Do-it-yourself granulator from a meat grinder

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

Unfortunately, granulator prices are not the lowest, so not all farmers can afford to buy them. But if there is a technical savvy and an old Soviet meat grinder, then you can try to make your own small device for the manufacture of granules.

The principle of operation of the granulator for feed

Before we begin to modernize the meat grinder, we will consider how factory devices work. The main components of it are:

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

The feed mixture is loaded into the starting tank. The moisture content of the raw material should not be lower than 12%, otherwise everything will simply crumble into powder at the output. It should be ensured that all components are of the same grinding, then the granules will be especially high-quality and even.

Further, using special rollers, the mixture is rammed into the holes of the matrix. At the exit, the finished sausages are cut with a knife.

Granular feed is poured into the 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 principle of operation of factory devices, we can try to make a similar device ourselves. Of course, an industrial granulator cannot be obtained from a meat grinder, but it is quite suitable for the needs of a small subsidiary farm.

Materials and Tools

We will need:

1. Hands that grow from the right place. For in their absence, everything else is meaningless.
2. Workbench or bed.
3. Lathe for metal.
4. Bulgarian.
5. Welding.
6. Belts for the engine.
7. Nozh for cutting granules.
8. The engine itself.
9. Pulleys for belt transmission of rotation and regulation of its speed.
10. Manual, Soviet or modern meat grinder.

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

Manufacturing steps

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 and lid.
2. Now we get rid of excess edges on the screw and bore the neck to the size of the matrix.
3. Next, return the auger to its place and weld a belt pulley to it.
4. If there is a ready-made factory matrix from the granulator, then we insert it into the place of the grinder of the meat grinder and install the cutting blade.
5. If there is no finished matrix, then it can be made independently from a steel washer. We drill holes of the desired diameter and then bore them to smoothness on the machine.
6. We drill holes in the legs of the meat grinder and securely fix it on the bed, we place the engine and additional pulleys there.
7. We place belts, a socket and wires.
8. An additional container is welded to the upper bell of the meat grinder so that it is more convenient to load raw materials. It can be a funnel from an old drain, an old metal tank or a canister.
9. From below, we weld a protective casing to prevent accidentally damaging the knife or fingers. You can also install a small ramp with sides to guide the pellets into the receiving hopper.
10. Next, we carry out a trial run of our design. First, we carefully listen to his idling: are there any extraneous creaks, cod or vibration.
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 you know how to handle welding, a lathe and an electrician, then real savings are achieved. On average, factory granulators cost from 100 thousand rubles and more. Impossible amounts for small farmers. At the same time, buying ready-made granular feed is not only expensive, but also risky. After all, you never know what is really in the composition and whether the living creatures die of such food.

For a subsidiary farm, a meat grinder granulator is a real find! He is able to cook the right amount of granules from any improvised raw materials (grain crushed, grass, fish or meat and bone meal, bran). You can also add chalk, vitamins, fish oil, molasses and much more to the future feed, from which it will only become more nutritious.

Anyone who at least once led fattening on their own prepared mixtures will never return to the purchased ones. The composition seems to be the same, but fattening is several times more effective.