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Step 3Time To Make The Cheese Pumps
In this step we convert a wooden dowel into an auger for the pumps by using a Table Saw and a tool called an Over Arm Pin Router. In retrospect the auger could have been made entirely on the Table Saw with a Dado blade (which is a wide-cutting blade) but I think I just wanted an excuse to use my Pin Router.
A board is clamped to the Table Saw table to act as an angled rip fence. The standard rip fence (straight edge) on a Table Saw normally guides the board straight across the blade, but our temporary fence will allow us to guide the dowel past the blade at an angle, which will automatically produce a spiral. Play with the angle to change the pitch of the auger. A shallow angle will produce more twists on the dowel, while a steep angle will produce fewer.
Using the groove which the saw blade produced as a guide for a narrow pin on the Pin Router, we cut a wider groove in each dowel. This wider groove ran between the narrow groove from the Table Saw, so we repositioned the pin and ran the dowel though again to make the narrow groove wide as well.
The dowels were sanded smooth and the ends were bored-out using a 1/4" drill bit on a Shopsmith Mark V set-up as a horizontal boring machine. This could have been done by hand with a hand drill and a shop-made drill guide; or using a vertical drill press with another shop-made fixture, but heck, what's the point of owning a Shopsmith if you don't use it to the max?
After cutting the augers to final length we epoxied a 6" long 1/4-20 bolt which we cut the head off with a hack saw, into the hole in the top end of each of the dowels. The smooth, formerly head-end of the bolt was glued into the dowel leaving a smooth shoulder as a bearing surface, and threads at the top where we will attach the pulley.
When we insert the dowel into the pump, we first insert a 1/4" steel ball bearing into the hole in the bottom of the dowel. We also added a dab of Crisco shortening to act as a food-grade grease. The dowel comes to rest over a 1/4" bolt which is epoxied through a hole in the bottom of the cap at the bottom of the pump.
Next we used a 1" Forstner drill bit in a drill press to drill three partial holes around the bottom cap to allow the melted cheese to enter the pump. A Forstner bit is a special drill bit that cuts extremely smooth and flat bottom holes without the need for a long pilot tip like those found on an auger bit. One of the most unique tricks that a Forstner bit can perform is that they can be used with almost half of their diameter hanging off the edge of the stock they are drilling. This comes in handy on this step as we need a hole that is on the bottom edge of our pump to allow maximum cheese flow. The results are seen in photo three below.
The dowels were then finished with shellac, which is a naturally food-safe finished which is made from the secretions of the female lac bug! We investigated every finish on the shelves at our local home center, and it came down to shellac or mineral oil. We've used mineral oil on wooden kitchen utensils and cutting boards in the past, but we decided that we wanted something hard. Either finish would have been a fine choice, but in the end we wanted to be able to gross-out our wives with the explanation of where shellac comes from. Of course, we could have mentioned that mineral oil is sold for use as a laxative...
Only a few joints are glued with PVC adhesive, so we can disassemble the pumps for cleaning. We glued the cap onto the bottom of the pipe and the Tee onto the top of the pipe. The other openings are fitted dry with 1 1/4" plugs, which are inserted into the Tee with a hammer. If you are new to working with PVC I recommend that you view the How To Solvent Weld PVC Pipe and Fittings Instructable.
For this step we used a Shopsmith Mark V set-up as a Table Saw with a standard saw blade and Overarm Pin Router, and a grinder to remove the head off the bolts.
Don't miss the VIDEO of the Six Cheese Fountain in action on Step 9!
A board is clamped to the Table Saw table to act as an angled rip fence. The standard rip fence (straight edge) on a Table Saw normally guides the board straight across the blade, but our temporary fence will allow us to guide the dowel past the blade at an angle, which will automatically produce a spiral. Play with the angle to change the pitch of the auger. A shallow angle will produce more twists on the dowel, while a steep angle will produce fewer.
Using the groove which the saw blade produced as a guide for a narrow pin on the Pin Router, we cut a wider groove in each dowel. This wider groove ran between the narrow groove from the Table Saw, so we repositioned the pin and ran the dowel though again to make the narrow groove wide as well.
The dowels were sanded smooth and the ends were bored-out using a 1/4" drill bit on a Shopsmith Mark V set-up as a horizontal boring machine. This could have been done by hand with a hand drill and a shop-made drill guide; or using a vertical drill press with another shop-made fixture, but heck, what's the point of owning a Shopsmith if you don't use it to the max?
After cutting the augers to final length we epoxied a 6" long 1/4-20 bolt which we cut the head off with a hack saw, into the hole in the top end of each of the dowels. The smooth, formerly head-end of the bolt was glued into the dowel leaving a smooth shoulder as a bearing surface, and threads at the top where we will attach the pulley.
When we insert the dowel into the pump, we first insert a 1/4" steel ball bearing into the hole in the bottom of the dowel. We also added a dab of Crisco shortening to act as a food-grade grease. The dowel comes to rest over a 1/4" bolt which is epoxied through a hole in the bottom of the cap at the bottom of the pump.
Next we used a 1" Forstner drill bit in a drill press to drill three partial holes around the bottom cap to allow the melted cheese to enter the pump. A Forstner bit is a special drill bit that cuts extremely smooth and flat bottom holes without the need for a long pilot tip like those found on an auger bit. One of the most unique tricks that a Forstner bit can perform is that they can be used with almost half of their diameter hanging off the edge of the stock they are drilling. This comes in handy on this step as we need a hole that is on the bottom edge of our pump to allow maximum cheese flow. The results are seen in photo three below.
The dowels were then finished with shellac, which is a naturally food-safe finished which is made from the secretions of the female lac bug! We investigated every finish on the shelves at our local home center, and it came down to shellac or mineral oil. We've used mineral oil on wooden kitchen utensils and cutting boards in the past, but we decided that we wanted something hard. Either finish would have been a fine choice, but in the end we wanted to be able to gross-out our wives with the explanation of where shellac comes from. Of course, we could have mentioned that mineral oil is sold for use as a laxative...
Only a few joints are glued with PVC adhesive, so we can disassemble the pumps for cleaning. We glued the cap onto the bottom of the pipe and the Tee onto the top of the pipe. The other openings are fitted dry with 1 1/4" plugs, which are inserted into the Tee with a hammer. If you are new to working with PVC I recommend that you view the How To Solvent Weld PVC Pipe and Fittings Instructable.
For this step we used a Shopsmith Mark V set-up as a Table Saw with a standard saw blade and Overarm Pin Router, and a grinder to remove the head off the bolts.
Don't miss the VIDEO of the Six Cheese Fountain in action on Step 9!
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May 1, 2011. 9:18 AMkleinjahr
says:
Nicely done. Look up Vitruvius for how to make an Archimede's screw from a log. You could also turn the spiral on a lathe with a router mounted above it.
Reply
Sep 29, 2010. 6:34 AM
mackamitsu
says:
mackamitsu
says:
nifty trick for the auger
Reply
4
Sep 29, 2010. 7:26 AMaristocob (author)
says:
aristocob (author)
says:
I've got to give it to Archimedes. It was his design. A lot of folks didn't know he was such a fan of cheese.
Reply
Sep 29, 2010. 9:02 AMmackamitsu
says:
mackamitsu
says:
feta IIRC
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