Recirculating a circular saw?

My wife accuses me of never wanting to throw out anything. And she's right. Lots of excess parts & equipment in my workshop/brewshed/garage. I usually hang on to things well past their useful life, just because I might be able to figure out a use for them. Someday.

Like a B&D 7 1/4" circular saw, with a bent up shoe, a broken guard, and something wrong with the height adjustment so the blade was permanently stuck on 2". I don't use it for cutting anymore, but the motor is still in fine condition.

If I could pop some rivets and dismantle the saw, I know I could use the motor for something in my brewshed. Power for a grain mill is the only thing I could come up with, but that might be too much torque and I'd really have to come up with a good design. And a grain mill.

Any thoughts on how I could repurpose this perfectly good motor?

you would need some sort of gear system to slow that sucker down!!

Can you have too much torque for a mill?

strumke said:

Can you have too much torque for a mill?

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Do you want the mill to stop when a stone goes in, or do you want stone dust?

Pulleys and a belt. . . . .or two.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Do you want the mill to stop when a stone goes in, or do you want stone dust?

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I'd probably say stone dust... otherwise I'd need to pull all of the grain out of the hopper and avoid having it fall into the milled stuff when I'm moving everything around, pull out the stone, reassemble and try again. Stone dust would filter out with the grains or settle out with the trub, no?

Am I thinking about this the wrong way?

People put rocks in their mill? Why? . . . . Lol, I've never had a stone in malt, that I know of, I'm using an old large corona however. Is this really a problem? Stones?

strumke said:

I'd probably say stone dust... otherwise I'd need to pull all of the grain out of the hopper and avoid having it fall into the milled stuff when I'm moving everything around, pull out the stone, reassemble and try again. Stone dust would filter out with the grains or settle out with the trub, no?

Am I thinking about this the wrong way?

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In reality, with too high torque on the motor and IF it is directly coupled, it is more likely that the shaft would shear or strip.

But, if the stone did grind through, it'd be a downward spiral from there. What kind of stone was it? Will it over calcify my mash? How many ppm hydroperuvic acid does it take to counter the effect of a 1/4" diameter igneous pebble? Will it ruin my beer? Will my yeast be stoned to remember the munchies?

COLObrewer said:

People put rocks in their mill? Why? . . . . Lol, I've never had a stone in malt, that I know of, I'm using an old large corona however. Is this really a problem? Stones?

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Is it a problem? Yes.

Is it a common problem? More common than you would think but not an every bag situation. Applies more to bulk buyers more than anything.

I'm starting to think of the movie Fargo.....

Thanks, all good points, but then where do you draw the line for torque? I ask because I picked up an absurd motor (from an industrial shredder) for cheap that I was going to eventually hook up to the mill (MM-2).

I had looked at a torque limiter, but at that price I can pick up a smaller motor.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Will my yeast be stoned to remember the munchies?

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If the yeast were stoned, wouldn't they have better attentuation?

strumke said:

Thanks, all good points, but then where do you draw the line for torque? I ask because I picked up an absurd motor (from an industrial shredder) for cheap that I was going to eventually hook up to the mill (MM-2).

I had looked at a torque limiter, but at that price I can pick up a smaller motor.




If the yeast were stoned, wouldn't they have better attentuation?

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a.) Belt drive and it doesn't matter as much anymore.
b.) If they remember why they are there.

GilaMinumBeer said:

. . . . . Applies more to bulk buyers more than anything.

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We buy in 50lb sacks but not by the train load, never seen a stone, my mill must pass stones like a 80 year old hooker.

The belt will slip if something solid gets in it, don't ask how I know that.

COLObrewer said:

We buy in 50lb sacks but not by the train load, never seen a stone, my mill must pass stones like a 80 year old hooker.

The belt will slip if something solid gets in it, don't ask how I know that.

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In my years I've come across stones in at least 3 sacks, mostly Briess. And have heard from numerous others about stones. Now, i am not talking about an 1.5" class A rock, but pebbles the size of a pea.

GilaMinumBeer said:

In my years I've come across stones in at least 3 sacks, mostly Briess. And have heard from numerous others about stones. Now, i am not talking about an 1.5" class A rock, but pebbles the size of a pea.

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I'll prolly find one tomorrow

So it seems like the concensus on this circular saw is to configure a pulley system for a grain mill? Glad to know I was on the right track, thanks!

Another thread in this section of the forum got me thinking about a pulley hoist system to lift my fermenters in & out of the keezer. Same basic principle, I guess, as the grain mill, just vertical. Would need a lot more engineering than the grain mill idea, just for safety purposes.

You mean you guys haven't felt the power of a the Benford 3000 grain mill with optimized worm drive powered by a twin piston 150cc 96 octane motor?? We're men, we NEED power!

this one? (looks like a four-banger, not a twin)

I love the idea of a circular saw powered grain mill. Cheap and effective! I was thinking about building one with the old 1/4 HP, 1750 RPM clothes dryer motor I have. Now I might need to scrounge up an old circular saw. More power!

Why not just replace the handle nut for your mill with a hex cap bolt, and then tighten your drill chuck on top of the hex cap? If the head would be to big use a hex socket bolt.

You could definitely use a PWM controller to throttle it down for a grain mill .

I found this info a while back when I was researching PWM controllers for my BK
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=17383#p6966044
very simple build.