# Homemade apple/fruit chopper (pics)



## spaniel (Sep 11, 2013)

Since others have asked about similar devices before, I thought I'd take and post pics of mine while I had it out in use. 

My father read about this when he was a kid (1950s). In his teens, he made a very rough version and used it to make cider. Decades later, he made this more refined version for me when I got into winemaking. I've had this for about 9-10 years now.

It uses an old furnace motor as the drive. The hopper is precisely located by 2 screws/pins, and then firmly held in place by a turnbuckle on each end:






The chopping is controlled by pretty tight clearance between the stainless steel screws driven into the cylinder:





A final shot of the working parts with the hopper removed:





This rips a handful of ripe apples up in several seconds. Softer stuff like peaches shred straight through. I have used it to destem small red grapes by freezing them solid then running them through still frozen; the grapes pop off and you can easily sift out the stems.

If I could change anything in a subsequent design, there would only be 2 changes:
1) Stagger the screws more. If you run tart, green apples through -- the type that make the best wine -- they are hard and can jam it up if a half-stripped core wedges between a row of screws and the aluminum plate. Rare, but happens.
2) Re-design the hopper with a baffle to keep apples in once they get halfway down. As-is one must drop a handful in then slam the cover closed until they all get through as they get thrown back up into the lid. Not a big deal, but with a ramp/baffle they would be trapped below that and could be continuous-fed.

As is I fed four milk crates of apples -- enough for ~9 gallons of wine -- through in 5-7 minutes.


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## Runningwolf (Sep 11, 2013)

Spaniel what an awesome shredder! Simple and affordable. Thank you for sharing.


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## jamesngalveston (Sep 11, 2013)

very smart idea,...if it works in your head, it will work on the table..
good job.


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## LoveTheWine (Sep 11, 2013)

nice work!


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## spaniel (Sep 11, 2013)

Thanks gents. I will let my father know. This was entirely him, not me. He had it 100% built before I ever saw it or had input.


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## JohnT (Sep 12, 2013)

Real nice. I like the fact that you can load it up, close the lid and then start her up (so no hands get caught in it).


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## wood1954 (Sep 12, 2013)

Very nice. I made one like this, but used wood for everything and made a hand crank. doesn't work very well. I'd love to motorize it.


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## LoveTheWine (Sep 12, 2013)

wood1954 said:


> Very nice. I made one like this, but used wood for everything and made a hand crank. doesn't work very well. I'd love to motorize it.



Try attaching a 1/2" corded drill to the shaft.
I did this and although it is not as nice as a pulley/motor system it does work pretty nicely


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## spaniel (Sep 12, 2013)

JohnT said:


> Real nice. I like the fact that you can load it up, close the lid and then start her up (so no hands get caught in it).



I'm pretty sure it would jam if you did that. I put 4-5 apples in my left hand, open the lid, drop them in and drop the lid. My hand is never within a foot of the moving parts. If I were to modify it I'd add a ramp to roll them down, then they'd roll onto another going the other way so they end up under the first and pieces can't fly back out and it could be continuous fed.


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## WVMountaineerJack (Sep 13, 2013)

You could also modify the lid and put a hole in it big enough for 1 apple at a time, that way you could keep feeding it and it would hard forthem to jump out. Very cool of your Dad to build this for you. WVMJ


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## spaniel (Sep 13, 2013)

WVMountaineerJack said:


> You could also modify the lid and put a hole in it big enough for 1 apple at a time, that way you could keep feeding it and it would hard forthem to jump out. Very cool of your Dad to build this for you. WVMJ



It would spit a lot of pieces straight up through that, which is why I wanted to go the baffle route. Not hard to do, but it works so well the way it is I just haven't invested the time.


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## jamesngalveston (Sep 13, 2013)

you could taper the feed tube and use a plunger type tool much like a cusinart, etc...


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## LoneStarLori (Sep 13, 2013)

That is really neat. Thanks for posting. I love how when they needed something back then, you made it. Nowadays we just get in the car or go online. 
I was thinking today of making some cider. Only a gallon so I don't need anything that fancy. The recipe calls to "press the apples" for juice. Now I was thinking I could use my food processor to chop them a bit, but how do I get juice out without all the pulp? Any suggestions?


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## vacuumpumpman (Sep 13, 2013)

Thanks for taking the time to post such a great idea !!


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