Motorizing my Barley Crusher

Looking at McMaster-Carr's' part# 6142K72 AC electric gear motor. 115 volt, 150 RPM. They say it has 5lb's torque. Is that enough to effectively crush my malt? I plan on using sheaves and belt and building a mobile, motorized grain mill. I just want to pick the right motor the first time.
Cheers, Gabe

I don't think that will have enough torque but I could be wrong. You could get a different motor with a higher rpm and gear it down.

I run my mill with a corded drill and I've seen several others with this setup. From a little research i've found that cordless drills have somewhere around 450 in-lbs of torque (so corded would be the same or more). 450 in-lbs may be overkill for most mills (I don't have a barley crusher) but I just don't think that 5 in-lbs is going to be enough. Consider how much that really is, that's a 5 inch bar with 1 lb on the end of it, not a lot of torque at all.

How many amps is the motor? Or how much horsepower?

I'd think 5 ft./lbs of torque might do. But most people use a small sheave 1/2" on a motor that runs approx. 1850 rpm and a large one 10" on the grain mill to acheive approx. 300 rpm on the grain mill.

So you'd have to have the larger sheave on the motor and the smaller on the grain mill to get your RPM up to 300.

If it were me I rather go with the conventional setup rather than try to reinvent the wheel.

here's an example of one from BYO using a 1/3 hP 1750 rpm motor to drive a grain mill at 185-200 RPM.

http://***********/departments/1123.html

I think you are confusing the two common ways of powering a mill.

Many use a medium size electric motor and pair of sheaves or pulleys, with a v-belt. This 'gears down' the out put speed from around 1700 to whatever you are aiming for; generally around 200-250rpms. using this speed reduction system also increases the usable torque of the motor, like any transmission system does.

Others use an AC gearmotor to direct drive the mill by way of a flexible coupling. The speed reduction system is built into the motor by way of a gear reduction system on the output end of the motor. These are rated by rpm and out put torque although they also are commonly rated by hp, too.

I have seen recommendations of 1/3 hp and around 50 in/lbs of torque, although pinning this down exactly is open to variables such as how long the mill rollers are and what type of power is being used to run the mill.

Bodine gearmotors are popular due to the variety and availability.

I used their website to plan my mill station.
http://www.bodine-electric.com/Asp/ProductGroup.asp?Context=8

I was interested in the 42R-E Parallel series. I think the 48R-F series is a bit of overkill.

I was aiming for a 115 rpm motor, with 68 in/lbs., #0651, but chickened out on bidding, then found the 0650 @170rpm and 45 in/lbs., new, for a buy it now price and jumped. It is a very substantial motor and I believe it will work fine although I have to buy my mill yet. It is much more substantial than a cordless drill... I have powered it and it is impressive. It does not require an additional capacitor, as many do. I still need to build a stand and wire it, but it's been ambition-killing cold around here for quite a while...

http://www.bodine-electric.com/Asp/...Name=42R-E Series Parallel Shaft AC Gearmotor

Many are currently searching for gear motors, so competition is tighter than it used to be but I got a new Bodine for $59. List = $312.

IIRC, the BC is a short roller mill and since less grain is going thru it at one time, than say, a longer roller type, like C&S and Monster, you should be able to get away with a proportionally smaller amount of torque than those other mills.



-Won't direct display-

My Bodine motor is rated in Nm at 6.2 which is 4.57 ft/lbs. I have it hooked up to a Crankandstein 3 roller mill. This runs at about 100 rpm. It will destroy anything except rocks and steel.

Just to clarify he means 5 in-lbs. If you go to McMaster and look up the part you'll see that in it's rating. I definitely agree that a motor with 5 ft-lbs of torque would work great (at the right rpm)

Did you end up building your mill with eh 42R-E motor? How does it work? Any suggestions or hindsight style insights? Trying to build out a Barelycrusher for my local homebrew shop.

I just picked up this motor off of eBay. I'm hoping that it will workout for motorizing my barley crusher. I need to get a 3/4" to 3/8" lovejoy coupling (I believe the Barley crusher is 3/8").

This was the description of the motor:
SCOTT DC GEAR MOTOR
PM FIELD OPERATION VOLTAGE 115 DC 2.7 AMPS
MODEL MGA - 02525
RPM 230
INSULATION CLASS 105 A - A1
MOUNT IS GBX
SHAFT 3/4" X WITH 1/4" SPLINE
Motor length 10 1/4" 5" diameter
Shaft 1 5/8" long 3/4 " diameter

Is the barleycrusher 3/8 shaft for the love joy? I like to order mine today

dmcman73 said:

I just picked up this motor off of eBay. I'm hoping that it will workout for motorizing my barley crusher. I need to get a 3/4" to 3/8" lovejoy coupling (I believe the Barley crusher is 3/8").

This was the description of the motor:
SCOTT DC GEAR MOTOR
PM FIELD OPERATION VOLTAGE 115 DC 2.7 AMPS
MODEL MGA - 02525
RPM 230
INSULATION CLASS 105 A - A1
MOUNT IS GBX
SHAFT 3/4" X WITH 1/4" SPLINE
Motor length 10 1/4" 5" diameter
Shaft 1 5/8" long 3/4 " diameter

Click to expand...

How are you going to power it? Ive read one can convert ac to dc for driving motors with a light dimmer and a cheap bridge rectifier....

I have a couple similar motos but gear reduction as well and theres no marking to tell me the voltage... all I know is its DC..

I just bought a Dart variable 115vdc A/C to 115Vdc controller off Amazon for $60, works great. I also just picked up a 3/4" lovejoy to a 1/2' lovejoy (I had to get a 1/2" to a 3/8" reducer for the grain mill)

would anyone be kind enough to post the part numbers for the love joy couplings L 075, sleeves for the 1/2 to 3/8 reducer. I have found the right Love Joy for the motor not sure about the rest

From grainger. Dayton 1/2-3/8" bushing: Item # 6X452

As for the lovejoy, there are many types of styles so be sure you get both in the same "series". The one I got is Item # 4X178 from grainger. If in doubt, call granger and they will help you match them up. Also, don't forget the rubber insert between the couplers.

Thanks I order the items I needed

I posted this in the the other thread (in the DIY section) Just an fyi for those on a budget.... a $4 bridge rectifier such as this , http://www.ebay.com/itm/261623326473...:MEBIDX:IT
and a regular ac wall light dimmer is all that was needed to power my 90v gear reduction motor off of ac power...
I tested it last night and I have speed control with the dimmer... I may add a cheap digital voltage readout meter though since I am worried about overdriving it. I have also considered a voltage "smoothing" capacitor which helps improve the dc power created this way but am unsure of what size to use at this point... but everything runs cool at all speeds and is working fine without it.

Now I just have to assemble everything... my last stand/motor setup was very ugly and bare bones so I'm going to be more patient with this build.

augiedoggy said:

I posted this in the the other thread (in the DIY section) Just an fyi for those on a budget.... a $4 bridge rectifier such as this , http://www.ebay.com/itm/261623326473...:MEBIDX:IT
and a regular ac wall light dimmer is all that was needed to power my 90v gear reduction motor off of ac power...
I tested it last night and I have speed control with the dimmer... I may add a cheap digital voltage readout meter though since I am worried about overdriving it. I have also considered a voltage "smoothing" capacitor which helps improve the dc power created this way but am unsure of what size to use at this point... but everything runs cool at all speeds and is working fine without it.

Now I just have to assemble everything... my last stand/motor setup was very ugly and bare bones so I'm going to be more patient with this build.

Click to expand...

That would have been another option for my setup since my motor is 115vdc, I wouldn't have to worry about overloading it as wall voltage is 115-120vac. For your 90vdc, you'll need to be careful even with a meter on it, you could still accidentally bump it and over shoot. A simple and cheap fix would be to use a slide dimmer. Hook up a meter on the output of the rectifier and increase the voltage with the slide dimmer. Once you hit 90vdc, Mark off on the dimmer with a pencil. Turn everything off then use a small amount of JB Weld and apply it to the slot up to that line so you essentially will make that slot shorter. Now once it's dry, your slide won't be able to go past the 90vdc mark since the JB Weld will be creating a "damn" .

dmcman73 said:

That would have been another option for my setup since my motor is 115vdc, I wouldn't have to worry about overloading it as wall voltage is 115-120vac. For your 90vdc, you'll need to be careful even with a meter on it, you could still accidentally bump it and over shoot. A simple and cheap fix would be to use a slide dimmer. Hook up a meter on the output of the rectifier and increase the voltage with the slide dimmer. Once you hit 90vdc, Mark off on the dimmer with a pencil. Turn everything off then use a small amount of JB Weld and apply it to the slot up to that line so you essentially will make that slot shorter. Now once it's dry, your slide won't be able to go past the 90vdc mark since the JB Weld will be creating a "damn" .

Click to expand...

actually you can get up to 140-150v dc with 120v ac coming in from this way what I have read ...I have already thought about the whole overdriving it but hostly I pusted it all the was up to about 120v DC and the motor just turned faster... it did not even get warm in the minute I ran it. I am not sure whether my motors are 110vdc or 90v dc... they came out of very large ammonia blueprint machines like 20 years ago and were laying around my office/ warehouse for years before we closed the office.. they have been kicking around my garage and the stickers fell off..
They are very powerful with the gear reduction though. much stronger than the smaller ac gear reduction motor I have been using for the last year which would stall with too much roasted grains alone.

:cross:

I got mine assembled yesterday and I'm happy to say its a dramatic improvement. It more than strong and fast enough... I just hope the pulleys dont wear out the bearing/bushing from the side pressure.

Any recent links on where to purchase a motor?

stever1000 said:

Any recent links on where to purchase a motor?

Click to expand...

https://www.allamericanaleworks.com/

a bit more than I want to spend...

Dmcman, that is a 115V-DC motor. I'm curious, how are you going power that? Sorry, I was at the bottom of the page, not the end of the discussion.

Here is my crusher. It has a 1/6 Hp motor rated at 4.2 amps and running at 1725 rpm. The drive pulley is 1.5" diameter measured on the outside edges. The crusher pulley is 8 1/4" diameter. Since the drive shaft on The Barley Crusher is only 3/8", finding a pulley that is 8 1/4" with a 3/8" shaft size is big dollar$$$. So I made one. It wasn't that hard. I first cut a round blank of the diameter I wanted. Then made a cradle at the same angle as a V belt. setting the cradle over the top of my table saw, I raised the blade and rotated the blank as I cut it. I then flipped it over and cut the other side. [That is a simplified explanation. There were a couple other steps.] The larger pulley has a bushing that fits the 3/8" shaft and clamps onto the pulley. It ended up being made out of walnut since I had the wood available.