1HP Gear Pump Style Cream Machine Under $900 - Pics/Parts List/Build

[miohman]

Very nice. Going to build one myself. Is there any reason that you couldn't use a 3 phase motor and a vfd and just run it at your desired rpm?

[WoodButcher]

Hey there. You can do that no problem. In fact, the machine from Sunrise Metals has a variable speed gearbox i heard. Speed it up when mixing, and slow it down when canning. 115rpm's works fine for me. I fill 1/2lb jars in about 3 seconds, and thats with the valve throttled a tad more than half way.

[Romeo]

Beautiful job!

[SognSyrup]

Great build. Thanks for sharing!!

[jakeleveto]

Thank you for this post Jeremy, it has saved me $2000 from buying the Lapierre 2HP model. I just finished the machine last night and made my first batch this morning, it worked amazing. The only thing I changed was the gear reducer and coupler since that one was out of stock, I forget what I got but it was almost the same ratio and had a slightly different sized output shaft. Time to get serious about cream, it was such a PITA making it last year on my candy machine!

Pictures - http://novamaple.com/maple-cream-machine/

[Ryan Mahar]

awesome post!!!

[WoodButcher]

Jake,

just saw your reply now. great build man. im glad my post helped. I have a blast seeing if i can build things like the pros do.

Cream accuracy tip: Drill a hole in a cheap ss pot and get a ss 1/4" thread-on bulkhead fitting , or weld on a bung and use a long shaft syrup thermometer with a +50 degree scale and use that. i used a hand held digital thermometer last year and i pulled the pot off too early... cream came out fine but separately slightly.

This year i took an old 5 gallon ss brewing pot and installed this , bought a 1/4" reducer , and threaded the thermometer in. it was dead on. the cream came out incredible. pulled it off at +22/23 fyi. as always, zero it out with tap water first...

the simpler way is just take your evap thermometer and dip it in your boil pot from the top, but if youre only making 1 gallon of finished cream, sometimes the stem isnt submerged enough to be accurate.

enjoy!

[jakeleveto]

Great tip on the thermometer. I've played with a dozen types for making sugar/cream/candy and I've learned that cheap digital probe thermometers are terrible. Glass candy thermometers work alright but the resolution isn't the best. The long shaft syrup thermometers work great to but I never installed a bulkhead fitting, that would definitely make things work better. For cream I use my syrup draw off probe since I'm boiling several gallons at a time, it's consistently accurate down to .1F, whereas sugar you can get away with ±5°F cream and candy need to be much more precise.

While this build, like most homemade projects, seemed a bit intimidating at first in the end it was a piece of cake (since you did all of the legwork finding the parts!). Next up I need to make an automatic maple sugar bottler, I'm packing 200 or so pounds a week by hand and it gets a bit repetitive/tedious!

[jakeleveto]

Also, I've since added some legs to the bottom of the base so that you can fill containers on a level table. The machine has to weigh 80 pounds, which was intentional so it wouldn't vibrate around. I glued some oak 5x5's together that were thinned from my sugar bush. I wouldn't mind finding a larger funnel or creating a better way to pour the condensed syrup in, uncrystallized cream is so sticky!

[DocsMapleSyrup]

I love the design but am having a real problem finding a gear reduction unit for a reasonable price. I can't seem to find anything less than about $200. Anyone have any ideas on where I could locate a gear reducer?