Electric jerky gun?

[Wax Munky]

Do you have a Kitchen Aid mixer?
I love to make Jerky. Used a Jerky gun.... What a waste of time that turned out to be.
I think it had a necessary accident and trashed. Admit nothing!

Not sure if this will work for your purpose. It certainly worked much better for my use. Amazon was having a sale on K-A-Attachments.I picked up the Sausage Stuffer kit. It worked out very well. The meat grinder well, for my use. Used once. Went up a notch to a LEM meat grinder/sausage maker. Nobody was complaining. People did ask to borrow it.

 

[AliOop]

I think it had a necessary accident and trashed. Admit nothing!

 

[Soaper2024]

Came across what's called an Electric Mortar Grout Gun. It holds 2-3 LITERS (yes, as in 50% more than a 2 Liter bottle worth of product) and has a very quick refill ability. The downside I see is it may be difficult to mod for shapes, and the initial cost is a small chunk.

Quickpoint electric mortar grout gun

 

[Cindy D.]

I'd be concerned that anything using an auger to move the dough would introduce air bubbles or make a weak extrusion. All the clay extruders I've looked at use compression to push the whole piece of material through the hole.

 

[Soaper2024]

Since air bubbles create an inferior looking output, they are designed to push out air as the auger pulls the product through. You can hear air being forced out in the device as you use it with big bubbles in the tube.

 

[Vicki C]

Interesting! I agree it looks hard to modify for different shapes.
This mechanism also uses an auger. Kind of pricy but I have a KitchenAid. I’m going to investigate further. https://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-K...text&ref_=fplfs&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&gQT=1&th=1

 

[Soaper2024]

Oooooh! That looks very much more interesting and modifiable.

 

[Soaper2024]

Turns out (after reading up on it on other forums), the thicker the material the more important it is to keep bubbles out with the auger type. Good call.

 

[Vicki C]

If I was any good with drawing 3d objects I'd make a new cover for the jerky maker with threads and threaded rod to go through it(or buy a piece of threaded rod) add a couple locking nuts or one with a cap so a drill can be used to turn the rod and push a disk. I probably didn't explain it very good, but basically make the pushing end like the small extruder.

I just caught on to what you mean - basically, fashion a bigger version of the Makin style 18 mm extruder. You can definitely buy stainless threaded rod - I really like this idea. It would require less hand strength than the squeeze mechanism. Hmmmm…

 

[Cindy D.]

@Vicki C yes exactly!

 

[Cindy D.]

Well, today I experimented. I don't have a 3D printer here, so I improvised. I mean if it's in the recycle bin or laying around not being used, it was fare game.
First experiment was making a smaller tube to go inside the larger jerky tube and making a plunger the correct size... To see if it made pushing the soap dough easier to push, IT DID. I told my husband I give up, and did something else for awhile then went back and tried to fix a plunger the correct size that was strong enough to take the pressure.
so this is the contraption I used for the inside tube, just the shampoo bottle part held the dough.
This is the plunger part with several sizes of washers and a plastic piece that was intended to go to a bed (I think).

I couldn't push the dough through the big tube, but I could the shampoo bottle contraption.
After I was done with my project I pulled out an old pasta machine(with an auger) to see how it would do. I already had a bowl full of soapy things to clean anyway, a few more wouldn't matter.

It worked ok, it was much easier to turn, but the pieces are not as smooth as using a plunger/pressure type extruder.
This is what I used.

 

[Cindy D.]

When I get a chance I will definitely be making a3D printed tube to fit inside the jerky tube and fill the whole jerky tube. The dough kept squeezing out around the shampoo bottle, even though I had it wedged in there with a microfiber cloth.