# Sausage Stuffer



## Gunner7800 (Jul 11, 2007)

I am curious if anybody out there has a Dakotah sausage stuffer? 

http://dakotahsausagestuffer.com/

I am looking for the ID of the main tube. I have a piece of tubing I would like to use and it looks like it is the same size of the Dakotah stuffer. If it is I would just purchase a replacement plunger from Dakotah with the O-rings and make my own stuffer.


----------



## Gunner7800 (Jul 11, 2007)

Anybody out there have one?


----------



## Jovush (Sep 28, 2006)

What about this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3Lf05J2G6M&list=UUETU1ZjRM0mudUlQh5p_-kg&index=2


----------



## strummer (Jul 25, 2004)

As long as its close to being the right size it might work . Would have to get the right size o'rings so that it fights real right . That way you won't have water leaking into your casings when stuffing .


----------



## plotman (Feb 27, 2008)

I looked at the dakota, which I think runs on water pressure????as well as the other types and decided I liked the upright models better, not to mention didnt have a source of pressurized water nearby. I am normally a DIY guy but, when I started adding up the needed materials it quickly became apparent I could buy one cheaper than build it. I scored Ebay and finally got a 15lb upright with metal gears (northern i think) very reasonable. Good luck with your project.


----------



## Gunner7800 (Jul 11, 2007)

The good thing about this project is I got this piece of tubing for free, it was a leftover from somebody's project. I already have end caps and assorted smaller sizes of pvc laying around my garage. So all I really need is the piston. The good thing about these stuffers is that they work off of the available water pressure in your kitchen faucet, it doesn't take 60+ psi to make it work. Like strummer said above, you have to get a good enough seal so water doesn't leak into you sausage. That's why if I do have the proper sized tubing, I can just buy the piston from Dakotah and be all set, or maybe even just get new o-rings.

I may just go with the cut out layers of cutting board stacked together and make my own o-ring seats. Afterall, the cutting board is cheaper than the purchased piston.


----------



## Dwayne (May 23, 2003)

I have a Dakotah sausage stuffer and for curiosity I took the piston with me to a Home Depot and tried it in 4 inch schedule 40 pvc. It fits just like it does in the Dakota tube. You can order a replacement Dakotah piston and O-rings from http://dakotahsausagestuffer.com/ for about $20 so you don't need to fool around trying to make one. Not sure why some are worried about food grade PVC because PVC pipe has been used for water supply for years. I added a solenoid valve and foot pedal on the water supply side to make stuffing easier.

Good luck,
Dwayne


----------



## Gunner7800 (Jul 11, 2007)

Dwayne said:


> I have a Dakotah sausage stuffer and for curiosity I took the piston with me to a Home Depot and tried it in 4 inch schedule 40 pvc. It fits just like it does in the Dakota tube. You can order a replacement Dakotah piston and O-rings from http://dakotahsausagestuffer.com/ for about $20 so you don't need to fool around trying to make one. Not sure why some are worried about food grade PVC because PVC pipe has been used for water supply for years. I added a solenoid valve and foot pedal on the water supply side to make stuffing easier.
> 
> Good luck,
> Dwayne


That is great news cause I bought some 4" PVC along with a large white plastic cutting board. I was going to trace the inside diameter of the pipe and cut out several circles of the cutting board to stack up to make a piston. So I'll order a replacement piston to save a headache. Thanks Dwayne!!


----------



## shanedut (Sep 28, 2009)

This is awsome i cant wait to see how this works out i was thinking on making one awhile ago but didnt want to mess with making my own piston. As long as the PVC pipe is rated for over 100psi it should be for potable water so therefore food grade. Clean none the less and cooked/cured properly would kill anything anyways.


----------



## Three Bears (Dec 18, 2008)

Pictures of your efforts please....:mg:


----------



## Gunner7800 (Jul 11, 2007)

Three Bears said:


> Pictures of your efforts please....:mg:


Will do, just waiting for some free time. I got skunked this year so no meat to process but if I can get the stuffer built, then I'll be ready to go for next year.


----------



## Dwayne (May 23, 2003)

Maybe a little caution...when I checked the piston I did it in a number of 4" PVC pieces that were pre-cut to 2 feet. On one of them I noticed the piston didn't go in one end but it did at the other end. My guess is that this one had been stacked somewhere that caused it to deform a little. The easy way to check would be to order the piston first then make sure it fits nicely through the PVC.

Gunner, I got your email and will stop today and check whether the Dakotah end piece fits the threads of a threaded PVC hub.

Dwayne


----------



## Dwayne (May 23, 2003)

I just checked and the Dakotah end piece do not fit onto a regular 4-inch PVC threaded hub.

Below is a picture of my final Dakotah Sausge Stuffer with add-ons. Tomorrow I put it to use making 25 pounds of Polish sausage. Although I have some venison this year I figure with pork butts going for $1.99/lb I would make my own sausages even if I didn't have any venison.

I bought the temporary foot switch from Harbor Freight and the 1/4-inch normally closed 110V solenoid valve on ebay. The valve on eBay is: http://tinyurl.com/cnwwz2s After messing with all the adapter fittings and various sizes to get to regular hose fitting I would just get a washing machine solenoid valve next time and use washing machine hoses for the connections. You can get a washing machine valve for about $15 and have two valves which would give you a spare if the first one failed. Here is a universal washing machine valve that is on Amazon.com - http://tinyurl.com/dy2857f









Have fun and good eating,
Dwayne


----------



## Gunner7800 (Jul 11, 2007)

Thanks for the help Dwayne. I ordered a piston and o-rings, so we'll see how this works out.


----------



## SCORPION KING (Sep 7, 2007)

Watching this one


----------



## hoyt em all (Feb 20, 2005)

my hand cranker


----------



## Gunner7800 (Jul 11, 2007)

hoyt em all said:


> my hand cranker


I've thought about making a crank like this as a secondary system. What did you use as the piston? How does that bell tube attachment work inside that cap, is it a good fit?


----------



## hoyt em all (Feb 20, 2005)

Gunner7800 said:


> I've thought about making a crank like this as a secondary system. What did you use as the piston? How does that bell tube attachment work inside that cap, is it a good fit?


the piston is 1/2'' aluminum plate sawed out and turned to 3.975". the blue thing is a coffee can lid that measures 4'' on the money. the stuffing tube came with my grinder. i used a spade bit to drill the hole. that size came out a bit big ,so i to put 1 1/2 wraps of masking tape on to make it tight, the two others were perfect . i cut the 4" pvc. to a size were i could still reach the crank , in hindsight i would have made it longer.i learned that i could thread the handle down to a comfortable spot and use a jam nut. the 4"pvc was cut to 21.5" and holds 9#or so. one thing that is a must is make a lead in-out on the inside edges of the tube and end caps (big chamfer). before gluing.


----------



## Gunner7800 (Jul 11, 2007)

hoyt em all said:


> the blue thing is a coffee can lid that measures 4'' on the money.


A coffee can lid! Really? LOL....I like it.

I've thought about the attachments that came with my grinder but didn't think they would fit good enough, think I'll take another look.


----------



## Gunner7800 (Jul 11, 2007)

Picked up the rest of the pieces I needed this weekend. I'm hoping I can find some time in the next couple weeks to put it together.


----------



## F16ViperTec (Apr 18, 2013)

I just received my Dakota Stuffer today and used it to stuff 100 pounds for deer sticks. I didn't want to use water so I set it up to run off a air compressor. I set compressor output to about 30-40 psi. The shutoff valves that they provide with the stuffer did not hold air so I went to Menard's and purchased a better valve. I ran the stuffer off of a little pancake compressor. Stuffing tubes with the air worked awesome. After I did 100 pounds of cased deer sticks I tried the Jerky attachment.. That did not work out that well. I turned the compressor down more and still could not get the jerky to come out slow enough to work properly. I don't know if I need to put the meat in the fridge awhile to stiffen the meat back up or if I have to use the water to make jerky. I will figure out the jerky attachment soon so I don't have to use my jerky shooter. Other than that this works awesome. I wish I would of bought this sooner. I could of used it about a month ago when I made 200 pounds of deer summer sausage that I stuffed through my grinder. I recommend this stuffer to anyone. It is worth the money.


----------

