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GENERAL CHEESE MAKING BOARDS (Specific Cheese Making in Boards above) => EQUIPMENT - Making Cheese => Topic started by: Tomer1 on August 31, 2011, 04:26:37 PM

Title: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: Tomer1 on August 31, 2011, 04:26:37 PM
Having back problems (FBS) and leg pain means making cheese is not as fun as It should be,
Espacially cheeses which require frequent stirring and prolong standing by the stove.

I was thinking if designing-building a cheese stirrer which can be mounted on a pot,
Has anyone attemped one and can give some hints or even plans?  ^-^

To keep costs low I was thinking of using a PE shaft with PE "arms" attached to it
Perhaps I'l make a long slit at the center,insert the plates and secure with SS bolt.
Plastic will be several times cheaper then having it fabricated from SS.
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: zenith1 on August 31, 2011, 05:06:28 PM
Hey Tomer, I have been tinkering with trying to design one also. My father many years ago(35?) made a pot stirrer out of an old grill spit motor. He fashioned the stirrer out of the spit rod with attachments for the stirring. Wish I still had it around now to copy the design. I know now that you can buy commercially made pot stirrers.
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: Tomer1 on August 31, 2011, 07:49:45 PM
I'l have to import it and it will cost a fortune I dont have.
To my understanding the gear needs to either have planetary movment or "simple circular motion" with fins wide enough to cover the entire diameter of the pot.
I need to figure out the moment required and recomended rpm to just stir,not abuse the curds  so I can chose the right motor and gear.
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: FarmerJd on September 01, 2011, 04:53:37 AM
I used an ice cream motor for over a year and it worked well. I made wooden paddles at first, then I upgraded to stainless steel paddles made by cutting a 2" SS pipe in half to make two 12: paddles and attached them to a SS shaft. I then attached that shaft to a small DC motor with a resistor so that I could control the speed. The frame it mounts on attaches to the handles of the pot. You are looking for a motor with around 1 to 5 rpm.


Pics are here (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2246.0.html) and here (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2205.0.html). No pics of the SS one yet.




Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: smilingcalico on September 01, 2011, 05:44:14 AM
There's Farmer JD!  I was just about to point him to your post.  I hope all is well.
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: FarmerJd on September 01, 2011, 01:19:04 PM
Always lurking in the shadows.  :)
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: Tomer1 on September 01, 2011, 03:04:18 PM
I have an old fan,
Maybe I can rip it apart and combine a gear stage to slow down the output.
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: FarmerJd on September 01, 2011, 03:17:06 PM
Try looking around a body shop or ask a mechanic if they have an old electric window motor. They are almost perfect rpms, they are dc so you can easily regulate the speed, and they are often mounted on a 90 degree angle so they are easy to setup. You can find one on ebay I am sure. I converted my stirrer to one of these. I use a simple ac/dc converter to provide power. Here (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/POWER-WINDOW-MOTOR-97-04-OLDSMOBILE-SILHOUETTE-LH-/110737134124?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item19c872922c#ht_770wt_1165) is an example of one so you can see the way it could be attached. I am sure you could find a cheaper one. I had a body shop friend give me two of them. Good luck.
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: Chicken man on November 22, 2011, 12:32:18 PM
Hey guys.
I am just putting together my pot stirrer right now!
I have found an old juice extractor.....the type that work by pushing the lemon half onto the spindle and it turns on .
I found the on off switch is operated by a simple micro switch that can be easily bypassed and i intend to fit a normal light switch to the outer body.
I cant regulate the RPMS, but it turns very slowly.
The hardest part will be making some kind of mount for it
Ian
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: FarmerJd on November 22, 2011, 01:09:16 PM
Good luck. Keep us posted and post pics if you can.
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: ellenspn on November 22, 2011, 02:03:51 PM
I'm also very interested since my carpel tunnel is acting up while doing a lot of stirring  :'(
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: Tomer1 on November 22, 2011, 06:28:46 PM
A juice machine is an excelenet idea!  The motor is strong and there is a high ratio gear stage so the RPM is really low and have good torque.
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: smilingcalico on November 23, 2011, 03:25:28 AM
Nice find, Tomer, that sounds like it ought to do the trick.
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: Chicken man on November 23, 2011, 12:12:03 PM
i picked up some stainless steel today for the stirring bit.
Just haven't figured out the best profile for the most efficient and all-round  stir yet
 (curds and milk)
I'm also fitting the motor into a PVC housing.
This is a bit overkill, but I figure it will serve me for some time and i like the challenge.
Ian
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: FarmerJd on November 23, 2011, 03:18:14 PM
I used two blades; one on the bottom and then one about half way up the level of the milk. I put the bottom blade on one side of the shaft and the top blade on the other side.  Both blades are angled upward to pull the milk and curds off the bottom and toward the surface. 2" SS pipe cut in half worked great for paddles.
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: cowboycheese on March 26, 2012, 09:23:17 PM
Have you a pic of the revised blades you can share?
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: Tomer1 on March 27, 2012, 06:02:33 PM
I couldnt find the old juicer, must be in the trash. so Im thinking of building one from scratch using a battery powered geared motor (3-10 rpm) ,9v operated.
Any idea what kind of torque I'l need?
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: Tomer1 on April 19, 2012, 07:14:17 PM
Got me an old juicer base , its not as slow as I was hoping for. 
Need to figure out how to make the stirrer part and mount it on the shaft.   I got some 1\8` HDPE sheet on hand.
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: Chicken man on May 15, 2012, 03:22:13 PM
Hey Tomer!
I am nearly ready to put my stirrer bit together.
I have a friend who has a lathe, and he machined the ss shaft to fit inside a very convenient whole
in the shaft of the juicer.
With a pin fitted at the top of the bit shaft, I made a type of bayonet fitting fitting to hold the bit in the juicer shaft (like an old crank handle for a motor or a car-jack).
Can put up some picks soon so you can see what I've done.
Cheers
Ian
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: gabanit on August 26, 2012, 10:14:34 AM
Hi Tomer
The best motor for this is a car's wipers, no problem to find one - used or new!
I have 2 curd stirrer made for me with such motor!
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: Tomer1 on August 26, 2012, 11:47:07 AM
How are you powering it? is it 12v DC ?
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: FarmerJd on September 12, 2012, 04:55:58 PM
I use an ac adapter off an electronic device that converts 120VAC TO 12VDC.
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: Kaiser Soze on September 17, 2012, 08:49:34 AM
Hey Tomer,

As others have mentioned, car wiper motors and electric window motors are both fantastic for the job. Both operate @ 12V or thereabouts, and both have high torque. As a benefit, wiper motors have dual speeds, fast and slow, so you can choose which works for you. Trawl through some brewing forums if you need any more ideas - some brewers have built motorised mash stirrers and it might give you some idea of how to put together the shaft and blades on the cheap, as well as how to mount it.

Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: Alpkäserei on October 30, 2012, 07:25:21 PM
One thing I have used is a stirrer made from an old windshield wiper motor. It is attached to a board that hooks on to the top of the vat, and is rigged so that it could be easily attached and detached the stirrer portion for washing.

The stirrer itself is a steel shaft on to which two aluminum fins were attached. The fins are not nearly as wide as the whole vat, but are curved in such a way as to draw and push the curd around.

Also, a breaker is hung on one side of the vat and let to hang down into the milk. This is just a flat piece of wood that disturbs the circular motion of the whey and curd so that it won't clump up or get caught in veins and patterns. 

The motor is of course a 12v. motor, it is run off of a car battery. There is no electricity on the Alp anyway.
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: Chicken man on November 03, 2012, 08:36:26 AM
Well....seems the old Juicer was not the best choice   :(
I have used it about 10 times and it worked fine....until....last time i used it with a cooler heating element, It took longer to pasteurize my milk and the
motor got so hot the drive gear melted!!!
Have an old , small drill press that never gets any use. so i think i'll adapt that.  Just need to slow it down a little with a different pully.
The juicer would work fine for smaller batches and raw milk cheese.  Take about 2 hours to get my milk to 72 degrees C
Ian 
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: Tomer1 on November 03, 2012, 03:05:31 PM
You can also dismantle a microwave motor. it likely runs off 9V rails and it seems powerful enough.
Title: Re: DIY cheese\curd stirrer,anyone made one?
Post by: Chicken man on November 07, 2012, 11:54:30 AM
Ok...thanks Tomerl