Crankandstein

I got it yesterday. Overall it looks good, but I have a couple of questions.

First, there is oil on the rollers, what would you use to remove it? I'm leaning toward using some orange cleaner, I suppose.

Second, the driven roller doesn't seem perfectly square. Half the rotation is really easy, and then the second half builds resistance until it finally releases, then it spins freely halfway around. My drill, however, can drive the mill without any problem. So is this something to be concerned with?

Thanks

To clean the oil off, I just ran rice through it. If you have any old grain that you are probably not going to use, this is a good chance to use it. Because the rollers are textrued, it is going to be hard to get the orange out of the crevises. The instructions that came with my Crank n Stein said to clean the oil off by running grain through it so that is what I did.

You got instructions??!!!! I'd better look through the box again.



I hate packing peanuts.



Edit: I found them. And apparently the stiffness I was referring to is a result of them assembling mine the way they said they should not be assembled because they explain exactly what causes that and they said, "Don't do it this way". Grr.... No big deal, I suppose.

Cheers!

When I received my Barely Crusher mill the instructions said to mill 1/2 lb of grain through it and discard. This was to insure that the machining oil is removed.

johnsma22 said:

When I received my Barely Crusher mill the instructions said to mill 1/2 lb of grain through it and discard. This was to insure that the machining oil is removed.

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yeah, you'll go though that much just fine tuning your crush.

I think they need to tighten up their machining tolerances a little better. I got the barebones deal and when I attached it to my base plate (verified perfectly flat), it caused the roller bearing to bind. This tells me that they didn't dril out the bearing holes perfectly perpendicular. I've checked that the bearing end plates are square to my base. A straight edge across the tops of the end plates show that they're parallel, but nevertheless, the shafts are binding in the bearings.

Bobby_M said:

I think they need to tighten up their machining tolerances a little better. I got the barebones deal and when I attached it to my base plate (verified perfectly flat), it caused the roller bearing to bind. This tells me that they didn't dril out the bearing holes perfectly perpendicular. I've checked that the bearing end plates are square to my base. A straight edge across the tops of the end plates show that they're parallel, but nevertheless, the shafts are binding in the bearings.

Click to expand...

Glad to hear I'm not the only one.. also sorry to hear it.

So the brass bushings are soft, so they should eventually get beaten into shape and operate more smoothly. Maybe I shouldn't sweat it.

I now realize the superiority of the 3-roller mill- It offers a degree of torsional rigidity to prevent this issue. Of course, good machining and better quality would also prevent the issue.

I'm not ragging on crankandstein. I've yet to see it in action. I think it will work fine... but I am less than impressed as of yet. Nevertheless, if it crushed grain well enough, I'll still be happy... but it's not a good first impression..