###The story:
When life gives you Lemons...
...print an electric lemon squeezer. It actually started with a big sack of oranges I bought on a budged a while ago. They were too much for me, so I decided to make some juice. But there was no squeezer. Obviously this is one of the ever-growing number of problems in life that can only be solved with 3d-printing.
###My goals:
- 1: Design a squeezer for ~1/2l of juice
- 2: Make it motorized because why not?
- 3: Use a graceful way to activate the motor
- 4: Make it reproducable (e.g. only use widely available standard-parts)
- 5: Don't kill people with an extremely unsafe design
- 6: Make it look fancy
- 7: Make it printable on a 20cm buildplate
- 8: Make it simple
This resulted in a design based on cheap and very simple KTYZ50 motors with a sophisticated translation based on inner/outter gears. I'll upload that one later in a series of failed designs (but I've added a rendering to the images list). Why "failed"? This motor just hasn't got enough torque for this job... probably I should have done the math before.
So this is the second attempt with no gears at all but a rather strange activation mechanism.
###Goals achieved:
- 1: check, it easily fits 2/3l of liquid. But better empty the bowl after 1/2l for safety reasons
- 2: check
- 3: check
- 4: check, but it's rather expensive
- 5: half-check; it could be done with less potential harm but yet I haven't killed anyone
- 6: half-check; actually it looks rather strange
- 7: check
- 8: check; i guess it could be done even more simple if one of my goals would say "cause as much harm as possible"
###Before you start:
- make sure you have a soldering iron and know how to use it
- you'll need some basic knowledge about electricity and it's hazards
- make sure you have the equipment and ability to crimp some wires
###The BOM:
- A60KTYZ motor with ~30rpm. I bought this one but it's not very cheap: https://bit.ly/2qPNFmr
Watch out if your country's line voltage differs from 220/230VAC!
- 4x Springs l=10mm, w=6mm. I used some from a 200pc sring set: https://bit.ly/2vACToF
- 2-terminal biscuit connector (is this the proper term? Dictionary says yes, brain says no). Something like this (with a maximum height of 14mm): https://bit.ly/2vC3Mso
- Maybe some hot-glue or superglue (optional)
- 4x M3x10 screws (any length up til 20mm will do), preferrably with a flat head
- A power cord with crimped strands (I'm just assuming you have the equipment and knowledge needed to prepare that)
- 4x self-adhesive rubber feet: https://bit.ly/2HiDf4Y
These are just suggestions. You definitively can have it much cheaper if you spend some time in sourcing or just buy the exact amount of parts needed.
###How to assemble:
- Prepare an unplugged power cord with crimped strands
- Stick these strands through the motor holder (motorhalter.stl)
- Connect the wires and capacitor of the motor according to the manufacturer information (an example for my setup can be found in the pictures section)
- Insert the motor into the motor-holder with it's 4 holes stuck on the 4 pins
- Solder a ~1mm² insulated wire of ~10cm lenght to the "NO" and "NC" pins of the microswitch
- Connect one of the wires to the N-line of the motors biscuit connector
- Screw the N-Line of the power cord to another 2-pole biscuite connector
- Connect the other wire of the switch to the connector of the power cords N-Line
- Connect the L-Line of the power cord to the connector of the motors L-Line
- If you have a PE-Line on your power cord just screw it into the 2nd empty terminal of your 2-pole connector. This one will stay unconnected.
- Now insert the switch into the "switch-cage" on the bottom plate (bodenplatte.stl) until it bottoms out
- Arrange this mess of cables in a way to prevent squeezing the cables insulation and secure the power cord with a zip-tie as a strain relief. It also makes sense to hot-glue the line-cord terminal and the switch.
- Use the 4 M3 screws to attach the bottom plate to the motor holder and stick the rubber feet on it to prevent the squeezer from rotating
- Lift the motor a little to attach the 4 springs to the pins of the motor holder
- Now test if you hear a switching noise when applying gentle pressure to the motor
- Attach the motor-plate onto the pins of the motor holder - it's supposed to leave no gap
- Attach that gyroscopic looking pin-thing (aufsatz.stl) to the motors shaft. Mind the D-shape!
- Now just attach the bowl and the squeezer. That's it.
###Warning:
THIS IS NOT A VERY SAFE DESIGN! SPILLING TOO MUCH LIQUID INTO THE MOTOR BASE CAN CAUSE INJURIES AND/OR DEATH!!! DON'T BUILD THIS IF YOU'RE NOT FAMILIAR WITH LINE VOLTAGE!
On the other hand: Juice is quite healthy.
BTW: here you can see the squeezer in action: https://gph.is/2K70r8b