why not just use the Champion? Money? Fair enough. Your call then.
And yes, I will be offering that piece for sale once I can catch my breath.
The next clarification is: what in the world that 'disk' is for, is it REALLY needed (oy, no comment), and exactly where does it go?
From this point on that disk is now a 'Deflector' - 'deflectors up captain' (sorry, couldn't resist, but I guess we ARE talking rocket science here). Its job is to deflect the husk and nib that are barreling down the feed tube, at a fraction of the speed of light (OK, a VERY VERY small fraction), dissipating their momentum, and allowing them to enter the air streams ('whatever you do, don't cross the streams...' 'ok, we are going to cross the streams...') (let me know if you need the old pop culture reference)...where was I? - oh yeah. When the nibs and husk enter the air stream at near zero velocity momentum, they enter in a controlled fashion, and can be acted on by the air stream with minimal fuse - the result, if you have not noticed, is no long drop tube. It's not just short - it's GONE. The nibs drop about 2", are out of the major flow because they are below that 2" hole, and the husk immediately turn upward and are carried away. In nearly all the designs I experimented with, the drop tube's only function was to slow down the husk via an upward moving air stream so it could be turned around and carried away. Here, the deflector does the job.
And likewise, I will offer up this piece for sale once I catch my breath.
Next set of questions?