Mc Tools berley mincer
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: The Briny Bar
Forum Description: The place for general chat on saltwater fishing!
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=140153
Printed Date: 25 Jul 2026 at 6:27am
Topic: Mc Tools berley mincer
Posted By: Mc Tool
Subject: Mc Tools berley mincer
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2026 at 12:23pm
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Ok ....things are moving , so far I have ordered a pulley off aliexpress ,a 1" bore x 69mm dia b section double pulley to match the pulley on the mincer ...which is 300mm in dia . Also ordered off amazon a two foot length 1" dia carbon steel rod with a ¼" key way . The rest of the drive I have scrounged up and is a pair of 1" pillow block bearing mounts( needs new bearings ) a 320mm dia double pulley ( ancient bi-lock sorta thing ). I have a water blaster ( donated by Eddie 🙂) chassis to mount motor and mincer to . Pix below   The shaft in the image is about 2" to short 🤬 but the one on order has the key way so that solves two problems ( 150 bucks on my doorstep ). Now just gotta get some angle and start making mounts and brackets . More to come 😁 ------------- I wish I was young again .... Id be heaps smarter than this time |
Replies:
Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2026 at 8:10pm
| You’ll be able to start selling the stuff, |
Posted By: Mc Tool
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2026 at 8:37pm
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Well I did think maybe I could mince berley for any locals wanting to process their frames etc ...but I gotta see just how well this thing works 1st . The plan is to over engineer my part a bit but the mincer itself is an unknown at this point .😁 ------------- I wish I was young again .... Id be heaps smarter than this time |
Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2026 at 9:34pm
| Looks like an awesome project, amazing what you can buy from aliexpress |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 18 Jul 2026 at 3:42pm
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Nice. I need a berley mincer. I'll watch this ------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: slayliner
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2026 at 9:40am
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Posted By: slayliner
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2026 at 9:43am
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Heres my mincer , I bought it like this , a trademe special .Its a little bit slow but does the job. No. 32 mincer a bigger one would be better
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Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2026 at 11:18am
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I did have one I got off a mate. It was a beast but too heavy to move easily and when the dodgy welding on the handle broke it stayed where it laid and the elemnets took over.
------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: Mc Tool
Date Posted: 20 Jul 2026 at 5:43pm
Got some self aligning bearings , mounted the motor and (power)wire brushed the big pulley .   Unbelievable just how muchs hit you get covered in with the wire brush 😆 ------------- I wish I was young again .... Id be heaps smarter than this time |
Posted By: krow
Date Posted: 20 Jul 2026 at 7:20pm
Nice. I think that might be just enough power 
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Posted By: Mc Tool
Date Posted: 20 Jul 2026 at 7:47pm
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😁 why thank you Krow 😆😆 The guy I bought the mincer off reckoned it would take 9hp to drive it . Tbh I couldnt get a lot of sense outa the guy but after thinkin about what he was saying I think he was trying to power the thing without a decent reduction gearing and thusly needed a 9hp motor that had enough torque to turn the mincer at pretty much idle speed . I have calculated that with my reduction set up of ...primary ( pulley diameters ) of 52mm to 315mm for 6.051:1...and secondary 73mm to 285mm for 3.9:1 I will end up with Motor speed of 2750 rpm and mincer speed of 116rpm . Im hoping to be able to run motor at 2500rpm (or even slower )for about 100rpm mincer speed . Google advises mincer should be run at between 80 to 150 rpm but they are talking mincing meat and they are saying that too higher speed will smear any fat and spoil mince BUT (😁) im mincing fish and other crap and my only real concern is that I dont want said crap being flung all over the place ...so... she'll be right . Oh , by the way , pix have been edited somewhat ....yeah I removed all the empty beer bottles 😁 .....tell ya what , that Ukrainian (Obilon ) beer is good stuff ...knockin on 10% in a 500ml can for 5 bucks a shot . ------------- I wish I was young again .... Id be heaps smarter than this time |
Posted By: slayliner
Date Posted: 21 Jul 2026 at 8:43am
| Pretty sure my mincer does 22 rpm |
Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 21 Jul 2026 at 4:40pm
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From AI search for what it’s worth Operating Speeds for Burley MincersWhen processing tough bait, fish frames, and burley ingredients, a slow speed is highly beneficial for several reasons: High Torque: Prevents the auger from binding when processing bones, cartilage, and scales. Efficient Feeding: Allows the auger to grab and pull chunks into the blades rather than mashing the soft material.Recommended Speeds: Manual cranking: ~40–80 RPM, depending on your pace and how much leverage your handle gives you.Motorized setups: 60–160 RPM. This is the sweet spot to let the blades cut continuously without burning out the motor. Speeds to avoid: Avoid using standard drill speeds or high-speed blenders (1,000+ RPM) for heavy-duty burley frames, as they cause friction and can instantly overheat or strip the gears. |
Posted By: Pcj
Date Posted: 21 Jul 2026 at 6:34pm
 ------------- "Times up" |
Kandrew wrote:Posted By: krow
Date Posted: 21 Jul 2026 at 7:16pm
| Mate uses a chipper and it does a good job. messy but quick and easy except the cleanup. Just need to only use frozen. |
Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 21 Jul 2026 at 8:00pm
| When I use to make berley I started off with a mincer but it was just too hard so I brought a garbage disposer hooked it up and run the hose through at the same time the fish was being pushed through, was better but a cheap chipper would be even better. |
Posted By: Mc Tool
Date Posted: 22 Jul 2026 at 5:40pm
Got the idler shaft and motor mounted , and sprayed a bit of paint about. Waddaya reckon guys ...do I need an idler pulley to get a bit more belt contact round that little pulley . Im going to use ax section belts for that primary reduction .   Made a wonderfull job of planning out the motor position ...marked the holes ,drilled them ...and then noticed I had 🤬ed it up and drilled the holes in the wrong place ...TWICE ------------- I wish I was young again .... Id be heaps smarter than this time |
Posted By: krow
Date Posted: 22 Jul 2026 at 7:30pm
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Google says ....................................... |
Posted By: Mc Tool
Date Posted: 22 Jul 2026 at 8:13pm
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Yeah Krow Im with you , I was hoping someone would say " nah mate she'll be right " . I haven't got a lot of room for an idler pulley , those two are as far apart as I can get them so I hoping the ax belts ( with the notches on the inside ) will be bendy enough to handle the jandal and last a while . Just thinkin about fitting a cover to the pulley / belt set up and removal thereof for access to belts. Im thinkin the idler pulley will be a couple of bearings probly about 35mm ish dia so I can get about 180⁰ of contact on the small pulley , problem is that I just dont know ...so I guess it "suck it and see " . At the worst Im up for wasting a couple of belts if I have to go for the idler alfter finding out I do need it . Being such a pioneer sux 😂😂. ------------- I wish I was young again .... Id be heaps smarter than this time |
Posted By: rusty360
Date Posted: 22 Jul 2026 at 9:22pm
| If it slips you could try a heavy duty lawn mower type belt, they have a raw edge so drive a lot better. Or a super 2 belt. |
Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 22 Jul 2026 at 10:29pm
| Not enough surface contact I would make sure the belt is the correct thickness to make as much contact as possible with the walls of the pulley. |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 23 Jul 2026 at 6:23am
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As long as you have the right belt cross section for the pulleys I would give it a go. Technically it may not be correct but if they are B section belts (and there') two of them I think you will get away with it. Don't try to compensate for slip by over tightening the belts. That will wreck the mincer or the motor main bearings. She'll be right! ------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: Mc Tool
Date Posted: 23 Jul 2026 at 8:18am
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The primary reduction pulleys are A section and the secondary are B . Not planned that way , neighbour gave me the big primary pulley which has a 1" bore, and the mincer came with a B section ....so I was sorta guided by all that . The new pillow block self aligning bearings were 80 bucks all up and new bearings for the old (not self aligning ) bearing housings were going to be 70 bucks so that didnt take much thinking about .🙂  ------------- I wish I was young again .... Id be heaps smarter than this time |
Posted By: BotStomper
Date Posted: 23 Jul 2026 at 2:31pm
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I have a similar setup. Having a bit of slip available is quite a good thing because it means if the mincer jams on a big hunk of bone like an Albacore backbone it will just slip the belt rather than damaging anything. My second version is going to have an idler mounted on a lever so I can bump it to temporarily give it more grip on the small pulley if it's struggling with something, while still having a sorta fail-safe.
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Posted By: Mc Tool
Date Posted: 23 Jul 2026 at 5:43pm
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Yeah coz we catch Albacore all the time here in Riverton aye 🙄, 😆😆. But I do understand your thinking ...if I could have laid my hands on a centrifugal clutch with double pulley I would have grabbed it but ........ ------------- I wish I was young again .... Id be heaps smarter than this time |
Posted By: krow
Date Posted: 23 Jul 2026 at 7:34pm
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"centrifugal clutch with double pulley" My ride-on has one of those but I kinda need it Maybe put the word out to the local mower shop.
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Posted By: Alan L
Date Posted: 23 Jul 2026 at 7:48pm
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Like Smudge says - you have double pulleys - so in theory half the optimum contact should work. And there is always 'Belt grip' . Check that out. You may not have albies - but I am sure someone will post you few to try.  This is turning out epic. Just an idler wheel on a lever may suffice - if needed. What I learnt over the yrs with this sort of project - don't over- think it before it gets out the box. Run the bare bones and work it from there. Half the stuff you may be trying to compensate for may not happen. Refine it as needed. The Mk 3 will be perfect. What else have you got to do in a Sthland winter?? A video on startup would be good. Matt Watson stuff. Alan
------------- Legasea Legend member |
Posted By: Mc Tool
Date Posted: 23 Jul 2026 at 8:11pm
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Yep ,I sussing how to post a vid . I have a small freezer full of fishy leftovers ...been collecting it for a couple of years now . Looked at ride on mowers clutches but they were all bigger than my 20mm crankshaft , and all to big in diameter . This motor has peak torque of 9.1nm at 2500rpm so Im thinking if I multiply that by 23.6 ( total reduction ) is 214nm ....which is about how hard youd have to twist my arm to get me to drink a Doh bro (🤮)..... Or Waikato (🤮🤮) 😆😆 ------------- I wish I was young again .... Id be heaps smarter than this time |
Posted By: krow
Date Posted: 24 Jul 2026 at 7:55pm
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That's going to take a bit of stopping. This is going to be epic. I too enjoying the progress. What are you plans with pushing feeder material into the top. Hand winding a bit of dowel does the job and I've made it of a size that won't easily fit into the worm. I'm thinking you may need something similar.
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Posted By: Mc Tool
Date Posted: 24 Jul 2026 at 8:22pm
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Had a day off from it today ,had 6m³ firewood that needed to be put in the shed . Im kinda hoping that this thing will accept stuff just being dropped into it , that was the point I had in mind when I went for the biggest one I could find....but if it transpires that I do need to encourage stuff into it I have a large dia table leg ....thinkin that its big enough dia to sit on top of the auger and not get dragged into the guts of the mincer....either that or something it can chew up if it does get dragged in ...like my hand 😆😆, nah, some dude on a fishing boat down here lost a leg stomping stuff into a mincer on the boat a while ago ,and I remember thinkin 🤬k that, there'd be nothing quick about it . Back into it tomorrow 🙂 ------------- I wish I was young again .... Id be heaps smarter than this time |