Barley Crusher stops crushing mid rotation of handle

I searched the site and found many threads dealing with gap settings of the BC but nothing for my issue.

I am crushing about 20lbs of grain today. It seems that every 50 turns or so the grain quits turning the rollers and it stops milling.

Somebody told me it may be stones in the grain. It is happening so often I don't think that is it. I just tightened the rollers from .040 to .037, made sure the rollers were parallel and still am having the issue.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Have you taken it apart and cleaned the shafts and put some lube on them? That would be my first step.

If you are turning by hand, then when it happens turn the handle backwards one revolution. That may help clear it (some grain may spill out the sides of the rollers, hopefully the stone will too). I have found that too small a gap will prevent the grain from feeding into the rollers. In that case, the rollers spin freely for me. If everything completely stops - both rollers, the handle, then in my experience that's always been a stone. As samc suggested, a full cleaning and inspection is always a good idea. non-toxic silicone lube (a tiny dab on the ends) works better for me than the manufacturer's recommendation of vegetable oil.

I want to thank both of you for your suggestions. I did locate an picture based tutorial on how to disassemble and clean the BC. I would post the link to an outside resource if that is OK with the mods here at this site.

I cleaned the unit and it worked better. I may open the gap again a bit I am currently at .037.

I had a similar problem with a used one I picked up recently. I think the gap was a bit uneven. Also, I may have had an issue with a cleaning that made the rollers too slick. A gap adjustment and a few pounds of grain and the problem didn't come back.