Rebel Mill Motorized

I have only seen one Rebel Mill setup with a motor, so I thought I'd share my experience and process for those wanting to motorize this monster.

I started by figuring out what gear ration I wanted. Rebel recommends 350-450 RPM for the motor. Since I didn't want to have a huge gear reduction (somewhere between 3:1 and 4:1), I just took a median of everything to start with. 400*3.5=1400RPM. After a long time of searching I came across this motor, 1/3HP 1350 RPM.
using P*63024/RPM I got 15.6in*oz of torque. For this I was looking for something at least over 45, after the reduction.

So I chose the 2" pulley and 6" pulley from McMaster. To find the gear ratio you divide the pitch diameter of the two pulleys. In my case it was 5.75/1.75=3.3

To find the reduction to the motor:
1350/3.3=409RPM
15.6*3.3=51.5in*oz

This was right in the range that I wanted, so I went with it.

A few problems I ran into were the mill has a 3/8" shaft, and most of the larger pulleys don't have a bore that small, so I had to buy a reducer bushing. Also, this increase in torque is a little too high for the starting capacitor for the motor, so I have to give it a slight nudge to get it started once I turn it on, which isn't a big deal, just a little annoying that I didn't think of this when designing (I will fix this soon).

In summary:
Mill from Apex Electronics : $15 shipped
Run Capacitor: $15
McMaster:
6245K15 Die Cast V-Belt Pulley, 4L, A-, & Ax Section Belt, 2" OD, 1/2" Bore 3.92
6186K133 A-Section Rubber V-Belt, Trade Size A34, 36" Outer Circle 8.70
6420K14 Light Duty Reducer Bushing, 1/2" OD, 3/8" ID, 1-1/8" 9.17
6245K48 Die Cast V-Belt Pulley, 4L, A-, & Ax-Section Belt, 6" OD, 1/2" Bore 11.96

Shipping $5.90

Total: $64.65, plus about $15 for the wood to build the stand.

Hi

Have you run much grain through it yet? I'm wondering how the 1/3 horse motor does with 20 lb of grain.

Bob

carlisle_bob said:

Hi

Have you run much grain through it yet? I'm wondering how the 1/3 horse motor does with 20 lb of grain.

Bob

Click to expand...

I have not. I've only used it once, this past weekend, with 10.5 lbs. My next brew will be a little over 20 lbs, but I won't be doing that for about 2 more weeks.

Hi

Something else to think about:

Depending on what you are milling, you can generate a *lot* of dust. If the dust is dry (which it normally is) it can be flammable. In the extreme you can get a dust explosion.

A fan to blow the dust away from the motor might be a nice addition...

Bob

I have multiple 1/3 hp and 1/2 hp motors like this for sale if anybody is interested. Nice Build! Can't wait to start mine.

petrostar said:

I have multiple 1/3 hp and 1/2 hp motors like this for sale if anybody is interested. Nice Build! Can't wait to start mine.

Click to expand...

Nice build. I'm looking to do this for my next project.

Petrostar, I have done little research on which motors are needed to get this to work. Are those the motors that most use for the build? What kind of condition are they in and what are you looking to sell one for? I have the "Barley crusher".

How does it perform? That seems kind of fast. My MM3 had a 1/4 hp motor spinning at 257 rpm, and it would bog down on wheat malt, but ate right through barley malt. Now I have a 1/2 horse motor on it spinning it at 220 (new motor, different shaft, 1.75" motor pulley rather than 2", with a 12" pulley on the mill). It will eat right through wheat malt. I tend to start it before I fill the hopper, then just dump all the malt in. It's done in a minute or two.

ThreeDogsNE said:

How does it perform? That seems kind of fast. My MM3 had a 1/4 hp motor spinning at 257 rpm, and it would bog down on wheat malt, but ate right through barley malt. Now I have a 1/2 horse motor on it spinning it at 220 (new motor, different shaft, 1.75" motor pulley rather than 2", with a 12" pulley on the mill). It will eat right through wheat malt. I tend to start it before I fill the hopper, then just dump all the malt in. It's done in a minute or two.

Click to expand...

Hi

And then there's dry un-malted grain, some of which can be even harder to do.

Bob

Motors are a few years old and very clean. They are the 1075 rpm motors found in furnaces most furnaces. They're in storage now, i have an old thread in the classifieds but I have since moved temporarily so they're in storage and I haven't updated it. Pm me if interested and not in a huge hurry. Also have some really nice gas valves.

petro you still have those motors?

Yup search motors and gas valves

Just reposted more the other day. Have two left and two matching gas valves.