Monster Mill arrived today!

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nostalgia

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My MM2 showed up in the mail today. Pictures shortly.

Question: is there any need to close in the sides when making my hopper? Will the grain end up spilling out the front and back, or will the rotating rollers keep it in check?

Thanks!

-Joe
 
Here it is, right out of the box.

mm1.jpg


Boy is this thing heavy. And the knurl is sharp. Machining is nice. The gap is set right around 0.040 from the factory.

To make my base I started by cutting two discs with flat sides - one a little bigger than the top of a 5 gallon bucket, one a little smaller. I used 3/4" ply for the top and 3/8" ply for the bottom.

mm2.jpg


Did a little test fit to figure out where I wanted the mill to live. I decided on dead center for the best weight distribution.

mm3.jpg


Then I cut the clearance hole with my jigsaw and drilled some holes. Unfortunately, the holes in the aluminum side plates aren't through-holes, so I couldn't use them to locate centers. I had to make my own paper template and make my holes a little bigger. As you can see, I missed. It'd be nice if a template was included or if the holes went all the way through.

mm4.jpg


Then I cut out a big clearance hole in the 3/8" ply and glued it to the 3/4" ply.

mm5.jpg


This locates it nicely on the 5 gallon bucket.

mm6.jpg


In case you were wondering why the flat sides, it's so the whole thing can store neatly inside the bucket when not in use.

mm7.jpg


Tomorrow or Friday, hopper!

-Joe
 
That looks pretty straight forward. Good write up! Of course you are now making my resolve to not spend money on brewing equipment dissolve, and making me want to buy a mill more and more...
 
Yeah, you'll want to enclose the sides but it doesn't have to be anything structural. I used some aluminum flashing but plan to switch to 1/8" plexiglass just for fun. My favorite hopper for these is a Deer Park or similar 5 gallon water bottle with the bottom cut off and the narrow neck feeding the mill. I also have the grain pouring into the mill through a 1/2" x 3" slot so the upper portion of the cavity doesn't get all jammed up.
 
Are you doing to use a drill to drive the rollers? I have the mm3 2.0 on its way right now. I am excited about it.
Yes, I am. That's why I didn't go with the 2.0. I wanted this to be small and portable, as my storage space is limited.

With that, on to the pictures!

I built a little house to go around the mill to enclose the sides and provide a base for my hopper. 3/4" ply.

mm8.jpg


I cut the heads off some 1/4" bolts to make locator pins for the house. This also helps keep the side plates of the mill from racking.

mm9.jpg


Here we are assembled, snug as a bug in a rug. I had to get longer thumbscrews to hold the eccentric sleeves in place for the mill adjusters.

mm10.jpg


Took the whole thing over to my bandsaw and cut to the slanted line you can see in the last picture. You'll see why in a moment...A little Rustoleum black spray paint makes it almost presentable.

mm11.jpg


And the reason for the slanted base becomes clear - a second bucket is the hopper! I drilled a 2" hole for the grain to run through and a 1/4" hole so I can re-use one of the original thumbscrews to hold it in place. Notice for PMing or brew-in-a-bag you can grind right into the bag.

mm12.jpg


mm13.jpg


The buckets nest neatly and the mill drops inside. The handle of the bottom bucket snaps over the top's rim and the whole thing is easily carried.

mm14.jpg


Can't wait to try it out tomorrow!

-Joe
 
One final upgrade - baffles to keep the grain from spilling over the sides of the rollers. I was going to just use some flashing, but decided to stick with the wood theme.

mm15.jpg


-Joe
 
Well, it worked great! The hopper design worked a treat. With the rollers set at 0.040, I had quite a few uncrushed grains. At 0.030 I seemed to be tearing up the husks. I'll try shooting the middle next time.

One question for y'all - I'm assuming you have to have the rollers going before dumping the grain in, right? Do you put a rubberband around the drill's trigger or something?

I ask because I tried starting the drill after the grain was in, and my cordless drill couldn't do it. I had to use my heavy-duty corded drill. Once things started rolling it was no problem.

-Joe
 
I added a crude gate valve for the grain so that I could fill the hopper, start the drill, and then pull the gate to let the grain drop. I use a quick clamp on the drill trigger.
 
Thanks! It really worked great and doesn't take up much space in the basement, which is good for the WAF*.

Once I come up with a gate valve as Bobby suggested it'll be perfect :)

-Joe

*Wife Acceptance Factor.
 
my corded drill has a little screw i can turn to lock the trigger at the throtle i want. the further i turn it, the faster it goes.

Basically just screwing the trigger all the way down.
 
The Monster Mill is a great product. I have milled literally hundred and hundreds of pounds of grain including unmalted wheat and rye and anything else you can imagine and it is showing no signs of wear.
 
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