I am in the process of trying to rebuild the old apple grinder I am currently using. I have an antique press and the grinder is probably the most worn down piece of the entire cider press. I have to run the apples through a couple of times to get the pumace consistency I am looking to press. There is some good information online about how to rebuild a cider press, here is one of the best websites I know of:
http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/press/apple_grinder.html
If you are not into woodworking, or don’t feel you have the skills or tools to build one yourself, there are a number of manufacturers of new apple grinders. The, most popular are the Weston Fruit Grinder ,Happy Valley Ranch’s “Apple Eater”, and the Jaffrey Fruit Grinder.
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Hello, I have an antique cider press that was made in Quimper; I’m just about to start restoring it to use in the Autumn.
I’m not entirely sure how the mechanism works and would welcome any advice!
The square, oak, pressing plate is “suspended” via a metal collar and the cast iron fittings above are threaded to the press screw.
The bottom part of the lower cast iron part supports the pressing plate and I assume, once the press comes into contact with the apples, the screw becomes free to turn and push down the pulp rather than spinning the entire pressing plate as that would lead to a rather unsatisfactory result!
The higher of the two cast iron fittings is linked to the lower by means of a heavy ratchet that has two slots for metal “keys” that move the teeth on the lower fitting to screw down, assumedly.
Obviously, I could clean it up and try it but I don’t want to end of with a tonne of apple pulp on the press and not be able to press it!