Kona's Pictorial DIY Cider Press for 2009

Building my own apple grinder and press.

Thanks to Matthias Wandel! Dude, you rock.
My apple grinder is based on his much better woodworking skills!
Here is a link to his page at http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/press/apple_grinder.html

Sunday October 18th, 2009

Mark took me up on my barter offer on craigslist.
We pressed about 280lbs of apples into about 15 gallons of juice in about 3 hours.


YouTube part 1	YouTube part 2	YouTube part 3


Mark grind.	Grinded.

Wrap in cheese cloth.	Stack and crush.

Juice pour out.	Happy.

Save juice.	Compost.

Sunday October 3rd, 2009

Finished! Reworked the hydralic pump.
I should have gone with a bottle jack.

Wednesday October 7th, 2009

Now that it's done, I've found some design flaws.
It works ok but the hydraulics are WAY over engeneered.


When I build another one. This is how I'll do it. All wood (except for that pin).	Grinder design wouldn't change much.

Tuesday September 29th, 2009


Running out of time. Most apples are gone.	The drain racks and drain trough are done. The stand for them is done. The drain trough has to be high enough to drain into the buckets.

I've attached the pump to the grinder assembly and built a platform for it. The 1/2hp GE motor isn't strong enough to overcome the valve bypass. I'll see if I can adjust it today.	I'm using an old boat motor gas tank for the hydraulic resevoir. I'll look into fittings for it today, but the hydraulic hose and fittings are a large part of costs and are adding up. That big intake hose with a fitting on it was $14.

Saturday August 14th, 2009


Lay out the parts of the drain board.	Using foodsafe silicone sealant for the the edges to prevent leaking.

The control valve assembly.	Hydaulic lines to the ram.

IMPORTANT! I heard from a guy that new designs dictate that all the hydraulics be BELOW the food to prevent hydrualic fluid contamination. This involves a system where the ram presses upwards and the whole drainboard is raised to to crush the fruit.
Well, it's too late now. I'll have to modify my plans next time and just be careful to check for leaks on this model.
Saturday August 1st, 2009


Most of the welding of the brake frame is done. Yea!	My welds are getting a little better but still crappy.

I used some u-bolts to hold the ram.	This work is dirty. (Uh, how'd he take that pic?)

Thursday July 30th, 2009


Started welding the frame for the press this week.	My welds are REALLY crappy but I hope they hold.

Tomarrow I will attach the top angle iron that will hold the ram. I'll also have to find wheels cuz this sucker is gonna be heavy.


Got a Ram! - estate sale $25 cuz they didn't know if it was bent.	My control valve has two outputs, a bypass and a regulator. I've cleaned it up since this picture.

I obtained a gear pump, control valve, and hoses for $100 from a forklift repair shop.

Thursday July 16th, 2009


I've pretty much completed the apple pulverizer. Next step, build the press.	I used a lot of 1/4" threaded rod to hold all the wood together.

Constructed a big pully out of a sandwich of scrap plywood wire reels. The axle is a scrap piece of 1" ridgid pipe.	The large belt is an old ford taurus serpintine belt cut skinny (in the groove) with a pair of snips. It now fits the v belt pully on the motor.

The grinding drum is a homemade glue laminate formed around the pipe. It's been rounded into a cylinder with the table saw and a jig I rigged up.	Hex head sheet metal screws randomly screwed into the wood. Left about an 1/8 inch sticking out.

It's taked me a pathetic ten months to get this far.
I sure hope the press doesn't take that long. 2010