Chop! Chop! Manual to motorized spice grinder

motorized spice grinder

I recently finished a hack using an IKEA IHÄRDIG spice mill. The intention was to turn the manual IKEA IHÄRDIG spice mill into a motorized spice grinder using a 3D-printed drill adapter.

Why do it?

Because making a large amount of curry powder by hand was tedious and, after a while, actually kind of painful. 

IKEA IHÄRDIG spice mill

And here’s a video of how it works.


Related: Make a turbo milk frother


It’s a bit more technical, and you need a 3D printer to do it, but it’s otherwise pretty easy. 

IKEA item used:
  • IHÄRDIG spice mill
  • FIXA toolkit
Other materials and tools:

Instructions for motorized spice grinder

Download the SpiceShredderBase.stl and SpiceShredderTine.stl files.

Print one of the SpiceShredderBase models.

Print six of the SpiceShredderTine models.

Insert the six tines into the base.

Clamp the six tines onto the IHÄRDIG spice mill.

manual IKEA IHÄRDIG spice mill with 3D printed adapter

Related: See more 3D printed hacks


Insert the largest hex head driver from the FIXA toolkit into the electric drill.

Now insert the other end of the hex head into the SpiceShredder.

manual IKEA IHÄRDIG spice mill to motorized spice grinder

Shred away.

manual IKEA IHÄRDIG spice mill to motorized spice grinder
How much did it cost?

Not much, as I already had the 3D printer and the drill. If you had to buy a 3D printer, it’d cost you about ~180EUR or ~$220. Total cost of extra parts was probably around 10 euros or so. 

How long did it take?

A few hours of designing and testing, once I had all the parts. Trickiest part was designing the base to the right height to make sure it fit snugly against the bottom of the spice mill, which has a concave curve on the bottom, while also trying to minimize total print time. It took 3 attempts to get it right. 

What do I like about the hack?

It saves time, and my wrists from repetitive stress injury. 

What was the hardest part about the hack?

Getting the tolerances right on the size of the tines versus the size of the rectangular holes they slot into on the base. Your Mileage May Vary, when it comes to how precise a 3D printer will be when creating these parts. 

What would I do differently?

Well, there’s a way to print screw threads, so it might be possible to even eliminate the need to buy the adjustable hose clamp. A different design could print a threaded cap which would screw over the tines and press them into the glass walls of the spice mill, though there are probably challenges in that that I’m currently unaware of. 

See full instructions on GitHub.

~ by Max Vilimpoc