Wranglerstar Forum

Hello all, I figured I would share my progress of a cider press I am restoring. I don't know if this should be under homesteading or general, or tool restorations but please put it where you see fit.(Mod)
I picked this up a a month ago in the corner of an old barn. It was in pretty bad shape, but that's the way I like to get stuff.
This mill is a Ferrel, Ludlow, & Rodgers made between 1863-1877. Its pretty amazing what they could do back then. Anyways onto the pictures.
This is the condition when I picked it up. I wish I would have taken some pictures of it in the barn.

I would say that you can still make a good working machine
very nice
greatings from holland

I began to made a new frame for it. It was originally bolted together but I decided I wanted to use as much mortise and tenon joinery I could.
Here are the two main pieces of the frame with the lay out lines on them.

Here is the first mortise cut out.

The main frame mostly together.

You can see from the original pictures it used to have three legs, but I like the look of the four legged ones much better. I modified the frame a bit so I would be able to make it a four legged one. That's why the tenons are on the main frame and not on the original.

Here you can see the main upper grinding assembly. One of the ears is broke off and wouldn't you know it, the original broken off piece was sitting on the press when I picked it up.


So I started a fire by my garage and cleaned up both surfaces to be welded. I threw the pieces in the fire and let them sit there for 30 mins or so. I pulled them out and had my wife running the torch on the pieces while I welded them and peened them. After the welding and peening were done I threw the piece back into the fire and let it cool down slowly in the fire.
Here is the piece after it had been repaired.

This is the underside of the press. After it goes through the first roller, the pieces fall and have to run between these two milling rollers.


I sandblasted all the cast pieces, here you can see the broken pieces before it was welded in the bottom left of the picture.

Here is a picture of the top roller that does the chunking.


This was the first color I painted it and I didn't like it so I took it back and they retinted it for me.

This is where I am at with the project right now. I will post more pictures as I make progress.

Here is my little helper cleaning up after me.

Realy a great project and work. Can't wait for an update!

Thank you, I just got home and am going to try and get the upper assembly together. More pics hopefully tonight.

This is great work! I have been looking for an old apple press myself. Keep us posted.

Thanks guys, I made a little progress today. We decided to go to a birthday party so that ate up most of the day after church, so I didn't get as much done as expected, but none the less I took some steps forward.
I got the shafts for the rollers cleaned. Their not perfect but its also not a rocket ship either.

It will mark it as spam if I post more then two pictures per post so thats the reasoning behind all the post if anyone is wondering.

Here are all three shafts ready to go.

These are the rest of the parts, I painted them a couple of weeks ago.

Here are the two grinding rollers assembled on the frame temporarily for motivation sake.

This the the clearance I think I'm going to run to start off with and see how it does. I have no idea what to set them at, if anyone has any idea's let me know. One roller spins much faster then the other.

Here it is with the upper assembly on it. Just two bolts and you can remove the assembly for cleaning.

Here is the view from the top.

I still have to make the funnel thing that goes on the top assembly. I don't know that's called and also the bottom shelf. I don't know the height yet because I don't have any juice barrels to measure. I know an elder woman that has some juice barrels and she told me I could stop by and take some measurements, but we haven't been able to scheduled a time where both of us have the free time at the same time.

Anyways, that's it for this weekend. Here are a couple pictures of my youngest daughter and I and also of my oldest daughter.

Great!
Are you planing to put some photos off using it, when apple season!?
The big wheel will be turned by hand? The smaller one (press i guess) is for pressing the pulp after grinding?

It has a handle that you turn, not the flywheel. The flywheel is to keep the momentum going and also so you can run a hit and miss engine off of it with a wide leather belt.

Thank you for the kind words. I made some tapered keys for it tonight after work. Sorry no pictures.

Love watching this come back together, thank you for sharing!!

Really digging that paint job! Will you protect the wood or leave it raw? How is it to clean?

I am so-so on apple and applesauce but I LOVE me some cider!!

Thanks guys, I will finish it with something, just don't know what yet. I was thinking mineral oil with bee's was mixed with. That's what we do for our cutting board and it works well.

As far as cleaning, I have no idea. But I will let you know when the time comes.

Been busy lately, but I have made some progress.

A really good friend of mine is a blacksmith full time and I asked him to make me a axle for the handle that I made. He whipped it up in about 2 mins. I should have taken some pictures of him making it but I didn't.


The next challenge was the make the hopper. It took me close to two days and 6 attempts but I'm finally happy with it. It looks much more easy to make then it is, there are several compound angles that were difficult for me to make.



Next was to pour new bearings. I had never poured babbitt before but its quite a challenge to do. The setup like everything else is the most important thing. This was my fist attempt and it turned out really good.

I finished pouring the rest of the bearings today and they turned out great. I couldn't be happier with the outcome. I had my wife take a couple of pictures while I was making my last pour.

I had to preheat the bearing housing so the babbitt wouldn't cool to fast. Preheat to 400 degree's, and you want the babbitt to 700 degree's.




Starting to pour


Keep pouring, it shrinks when it cools.

All done, you then slide it off the shaft, scrap it to fit.


Assembled for a test fit.

Great work there!
When are you planing to make some apple juice? Can't wait to see it in action!

What chisels are those you are using in the pics above?

Most of the chisels I have are vintage Greenlee's. Its kind of a local thing, they were made 30 miles from where I live and grew up. They are a high quality chisel in my opinion. They hold a very nice edge for a substantial amount time. I also have a 3/4" Buck Bros. that I use quite often and I also like that a lot.

I will take some better pics of my chisel collection tomorrow night after work.