Add Motor to Grape Crusher

Hi,

A motorised crusher does not need speed, but would do with some torque.

I am assuming that your manual grape crusher consists of two square toothed rollers, within a hopper.

A 300W or 0.75hp motor would do. A pulley system/ or gear will step down the speed and give you enough torque. The pulley system has an advantage of slip in case the system breaks to halt, therefore protecting both the crusher and the motor. Make sure you have a handy pushbutton switch nearby, to stop it immediately. (or a load protector which would do that automatically).

Such a motor would rotate at a no-load speed of about 1500-2000rpm, which is way too much. You would need to gear it down. Aim for 60-90 rpm.

Since this is a wet environment, insulate/cover all your electrics and connections. Recommendation for IP67 switch.

fishziblu

Thanks! That's the speed (rpm) I had in mind (empirically I counted 70 rpm manually). The one different piece of info about my crusher is that it uses a single large drum with spikes (scary looking thing). Would that make a difference?

Many thanks, Ben

It shouldnt make a difference. Spikes are usually used (to my experience) for harder fruit such as apples. The important thing is that all the individual berries are broken.

It would make a difference to your fingers. I would recommend the following:

• that you use a RCD to protect against shocks.

• use a foot switch like on sewing machines so that you can quickly stop the 'difference' that the spikes may make to anything that enters that shouldn't i.e. fingers, long hair, loose clothing, the cute kitten from next door etc etc....

Mike

Uh, arrrgh - I thought the cute kitten next door was coming to drink the wine...maybe I got it all backwards :) - anyway, I'll let you know how the retrofit came out, so far the crusher is dismanteled, cleaned and in "paint mode"...

Best, Ben

Uh, arrrgh - I thought the cute kitten next door was coming to drink the wine...maybe I got it all backwards :) - anyway, I'll let you know how the retrofit came out, so far the crusher is dismanteled, cleaned and in "paint mode"...

------------------------------------ I need to paint the chute my crusher/destemmer is sitting on. What kind of paint are you using and is it FDA approved?

VD

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