How to make a do-it-yourself apple press?

Often, the size of the harvest from the summer cottage is so large that the gardener does not have the strength and time to process it, and it is a pity to throw it away. The ideal solution to this issue is to use fruit for making puree or juice. To do home canning, you need a special device - a press. Purchased juicers, regardless of the type, are not able to cope with a solid harvest of fruits. In this regard, most gardeners prefer to make a garden press for apples with their own hands. To create an apparatus, no specific knowledge and qualifications are required. All you need is to stock up on materials, tools and patience.

A jack for apples has in its structure: a base - a frame, a container, a pressure device (jack), a pressing element. Other ways of creating the device are also allowed.

From the tools and materials we need:

• welder;
• electric drill;
• angle grinder;
• a container in the form of a tank (a component of an old washing machine is possible, but exclusively intact, without defects inside, chips or corrosion / mold) - 50 liters;
• iron channel 10-12 millimeters - 150 millimeters;
• iron corner 40-50 millimeters - 3200 millimeters;
• wooden slats (preferably oak) 40x25x400 millimeters - 50 pieces;
• matter - 1 m2;
• jack - 1 piece;
• crane - 1 piece;
• polymeric fishing 2 mm thread - 3 meters.

The algorithm of actions is as follows.

• Frame... The frame is one of the most key components of the press, it must have a powerful structure, the entire load during operation falls on it. The side elements of the apparatus are made of a steel angle 85 mm long. The lower and upper parts of the frame must be made of a 70 cm channel; additional frame reinforcement can be made by welding the gussets between the corners and the channel. All parts are connected by welding in touch zones. In addition to the steel frame, you can practice wood boards with a thickness of 5 centimeters or more. The boards are connected by means of 10 or 12 mm studs and tightened with nuts. It is easier to make a press from wood, only the structure cannot withstand heavy loads, for a small harvest this is a relatively suitable option. The manufactured frame must be carefully sanded and coated with a specialized paint for metal surfaces.

• Capacity for the device. The presented design uses a 50-liter stainless steel digester. A hole is drilled in the lower part of the tank, a stainless steel tap is installed. Instead of a tank, you can use an ordinary pan of the required volume. A lattice made of oak slats is placed in the container. The parts are cut from a solid oak board (you can use a parquet board), their length corresponds to the height of the tank. Holes of 2-3 millimeters are drilled at the ends in the edges of the rails, through which forests or non-corrosive wire are threaded. By combining all the racks, we get something like a basket. There should be a gap of 2-3 millimeters between the slats, through which the fruit juice will flow.

You can do without a tank altogether by connecting the rails with galvanized hoops and placing the container on a pallet, where the squeezed liquid will accumulate. As a pallet, you can practice a plastic stand from a large planter for flowers or a stainless kitchen sink. There are designs where the mechanism for pressing apples is a frame mechanism, there is no basket in it, the apple pulp is placed in the material between the drainage grates in several rows and squeezed out.

• Piston... The piston for the apparatus should be made from the remains of oak planks, laying them crosswise, using a compass, draw a circle of the required radius and cut it out with a jigsaw. Connect the slats with self-tapping stainless steel screws or tie them with a stainless steel or copper wire. If there is a log in the house, then you can cut a round pancake of the required diameter and thickness.

• Actuator. A jack is used as a pressure device in an apple press. A 3-ton hydraulic vehicle lift is enough for the juice extraction unit. For greater confidence, you can take a jack that provides a force of more than 3 tons. Under the jack you need to saw small wooden plates for slipping them in during the squeezing process.

• Filtration material... To filter apple juice, you need a strong cloth that can pass liquid through. The easiest option is to use a polyamide sugar bag. Polyester, propylene, lavsan, or a strong cotton or thick linen cloth are equally suitable for filtering so that pressure cannot break them.

• Another important component is the jack support. As a rule, it is made of wood: it is necessary to put together the slats and cut out a circle of a slightly smaller diameter from the resulting shield than the working body. You can use an angle grinder to cut a support from a sheet of stainless steel.

It is possible to manufacture a press with a quick-release mechanism, then you will not need to deliberately purchase a jack, but you can practice the duty officer in the car trunk. In any case, apple yields are not good every year.

In contrast to jack presses, screw assemblies require the use of large manual forces, which reduces the productivity of this mechanism.

Main components:

• bed;
• body (pulp is placed in it);
• a bowl or stand made of sheet metal, knocked together wood boards;
• working node;
• 2 iron pipes;
• a circle for a crank screw;
• piston;
• wooden lattices.

Step by step guide.

• Based on the size of the future press, steel pipes of the required length are selected, as well as metal profiles, which are welded together in the form of the letter "P".

• A hole is drilled in the profile at the end through which a threaded screw head must pass. It must be fixed by welding.

• A support structure or a clamp must be welded to the pipes.

• At the bottom of the screw, an emphasis is placed in the form of a circle (steel or wooden) with a diameter smaller by 0.5 - 1 centimeters than the size of the pulp reservoir. A handle is fixed on top, through which the screw will rotate.

• For the manufacture of the case, they take slats from wood 3-5 centimeters wide and up to 0.5 centimeters high. They are cut into 20-30 elements of equal size and cleaned at the ends with sandpaper, which will make it possible to further freely place the filter material in the tank.

• 4 strips of 3-5 centimeters in width and length equal to the circumference of the tank are cut from the steel plate. At a distance of approximately 6 centimeters for the outer circle and 5-5.3 centimeters for the inner circle, bolt holes are drilled. The slats must also be drilled at the same height below and above.

• The body is assembled by fixing each rail in pairs to the upper and lower plates. For the convenience of extracting waste apples, you need to make a "door". For this, the fourth part of the circumference is fixed on separate plates, and is attached to the body itself by means of hinges or other special elements.

• The pallet is made of a metal sheet with rolled edges approximately 7-10 cm or a plastic bowl in which a hole is drilled.

The creation of a homemade apparatus will not cause complications. Be that as it may, in order for the device to function flawlessly and last a long time, it is necessary to take into account some points. It is advisable to remember and adhere to the following recommendations:

• for the apparatus to function effectively, it is necessary to practice strong and dense materials to filter the juice (linen, polyester, nylon are optimal);

• for the device to be stable, the main one must be large and wide enough - with a different development of events it will be difficult to use the product;

• starting work, you should not try to immediately squeeze out all the juice, since excessive force can become a circumstance for a filter rupture or frame breakage;

• the sides of a homemade pallet must be sufficiently high - at least 10-15 cm, otherwise the juice will spill;

• in order to minimize the load on the structure, apples must be cut into several parts in advance using an ordinary knife or a specialized shredder (the device can be purchased, but, as a rule, it is also made on its own and is built into the pressing unit);

• container for juice - you can practice a large pot or tank, and install a tap to drain from below;

• when a wooden barrel is used, it must be made of parquet planks;

• when the drum of the washing machine is used, it must be clean and impervious, without corrosion and fungus;

• the body of the unit, the most ingenious option - in a pyramidal shape made of wooden lattices.

Next, see a master class on making an apple press with your own hands.