Apple Juicer 9000
For junior design, a few teammates and I came up with a unique apple-juicing device. The project never reached the proper prototyping and testing stages, due to uncertain events. However, we completed the entire detailed design through Solidworks, and have finalized the step-by-step process of breaking down the apples.
The device consists of multiple components and subsystems that have to be precisely assembled together. The handle is used to rotate tools inside the main chamber. These tools consist of grinders and augers.
Most of the device pieces have 3D-printed PVC material, but the blades that puncture the apple have 304 grade stainless steel. The estimated cost to manufacture everything is about $220.
Juicing Process
An apple is placed within the upper chamber, in which the corer tool sticks out of. The user grabs the corer tool and pull out the apple core, and dispose of it.
The coreless apple falls into a pair of grinders, that rotate inwards in order to crush it. The rotation of the grinders is manually controlled by a crank, sticking outside of the device. The user spins the crank in order to grind the apple.
The apple chunks then descend to an auger, which rotates to compress the small chunks even further. The auger is also controlled by the crank, through a gear mechanism.
After the auger, the apple is essentially juice at this point. The produced juice pours down a spout to the side of the device.