Motorize Your Meat Grinder to Make Delicious Sausage

gourmet sausage

Firing Up The Chop-Rite Grinder!

Starting up the Grinder.

How to Motorize Your Manual Meat Grinder — Easy Instructions from SausageMania.com!

This is what you can do with a standard Chop-Rite #22 bolt-down hand grinder....this baby is compact, powerful (3/4 HP) and heavy (55 lbs). It grinds at the rate of five (5) pounds a minute, hour after hour, and, because of the ball-bearing speed brake, it is very quiet and vibrationless. The speed brake reduces the motor speed of 1,725 rpm to a grinder speed of about 75 rpm. The base is oak, and there is a lengthwise 2" x 4" oak spine running left to right under the middle of the base, so that the platform will not "flex" during operation, thus preventing belt slippage. The V-belts are tensioned not too tight, however, so that they will slip if you hit a chunk of bone, instead of breaking a grinder part — the motor mount is slotted, and the main base beneath the grinder mounts is slotted, allowing them to slide for proper V-belt tensioning. See below for exact motor, pulley and belt specifications.

The flywheel is available from Chop-Rite by special order only — contact the company for prices, ordering information and safety instructions — a motorized grinder is a potentially dangerous machine! Note: Chop-Rite recommends a 1/3hp, 1700 RPM motor. When I motorized my grinder many years ago, the company was under different ownership (and OSHA didn't exist yet). I bought the flywheel at Odegaard's Hardware in Billings, MT, and there were no directions at all. So I was completely on my own. After several prototypes, I came up with the design shown below. It's a machine that will last 100 years, I am certain.

Motor, Pulley, Speed Brake and V-Belt Specifications:

In the last 25 years, this machine has seen several tons of meat pass through its mechanism! It cost $160.00 to build in 1976.

Motorize Your Grinder for Making Sausage!

Top view, showing array of matched plates and knives. (Plate at right is for sausage stuffing.) Note weatherproof switch.

Motorized Grinder Set Up Fopr Stuffing Homemade Sausage

Stuffing tube in place. Motor mount, speed brake mount and grinder base mount are slotted to allow adjustment as belts loosen with use. The anti-warp spline (not seen) is 2 x 4 oak.

Make Homemade Sausage With a Homemade Grinder!

This rear shot shows the relationship of flywheel, speed brake and motor.

Detail of Homemade Grinder for Sausage Making

And here is a detail of the ball-bearing speed brake. Motor shaft pulley is 1.5". Large speed brake pulley is 4". Small speed brake pulley is 1.5". Grinder pulley is 13". This reduces the 1725 RPM of the motor to about 75 RPM at the grinder. Note zerk grease fittings for the bearings. Short V-belt = 19", long V-belt = 42".

Homemade Sausage Grinder in Action!

Here's the loveable brute in action (the grinder, not the guy), churning out pork grind at 300 lb/hr. This is more fun than a professional #22 grinder, because.... YOU CAN BUILD IT YOURSELF!!!

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