Crusher / destemmer

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Starting to wire brush & scrape all the old paint off the crushers. Can I buy these new anywhere? It'd be a lot easier.
 
I started with a drill & wire brush attachment. Then went to a larger hand grinder with a 5" wire brush attachment. Still had to scrape out the deep parts with an old wood chisel.
I'm really wanting to get a sand blaster & give it a try.
 
This think has 2 coats of paint. The last one brushed on. I'd love to get it down to the metal & then prime & paint it right.
 
This think has 2 coats of paint. The last one brushed on. I'd love to get it down to the metal & then prime & paint it right.

I have a pressure washer and borrowed a sandblasting attachment from a buddy to take the paint off of an aluminum boat. It's just a ceramic nozzle attached to the wand with a clear plastic tube attached, which uses Venturi action to suck blasting sand out of a bag of blasting sand. It provided a white metal blast incredibly easily and cheaply. If you had to rent the equipment it might not be so cost effective, but it sure was thorough.

If you have a metal fabrication shop in your area, they might be convinced to give them a quick blast for a few bucks, or a few bottles of wine!
 
If I had time, I would have taken it completely apart. But I have limited time before I'll need to use it. Here's after the first coat of industrial enamel. Have some orange peeling going in a spot. I'll need to sand that once it dries & wipe it down. Hope to get multiple coats on today. Not sure what the final colors will be, but I know I want everything that the grapes are going to touch to be white so I can see to clean it better. ImageUploadedByWine Making1475344345.514008.jpgImageUploadedByWine Making1475344355.364962.jpg
 
Sand blasted on this for about 1.5 hrs tonight. Didn't get it all the way down to bare metal, but close. Primer coat on now. Second primer coat before bed & top coat tomorrow.
Was just offered some free grapes on top of what I purchased, So I'm going to be busy seeing how all the work on this piece of equipment holds up. ImageUploadedByWine Making1475537711.672773.jpg
 
Not much skill here, just a lot of sweat & elbow grease.

We've run about 1100 lbs thru this weekend, much more than I thought I'd be processing this year. The machine ran like a dream. A couple minor adjustments, one Allen screw on a pulley key & I needed to adjust the crushers tighter to allow for the smaller grapes today. After crushing my first couple hundred pound by hand I believe this is one of the best purchases I've made in my wine hobby.

Thanks for the support & help.
Brian
 

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