Project "WOODY 3.0XPR" worlds first wooden, adjustable, 3 roller grain mill

ok, its a work in progress but here is the start.
i needed a grain mill so i desided to make one, after couple sleepless nights i desighn and engineered this beast of the mill. i am looking all over the net and i think that iam FIRST to build a wooden, 3 roller adjastible mill. please corect me if iam wrong!
the bigest chalenge was a desighning and building a adjustment controll because iam working with wood and there is not alot of room so my options are limited. plus i had to figure it out how to turn those monster rollers on my tablesaw.
i made one roller on top stashionery and two other rollers adjast to it.
here are the specs:
rollers.
4.5"/9" made from laminated red oak.
axle.
0.5" steel rod
mill body.
1"/12" maple
adjastment system.
engineered and build by me
drive.
chain and sprocket motor drive
all keep those pictures caming...

Cool, Nice work

so, how did you cut/turn those rollers

I'm going to guess a lathe?

Looks good. Are any of the rollers knurled or how are you preventing the husks from not being grabbed.

i made a jig and used a tablesaw. those rollers are 4.5" and there is no need to knurled them.

awesome work building that jig. It's amazing how versatile a tablesaw can be! Nice work.

neat jig, how accurate is the roller OD?

I would have never guessed you could use a table saw to complete a lathes job. Very nice!

Scut_Monkey said:

I would have never guessed you could use a table saw to complete a lathes job. Very nice!

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Me either that is a very innovative way to go about it

pickles said:

awesome work building that jig. It's amazing how versatile a tablesaw can be! Nice work.

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yea, if you know how to use it possibilities are endless.

Scut_Monkey said:

I would have never guessed you could use a table saw to complete a lathes job. Very nice!

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technicly table saw is a lathe if you doing it this way, because i spon rollers on the axle.

OMJ said:

Me either that is a very innovative way to go about it

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nessesedy is a mother of invention, this is just a example of thinking "outside of the box"!

bendavanza said:

neat jig, how accurate is the roller OD?

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its a old, beat up tablesaw. i got with a 1/8 differents in the diameter, so i was only 1/16 off from true center on the radius of roller. thats prety good for what tools i was using and material that iam working with. i get some sand paper and fix it, its not a big deal.

DOES ANYONE KNOW IF ITS BEEN DONE BEFORE, OR IAM THE FIRST to make a wooden,adjastable 3 roller grain mill?

today i ordered sprockets and chain for a drive system, 3:1 ratio.
pollyed grain mill body 3 coats. i might have to cut those rollers little shorder so my sprokets and a chain fit on the inside, just a motor drive axle and a sprocket be mounted on the outside.

bohdan987 said:

DOES ANYONE KNOW IF ITS BEEN DONE BEFORE, OR IAM THE FIRST to make a wooden,adjastable 3 roller grain mill?

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Yup I'm thinking you are the first, and my guess is the last. If you have never crushed grains in a roller mill before you will be a little shocked at how hard some of them are. I'm thinking that it won't be long before the rollers are shot. Also if you can't get them truer then what you have them you will never get a good crush. Just .005" makes a big difference.

Not trying to bash your idea or hard work just stating my opinion.

FSR402 said:

I'm thinking that it won't be long before the rollers are shot. Also if you can't get them truer then what you have them you will never get a good crush. Just .005" makes a big difference.

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+1 unfortunately. I hope it works for you though. Nice work on the table saw lathe regardless.

I love the ingenuity and workmanship. I hope it is rewarded.

As a woodworker, i am very impressed with your makeshift lathe. That is truely a genius idea.

Unfortnately i think that oak will be too soft to grind grain with. Perhaps a harder wood would hold up.

Give it a rip though.... I can imagine your excitement at being the first to come up with something.... I have been trying to come up with something amazing for over a year now.

well, my sprockets and chain come in. i know that oak will wear out with time thats why i made my adjastment so it will alow me to adjast rollers with wear up to 1". when i was sanding rollers (grid 40) sand paper had a hard time with it and i laninated oak in criss cros patern so grain meets oak at the hardest part of oak grain, i used a "slices of 1*6" not a one solid 6*6.
yea, i didint realized how much work this build will take but iam enjoying it. as far as toleranses go i know that 1/16 is alot so i will get it with in .005 of alighment. i can adjast each side of the rollers independed so i think alighment not gona be a problem.
yes iam exited about being FIRST to make such grain mill, i had many "sleeples" nights trying to desighn and engineer this mill, i used NO BLUEPRINTS i saw it in my head.
i understand your conserns about rollers being soft but there is no way of telling it how long they will last because its newer been done before. worst comes to worst i build couple more rollers and keep them in inventory or i buy a "monster" mill. iam having a blast building "woody 3.0xpr".
build is mooving along nicely i havent made any mistakes and i have to adjast desighn only one time, other than that its exactly what i see in my head.
i still have to make a hopper and finish a drave system for the rollers and motor.
i didin't brew in a while now, cant wait to finish this build and brew some good beer.
also iam working on fermentation chamber i jump on it after this mill is done.
i might finish it tomorrow i post more new pictures!:rockin:

My thoughts are that the grain is just going to dent the rollers and will be "shot" after 1-3 uses (depending on the grain bill).
My other worry is that yes you will be able to adjust the rollers but you can't get them true enough all the way from one end to the other. If you have a .005 "dish" or "Bow" to them you just can't adjust for that. No one can.
FYI .005" is just a tad thicker then a human hair.

I do LOVE the table saw turning rig. :rockin:

Nice, not sure you are the first as not everyone in the world posts their inventions on the internet.

If it does not cut it as a grain mill it would make a nice pasta or dough sheeter.

very cool. please take some pics or a video of it in action, i'm sure many would love to see it.

I think it will last longer than 1-3 times - my first wooden mill (only 2 rollers) was NOT end-grain and dented up badly, but lasted for several brews. Bohdan's end-grain model will probably last a good little while.

You might be right, that's why iam going to order steel pipe and sleeve those rollers and get it knurled. That way "woody" will be able to take what ever I throw at it. Plus it will give me option of changing sleeves with different treads on them!

Nice, iam gona try it out hopefully tomorrow in mid time I find a metal pipe to sleeve those rollers. With sleeved rollers that mill will last for a lifetime.

You got to at least try it first with the wood rollers!!

Can you "case harden" the rollers by using a polyurethane varnish, maybe diluted with oil to get penetration into the oak? Would that add enough hardness to improve their durability? A question I don't know the answer to.

I gotta say I hope the guard is back on that table saw. I've had mine 20 years, think I'm fairly smart and careful, and yet--one moment's distraction sure humbled me.

Reinstall the guard for sure. Table saws are absolutely unforgiving.

You can harden the wood by coating with an epoxy formulated to penetrate wood fibers. I'm not sure it would be food safe, though.

There are some really hard exotic woods out there. But their cost might exceed making the rollers from metal.

I dont think I would coat the rollers with anything it will flake off with time into your grain.

Pat

apoxy sounds like a bad idea, when it gona flake i will have God knows what in my beer.
yesterday i finished my chain drive system and worked on the hopper.
iam a carpenter and been working with wood for 10 years now. i newer use guards on table saw, i respect table saw and iam very carefull when iam working on it. i know that table saw is unforgiving one slip and you can loose your fingers!
most dangeres tool on the job is a dull blade, all of my blades are sharp and it cuts like a batter.
yesterday i installed motor drive but i found out that my motor is not strong enough to drive those monster rollers. today i be working on the hopper.

I know a hand surgeon personally who has hundreds of dollars for every time he has heard that one. One moment of distraction, surprise, being startled, etc, and the fingers are gone. Hard to type right now while I wait for mine to heal. At least mine are just beveled on the tip, not reattached or gone. I've seen a lot of shortened or absent fingers on smart and careful but all too human guys. That's why the guard.

Your call of course. After all, they are your fingers. I hope it's never "used to be" your fingers.

If you use a penetrating polyurethane finish it won't flake, because it is in and not on the wood. It should polymerize to a plastic that is insoluble in water or alcohol. It should end up much like the plastic in my Rubbermaid cooler mash tun, I think. I'm rusty on my chemistry, so welcome correction on this. You do have to wait for all the solvent to evaporate.

Naturally, I had to go Googling: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lignum_vitae

thats a nice idea, i worked with that wood couple of times. it would be perfect for the rollers but a price on ebay is high!
iam better off sleeving my rollers with steel pipe or tube.
i need to find 3pc of 4.5" OD by 9" long, at least 1/8wall thicknes. after i get it i have to get knurled.
i have been searching high and low just cant find it. all companys want me to buy a 3 tons of that pipe.
do you guys have any peaces at home that i can buy?

Have you checked metalsupermarkets.com

onlinemetals.com, they'll even cut to length, although you'll still be on your own for the knurling...

Unfortunately, small quantities of special sizes or metal alloys usually come at outrageous prices.

The only knurling I've seen done uses a metal lathe and special tool applied with considerable heat. Maybe there's an easier way.

Good luck and keep us posted.

i think that i might try to get some penetrating apoxy on the rollers and than roll them on the sand to sreate a sand paper like surface. it will provide a hardness, "bite", wear resistance.

made popper, it can probiibly hold 15lb of grain easily

chain drive

I don't know what sizes exhaust pipes come in, but my diesel truck has 4" stainless steel exhaust. I would have no idea where to get it though.

Check out Mcmaster Carr at www.mcmaster.com

they have everything.