Introduction: Papaya Picker

About: I'm a refugee from Los Angeles, living in backwoods Puerto Rico for about 35 years now and loving it. I built my own home from discarded nylon fishnet and cement.

Papays are big fruit; heavy, and often high up.

After getting the picker fingers around the fruit, you pull the string to close the flexible "fingers".  Twist the fruit to break the stem, and lower the fruit to the ground. 

Although this design works, and the closing fingers are a neat mechanism to play with, you can find a stronger design with no moving parts on my other instructable;  https://www.instructables.com/id/Heavy-Duty-Papaya-Picker    The heavy-duty design has given me years of service with no problems. 





Step 1: Safety While Heat Forming PVC

We love plastics for what they do for us, but plastic manufacture and decay tend to pollute the environment and negatively affect our health.

Vinyl Chloride, one of the components of PVC, is carcinogenic. When it is locked up in the polymer, however, it is much safer to be around. In my years of experience working with PVC, I have not noticed any adverse effects on my health from being around it.

Always work in areas with good ventilation. If you do get caught in a cloud of smoke, hold your breath and move to clean air.

When heating PVC with a gas stove or propane torch, try not to let it burn. Smoke from burning PVC is bad. With experience one burns it less and less. Don't panic the first time you do burn some. It scorches, but doesn't immediately burst into flame. Move the material away from the flame and try again. Don't breathe the smoke. Smoke avoidance comes naturally for most people.

While heating PVC over a gas flame, keep the plastic an appropriate distance from the flame to avoid scorching the surface before the inside can warm up. It takes time for heat to travel to the center of the material being heated.

Keep the plastic moving, and keep an eye on the state of the plastic. When heated, the PVC material is flexible, like leather. Beyond this stage, you risk scorching it.

A word from James, the plastic engineer -- "Just a word of warning, PVC can handle some high heats but if it catches fire, you wont be able to put it out, it does not need oxygen to burn so don't do this inside".

I do work inside, but my house is made of cement and has good ventilation. MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE GOOD VENTILATION. PLAY WITH FIRE -- CAREFULLY.

Step 2: Cut the Fingers

I used light-weight and fairly thin-walled 2 inch diameter PVC pipe to make this picker.  You can just cut the fingers into the end of a 10 ft. long piece of pipe, or make the picker head independently, with a socket in the end for inserting a separate pole. That gives you some extra length.  In this picker I made the head separately. 

I made the saw cuts with a back saw from a miter box, my favorite saw for making straight cuts. 

The somewhat conical Styrofoam plug fits between the fingers to spread them apart.

Step 3: Insert the Styrofoam Spreader Plug

I chose to use a Styrofoam spreader plug, instead of heating the base of the fingers to spread them apart without a plug.  If you heat and spread the fingers, the curvature of the pipe tends to flatten out, creating a hinge line in the finger, which I consider to be weaker than the original curvature.  You can see what I mean in the next step, where the finger tips are bent inward. 

Step 4: Bend and Round the Finger Ends

In order to more firmly hold the papaya when you pull on it, so that it doesn't slip out the end of the conically splayed out fingers, the finger tips have to be bend in a little.  Do this with a propane torch, being careful not to burn the plastic. 

Heat the plastic until it becomes flexible, bend the finger tips, and wait for it to cool and rigidify again. 

I used aviation snips and a file to round off the finger tips.

I did a similar design for picking oranges years ago.  It was fun to use, but the fingers, which had flattened areas as joint hinges, tended to get caught in branches and break.  This papaya picker does not have flattened hinge lines and is holding up well.  Since there is no problem with branches, it should have good longevity.



Step 5: Drill the String Holes

The string has to go around the finger tips to pull them closed, and then continue down the length of the pipe.  That means it has to make a 90 degree turn at the end of the first finger tip.  It can do that, but friction is increased at the holes in the tip and you don't want the string to wear out.  Shape the holes to be string friendly.  I use an X-acto knife to round the hole edges. 

Step 6: Make the Pole Socket

If you chose to make the picker head separately, you now need to make a socket for the pole to fit into, if the piece of pipe did not already come with a socket.

To make the socket, heat the pole end of the picker head over a gas stove until it softens and then jam it over the end of the pole pipe.  Inserting the pole into the softened end of the picker head is easier if you trim the inside of the picker head pipe with a knife and the outside of the pole pipe with a file first. 

If you ever want to remove the picker head, you can hold the pole down with your foot and tap the head off with a block of wood and a hammer. 

You are all set now.  Go pick some fruit!

Step 7: This Is the Heavy-Duty Papaya Picker

This is the heavy-duty papaya picker design.  Check it out at:  https://www.instructables.com/id/Heavy-Duty-Papaya-Picker