I received my Crankandstein barebones earlier than expected so I'm in a mad dash to design a suitable hopper. I've seen the designs using wood, which I'll fall back on if I can't figure something else out. Let me see your DIY hoppers.
I was thinking about grabbing an HVAC duct fitting of some sort and modifying it, but I do have some light gauge aluminum flashing 12" wide to work with also.
The givens right now are:
It's being top mounted to a piece of 1/2" MDF that will sit on top of a bucket. Obviously it will have a rectangular opening the length and width of the rollers to allow the grist to drop.
In general, how large of an opening do you guys usually make for the grain feed as compared to the roller size. The Crank uses 5" long x 1.5"D rollers. I'd assume the feed slot should be a little shy of the roller length, like maybe a 3" long slot to keep grain frags from fouling up the ends. I think I also read that some have used a water bottle turned upside down with the bottom cut off as a funnel style hopper. I suppose drilling a large hole in a 2x4 would work as a mount.
I also fancy the idea of using some 1/4" acrylic sheet to make a see-through hopper.
How many of you folks also enclose the sides? It seems it would help to control dust to have the entire operation sealed.
I was thinking about grabbing an HVAC duct fitting of some sort and modifying it, but I do have some light gauge aluminum flashing 12" wide to work with also.
The givens right now are:
It's being top mounted to a piece of 1/2" MDF that will sit on top of a bucket. Obviously it will have a rectangular opening the length and width of the rollers to allow the grist to drop.
In general, how large of an opening do you guys usually make for the grain feed as compared to the roller size. The Crank uses 5" long x 1.5"D rollers. I'd assume the feed slot should be a little shy of the roller length, like maybe a 3" long slot to keep grain frags from fouling up the ends. I think I also read that some have used a water bottle turned upside down with the bottom cut off as a funnel style hopper. I suppose drilling a large hole in a 2x4 would work as a mount.
I also fancy the idea of using some 1/4" acrylic sheet to make a see-through hopper.
How many of you folks also enclose the sides? It seems it would help to control dust to have the entire operation sealed.