cider press

[stoatyboy]

people do seem to get keen on these things so here's mine will upload in three sessions as there's a lot of pics

Frame first

Started with some botched legs i'd made (murdered) when I didn't have a clue - these came from the edge of a car park the bits used to stop people driving into the bushes Sapele or similar I think

please note previous shocking joinery and way way off centre holes - incredible how your stuff improves when you find this place

so cleaned those up by filling the holes and using a selection of power tools with a chisel at the end - much better

now for the cross bars - take some old oak fence posts - pictured with a selection of the tools used to get them ready (or prep my stock!) the half wood plane I got from a forum member a while ago with loads of other stuff for a fiver - he just wanted to see it used so here you are hope your looking!!

used it a bit like a scrub plane in case i hit a nail before it went in the planer/thicknesser

once cleaned up and sized cut the joints with a router

cleaned and fettled with chisel

it fits together!

i need to get these through to hold it

start with one of these (no drill press - on the list)

finish like this - not pretty but it works

chisel a rebate

for this

coat of this or two

frame finished!

wingnuts used for reason revealed later - bolts m10 galvanised stainless would be better

and I must just say I love the contrast of these two woods together - i did a coffee table with oak and sapele (ithink) and they do go nice

anyway enough for one night will post the table section next - Cheers

 

[Chrispy]

Two things thats not Sapele and your workspace is far to tidy =D>

Very tidy work by the way

 

[stoatyboy]

I tidy it up for the photo's!! cheers

 

[maltrout512]

That's going to be quite some press.

 

[billybuntus]

Excellent work, I'd like to make a press one day when I have the time.

Where did you buy the threaded fitting from?

 

[stoatyboy]

OK onto part two - if I new how to update the title to say 'updated' I would ...

so questions first:

if it's not Sapele for my uprights any ideas what it might be? it was a guess
the screw fitting is an axminster york tail vice order no 510199 - other screw apparatus' are available
and yes it's chunky but when your neighbours 6'6" 15 stone copper brother in law comes over for a go and gives it some welly you'll be glad it is chunky - it survived bless it

so onto the table - not so interesting but necessary.

a sheet of 18mm far eastern ply with soft wood sides and some corner bracing screwed and glued

we drill a hole at one end to let the juice out (its these little design details that make all the difference you know) and a cross bar to slot in between the lower cross bars of the frame (that's what the wing nuts are for mentioned above - holds it all steady and locks it in place)

next all the bits for the legs out of ash - I had some left over - but not enough sadly to use for the cross bar above that's oak - never mind

we then screw and glue all these bits on

they are screwed through from the top for strength - not pretty unfortunately and I would love to think of a tidyer way to do it - maybe a thin 'over sheet' to cover them but it's already pretty heavy. You can see the cross bar was fixed the same way.

the eagle eyed among you will have spotted the four 'odd' holes in the middle of the table filled up - I was going to have just the one leg on the table my thinking being that three legs will always settle on an uneven surface like my patio. It didn't work so I drilled them out to 6mm and filled with dowel - I didn't have any bigger dowel and this left the countersink for the screws still not filled so in a moment of pure inspiration I thought I'd make a feature of them and fill with a contrasting timber and PVA - the idea was to make those Karl Holtey-esqe rivet things he used a while back. I don't think Karl has anything to worry about just yet! The cider won't mind though.

moving swiftly on - drilled some holes and fixed the rest of the legs on

here they are 'up'

here they are the right way up - which is down

that's it for the table - no fine joinery I'm afraid but I just had to bash something together otherwise i'd have missed cider season (again) and my old press really had had enough - it was hateful to use.

next up the basket - final episode and I might hopefully regain a little cred!

cheers

 

[milkman]

Looks great! I made this very rough and ready one powered using a bottle jack:


IMG_0147.jpg by markuspalarkus, on Flickr

I works fairly well but I need to make a better bed for it. Actually I want to make a bigger one but am thinking slippery slope!

Marko

 

[bugbear]

we drill a hole at one end to let the juice out (its these little design details that make all the difference you know) and a cross bar to slot in between the lower cross bars of the frame (that's what the wing nuts are for mentioned above - holds it all steady and locks it in place)

I think you should run a bead of bathroom sealant (or similar) around the perimeter of the hole; at the moment I strongly suspect the juice would run (by capilliary) all over the under-surface of your table. The bead would act just like the drip edge on a window sill or door weatherboard.

BugBear

 

[milkman]

we drill a hole at one end to let the juice out (its these little design details that make all the difference you know) and a cross bar to slot in between the lower cross bars of the frame (that's what the wing nuts are for mentioned above - holds it all steady and locks it in place)

I think you should run a bead of bathroom sealant (or similar) around the perimeter of the hole; at the moment I strongly suspect the juice would run (by capilliary) all over the under-surface of your table. The bead would act just like the drip edge on a window sill or door weatherboard.

BugBear

You could run some rope or (stainless) chain from the hole and the juice will just run down that

 

[bugbear]

I think you should run a bead of bathroom sealant (or similar) around the perimeter of the hole; at the moment I strongly suspect the juice would run (by capilliary) all over the under-surface of your table. The bead would act just like the drip edge on a window sill or door weatherboard.

BugBear

You could run some rope or (stainless) chain from the hole and the juice will just run down that

Elegant.

BugBear

 

[stoatyboy]

These are both good ideas thank you but what I have actually done is cut the bottom narrow bit off of a funnel and drilled the hole so it is a very tight fit and stuck it in so I have the base of the funnel projecting out about two inches below the base of the table.

i'll see if I have a pic when i post up the next set of the basket

cheers

 

[Dangermouse]

If I were you I would line the trough with plastic sheet, as the cider will soak into the ply and as well as the ply tainting the cider, after a while the wood will be blooming with all sorts of yeast and mould which will ruin the cider.

 

[stoatyboy]

Ok lets get this finished - warning - metal work involved not pretty!

DM thanks for the suggestion - I've covered it in Ronseal 'kin hard floor varnish which works fine but you're right we need to keep those nasties out of the cider

So we're going to do the baskets so we need some more high quality reclaimed timber for the staves

Clean up square enough to resaw using 1930's record no 5.5 yum

end up with pile for sawing

which gets sawn up ( stop me if i'm going too slow)

once thicknessed to dimension we can saw the staves using the angle feature on the tablesaw (no guard no riving knife i'm a **** and i'm not making anything else until i've sorted that out but got away with it this time)

a quick schwip with the no4 and theyre ready for the next bit

need a lot of holes the same - no drill press so I tend to end up building jigs like this - couple of bits of off cut with the angle on stuck to a board with a stop and the axi drill guide screwed on - works fine but not pretty

here's a stave slid in and being drilled - it's not as good or quick as a drill press but it's a darn sight cheaper!

so we end up with a stack of staves ready for sanding and more 'kin hard floor varnish

so metal work needed for the hoops - I am not a metal person so those of you good at this may need to look away...

take a piece of 25mm by 2mm steel from B&Q and cut to length - place under a template (the rusty bit) and drill 24 holes

then place it in a vice and bend it like this (this is a short joining piece but the hoops were done the same way)

to end up with a perfectly circular band of steel

have a cup of tea, calm down take a deep breath etc and go slowly taking care and attention and hey presto!

the circle on the bench is what I work to simple but effective enough - two hoops all cleaned and ready for painting - plasticote project enamel if you wondering

then go back and drill all the holes the right size for the screws you bought - doh

screw it all together and you get a rather smart looking basket!

detail of the join - i can't weld so bolted a joining strip across - M5 bolts the M4s pinged off under pressure! got some M6's ready in case but so far no need

so couple more bits glue and screw some ply for a press plate and fix a recieving bit for the screw to locate in (got someone to weld this up for me £10 don't know if that's good or bad seemed ok)

and she's ready to rumble - what a little stunner eh? Gorgeous

and here's what we make - Uncle Stoat's Sussex Cider!!

hope you enjoyed it I must say the jack powered presses like shown above are easier to make and I reckon a bit more efficient (having used both) but I wanted a basket press so here you go

all comments as ever gratefully received

cheers - Pete

 

[milkman]

I think the secret is in the scratting (making the apple pulp) more than the press. The basket ones look as though they can keep together a cheese that is many more layers higher. Cool!

 

[stoatyboy]

Bang on Milkman - we use a garden shredder - adapted and kept for cider only

but that's not woodwork!!

cheers

 

[wallace]

Hi, I'm impressed by your press. If you want to make a wood based apple scratter have a look at this. http://www.ukcider.co.uk/wiki/index.php ... e_Scratter.
I have accumulated nearly all the bits and plan to make it ready for next august.

 

[stoatyboy]

Thanks for that but you know the rules

no photo's - it didn't happen!

there is also a thing on the woodgears web site about making an apple mill maybe you could use the best of both

cheers

 

[mike s]

Thanks for that but you know the rules

no photo's - it didn't happen!

there is also a thing on the woodgears web site about making an apple mill maybe you could use the best of both

cheers

here it is

http://woodgears.ca/cider/

 

[milkman]

That scratter is ace I've seen it before. Sadly I haven't the room for one or I'd be all over this