SQUEEZE master Fruit Apple Wine Classic Crusher -7 Litre/1.8Gallon Manual Grinder- Large Stainless Steel-Red

Easy to assemble. Works like a charm.

We have been using this to crush up pears for juicing and wine making this fall. Pears can be rock hard, so it really was a bit of a stress test for this tool. Especially with as many batches as we needed to run to process all of our harvest from our trees.For nicely ripe pears this had no issue - we went through several pressings quickly just due to how much time this saved us on chopping the fruit down to size. Prior to this we had been using a dicing chopper tool which was slow and didn't do a great job of helping extract juice. While we still needed to quarter the fruits for this (something we had to do before anyway) the chopping process was far, far faster. This was a clear time saver, and the finer crushing of the fruit produced a significant improvement in juicing output.Unfortunately we ran through a batch of probably-not-ripe-enough pears through it and snapped the screw that attached the handle to the body. I don't actually fault the design on this one - I'd much rather have an easily replaceable part like that break than something more important. To me it looks like this may even be a deliberate design choice to sacrifice an expendable part to protect the rest of the machinery from stress damage.The downside is that the instructions manual that is included did not include a part list which made it difficult to find a replacement. I contacted the company to get more information about the part and was quickly helped with the proper sizing. I recommend anyone interested just pre-emptively buy a spare or two of a metric M5x10 screw of a high alloy steel for strength. Screws are cheap and you'll be glad to have a spare on hand if yours breaks mid-processing.Overall this is a solid recommend - I don't think I can go back to processing fruit without it. It saved a vast amount of time and effort and produced superior results.

I agree with some other reviewers that this tool was not super easy to assemble, but also it wasn't impossible. I watched a video to help me and still messed up a couple of times before I got it right. The screws are pretty small and a challenge to keep in place without slipping out of my hands.I am happy with how it chopped apples and pears--the fruit I've tried so far. It's supposed to make the apples ready to go into the fruit press, which I bought as a pair with this tool. But when I tried pressing the chopped apples for cider, I couldn't get enough pressure to really extract a maximum amount of juice. I ended up steaming the chopped apples in order to soften them more and was able to get all the juice that way. Pears worked much better fresh, since they are softer fruit anyway.The crusher was a challenge to keep steady on the top of the bucket I was using. I know it is ideally fixed to a sturdy structure so turning the crank doesn't move the whole apparatus. Another reviewer suggested a second person to hold the crusher steady while the first person cranks. This is a good idea, also.One design criticism I have is that the corners of the hopper are sharp. This is an issue while carrying it around the work area or while cleaning it. It's an awkward shape to carry and I suppose it would be helpful to remove the hopper and clean that separately. But then you need to have the right size wrench handy to loosen the bolts that hold the hopper in place. I think it would have been nice if the manufacturer would have included a little tool for that purpose with a handy storage spot on the base.And lastly, for apples and pears, I cut any undesirable parts off the fruit and also halved the fruit before crushing. I think the teeth grab better for a smoother cranking motion when the fruit isn't whole.

I shedded 18 5 gallon buckets of small apples with this shredder this fall. It did a good job. It held together and it rinsed off with a garden hose fairly easily. I clamped the runners to boards and I clamped those boards to a pair of saw horses. It was a pretty good set up. I do wish I could find shredders that would squeeze the apples more while they were being shreded. I had to run the shredded mash through a second time to get them a little more finely shredded so I could get more juice out in the pressing. For the money it is a great buy.

The fruit crusher arrived very quickly. Unfortunately one hopper side was bent in a way that prevented assembly. I emailed the company and included a picture of the piece. I received a response within 24 hours and the replacement came in 3 days.The item is pretty sturdy and went together without problems. One tip for assembly… there are a lot of little screws and if you tighten them as you go it gets hard to line up and put the remainder in. I suggest putting all the screws in loosely and once they are all properly seated it is time to tighten them. Directions for assembly are kind of sparse but it is a pretty simple item.

This makes quick work of apples or pears but does require constant input, pushing fruit down into the teeth to get them through. The unit does want to move around a LOT as you hand crank it and the spindly legs you can get for it won't change that (too light and flimsy). Also, be careful using it! The edges of the funnel sheet metal are SHARP. I cut the CR@P out of a finger grabbing the unit to place it over a bucket. Almost needed stitches. A motorized version would be nice and easier but this is certainly vastly better than chopping apples by hand for a cider press.

Only used it once so far. It did a good jobs on the apples. I found it best not to fill hopper completely. Apples would not drop into grinder when it was too full. I’m happy with it.