How to Build a Cider Press

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

(1) 1/2" x 15-1/2" x 36" exterior plywood
(1) 5/8" x 1-3/4" x 90" wood for molding water-insoluble wood glue
(18) 1"-flathead wood screws
(1) 5/8" x 15-1/2" x 20" hardwood board (with grain running in the 15-1/2" direction)
(42) 1" flathead wood screws or (42) 1" finishing nails

SCREW ASSEMBLY

(1) piano stool screw or other threaded rod 22" long, with nut 
 (1) 3-1/2" piece of pipe (inside diameter slightly larger than the outside diameter of the threaded rod)
(2) 5/16" x 5" carriage bolts with lockwashers and nuts
(3) 1/2" x 2" carriage bolts with lockwashers and nuts (2 if rod has ball and socket)
(1) 5/8" x 11" x 22" hardwood board (for squeezer board)

water-insoluble glue

(1) 1/2" x 6" circular metal plate
(1) 1/4" x 2" x 6" metal plate for squeezer-board
(1) 2-1/2" flat washer attachment (Fig. 2A) or
(3) 3/8" Allen screws
(1) 1-1/2" piece of pipe for squeezer-board (diameter slightly larger attachment (Fig. 2B) than piano stool screw)

HANDLE

(1) 5/16" x 5" machine bolt with 2 flat washers, 1 lockwasher and 3 nuts
(1) 1/2" x 1" x 8" metal strip
(1) 1" x 4" wooden dowel (hollow)
(1) 1/2" x 1" machine bolt with lockwasher and nut (for bolt-on handle option)

The squeezer board itself can be fashioned from two 10-3/4"-diameter wooden disks cut from 5/8" stock (again, a breadboard works fine) and glued together with the grains running at right angles. Alternatively, a single disk can be cut from exterior plywood. In any case, the wooden "lid" should fit snugly down through the basket, but not so tightly that it binds up easily.

After you've fastened the piano stool screw to the squeezer board, you'll need to mount the screw itself in the cider press frame. To do this, first locate a 3-1/2"-long section of pipe with an inside diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the threaded rod you're using. Then auger a hole, just big enough for the pipe to be hammered into, in the middle of the upper 4 x 4 framing member at the front of the press, and drive the piece of pipe down into the hole. See that this protective sleeve fits snugly in the wooden beam and doesn't wobble with the screw in place.

Next, find a nut which will fit the threaded rod and mount it to the frame, beneath the pipe. If you're working with a piano stool, tear off the legs and/or other parts of the stool's undercarriage until the threaded holder or nut has been exposed, then mount this piece on the underside of the 4 x 4. (If you're using something other than a piano stool screw, weld a nut onto a metal plate as shown in Fig. 3 and bolt the plate to the frame.) When you've finished, thread the rod through the nut, free end up.

The handle is something you may want to design yourself (I've shown a couple of ways to attack this problem in Fig. 4). The important thing, of course, is to make the crank long enough—the longer, the better—to give you ample leverage when you begin to twist away at your first batch of squeezin's. No sense making your job any harder than it has to be!

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print