Walton’s package, 16, 19, 21mm casings, going to experiment.

[calldoctoday]

Jamieson22 I fell off a roof about 15 years ago or so. Not something you want to do in your 50s. I busted my leg all up & probably busted my brain up too, just have not figured it out yet. The company, no matter how bad I wanted to get back to work, heck, I never wanted to stop, would not let me back into the field & there was no place for the office in my neck of the woods, until the doctor released me. I was hobbling around successfully with crutches until they realized it. The doctor refused to release me for over six months. So about two to three months in, I told him, well, if you will not let me work, then I am just going to go out & golf & go pro. He said, no way, you are not golfing any more. I have not golfed since & my poor clubs are just sitting in my office all these years now. Amazing how much money that good doctor saved me. I was not that good anyways. I got back to work finally & busted myself to get everyone to realize that was not going to stop me & I was not a quitter. Then they laid me off shortly before I turned 55…

[Dave in AZ]

Jamieson22 I’m using a 15 lb stuffer from Meat! (That ! is part of their name, a bit cringey to type…)

I bought as I liked the all steel construction and gearing. Also the small volume offset exit pipe, which looked like it would reduce farce left over unstuffed when done. It stuffed the 16mm sticks pretty well, my 120 lb kid had no problem cranking it. I used a 10mm stainless tube I got from Smokehouse Chef.

Not sure I’d recommend it now though due to a few design issues…

1. Uses a 2" tube base, not 2-1/8 i.e. 54 mm like most everything else including Walton’s, and those won’t fit it.
2. Only came with tapered plastic tubes, smallest 3/4 in. Which of course don’t work at all for collagen casings, you can’t slip them onto a tapered tube, and almost didn’t work for hog 32mm casings.
   Company doesn’t supply any other tubes that fit it’s oddball 2in base. Can’t find 2in online at all.
3. Had to buy a 2-1/8 in, 54mm base and 10mm O.D. tube, that had a thick sturdy f l a n g e (site keeps thinking that word is a curse and removing it!) and grind down to 51mm to fit. Only took a few min, bit big pain.
4. Turns out the offset exit tube was a great idea… except the piston plunger isn’t thick enough! So the last 1/4" of piston travel allows the exit hole to show above the piston, and meat just squeezes around the piston and out on top! I was able to cut a thin cutting board and stuff a piece down there to make a seal, but it is a total fail design flaw ovvious on 1st use… can’t see how they haven’t fixed with a taller piston disk. Anyways, I will cut a 8in disc or so from 3/8 in hdpe cutting board and affix to bottom of plunger, should solve.
   WHEW! Thumbs hurt now…

[Dave in AZ]

calldoctoday I have a small roof job to do, 1 or 2 squares… was gonna get up there and do it. Now your story has changed my mind, I’m not that agile anymore! Heck, now I’m thinking I will hire out that 1 room of tile I was gonna do also, my knees hurt just reading your story!

[johnsbrewhouse]

calldoctoday That sounds like my story except that it was my knee that was blown out after they replaced the other worn out one and the broken back from 15 years before. The city wasn’t so kind, they sent a process server to serve papers on me medically terminating me from my job after 21 years. The process server almost pooped himself when he saw my weapon pointed at him asking him why he was in my driveway when I suddenly showed up at home and his was inside my gate. I gave him some words of wisdom, tell the City to do their own dirty work and use registered mail.

[calldoctoday]

Dave in AZ I did not mean for to cause you that. I was more embarrassed & humiliating when I fell, at the very end of an inspection as I was about to get on the ladder, after having at that point been climbing for someone else to make a living for over 30 years. I am still climbing though & keep putting one foot in front of the other. Don’t let me stop you from a good project, just be careful & know your abilities. Make every sincere effort to not bite off more than you can chew in those situations.

[cdherman]

When i researched stuffers, I read that the vertical stuffers with a 90 deg bend were harder to stuff into small casings. So I bought the 7 liter horizontal Vevor copy of some more standard stuffer. Manual. Its OK. The 10mm tube works for 17 and 19. Have not tried 16. I bought a LOOONG 10mm tube from Smokehouse Chef I think. And it was that strange 2" size that I have to figure out a solution to use in my 2-1/8" stuffer. Ironic OP had the reverse problem.

I wanted the long tube so I could stuff a full 15 lbs of sticks into one length of casing. I tie them off and hang them and the less beginning and ends the better.

For little stuff, I think you also need to pay attention to water content. Still learning about that. My last batch was too stiff. I was beat, getting arm and hand cramps at last after cranking with 20-40 lbs of pressure for an hour!!! More water next time!

[Dave in AZ]

cdherman doh, I just about ordered that 2" base 10" long tube from Smokehouse Chef like 10 min ago! At $33 I decided to live with the 7" one I already have and ground to fit. But I did find a 2" base and 12.7mm outer diam, i.e. half inch, tube from them I DID just order! Virtually all the tubes are the 2-1/8" or 54mm base, except that nice long one!

Got another few packages coming! As I just pulled the trigger on stuff for a drying chamber: Inkbird wifi temp controller, power relay for it, Inkbird humidity controller, Apera bluetooth pH meter, dehumidifier, computer fan with variable speed control.

Also got a few stainless tubes 12mm and 13mm, 19mm; some tube cleaning brushes; and some Encapsulated Citric Acid from Eldons, since Walton’s is out.

My wife just walked in to query me on my Amazon charges, I told her it was “for My Sausage, which you love, Baby!” She shook her head and walked out mumbling about finding something to buy for herself, so… I’m good, I guess!

[cdherman]

I got the 2" base to work in my 2 1/8" stuffer with a home made gasket made out of old inner tube. Works, but requires a little fiddling when screwing things together. Not sure its worth the trouble. But it is nice sliding a whole stick of casing on and cranking out 27 feet of sticks.

[Jamieson22]

cdherman Yeah I trigger clamp my stuffer onto the corner of my island in 3 spots. Counter is granite. There are times the effort to crank makes me worried I may crack my counter.

Is there a large (15lb+) stuffer that could handle a 10mm tube AND is reasonable in price/weight for a hobbyist?

[cdherman]

I paid a little over $100 for my 7 liter Vevor (chinese copy, well made). That was a year ago. I like it, but since its manual, it makes for a 2 person job. If the mix is too thick, it will not stuff well. A little more water. Waltons recipe for snack sticks says to double the water for manual stuffers.

[Jamieson22]

cdherman I’ve been trying to reduce water and last batch was 25lb pork shoulder and 16oz water. Sure that is why even with a 13mm tube into 21mm casings it was hard to crank. Though my stuffer is manual and I generally make sausage solo.

[Dave in AZ]

Jamieson22 that’s the problem always with stuffers. So many of them specifically state they can’t be used with 10mm tubes, usually because they have plastic gears that can’t stand up to the pressure. I looked at LEM line, all the ones I wanted couldn’t do it. Had to go to a 5lb one, or their 30 lb electric. All the Hanna and Vevor ones on Amazon, and their clones, have tons of bad reviews on breakage with any sort of demand upon them.

I saw this same model I have but with a red painted top end, over at the Sausage Maker… if their piston disc is 2 or 3/8 thicker on bottom it would be great. And really, I think it will be easy for me to cut a disc from a plastic cutting board, slip it in there under the piston, and have it all work good.

I haven’t looked at Walton’s line much. But it looks a lot like Hanna stuff… all these things are made in China and sold under numerous rebranding. You just have to find if the place you’re buying from has spec’d out the better options on their version.

[cdherman]

My Vevor 7 liter horizontal came with a 10mm tube. Bout 6" long. And it has nice machined metal gears. Checked with a magnet. Not potmetal, but steel. The piston is either cast aluminum or potmetal. My only worry is the seal around the piston. It will get old eventually, and there are no parts from Vevor. But it looks like a carbon copy, sizewise, of a LEM.

The piston is cupped to match the end of the tube. Leave only a little residue in the nozzel where the tube attaches. Probably 1 oz or 2 oz waste out of 15 lbs.

[processhead]

cdherman said in Walton’s package, 16, 19, 21mm casings, going to experiment.:

My Vevor 7 liter horizontal came with a 10mm tube. Bout 6" long. And it has nice machined metal gears. Checked with a magnet. Not potmetal, but steel. The piston is either cast aluminum or potmetal. My only worry is the seal around the piston. It will get old eventually, and there are no parts from Vevor. But it looks like a carbon copy, sizewise, of a LEM.

The piston is cupped to match the end of the tube. Leave only a little residue in the nozzel where the tube attaches. Probably 1 oz or 2 oz waste out of 15 lbs.

Is the piston seal a round profile like an O ring, or some other shape?

[cdherman]

No, it got a lip. Kind of hard to describe. Think of an “H” on its side with one of the arms tipped up. Now, it came installed with the tipped up arm/lip to the BACK, which meant it kind of leaked a little along the way. Not much.

But then I figured out how to reverse the seal, so the lip was really sealing. You have to really baby the piston in, by turning it (I keep it partially unthreaded) and using your finger to start the seal. But once I figured that out, man, perfect seal. I mean NO meat escapes except the little bit left at the end.

I’m also amazed that even with thick sausage, somehow or the other most of the air escapes via the air valve. I do try and “throw” handfuls of sausage into the stuffer so that they kind of splat at the bottom. Trying to work out the air bubbles in advance.

[processhead]

cdherman
It sounds pretty effective. Would be nice to have a backup gasket if it were to break.
My old machines don’t have any gasket per se.
I did turn a tight fitting round piece of poly from a cutting board on the lathe to go under the cast iron piston and it does a surprisingly good job of stopping the blowby.

[Dave in AZ]

cdherman I wouldn’t mind seeing a picture of that stuffer and wierd gasket, sounds interesting!
processhead It’s surprising this pretty simple hydraulic based machine, a stuffer, hasn’t been perfected… area ratios for a 10mm tube ability, simple gearing, lever arm to drive it easily, seal, minimum wastage by making piston hump insert into exit tube. I mean I look at mine, and with a lathe I could greatly improve it. It just amazes me that with a lever, gears, and hydraulic area ratios all in play, some of these stuffers won’t drive a 10mm tube!

[calldoctoday]

processhead I have heard about those horizontal PVC water pressure powered stuffers in the past made from PVC pipe & considered making one several times. However, when I thought about it, I thought that perhaps the stainless steel vertical stuffer is better for part time users as I thought the stainless steel may be more sanitary. Plastics can pick up the smells & tastes of the materials they are in contact with & sometimes that can be hard to remove. You remember when back in the late 70’s they tried putting liquor in plastic bottles more & the taste was just off. Re-using plastics etc., no matter how well you clean them, sometimes has an after smell, etc. I am curious to anyone else’s thoughts on it though.

[processhead]

Dave in AZ said in Walton’s package, 16, 19, 21mm casings, going to experiment.:

cdherman I wouldn’t mind seeing a picture of that stuffer and wierd gasket, sounds interesting!
processhead It’s surprising this pretty simple hydraulic based machine, a stuffer, hasn’t been perfected… area ratios for a 10mm tube ability, simple gearing, lever arm to drive it easily, seal, minimum wastage by making piston hump insert into exit tube. I mean I look at mine, and with a lathe I could greatly improve it. It just amazes me that with a lever, gears, and hydraulic area ratios all in play, some of these stuffers won’t drive a 10mm tube!

This was my solution to the leverage issue on a couple of my stuffers. It works really well.

[Dave in AZ]

That looks like it can generate some torque!