PIKEMANS NEW STUFFER DESIGN

[pikeman_95]

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Well I finally crawled out of the shop and have a new stuffer design to show you. This has a minimal number of parts that have to be made by the individual. The rest of the parts come off the shelf. This keeps the cost down but also makes it easy for the mechanically challenged to make. I intend to make the plans and drawings available for 25$ and produce the two more difficult parts and sell them separately. The nice thing I like about this plan is you can easily build more then one barrel for the stuffer and use the ram and face plate on either one. If it were me building this from scratch I would have a barrel that would do lets say 6 # and have and interchange barrel for larger batches that would do 15#. I built a small stuffer for myself [6#] and a larger stuffer for a friend 10#. I have also located a source of the "O" rings so the individual will not have to try to locate them and find the right size.

Here is the small stuffer that I build for myself. All the parts are schedule 40 pipe fittings so they are not going to crack or break. I have dead headed the ram against the head with no ill affect. The ram is returned into the stuffer body with a easily purchased drill pump. I use my chordless drill to run the pump and it only takes a few seconds to retract the ram and then it is ready to fill again. The force to stuff is supplied from your kitchen sink water supply.




This is the 10# stuffer. I used 3/4 inch plywood to make the base out of. You can make it out of poly but that runs up the cost. For my small stuffer I bought a cutting board and attached it to that. I place a non slip sheet of rubber under the board and it keeps it from sliding around on the counter. The plywood is easy to work and just paint it well so that it keeps clean. You can cut out the parts with the a scroll saw. In my small stuffer I made poly straps that hold the barrel but in the larger I used 4 1/2 inch hose clamps screwed to the stuffer base. I think I will change the straps on my small stuffer to the hose clamps. They are much easier to remove.



When well painted it looks fine and the cost is low.



The front coupling has to be modified. The inside edge where it transitions from thread to the glued fitting needs to be trimmed to allow the ram to be inserted into the stuffer barrel. The end cap on the back end has to be drilled and tapped with a 1/4 inch pipe tap. There is pitcock valve to vent the air off from behind the ram when filling the barrel with water and the other fitting is to provide the water pressure to drive the ram. To clean the stuffer all you have to do is unscrew the hose clamps and unscrew the plastic union and take it to the sink and wash it.



In this picture you see a schedule 40 threaded pipe plug that is drilled out to 2 inches so that the stuffer tubes can come through it. Next to it on the right is the front adaptor face plate. This part I make and then you see the Ram next to it, which I also make. The ram is 2 inches thick and has a 1" solid bushing attached to it to allow you to have something to hold on to. This helps you  guide the ram out of the stuffer when you are extracting the ram after you are finished a stuffing project.   It also forces more meat out of the stuffer tubes when the ram bottoms out. When you are done stuffing you just put the stuffer over the sink. Remove the face plat and turn the water pressure on slowly allowing the ram to exit the stuffer. The water drains into the sink when the stuffer ram comes out. The last fitting is a bulk head fitting that fits into the face adaptor plate to provied threads to thread in all the different stuffer fittings. This bulk head fitting is available off of the shelf for less the $5.00.


Here is a picture of the stuffer ram and adaptor plat and how they fit together. The bulkhead fitting is recessed in the adaptor plate, which allows the ram to come into flat contact with the face plate. This will push all the meat possible out of the stuffer. The bolt that you see on the ram is to keep the ram from going back too far and coming out of the tube when being retracted. It is a  5/16 stainless bolt threaded into the ram.







After the tube and ram are lubed up well the ram is inserted into the stuffer the face plate O ring seal is installed. Then the adaptor face plate with the stuffing tube is inserted.I spray the ram and tube as far as I can reach with Pam non stick spray for lube. You could also use Crisco.



Then the 4 inch schedule 40 threaded pipe plug that has the 2 inch hole drilled out provides the pressure to hold it in place.





Before installing the stuffer plug, thread in which ever stuffing tube you wish to use.



The bulk head fitting is 1 1/4 inch NTP pipe thread and you can get adaptor bushings that will go from 1 1/4 all the way down to 1 1/4 to 1/2 . Your stuffing tube choices should cover anything you could need.

The valving system is designed so you use the first valve as a shut off valve to stop the sausage flow and the inside valve is cracked open to accommodate what ever stuffing speed you wish to stuff you sausage with.Smaller casings the meat is going to come at you quite fast so you will want to slow it down. All stuffing projects are easier if you stuff right after mixing the spices and meat cure.  To retract the ram you open up the pump valve and let a little water flow through the pump to prime it then shut off the water supply from the sink and turn of the drill and retract the ram.



Well that is the nuts and bolts of the project. Have a good holiday.

Kirby

[mybad]

Wow beautiful, very clean nice work.

[Sailor]

Kirby......What can I say other than I am very impressed.  I have a fancy sink faucet and I am not sure if I will be able to attach a hose to it.  Will have to check it out.  What a job!  Whoot.

[GusRobin]

Looks great - but I think it is beyond my capability. The "little trims" and little taps" usually cause me problems and frustrations. ;D

[KevinG]

Nice job, but it looks an awful lot like a potato gun  ;D

[pikeman_95]

For those that are worried about the sink adaptor. There are two ways to skin the cat. first you would be supprised the adaptors that adapt a sink faucet to a hose fitting. The second choice is to go under the sink and T into the water supply with a valve and a fitting. I use the under the sink approach when I use my larger stuffers.

[NePaSmoKer]

Yeah I'll say it is. Very professional job on all your equip.

[OU812]

Nice set up, I admire your workmanship.

[Habanero Smoker]

Great design.

[Mr Walleye]

Awesome job Kirby!  8)

I'm just curious.... what is the overall length of the 10 lb version without the stuffer tube on it.

I'm thinking.... 25 or 30 lbs... and vertical.

Mike

[BuyLowSellHigh]

Superb!  All of your designs and workmanship in crafting them is very impressive.

[pikeman_95]

Mr Walleye
The actual stuffer tube with out fittings is 30 inches. It worked out 3 inches / pound. When you switch to a larger pipe diameter the cost go up the pressure caps are quite expensive and the end cap has a rounded surface so that posses a problem of standing it up.
I would suggest that you look at a 10 or 15 pound horizontal version in 4 inch. To refill the stuffer is quite fast. You will notice the drill pump that is used to suck the ram back. I just found the pumps at Lowe's for $6.95. It only takes a couple of minutes to suck the ram back and fill the stuffer with meat. I have a ram rod and plate that shoves the meat to the back of the stuffer.   I am working on making the rams and adapter plates and possibly the modified coupling and cap available for some limited sale. I still have to work on ways to make them faster to cut my cost.
The rest of the fittings are easy to put together. I really do not want to send pipe as that is where the shipping can get expensive. It is easy to cut the pipe and glue the fittings on.  I just made a 10 # er with all the fittings and delivered it last night for a family friends Christmas gift. I made the base out of 3/4 plywood and painted them and they are going to work fine. Getting away from making these parts out of UHMW plastic sure can cut the cost. any one with a hand held jig saw can cut out the stuffer base plate and if I provide a pattern you will know where do drill the holes and how big to drill them. On my 6 # stuffer I just screwed it to a plastic cutting board. Like I said if you had a small stuffer pipe and a longer pipe the adapter plate and the ram would fit both. The stuffer tube is held on the base with a couple of 4.5 inch hose clamps and the connection is made with a plastic Union. I can take the stuffer tube off of the base and change to another tube in less then a minute. I have made myself a 6 pound stuffer tube and a 15 pound stuffer for different sized projects.

Kirby

[Mr Walleye]

Thanks Kirby.

I enjoyed chatin' with you on the phone too.

Again, great looking Job on the stuffer.

Mike

[carnie1]

Nice work, looking forward for the final plans