grain mill motor

So, i've decided i'm going to make a pasta machine grain mill.
and i really want to motorize it. i work at a paint store and have access to many motors in various states of operation, and of various sizes (from dead shakers and the like).
how much power is recommended and what kind of RPM?

what other things do i need to look for in a motor?

Well, unless you have a pasta mill laying around already, I would recommend getting an actual grain mill if you are going to put all the effort in to making a stand and mating a motor to it. You ought to be able to find a mill used for less than $100. Why not spend the extra $50 and have the real thing?

Of course, if you already have a pasta mill, that is one thing...

Either way, good luck, sorry I don't have any advice as far as motors go...

well, the pasta mill is a fairly proven method, and costs about $15 by most accounts. toss in some free motors, mount it on empty 5 gallon buckets that i already own and have no use for, and it's actually a lot cheaper than the $100 for a mill.

plus, the motor will (hopefully) transfer over when i buy a barley crusher or similar.

Here's a good link on motorizing grain mills. Has good info on motors, RPM's, fly wheels etc. Hope this helps.

http://hbd.org/carboy/motorizing_a_malt_mill.htm

BBL_Brewer said:

Here's a good link on motorizing grain mills. Has good info on motors, RPM's, fly wheels etc. Hope this helps.

http://hbd.org/carboy/motorizing_a_malt_mill.htm

Click to expand...

that is exactly the sort of writeup i was looking for. thank you.

bengerman said:

well, the pasta mill is a fairly proven method, and costs about $15 by most accounts. toss in some free motors, mount it on empty 5 gallon buckets that i already own and have no use for, and it's actually a lot cheaper than the $100 for a mill.

plus, the motor will (hopefully) transfer over when i buy a barley crusher or similar.

Click to expand...

Fair enough. I didnt realize pasta mills were so cheap. Post results.

Will do. Been held up on getting the motors and mill by work and a cold, but hopefully I'll have time this weekend

Thanks for that link. I too have recently purchased a monster mill and I need to get it assembled/motorized. This was a great read.

Too bad the sheave and motor prices aren't still the same as they were in 1999.

Here's a 1/2HP motor, 110V for $35 + free shipping:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-2HP-ELECT...796?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e65ba714

Just unbolt the pump off the motor and you should be set. Too bad the pump is only rated to 140F, it's a steal of a deal.

I have a spare V-belt sheave (1.5" 5/8"), PM if interested.

I purchased this motor:

http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=5-1074

I've used it for 4 or 5 batches and been satisfied with it. Maybe a bit more RPM's would be nice, but it probably wouldn't really save any time.

Spartan1979 said:

Maybe a bit more RPM's would be nice, but it probably wouldn't really save any time.

Click to expand...

Change pulley sizes

Go to the local junk yard. They always have tons of used motors and you pay by the pound for them. I gave $3 for mine. You have to sort through a few to find the right horse and rpm you're looking for, but you can't beat the price.

OneHoppyGuy said:

Change pulley sizes

Click to expand...

It's connected with a coupling.

so a motor appeared at my house from work (i didn't see it till it got here)

a little paint scraping reveals it is a Dayton, 1/4 hp, 1725 RPM, capacitor start.
it has a wiring diagram that makes no sense to me.

can anyone explain how to wire this guy up? am i just wiring hot to the posts marked "blue" and "c" and grounding the chassis or what?
i'm going to go grab a couple more motors, in case this one doesn't work. (they're free, after all )

what's the model number of the model?

heck if you can get a bunch of the motors try and get as many as you can. Either post them on here to help fellow homebrewers out (lots of folks looking for motors) or sell 'em on ebay.

model number is 9mtj4. Grainger doesn't sell it anymore, so they have no info on it online.

i scored 2 more motors today. one is i think 1 hp, the other i haven't checked yet, but it smaller.

EDIT:
the two new guys are:
a 1 hp dayton 2-speed with a model number Grainger can't find. capacitor start, 1750/1450 RPM

and
the strange one. it's Italian and rated between .5 and .6 hp depending on the service
where it gets fun is that the services listed are 230/400, 240/415, 260/440 and 280/480.
i *think* the first number is the voltage, but i have no idea what the 2nd number is.

this one was part of a tint machine, and was computer controlled, so i don't know what kind of power was actually going to it, but it has 5 lines coming into the box on the side, followed by this little junction

Pretty sure the second number is the "Y" voltage for three-phase service.

[edit] Note the "Trifase" on the motor label...

Cheers!

day_trippr said:

Pretty sure the second number is the "Y" voltage for three-phase service.

[edit] Note the "Trifase" on the motor label...

Cheers!

Click to expand...

brilliant.


sounds like i'm not using this motor....

Spartan1979 said:

I purchased this motor:

http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=5-1074

I've used it for 4 or 5 batches and been satisfied with it. Maybe a bit more RPM's would be nice, but it probably wouldn't really save any time.

Click to expand...

This motor is very common for grain mills. I use one, and I've seen it in various mill build threads. You can directly couple it to the drive roller without using pulleys, sprockets, or gears.

Yuri_Rage said:

Spartan1979 said:

I purchased this motor:

http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=5-1074

I've used it for 4 or 5 batches and been satisfied with it. Maybe a bit more RPM's would be nice, but it probably wouldn't really save any time.

Click to expand...

This motor is very common for grain mills. I use one, and I've seen it in various mill build threads. You can directly couple it to the drive roller without using pulleys, sprockets, or gears.

Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the common motor is actually http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=5-1098, isn't it? It's slightly faster, and has slightly more torque.

mullet said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the common motor is actually http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=5-1098, isn't it? It's slightly faster, and has slightly more torque.

Click to expand...

Yup, that's the one I found recommended here. And with these little motors 33% more torque is nothing to trivialize - running mine in CCW mode it's plenty strong enough for my Barley Crusher...

Cheers!

mullet said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the common motor is actually http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=5-1098, isn't it? It's slightly faster, and has slightly more torque.

Click to expand...

You're exactly right. I didn't read the link carefully enough. The one in mullet's link is the one in my brewhouse.

I use a Dayton furnace fan motor salvaged from... You guessed it, an old furnace. It is 1/4 hp and 1725 RPM.

The only pain was getting it to drive the mill at a speed that wouldn't throw grain. 300 RPM is about right. I had to make a custom 9" pulley for the mill so it went just above 300 (IIRC it was about 330 RPM).

Other then that it works great. I can't start it loaded with grain FWIW. It has to be up to speed first or the belt slips. Maybe I need more tension or barring that a posi-drive belt. Probably the former... The 1/4 hp has enough power to grind 12 lbs in just over a minute.

HumanGarbage said:

I use a Dayton furnace fan motor salvaged from... You guessed it, an old furnace. It is 1/4 hp and 1725 RPM.

The only pain was getting it to drive the mill at a speed that wouldn't throw grain. 300 RPM is about right. I had to make a custom 9" pulley for the mill so it went just above 300 (IIRC it was about 330 RPM).

Other then that it works great. I can't start it loaded with grain FWIW. It has to be up to speed first or the belt slips. Maybe I need more tension or barring that a posi-drive belt. Probably the former... The 1/4 hp has enough power to grind 12 lbs in just over a minute.

Click to expand...

What kind of mill are you using?

day_trippr said:

Yup, that's the one I found recommended here. And with these little motors 33% more torque is nothing to trivialize - running mine in CCW mode it's plenty strong enough for my Barley Crusher...

Cheers!

Click to expand...

For what it's worth, I didn't have much luck with this motor on my 3 roller mill. Jammed with little more than a handful of grain in the hopper. The 3 roller mill seems to need more torque.

Others have used it fine with different mills. Just an FYI, really.

Dgonza9 said:

For what it's worth, I didn't have much luck with this motor on my 3 roller mill. Jammed with little more than a handful of grain in the hopper. The 3 roller mill seems to need more torque.

Others have used it fine with different mills. Just an FYI, really.

Click to expand...

Déjà vu

bengerman said:

so a motor appeared at my house from work (i didn't see it till it got here)

a little paint scraping reveals it is a Dayton, 1/4 hp, 1725 RPM, capacitor start.
it has a wiring diagram that makes no sense to me.

can anyone explain how to wire this guy up? am i just wiring hot to the posts marked "blue" and "c" and grounding the chassis or what?
i'm going to go grab a couple more motors, in case this one doesn't work. (they're free, after all )

Click to expand...

Bump...
Any input on wiring this bad boy?
I wired up the 1 HP unit today and it runs, but the smaller one has a much more convenient mount.

mullet said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the common motor is actually http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=5-1098, isn't it? It's slightly faster, and has slightly more torque.

Click to expand...

Hmm...I use this motor on my MM 3 roller (direct drive, no pulleys or gearing outside the motor housing), and it rarely hiccups.

If I just dump a whole bunch of plump kernels (quality 2 row) in the hopper, it may stall, but if I pour slowly at first to get the dead rollers spinning, then fill the hopper, it always churns right through.

Dgonza9 said:

For what it's worth, I didn't have much luck with this motor on my 3 roller mill. Jammed with little more than a handful of grain in the hopper. The 3 roller mill seems to need more torque.

Others have used it fine with different mills. Just an FYI, really.

Click to expand...

has anyone ever tried wiring in a start capacitor in parallel with the run capacitor on this motor?
that is how I have my bodine motor wired, the start cap is wired in parallel with the run cap and controlled by a momentary-on pushbutton switch....if my mill binds I just press the button for a second to get it going

Picked up the grain mill --er....pasta machine....clay roller...thing... $17 after tax, plus they gave me another 40% off coupon while I was there.
I'll start fiddling with a drive train and post back.

bengerman said:

can anyone explain how to wire this guy up? am i just wiring hot to the posts marked "blue" and "c" and grounding the chassis or what?
i'm going to go grab a couple more motors, in case this one doesn't work. (they're free, after all )

Click to expand...

Wire your hot (white) wire to the "Blue" post, and common (black) to the "C" post. Your ground wire (green) should be attached to the chassis. If the motor turns the wrong way, connect the hot (white) wire to the "Yellow" post instead to reverse it.

day_trippr said:

Yup, that's the one I found recommended here. And with these little motors 33% more torque is nothing to trivialize - running mine in CCW mode it's plenty strong enough for my Barley Crusher...

Cheers!

Click to expand...

I see a few threads that recommend running the 5-1098 in CCW. What becomes cloudy is that in a GE motor rotation is determined by observing rotation from the back of the motor. Now when the motor is CCW the gearbox output is CW. It is not clear in my mind if we are all making the same observation.

Looking at the fan blades It appears that this motor was designed to run CW with an output after gearbox being CCW. So I just need to flip the grain mill rollers....can I get an amen?

GNBrews said:

Wire your hot (white) wire to the "Blue" post, and common (black) to the "C" post. Your ground wire (green) should be attached to the chassis. If the motor turns the wrong way, connect the hot (white) wire to the "Yellow" post instead to reverse it.

Click to expand...

Thank you! I'll give it a go.

iaefebs said:

I see a few threads that recommend running the 5-1098 in CCW. What becomes cloudy is that in a GE motor rotation is determined by observing rotation from the back of the motor. Now when the motor is CCW the gearbox output is CW. It is not clear in my mind if we are all making the same observation.

Looking at the fan blades It appears that this motor was designed to run CW with an output after gearbox being CCW. So I just need to flip the grain mill rollers....can I get an amen?

Click to expand...

"Amen".

Yeah, the whole "which way is CCW" thing is muddled when the motor shaft spins one way and the gearbox output shaft spins the other.

But once you've operated the motor in both directions it will be obvious for which direction the gears were purposefully cut, and that's when the gear shaft is turning CCW when "observed" from the fan end of the unit. The gear train makes way less noise in CCW than CW...

Cheers!

day_trippr said:

"Amen".

Yeah, the whole "which way is CCW" thing is muddled when the motor shaft spins one way and the gearbox output shaft spins the other.

But once you've operated the motor in both directions it will be obvious for which direction the gears were purposefully cut, and that's when the gear shaft is turning CCW when "observed" from the fan end of the unit. The gear train makes way less noise in CCW than CW...

Cheers!

Click to expand...

mullet said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the common motor is actually http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=5-1098, isn't it? It's slightly faster, and has slightly more torque.

Click to expand...

It doesn't look like this model is available any longer, the 5-1074 that Spartan mentioned is though. Is that model sufficient, or should I keep searching. I want to hook this up directly to my barley crusher using a coupling. Any thoughts?

I am Looking to buy one as well but the shown motor is 107 RPM, I thought the target RPM was 180 ish?

g-love said:

It doesn't look like this model is available any longer, the 5-1074 that Spartan mentioned is though. Is that model sufficient, or should I keep searching. I want to hook this up directly to my barley crusher using a coupling. Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

I've had no problems with mine. It hasn't jammed once and I've started it with the hopper full and the hopper empty.

It is a little bit slow, a few more rpm's would be nice.

Awesome. Thanks Spartan. I'm going to order one. Slow is ok. I'll do other things while it grinds.

anyone know how much torque a garage door opener motor puts out?
for $9.95 it may be worth a test
Surplus Center - 110 RPM 115 VAC GARAGE DOOR OPENER GEARMOTOR