Introduction: DIY Electric Pepper Grinder - Cordless Drill to Pepper Shaker Adapter

By My Site of Awesomeness!
This is a really simple project.  Once we got home with the parts it took about 15 minutes to put together and test.  It REALLY cranks out the ground pepper.  Alton Brown, beware...

Materials Needed:

1) A Spice / Pepper Grinder.  We used a McCormick disposable Pepper Grinder, but this project will fit many other grinders as well.

2) Some hose clamps (we got ours from Harbor Freight for $4.99).  You need a larger one, but if you can't find one, you can put two or three together to make one large enough.  We highly recommend the harbor freight assortment because they are very thin and flexible making the project easier and they are cheap.

3) A 4" (or larger) flexible sanding pad back.  (This is a round rubber pad that you can chuck into a drill).  We also obtained this from Harbor Freight.

Tools

1) A Cordless Drill / Screwdriver with a Drill Chuck (not one of the hexagon bit holder chucks).

2)  A Screwdriver that fits your hose clamps.

3) A Sharp Knife


Step 1: Cut the Rubber Circle Into a Plus Sign.

Take the rubber pad out of the packaging and cut it as shown.  You want to cut it with a sharp knife.  If you use scissors you will probably cut into the base of the finger slightly which will weaken the fingers.  Depending upon the strength of the rubber this may or may not be a problem.

Step 2: Prepare the Hose Clamp

If you have a hose large hose clamp you may skip this step.  If not, take two smaller hose clamps and unscrew them all the way, and then connect them to each other.  You don't need a lot of force, so the smaller thinner hose clamps are very suitable.

Step 3: Put the Fingers of the Plus Sign Into the Hose Clamp So That You Have a Rubber Hemisphere With an Adjustable Equator.

Squeeze the fingers down and together so that you can fit the hose clamp around it like so:

Step 4: Fit the Clamp to the Pepper Grinder.

Place the top of the pepper grinder into the rubber cage you now have and tighten the hose clamp up.  As you go, you may need to move the fingers around to keep them equidistant from each other.  Once it's tight, you should be able to pull the pepper shaker in and out without too much effort.

Step 5: Put the Pepper Grinder in Your Drill.

Step 6: Test, Remove Pepper Grinder and Put in Another.

Give it a whirl!  If the pepper grinder is WAY off center you can loosen the hose clamp until the pepper grinder can be pulled out, adjust the fingers, and put it back in.  The hose clamp doesn't need to be tight, just barely snug.  This allows you to insert and remove the pepper grinder whenever you want.

Enjoy!