It’s a new year, and with my basil crop coming in hot, I felt the compulsion to make a bigger, better seed thresher than I had last year. Why this motivates me, I’ll never know…
This year’s model is bigger and better! And by bigger, I mean smaller, and by better, I actually do mean better. If you think it looks suspiciously like a manual coffee grinder, don’t be fooled! …Well okay, it basically is, but with some key modifications to make it less grindy and more threshy. Functionally, it’s simple: I add basil pods in the top, turn the finger crank, and out the bottom come seeds and husks. There’s some mechanical mumbo jumbo happening in between, but that’s not really important.
The big upgrade this year is an adjustment option! I twist the top section to set the spacing between the inner and outer burrs. Too tight and I get aromatic seed powder, too loose and I’m just moving intact pods from top to bottom. But once I found the right middle ground, the seeds separated cleanly and without damage. This also should make it usable for other seed types. In theory… It’s a solid theory…But I’m leaving the experimental confirmation of that to others if they are interested, I already hit my motivational limit.
Next on my project list is a trommel-style cleaner to separate seed from chaff. Last year I tried to combine threshing and cleaning in one tool, but it wasn’t very effective or adjustable. This time I’m making it a dedicated tool. Ideally it will be compact, adjustable for different seeds, and fully 3D printed. After that, I’ll revisit my seed sorter. The one I built last year works, but it’s big, tricky to print, and over complicated to operate.
by jjthegreatest
8 Comments
Omg, I need this. I just collected like 20 lbs of Basil pods. Will you please share the files!?
Nm I already found you on printables
Thank you!!
I was printing your V1 thresher yesterday and today, this morning I noticed a link to this new V2, and am already half way through printing it when I ran across this post. Fun timing.
Thanks for sharing these! I am looking forward to using them on my upcoming seeds.
If you could make one of these for sunflower seeds I would pay you lots of money
PLEASE make any type of seed processing tool, I will be happy to pay you!
This is amazing!
In theory, would this work for amaranth? I got a lot of the wild kind and I’ve been interested in trying to utilize it but I understand it needs thrashed and it is a very time consuming issue. if it would, I’d be interested in purchasing one of these in the future (I don’t have a printer)
Do you have a link to any files? <3
This is awesome! Love the ingenuity, especially the adjustable burr spacing. I totally get the motivation, nothing like reinventing a process to make it feel just right. I did something similar with my own seed cleaning setup a couple of years ago. Started with a modified spice grinder (which was way too aggressive) and ended up hacking apart a pepper mill to create something gentler. Finding that sweet spot between “whole pods” and “dust” is more satisfying than it should be. Good luck with the trommel cleaner! Would love to see updates.