Metal Sheet/Plate for Cider Press - Which type of metal?

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Hi All,

I have recently built a cider press (pictured and videoed below). It has had one year of operation and was successful however whatever we put between the jack and the apples snapped/broke/bent (Including Oak, Break disks, plastic and a combination of the aforementioned). Which is not great. This year we used a 10 ton jack, I do want to upgrade to 20 tons next year though and I need something to go between the jack and the apples!

The base of the jack the new jack would be a bit bigger around 14cm by 15cm (that is the smallest it would be). The plate of metal would need to be 47cm by 47cm and have the jack on top of it and not bend too much.

I have no idea about which metal to use - which is strongest for the type of use I am using it for and how thick it should be or even where to get it from - this is where I thought you guys might be able to help? I am based in West Sussex.













Thanks for any help!

[Hitch]

Is say a piece of 12mm mild steel plate with a few flat bar stiffeners welded on should do it nicely.

Might get away with thinner, but the extra thickness shouldn't cost a great deal more.

I can draw an example of what I mean if you need.....

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Thanks for your reply

Do you know the best place to get this from? Scrap metal place may work?

With the flat bar sniffers, what shape would you go for? Surely that would all cross in the middle?

Also there is the issue that they can't all go in one direction?

[Hitch]

See if you can find a local metal fabrication firm, they would be able to sort you a bit of plate, and put the stiffeners on for you.... Id perhaps make a square in the middle of the plate, and 4 bits coming off each corner, 40*10 flat welded on edge to the plate would make for a very ridgid plate...

I'll draw a pic when I'm at a computer in an hour or so.



If you get stuck, I might be able to help....

Cider, and metal.... just my subject ;)

[Hitch]

Appologies for the paint drawing, quick, and gives the idea- the jack sits in the centre....perhaps you may need to space the jack up to allow access to the release screw....

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Thanks Hitch!

Do you know what sort of price I should pay for the steel plate? 50cm*50cm*1.2cm?

I will try ringing some fabricators tomorrow - I did have a good person in Norwich (sold me the RSJs for 10 quid!) but not near him anymore annoyingly! (I am in Sussex now)

Thanks again

[Bikergirl]

I know a good place in Portsmouth if that's any good to you.

I've asked him to create various random things before, and he's never seemed expensive.

Let me know if you want his details.

[Hitch]

Looking for fabricators, i'd expect most are not back until Wednesday from Christmas....

A decent bit of 12 would probably set you back £20 i expect, but depends, if they have lots of offcuts suitable of something similar, 10mm or so, roll with it.... if they have to cut a bit of a sheet, probably end up being dearer.

One thing that springs to mind though, the plate would be about 15-16kg roughly, so could be a bit awkward for loading the pulp....

Are you in production still? thought you have done the pressing for this season.
If you are in no hurry, I may well be able to assist you....

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Bikergirl: Thanks, feel free to send me there number, I will give them a call to see if they have anything. Sadly Portsmouth is quite far away so would have to collect it when I was over there (not sure when that would be!)

Hitch: Thanks again for your help. I won't need the plate until August as you are correct pressing is done now (I did all mine over 2 days in September this year). So let me know if you hear of any plates lurking about, but I also need to get some other offcuts to act as spacers (e.g 5 20mm 15*15cm bits of steel, but could be anything). And some stronger, longer threaded rod. Willing to pay a fair bit for the lot, as well as quite a few bottles of cider...

One thing that springs to mind though, the plate would be about 15-16kg roughly, so could be a bit awkward for loading the pulp....

Good thing is you only put it on once and then it stays there and you should get 50 pints of cider 20mins later before having to remove it. May look at a spring based system in the future so there is no lifting. The jack should also Auto retract and be welded to the top saving lots of time.

Thanks

[Hitch]

You'd probably need to make some form of clamp to hold the jack in place, and also at the top, rather than weld it on.... You could use the jack to hold the plate in place, using a couple of decent springs to pull it back up when the jack is released, crude though.

Studding, most decent engineers merchant should have studding upto about M30 in stock, M36 should be got without too much bother too..normally comes in 1m or 3m lengths....Whats that at the moment, M20?

Spacers to get enough travel?

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Ye it is M20 at the moment - ideally I would like some stronger m20 rather than buying m25.

Think my m20 should hold 5 tons a bar which is not great when you are using a 20ton jack. As I am sure some bars take more than others and I don't want to kill any willing helpers.

Problem with m25 is I would have to pay 20 pounds to get the holes made bigger and aligned (my drill is hopeless once a hole has already been made). and would have to buy 24 new bolts and washers as well as the uprights. Suspect that would cost a small fortune.

Would cut 3m lengths down to 1.5 meters, which would give me room for an extra 5 cheeses, adding 60% capacity :D

[Hitch]

Next largest studding will be M24, M25 isnt a stock size.

The thing with studding, its generally classified as grade 4.6 , you can get grade 8.8 (which is what most general bolts tend to be)
I also believe you can get grade 10.9 studding, but in all honesty, I expect it would be cheaper to buy larger standard studding, and have the holes drilled out though.


What drill have you got? A twist drill, would self centre, but need a decent machine for drilling holes that big.

What i would think would make it more rigid, would be to use something like some steel channel between the top and bottom, with bolts through to make a more solid frame.

More layers you put in, the longer travel you will need on the jack though.... Thats a small problem i had with a log splitter i made for my Grandad back along. Okay for most, but stubborn ones need doing in two stages, with a packing piece put in.

Heres the splitter....
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