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retrieval of motor off squirrel cage for chicken plucker

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posted 16 years ago

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Ok. I'm sufficiently de-frustrated to try and tackle this again. I have this squirrel cage and I am trying to get the motor off to use for a chicken plucker. I literally spent hours a day for a week in February trying get this sucker off the fan. I am fairly patient and persistent but I finally became too frustrated to work on it and left it in the garage for later pursuit. As you can see in one photo I tried to create a press to extract it with vices. It only warped the fan. I heated the shaft and surrounding hole over and over with a propane torch in an attempt to get the metal to expand enough that I could hammer it through/off with a punch. It did move about 1/4 inch. But the punch slightly squashed the end and now it has a little lip that is preventing it from completing its journey. Any ideas??? is it time for the hack saw? what sort of profession would have a tool/puller that could extract it? I could barter for its use or something.

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paul wheaton

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posted 16 years ago

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You want just the motor, right?

Howzabout using a cutting torch to get most of the metal off, and then using an agle grinder to get the rest off?

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Leah Sattler

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posted 16 years ago

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yes, I just want the motor. Cutting it off somehow at this point is my only option I guess. I was hoping to save the shaft in its entirety to make attachment of a pulley and belt a easier but obviously having something is better than nothing, which is what I have now! I got a little distracted yesterday with another project but will definitley have a go at doing something with this motor today. Something other than sit on my porch drinking and staring at it waiting for some epiphany. That is where I was when I gave up last time.

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paul wheaton

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posted 16 years ago

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I think you can and should keep the shaft. Just cut everything else off.

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Leah Sattler

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posted 16 years ago

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The problem is that the shaft is pressed onto the fan. the only part connecting the motor is the shaft. I have warped the fan so bad trying to use it as the base for the make shift extractor its even relatively accessable. I'm wondering if its feasible for someone to cut the "tube" that the shaft is inserted into with a torch without damaging the shaft on the motor. I was careful with the propane torch to avoid heating the shaft too much for fear that the heat would travel down it and damage things actually in the motor. I have never used a cutting torch before so I don't have a good reference for how long it takes to get through and how much heat transfer there would be. more pics might help. There really could be something completely obvious I'm mising. I did check for a set screw already.

[img]http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n52/havlik1/permie%20pics2/permiepotrait3pdd.jpg[/img]

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paul wheaton

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posted 16 years ago

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I would use an oxy acetylene torch to cut away about 95% of the fan. Then I would use an angle grinder on whatever is left.

So the first pass would cut away all of those blades and most of the housing near the motor. Then there would be nothing left but the shaft and a flat plate. I would then go to town on grinding away the flat plate. If you make a grind slot on the plate right up to the shaft, and maybe grind a hair of the shaft, then use leather gloves to pull the plate away, that should do the trick.

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Leah Sattler

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posted 16 years ago

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I hate asking for help but I guess I will have to get someone else to give me a hand. I don't have a torch and couldn't use it effectively without some or rather ....LOTS......of practice first (couldn't even run a bead after several shots at it. I'm obviously not in the least bit talented) here I go 'a groveling.

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paul wheaton

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posted 16 years ago

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Hmmmmm ..... i wonder if you heated it with a propane torch if you could cut it with a coal chisel.

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posted 15 years ago

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Do people love eating chicken skin that much to do all the work of plucking them instead of doing it the easy way and using a knife to skin them without having to remove the feathers?

You can also leave the guts in if you use a knife to skin and remove the meat from the body..

P.S. I like it without the skin myself..

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Gwen Lynn

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posted 15 years ago

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I absolutely LOVE chicken skin. It's the 1st thing I eat off of a roasted or bbq'd bird! Mmmmmm skin! Unfortunately skin doesn't help you stay skinny!

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posted 15 years ago

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so you love it enough to take the time to pluck a chicken when you can skin it without plucking in 2 minutes? the tool that this post is about also uses electricity so not only will it take longer but you have to use power to do it also just to eat chicken skin..

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Leah Sattler

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posted 15 years ago

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you can keep you skinless chicken

roasted or grilled bird without the skin is pretty dry and inedible, the skin holds in the moisture and slowly bastes the meat. the skin and the fat with it contains alot of calories too that would otherwise be wasted or at the very least just fed to the dogs or buried. I tried making chicken stock with a skinned chicken and it was missing alot of the flavor. I would like to get to the point that I am raising enough chickens to feed our family. normally I would be driving to the store. that uses energy too and probably is more costly in the long run both enviromentally and energy wise. not to mention the energy used to get those birds to the store. every few weeks they come pick up the broilers from a farm across the street. truck after truck after truck of birds crammed in cages. and in between the bird shipments its tanker truck after tanker truck of 'liquid feed' going in. it might make an individual feel better that they are not the one using all that energy, but thats not the point is it? isnt' it to reduce overall energy usage? I have a family and a life and am not the going to live off the land primitively so it is about reducing energy use overall for me as well as balancing the health of my family.

have you seen the plucker in action? its pretty fast. not much slower than skinning. and it could be plucking while you are doing other things like lopping the head off the next chicken in line. not a waste of time at all in my opinion. me, yes. I want the chickens skin bad enough that now I pluck by hand and in the future I would like to pluck with the plucker to speed things along considerably and raise more meat.

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jeremiah bailey

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posted 15 years ago

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It would have been much easier to remove the engine from a lawn mower. Vroom vroom power! Any mechanic would have a gear puller that should work to push the shaft out of the hub. In fact most auto repair shops would do this for you for a few bucks. They even usually have the oxy/fuel torches and die grinders in case the puller doesn't work. And I agree, chicken skin is worth the plucking.

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Jeremiah Bailey
Central Indiana

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posted 15 years ago

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i cook chicken all the time without the skin and its never dry. its all about how its cooked.

Again i choose to just ckin chicken and not waste the time on plucking since i dont really like the skin anyways..

P.S.. I use a clay pot or wrap my chicken in foil to seal in the moisture when cooking.

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Neal McSpadden

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posted 15 years ago

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Alternative: http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=130787

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Joel Hollingsworth

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posted 15 years ago

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Lost Chief:

Clay pots are great, all around.

Plucking takes a lot less energy than foil, though...there's a lot of embodied electricity and carbon usage your way. Remember, aluminum refining consumes carbon to scavenge the oxygen, and is also driven by electrolysis. A good way to illustrate the energy needs of aluminum refining vs. ferrous metal refining is the thermite reaction, in which Al metal refines Fe and has enough energy left over to boil some of the sapphire that the reaction produces.

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