VICARP R & D

INFORMATION SHEETS
PEDAL-OPERATED COCONUT GRATER
Introduction
Processing of coconut via the wet process necessitates the reduction of the size of the meat to
facilitate milk extraction. For the kitchen process, this is done with the use of the kudkuran, a grater
whose blade is mounted on wood. For commercial and semi-commercial wet processing of coconuts, the
grater used is usually motor-operated. The former is laborious and time-consuming while the latter is
costly and dependent on the availability of electricity for its operation.
In view of the development of the wet process for village level processing of coconut for cooking
oil and foods, a pedal-operated grater is designed and fabricated. Operation by pedal power is adopted to
do away with electricity which is not always available especially in rural areas.
The pedal-operated grater described herein is an improvement of several existing pedal-powered
graters for coconut processing. With its original feature of having one blade, the machine could be
operated by only one person with a capacity of 623 grams of grated meat per minute compared to 45.5
grams per minute with kudkuran and 40 to 252 grams per minute with existing graters.
With the addition of the second blade, one nut (Baybay Tall variety) can be grated in one minute.
The machine is operated by two persons wherein the driver does the pedaling and grating simultaneously
while the second person does the grating using the motor-operated grater and they may take turn when
the driver feels tired.
This machine, which has two troughs or downspouts, can produce two kinds of grated meat; white
and brown. The first operator grates only the inner part of the kernel leaving the outer part including the
testa to the second operator. After extracting the milk, the white pressed meat or white sapal can be
used as ingredient for cookies and the like. The brown sapal on the other hand, can be directly used as
feeds for animals or as an ingredient in feed formulation.
The machine has several other uses. The grater and the cover which are detachable can be
substituted with slicing, grating, cutting, milling, shelling and winnowing assembly for rootcrops, corn, rice,
forage and other crops. This can be easily done since the power transmission of the grater here discussed
will not be altered.
The machine will be useful to small-scale food processors who are using grated coconut meat
and/or coconut milk as ingredient in food products and to farmers who would like to process coconut into
cooking oil and other food products.
The cost of the grater including labor as of March 1985 is about P 1,500. Substituting the metal
frame with a wooden one is suggested to reduce the cost of the machine.
Description and Manufacture
The grater consists basically of the frame,seat, power transmission (gears, chain, sprockets,
pedal, shafts and bearings), blades, flywheel, blade covers of shields, and downspouts or troughs.
Grating is accomplished by rotating the blades using the pedal and pressing the meat of the
halved nut to the rotating blades.

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The machine can be fabricated in any small, reasonably equipped workshop. The following tools
will be needed:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

wielding machine
hack saw with spare blades
file, flat
electric drill
pliers
adjustable wrench
hammer
metal lathe
level
tinners snip
screw driver
paint brush
triangular file
vise
working bench
List of Materials

Materials

Amount Required

1.
2.
3.
4.

pipe
welding rods
bike seat
gears

1 length
2 kg
1 pc
1 pc

5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.

sprockets
pedals
bike chain
axle
crank pins
bevel gears
aluminum sheet
ball bearings
flywheel
capscrew
aluminum rivets
angle bar
shafting
steel plate
reinforcement bar

2 pcs
1 pair
2 pcs
1 pc
2 pcs
1 pair
1 sheet
7 pcs
1 pc
8 pcs
100 pcs
1 pc
1 pc
12 pcs
1 pc

1 pc

3 pcs
20. seat post
21. setscrew

1 pc
3 pcs

Description
1 1/3 x 1/8 thick
ordinary
_
52-tooth with crank
52-tooth without crank
16-tooth, free wheeling
steel
_
_
_
16:10-tooth
2 x 8, gauge 32
5/8
33 x 1 thick, steel
_
_
125-cm long, 1 1/3 x 1 1/2
1 x 120-cm long
0.3 cm x 3 cm x 8 cm
2 cm x 90 cm, plain
1 cm x 10 cm, plain
1 x 20 cm G.I. pipe
1/3 x 1-inch long

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The Grater
The following orthographic and cross-sectional drawing of the grater show its general form and
construction.

Fig. 1. TOP VIEW

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Fig. 2. FRONT VIEW

Fig. 3. REAR VIEW

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Fig. 4. RIGHT SIDE VIEW

Fig. 5. LEFT SIDE VIEW

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Fig. 6. SECTION A-A

Fig. 7. SECTION B-B

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How to Construct the Grater
1.

Cut the following lengths from 1 1/3 x

thick G.I. pipe: 1 pc each of 101 cm,
65 cm, 62 cm, 83 cm, 70 cm, 60 cm,
31 cm, 9 cm, 66 cm, and 2 pcs each of
4 cm and 40 cm.

2. Cut an 8-cm long piece from 2 G.I. pipe.

This will be used to house the axle of
the pedal assembly.
3.

Cut a 90-cm long piece from a 1 plain

reinforcement bar. This will support the
platform for the bevel gear assembly.

4. Assembly the above-mentioned materials

into the framework as shown in Fig. 8.
5. Install the bevel gear assembly on top of
the 83-cm long and 90-cm long vertical
framework members. Refer to Figs. 9
and 10 for the details of the assembly.
6. Install the power transmission components
like the gears, sprockets, pedals, bike
chain, bevel gears and flywheels.
Fig. 8. FRAMEWORK

7. Make two aluminum shields/troughs as

shown in Figs. 11 and 12.

8. Mount the shields/troughs to the frame

making the free shaft ends of the bevel gear assembly pass through the center of the
shields/troughs.
9. Fabricate two blade assemblies as shown in Fig. 13 and 14. Fig. 14 shows the individual blade unit
which composes each of the six-sided blade assemblies. The six individual blade units are welded
into shaft which is previously refaced and drilled as shown in Fig. 13.
10. Install the blade assemblies to the free shaft ends at the center of the aluminum covers. Tighten the
set screw to hold the blade assembly into the shaft.

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Fig. 9. DETAIL OF BEVEL GEAR ASSEMBLY

Fig. 10. ELEVATION OF BEVEL GEAR ASSEMBLY

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Fig. 11. DETAIL OF ALUMINUM SHIELD/TROUGH 1

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Fig. 12. DETAIL OF ALUMINUM SHIELD/TROUGH 2

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Fig. 13. DETAIL OF GRATER BLADE ASSEMBLY

Fig. 14. DETAIL OF INDIVIDUAL BLADE UNIT

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How to Operate the Grater
1. Mount on the seat and pedal to turn the blades. The blades must be sharp and tightly secured to the
shaft.

Fig. 15. HANDLING OF NUT FOR BLADE ASSEMBLY 1

2. Get a halved nut, position and turn it as shown in Fig. 15. The meat should be in contact with the
rotation blades. Hold the halved nut firmly and turn counter-clockwise opposite to the direction of
the shaft rotation. This is to effect faster grating of the meat and to facilitate uniformity in the meat
shreds.

Fig. 16. HANDLING OF NUT FOR BLADE ASSEMBLY 2

3. The second person who uses blade assembly 2 should position and turn the halved nut as shown in
Figure 16. Hold the nut firmly and turn clockwise opposite to the direction of the shaft rotation.
4. Allow the vibration of the grater to move the grated meat downwards along the troughs/downspouts.
The remaining accumulated grated meat may be moved downwards by tapping the aluminum
covers/troughs.
5. Always clean the grater every after operation.
Source:
Farm Bullletin No. 2
Series of 1986
DAC-FS

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