DIY granulator from a meat grinder

Pelleting helps to mix different nutritional supplements and feeds and increases the value of the final feed. In addition, during the cooking process you can add components that are useful, but in their pure form are not eaten by animals and birds.

Unfortunately, prices for granulators are not the lowest, so not all farmers can afford to purchase them. But if you have technical savvy and an old Soviet meat grinder, then you can try to make your own small device for making pellets.

Operating principle of a feed granulator

Before we start upgrading the meat grinder, let's look at how factory devices work. Its main components are:

• bunker for filling raw materials;
• feeder;
• matrix for forming granules;
• cutting knife;
• receiving hopper for finished feed.

The feed mixture is loaded into the starting container. The humidity of the raw materials should not be lower than 12%, otherwise everything will simply crumble into powder at the exit. You should ensure that all components are of the same grind, then the granules will turn out to be especially high-quality and even.

Next, using special rollers, the mixture is compacted into the holes of the matrix. At the exit, the finished sausages are trimmed with a knife.

Granulated feed is poured into a hopper or bags. Now it can be used to feed animals or for sale.

How to make a granulator with your own hands from a meat grinder

Now that we understand the operating principle of factory devices, we can try to make a similar device ourselves. Of course, a meat grinder will not make an industrial granulator, but it is quite suitable for the needs of a small farm.

Materials and tools

We will need:

1. Hands that grow from the right place. Because in their absence, everything else is meaningless.
2. Workbench or stand.
3. Metal lathe.
4. Bulgarian.
5. Welding.
6. Engine belts.
7. Ncoolant for cutting granules.
8. The engine itself.
9. Pulleys for belt transmission of rotation and regulation of its speed.
10. Manual meat grinder, Soviet or modern.

If all of the above is available, then you can begin to manufacture a simple electric granulator.

Manufacturing stages

The process of making a granulator from a meat grinder with your own hands is not so complicated:

1. First of all, you need to disassemble the meat grinder. We don't need a handle, grill, knives or a lid.
2. Now we get rid of the extra ribs on the screw, and bore the neck to the size of the matrix.
3. Next, we return the auger to its place and weld a pulley for the belt drive to it.
4. If you have a ready-made factory matrix from a granulator, then insert it in place of the meat grinder grate and install a cut-off blade.
5. If there is no ready-made matrix, then you can make it yourself from a steel washer. We drill holes of the required diameter and then bore them until smooth on the machine.
6. We drill holes in the legs of the meat grinder and securely fix it on the frame, and place the engine and additional pulleys there.
7. We place the belts, socket and wires.
8. We weld an additional container to the upper bell of the meat grinder to make it more convenient to load raw materials. This could be a funnel from an old drain, an old metal container or a canister.
9. We weld a protective casing at the bottom of the outlet so as not to accidentally damage the knife or fingers. You can also install a small ramp with sides to guide the pellets into the receiving hopper.
10. Next, we conduct a test run of our design. First, we carefully listen to its operation at idle: are there any extraneous creaks, crackling sounds or vibrations.
11. Then we launch a batch of raw materials and evaluate the result of work under load, as well as the quality of the finished product.

The benefits and advantages of a self-made granulator from a meat grinder

If you are lucky and know how to handle welding, lathe and electrics, then real savings are guaranteed. On average, factory granulators cost 100 thousand rubles and more. Exorbitant sums for small farmers. At the same time, buying ready-made granulated feed is not only expensive, but also risky. After all, you never know what is actually in there and whether the living creatures will die from such food.

For a private farm, a granulator made from a meat grinder is a real godsend! He is able to prepare the required amount of granules from any available raw materials (crushed grain, grass, fish-bone or meat-bone meal, bran). You can also add chalk, vitamins, fish oil, molasses and much more to the future compound feed, which will only make it more nutritious.

Anyone who has ever fattened himself using his own mixtures will never return to store-bought ones. The composition seems to be the same, but fattening is several times more effective.