My grinder in action!

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?deskto...e.com/watch?v=hrBOFN9r770&v=hrBOFN9r770&gl=US

My friend found a video of my grinder. Sorry for the quality, it was dark and he had to brighten it up then YouTube had there way with it. It does about 5 gallons a minute. All questions will be answered.

????? No grinder video on the page you linked to.


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Looks like this is it:

Well i don't know what's up. My link works for me and Patricks does not. Could somebody please confirm?

wildman said:

Well i don't know what's up. My link works for me and Patricks does not. Could somebody please confirm?

Click to expand...

Wildman - Your link looks funny to us, as it's formatted for mobile devices, so we get a really stripped down page, and the desired video ID is embedded in the URL, but it's not getting translated correctly.

I suspect that my url looks funny to you, because I'm watching it on a regular computer - and I suspect you're using a mobile device. Is that the case?

neither link works for me.

PortlandPatrick said:

Wildman - Your link looks funny to us, as it's formatted for mobile devices, so we get a really stripped down page, and the desired video ID is embedded in the URL, but it's not getting translated correctly.

I suspect that my url looks funny to you, because I'm watching it on a regular computer - and I suspect you're using a mobile device. Is that the case?

Click to expand...

You sir, are correct. I was sent a link through Facebook and I attempted crossposting it here. I'm sorry this is my only connection. I'm gonna try something.

kbuzz said:

neither link works for me.

Click to expand...

Kbuzz - that's strange, when I made a functional URL I included some extraneous characters, so if you clicked the link, it was broken, but if you copied and pasted it, it was fine.

I fixed the link, so it should work now - actually, it's appearing as an embedded video. FWIW a non-clickable link to it is: youtube.com/watch?v=hrBOFN9r770&gl=US

PortlandPatrick said:

Kbuzz - that's strange, when I made a functional URL I included some extraneous characters, so if you clicked the link, it was broken, but if you copied and pasted it, it was fine.

I fixed the link, so it should work now - actually, it's appearing as an embedded video. FWIW a non-clickable link to it is: youtube.com/watch?v=hrBOFN9r770&gl=US

Click to expand...

a-ha!

yep, I was clicking the link...copy and paste worked.

Yours works for me know! Thanks! For as much as I love my Android Google sure doesn't have it altogether.

wildman said:

Yours works for me know! Thanks! For as much as I love my Android Google sure doesn't have it altogether.

Click to expand...

Well, that was my good deed for the day - I think I'll treat myself to a beer.

How fine does it grind it? and how much does it matter? I like the garbage disposal designs because it should be a much smaller pulp (and because it should be much much easier to make) Unfortunately, the garbage disposal grinders aren't cheap.
I like the idea of using a drill for the power. How did you build the hopper?
Scott

It's about pea size chunks and smaller when it comes out. the size is fine with me since I'm much more concerned with quantity. Nothing waits on the grinder anymore. just dump a 5 gallon bucket of apples in and pull the trigger. That being said I am going to add more screws to the drum and I have a bigger drill so the pulp should be finer this fall. The efficiency is sure a lot better than manually crushing them like I did before. I went from getting a little over 2 gallons to about 3 a pressing and turned a half hour job into a 30 second job.

Actually the drill was supposed to be backup in case the motor failed. I had the rod machined to accept a half inch drill and keyed to accept a pulley, I just haven't found a real cheap motor for it yet.

The drum is made from 1x12 pine scrap I had left over from a job, I roughed them out on a miter saw and mated them to the stainless steel rod then built a box around it for a makeshift lathe, then turned it round using a sharpened screwdriver. In my lack of forethought I made the drum the full size of the lumber and was too big for regular lumber to fit around so I had to add a 2x2 spacer at each corner of the box. The hopper itself is all leftover 2x12 lumber and just square box and nothing more. I tightened the clearances between the cutter and box by shoving the box into the cutter while it was running , I figured if it will grind wood it will grind apples. The funnel at the bottom is made from the same lumber as the drum and is easily detachable for cleaning via an eye hook and latch. The stand is from an old gas grill that I scavanged.

The only stuff I spent money on was the stainless steel screws and rod and machine work and wood glue for the drum. Its cost me a grand total of 90 bucks so far. Pine is certainly not the material of choice for this but I was very broke with a new baby and it was free. I clean it with bleach then vinegar then sanitizer for 6+ hours before any apples touch it and make sure the wood has already soaked up a lot of water before we start grinding. I haven't ever tasted any wood in my cider.

So at 90 dollars with free lumber, this style is not much cheaper than a garbage disposal. It sounds like its much faster though. I can't imagine anything being slower than a food processor, however.

It probably not any cheaper that a disposal. Good wood is not cheap and having pine is certainly less than ideal.Having been through a season without a grinder and after that knowing how much I loved cider after enjoying the first fruits of my labor I knew I didn't much like the labor part. I studied grinders till the next fall and watched all the videos on YouTube and whatnot. None of it looked very promising. while the disposal grinders all worked for the most part it still seemed like to much work chopping them and feeding apples one at a time. On the other hand it seems to me that most of the grinders built on the same principal as mine didn't even qualify as functional at best and some even sort of working were downright hazardous. But there was one that worked well and i copied much of it. The main thing I changed is the circumference of the drum. The little ones didn't work the one that did was bigger. I made mine 11 x 11 inches and it is a tad too big. If I built another one it would be 11x 8 so I could surround it with regular lumber and not require such a large drill or motor. The trade off would be great because even if it ground only half as fast it would still have a much greater capacity than I could ever use without going pro.

Wildman, from what I have hears yours is the best design for a homemade grinder. One variation is from Claude Jolicoeur, a cider maker from Canada. You can see his grinder at https://picasaweb.google.com/cjoliprsf/AppleGrinder2010
He uses thin bent SS strips from pipe collars to slice through the apples.

Edit: Claude's website is here It is well worth a read, has lots of good info on cidermaking in North America.

Wow I haven't seen his site before. That doesn't happen very often. He obviously put a lot more work into his grinder. I like that he went with a big wheel. I think that's the key to making these work. I thought about putting baffles in mine to direct the apples but a test run showed it wasn't needed.

If I remember correctly reading the mailing list he didn't believe that screws worked as teeth. Hmmm thinking

Wow I haven't seen his site before. That doesn't happen very often. He obviously put a lot more work into his grinder. I like that he went with a big wheel. I think that's the key to making these work. I thought about putting baffles in mine to direct the apples but a test run showed it wasn't needed.

If I remember correctly reading the mailing list he didn't believe that screws worked as teeth. Hmmm thinking

People comment that you need to have proper spacing for the teeth, they don't work if you have them too close together. Claude is an engineer, I wouldn't have the skills to make a grinder like his.