HF Drill for Mill Question

Hi all,
I decided to purchase a drill to mount to my grain mill, so I picked up a Hitachi low speed from Lowe's. I chose it because it had a dial on the trigger to adjust the rpm. The problem was that it was either too slow to turn, or too fast. Plus it started smoking when it was too slow to turn.

So I took it back and got a B&D low speed and mounted it with a 3" C Clamp on the handle so I could turn it to control the trigger speed. Same problem: too slow or too fast, plus smoke at "too slow" setting. The good news is that I got 76% efficiency on my last 5 gallon batch of Altbier. But I don't want to ruin my mill.

So my question is...will the harbor freight do the same thing (too slow or too fast, and smoke from the motor)? Or is it made better than the two I tried?

Thanks.

You need a heavy duty drill that is geared down to produce the low speed, rather than a variable speed drill where just the motor is slowed. Variable speed drills have minimal torque at low speed.

Or a direct drive motor w/ gear reduction.

I use this
http://www.harborfreight.com/1-2-half-inch-heavy-duty-spade-handle-drill-93632.html
Milled over 100lbs with it on my carona mill so far and no issues at all, speed can be dialed in very good too.

Thanks guys. Makes sense.

I'll try to pick one up tonight and see how it works.

I wonder if my 7.5 amp DeWalt HD (D-handle) single speed 450rpm would work?

I use that same HF drill with my monster three roller, 2" mill. It works. I get some interesting smells from the drill, but still going


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+1 for the Harbor Freight drill. Easily mounted to a board. Use a lovejoy coupler between the drill and the mill so you do not tear up the mill shaft. Loud but plenty of torque. Likely run 4,000 lbs through my mill so far on the one drill.

brewpal said:

+1 for the Harbor Freight drill. Easily mounted to a board. Use a lovejoy coupler between the drill and the mill so you do not tear up the mill shaft. Loud but plenty of torque. Likely run 4,000 lbs through my mill so far on the one drill.

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How did you know what size to get? That may be a silly question. I just bought the MM 2 2.0 but haven't even had a moment to get it from the box. This thread is helpful because I was going to use my variable speed Dewalt Hammer Drill to test it. It sounds like I shouldn't attempt that. That said, I want to be sure I don't tear up my mill shaft.

I used ebay to find a lovejoy couper set that matched the diameter of my Maltmill shaft. I used a cut-off bolt on the drill side of the coupler in the drill chuck. Mount the drill on the same board as the mill with the drill and mill shaft lined up. Keep a spare lovejoy spider handy as they wear out and break eventually.