Blended "juices" are thick, yes, because they retain all the pulp, which is essentially just the cellulose matrix which holds the juice. What you buy premade in the store is generally not blended, but instead is made in big machines that use centrifugal force or high pressure to separate the juice from all that pulp, which is largely indigestible. If you want something like they make, you have to use their methods.
Before I jump into how juicers work, the one thing you can do with what you have now is to strain the "porridge" you get from a blender. A 4 cup or larger pitcher with a fine mesh food strainer that neatly fits inside the top is a handy accessory for the purpose.
But stick with me... you can make better orange juice, as far as I am concerned, with less fuss and less mess with a juicer made expressly for the purpose, and do it for as little as $5 - 25 or so.
Types of Juicers
I have owned or used pretty much every kind of juicer described, except for the Norwalk Hydraulic Press which costs nearly $2,500.
I currently own and use a Breville Juice Plus
centrifugal juicer... great for hard items that are easily grated by the sharp little teeth on its rotating plate, such as apples, carrots, beets, ginger. It's also good with really juicy fruit like pineapple and watermelon. It's fast and easy to use, but has a little less yield than the auger type because of the quick transit time of the ground-up fruit or veggie across the perforated strainer cone. IOW, the ejected pulp is a little wetter from this type of juicer, and it's useless for greens and wheatgrass, but its easy to use and to clean up, and less expensive ($50-150) than the auger type, so it's the most popular kind for general household use.
Juice Fountain Plus JE98XL Juicer | Breville
This evolved from the original "
centrifugal basket" type, like the Acme and Omega, which are batch juicers, and are still preferred by some. You can juice about 2 pounds of carrots or apples in one of these, for example, before you have to stop and empty it and clean it before proceeding. The continuous ejection type, with an angled strainer basket, was developed for more convenience, although at the cost of slightly lower juice yield. Perhaps best known is the Acme Juicerator.
Waring Professional Juicer by Acme, Model # 6001
I also own and use an Omega 8000 series single auger "
masticating" juicer which does an excellent job of juicing spinach, kale, wheatgrass, greens, herbs. It also does a good job with all the foods mentioned above, but it works more slowly. This kind, available in horizontal and vertical models uses a rotating spiral auger to "chew" whatever you put in the feed tube, which generally requires you cut the food into smaller pieces than the centrifugal type. Because of the high pressures developed between the auger and the strainer cone it produces a higher yield and ejects a drier pulp. Double auger types have precision mating steel spirals that can juice pine needles! Interesting fact is that S. Korea leads the world in designing and manufacturing masticating type machines, because of a hundreds year-old tradition of juicing such things as... pine needles... which required very tedious pounding in bif stone mortars, and then squeezing the pulp in a hemp bag to extract the juice, a physically demanding and time consuming process. But the electric machines they developed have proven ideal for western-style health juicing as well. $200-350 for single auger, $450 and up for twin augers. Here's a popular Omega 8000 series single auger...
Omega 8006 Low Speed Masticating Juicer : Target
And here's a Greenstar twin gear...
http://www.greenstar.com/special.asp
Notice I didn't mention oranges or other citrus in the above? That's because I don't consider either of them to be the best for good citrus juice. A
reamer type orange juicer, manual or electric, a hand squeezer, or a citrus press all make the kind of juice most Americans prefer... a nice drinkable juice with a little pulp, and without the bitterness you can get if oil from the peel is included (Thats why you have to peel oranges in order to belend them.) And they do it with the least fuss and trouble, because the only preparation required is to cut the fruit in half.
Here's a classic old timey manual reamer style... requires a little effort, but works very well. $15...
Glass Citrus Reamer in Prep Utensils | Crate and Barrel
Now look at these... more modern designs, are some virtually works of art, like the two Alessi designs... the iconic Phillipe Starck kind of space ship design at the top, and the MySqueeze, a kind of spiralmetal "football" (#2) that is about as minimalist as can be, yet it works very well.
12 Cool and Innovative Lemon Squeezers – DesignSwan.com
Labelled "lemon squeezers in the above feature," some of them, like the ones with two handles in green, yellow (#4) and orange colors are actually sized for optimal use for limes, lemons, and oranges. Under $15 most places, they are simple to use and clean and effective and take up little space.
In the
electric reamer department, I use one I've had for 20 years that still works perfectly, but it's no longer made. This one from Black and Decker is very similar, and it could not be simpler to use. Press a half an orange down onto the reamer and it starts turning, squeeze the peel against the reamer, then lift up and the reamer stops turning. Makes short work of a big batch of oranges. This one is about $17
Amazon.com: Black & Decker CJ625 30-Watt 34-Ounce Citrus Juicer: Kitchen & Dining
And finally the last manual type, a
lever citrus press. You see this kind in a lot of bars where they make cocktails with fresh juices, because it is quick and easy and handles all sizes of fruit. $40 - 150
Amazon.com: Pro Commerical Manual Orange Citrus Juicer Lemon Fruit Juicer: Home & Kitchen
And here's a compact Metrokane press, like my grandmother had. Works well, $40 I found one at a thrift shop for $5 that is probably older than I am, and it still works well.
Rabbiit Citrus Juicer by Metrokane - BedBathandBeyond.com
Good luck!