Rack for homemade press

[doublejef]

Hi there,

I decided to design and make my owm cider press and I target to do Something like that :

For the parts that will be in contact with the apple and the juice, I would like to use only material that can be sully cleaned and sanitised. That mean only inox and plastic.
I found anything I need but the rack. Last solution is to do it by myself in wood but I would prefer other option like this :

Any idea to help me find something like that ?
I can also make it with inox plate but it will be heavy and not easy to handle.

If I finally have no choice but using wood, any advice qbout the wood to use?

Thanks guys.

 

[gregbathurst]

Ordinary flat sheets of HDPE plastic or wood are fine. The cheapest is painted plywood, I use kitchen polyurethane paint.

 

[doublejef]

Thanks, I just found a supplier that sells HDPE panel 1x2m (40x80"). Now I wonder what thikness I should take. 10-15-20mm (0,4"-0,6"-0,8").
For a matter of price and weight I would like to take it as thin as possible but I need a minimum of rigidity. What do you think for rack of ±0.7x0.7m (27x27") ?

 

[gregbathurst]

I would guess the 10mm sounds plenty thick enough, the racks can flex a bit. The width of your racks depends on how big you want the press, 700mm is a decent size, better too big than too small. Have you compared the size of Voran presses?

 

[ehall]

if you have to use wood, use oak or maple. you could also search out a stainless steel basket to use.

 

[doublejef]

I would guess the 10mm sounds plenty thick enough, the racks can flex a bit. The width of your racks depends on how big you want the press, 700mm is a decent size, better too big than too small. Have you compared the size of Voran presses?

I didn't know Voran presses. I just check the website and the biggest one is 650x650mm, 20 layer and a 50T (320bar) press. Mine is 20T but I will use less layer, 10 or so. Maybe I should reduce the layer to 600x600mm.

if you have to use wood, use oak or maple. you could also search out a stainless steel basket to use.

The price for a stainless-steel basket Is very hight, and the yield are 10-15% lower than with a rack press. At first I wanted to combine rack press with basket press by add rack into the basket but finally, I saw some video of people using this technique (there is one on the Voran Website) and it doesn’t seem to be easier to use than a rack press so I forget the idea.

 

[Chalkyt]

I have a small basket press and used 20mm (about 3/4") thick HDPE... actually a "cheap" cutting board from eBay. Grooves were cut into it using a slide compound saw, but you could do the same thing with a router. The idea of the grooves (both sides) is to provide a path for the juice to flow through. Although mine is round, you could do something similar with a square or rectangular one, I am sure the juice doesn't care. I guess that I would go for a minimum of 15mm since you would lose at least 5mm if you grooved both sides.

 

[Farside]

I can't tell from the photo if that is hydraulic or screw. I advise do not go for a screw it is frustratingly slow and fiddly especially when you have to adjust the press.

 

[uglyculture]

The larger the plate the less pressure you get in the pulp with the same force from the jack. So larger is not necessarily better. On the other hand no matter how much layer you have, you get the same pressure in the pulp.