Monster Mill 3-2.0 mills output in pounds per minute

I just ordered a Monster Mill3-2.0 from Fred at Welcome to Monster Brewing Hardware

I asked Fred what I should expect in pounds of grain crushed per minute and at what RPM's the mill will be turning to get these pounds per minute numbers. I'm not looking for a dead nuts accuract number just a close ball park number or something close to work with. This 1/3 hp Baldor motor with a worm drive gearbox as a single unit is rated for INT intermittent duty only not CON for continuous duty. I do not wish to burn up a nice single unit motor gearbox assembly. The motor is fully ball bearing with tapered bearings in the gearbox rated at 565 inch pounds of torque at 28.75 rpm's. I will gear it up at the jackshaft 3.111 for 89 RPM's at the mill off the other end of the jackshaft thru a LoveJoy coupling so there will be no side force pulling on the mills bushings for a longer bushing life. The RPM's are low also, I have the time besides I want to keep the bushing wear and heat to a minimum for long mill life and the minimum of flour making. This is a fully sealed Baldor Industrial motor with only a fan that blows across the outside of the motors housing to cool the housing and windings. So far i've found a close replacement price of this motor with gearbox, it's between $500 and $600 to replace hence why i'm looking for numbers I can use to build and design the mills rpm's to what the motor can handle.

This way I can figure out my gearing for the duty cycle and order the parts, jackshaft, pillow bearings and a LoveJoy coupling while the mill is being shipped.

The only answer I got from Fred at Monster Brewing Hardware "was over 10 pounds per minute of crushed grain". What good is that number without knowing how fast the mill rollers was turning when this test was done?

The question I have does anyone else have this same mill the MM 3-2.0 and how many pounds a minute does it crush and at what RPM is the mills rollers turning?
Fred is a great person but I will not ask twice on a persons product especially when I asked a direct question in "pounds per minute and at what RPM's was the mills rollers turning for these numbers?" I hate getting beat around the bush answers with a properly asked question especially from a person that manufactures the same product that is in question.

Question I have, does any other member on this forum have a MM3-2.0 and how many pounds a minute does it crush and at what rpm is your mill rollers turning to get these numbers? I can not think of a more simple and direct way to ask a straight question on this mill grain crush in pounds per minute. As I stated before it does not have to be down to the exact ounce on this output.
Can anyone help me on these simple questions?
Thanks in advance. Carl.....

I don't have that particular mill, but IMO, that motor will not be working very hard at all turning your mill so I would not be concerned about burning it up. The 29 RPM's is very slow, but that can be a good thing as very little dust will be generated.

That mill is a bad boy for sure. I would guess that the mfg. is assuming rpm's in the range of 200-300 for his 10 lbs/min throughput. That's extremely fast! The six inch wide rollers can handle a lot of grain if you can set it up so that the hopper feeds fast enough to allow the grain to spread out all the way across the rollers. IOW, you want to take advantage of the full width of the rollers. So, let's assume that Fred assumed 250 rpms. With you running at 29 rpm, you could expect maybe 1.25 to 2 lbs/min thoughput. It will only take you about ten minutes to mill 12 lbs of grain and that's not bad at all. I have a much smaller mill and it runs at 115 rpm and mills about 1.5 to 2 lbs/min, or near the same throughput that you would get at 29 rpms. If it were me, I would hook it up direct drive with the LoveJoy coupling and skip the sheaves and jackshaft. I'm never in a big rush when milling the grain. I fill the hopper, turn on the mill and do some other chores while the mill is running. I might want it to be faster if I used it in a commercial setting such as a LHBS where a faster throughput would be desirable.

Catt22;

My future plans are to brew a stout with kegs that will handle 24 to 25 gallons maxed out with a mash up to 54 pounds of grain for a big Imperial Stout for 15 gallons net in the corny's out of one batch as my final net target hence a mill that can handle a large amount of grain crushing at one time. This will be my maximum volume on down to 5 gallon small grain bills if I wanted.

I already have 1/2" rod in stock at the shop as well the two sprockets, one 28 tooth with a 7/8" bore shaft off the angle drive gearbox output shaft already plus a 9 tooth available with 1/2" bore for the jackshaft from my friends shop I found as well 12' of #40 chain came with the gearbox. All's needed is my box of masterlinks and buy two 1/2" bore pillow bearings, machine a keyway on the mills input shaft and assemble. The 28.75 rpm gearbox is rather slow hence the up gearing by 3.111 for 89 RPM at the mill. At 28.75 rpm's and 565 in / lbs tq geared up by 3.111 there will still be enough torque. Even a 9 /26 gearing for 2.888 up gearing for 83 rpms with 195.5 in lbs torque should turn the mill. I'm not running 3/4" 6" lumber thru it like a planer just grain.
The 5 gallon plastic water bottle has me thinking it will not allow for even grain distribution end to end of the mills feed input vs a rectangle funnel out of aluminum, stainless or wood. This would better allow even grain feeding to the ends of the rollers unless a metal deflector were installed below the water jug neck. I may scratch this water jug idea the more I think about it. So far no no one has mentioned the amount of grain this 6" wide roller mill with 2" diameter rollers will crush up in pounds vs a given RPM and time it takes in minutes. I know I must not the only one that has purchased this newer MM 3-2.0 mill. Someone must have one and has the rpm's and the amount of pounds a minute it will crush in their notes.

With the gearbox mounting point on the bottom and the motors worm gear above the spur gear with the motor free hanging off the gearbox this also makes the motor housing taller than the gearbox so mounting the right angle output directly to the mill is impossible. With a 6 1/2" long jackshaft rod back across and over the gearbox will make for a small compact unit to align the LoveJoy coupling directly to the mill. With the pillow bearings the jackshaft can be secured higher to match the mills input shaft that will be mounted under the table. Center to center of both sprockets at 6" apart My out of cash will be two $10 pillow bearings, the mill, a 1/2" bore LoveJoy coupling, hopper material, a short hopper discharge chute, scrap angled alumum side covers for the mill, a switch box with a DPDT switch and a switch cover plate. This for on / off, forward and reverse should a rag or something like the neighbors rat dog happens to get pulled into the mill. No such luck with that little 24/7 barking POS.
Basically this will be a fun cheap project after I get over the mill purchase. A medical check refund of $880 to me from a mistake back in 04 to 05 paid for this mill with the rest added to the kids college fund.

imho that is the wrong motor to hook directly to the mill.
mills and worm gears are not in the same school and the worm is for short use.
just save that motor for a wench in your shop or for lifting a heavy roll up door.

for the mill get you a motor out of a dryer from scrap-repair-resale-swapmeet-fleamarket for ten bucks. then get ceiling fan speed controller from the hardwere store *(NOT A DIMMER SWITCH!!!) and two sprockets; a big one and a small one and a belt.

BrewBeemer,

Your plan seems to be just fine. I'm sure you are wise enough to install proper safety guards over the sprockets and drive chains. That mill and motor should be bad enough for use in a commercial micro brewery! I think you should maybe reconsider the kids college fund. They could hold off a year or two longer and that would free up some cash for more brewing toys. What were you thinking?

Clayton said:

imho that is the wrong motor to hook directly to the mill.
mills and worm gears are not in the same school and the worm is for short use.
just save that motor for a wench in your shop or for lifting a heavy roll up door.

for the mill get you a motor out of a dryer from scrap-repair-resale-swapmeet-fleamarket for ten bucks. then get ceiling fan speed controller from the hardwere store *(NOT A DIMMER SWITCH!!!) and two sprockets; a big one and a small one and a belt.

Click to expand...

Clayton; This worm drive gearbox has a rated life span of 20,000 hours, I believe this will be long enough to crush a few batches of grain. You must know more than Precision Gear the manufacture of this gearbox and their engineers, i'm impressed so were they after sending them a email with your reply. They had a rather long laugh typed across my email return page then their specs on this gearbox and its hours of use. I have access to a 1/2 hp belt drive with a worm drive gearbox with a drum brake at to other end of the worm drive for a disability elevator lift, this gearbox is rated continous at 39 rpm's with a 1 1/2" output shaft and over 1,200 inch pounds of torque. This is also free but weighs over 90 pounds. Replacement cost I bet would be over $1,500 to $2,000 plus. I have two already sold at $300 each to my Stainless Steel Custom Fabrication Shop friend.

I like this Industrially rated 1/3 hp Baldor motor with the high quality gearbox as a single unit.
with a short chain of 14" long or less the total length with both sprockes close together turning ajackshaft as mentioned above all mounted below the mills table top so safety isn't an issue. It's a quality unit that will be safe. I do not want a used tin can washing machine motor made in China I bet where all washing machine manufactures buy their subassemblies from these days plus using a belt as a reduction drive putting unneccessary side loading on these small bushings that the Monster Mill uses hence this design with a direct LoveJoy coupling off the short jackshaft into the mills input shaft. If the Monster Mills were made with counterbored end plates with double sealed not shielded and flanged ball bearing then a belted side load would not be a problem but we are dealing with bushings instead hence keeping the cost of manufacturing down adding to the reason for my drive design. No excess bushing side loading, a quality Baldor motor gearbox combination rated for 20,000 hours not a tin can motor plus i'm working with quality parts. Best part is the quality of the driveline plus it is all free to begin with. For the INT duty of the Baldor motors that is a industrially rated standard of 40*C or 104 degree F ambient temp with a motor that can operate at 43 *C above this ambient temp of 40*C. This would be a normal operating rating at 83*C while the motor is within its rated amperage on the motor name and spec plate so if i'm below this maximum rated amperage all is well. This motor will be good to go for my use for the grain mill drive. Good old American quality these Baldor motors not like those Home Depot Vacuum cleaner motors rated at 6 1/2 HP on a 120 volt plug outlet. New over seas HP ratings with the laws of physics that have been changed. What happened to 746 watts as one HP
with a motor that has zero bearing friction operating at 100% efficiency? Not going to happen even with the best of the motors, bearing friction and motor efficency are less than 100% unless your an exporter to the people in the USA that believe these crap ratings.

As you can see two pillow bearing that are greasable no less for $20 a pair, switches, a bell box with switch cover all in my parts collecton besides cords that are also free with me being a retired union electrician also a pack rat. It would be a waste of money and a down grade in quality to go with a washing machine motor, pulleys, belt plus adding a unneccessary side load to the mills bushings. The 10" to 14" diameter pulley alone would be a safety hazard not alone in the way of allowing a square tapered hopper as the large pulley would hit the hopper on the drive side. I'll stick with this free higher quality Baldor gearbox assembly unit to run this mill.
I still do not have any hard numbers about this mills RPM's vs time and pounds of grain per minute crushed. I'll again ask Fred at Monster Mill about his units.
Thanks all and thanks Catt22; you think the same way as I do in building things as I have followed your past replies. Do it right with quality. Thanks. Carl.....

Brewbeemer,

Sounds like quite the mill project you have in progress...nice job! Whereas you are looking for an estimate for the mill throughput in lbs/min., my question is how many tons/day will that thing be capable of. I'm guessing it could keep a small city in grist.

Well, or maybe that 20,000 hour motor will someday quit, by that point it will likely have milled a few million pounds of grain...plus - minus!

For free it would cost me more to build a belt drive with a junk motor so hell yeah why not use it, this is what i'll use to drive my mill.
I must be on the wrong section of the forum i'll give the DIY section a try
as this equipment / sanitation section seems like the wrong section to ask a question. This is a cross over section with questions. I'm running on 8 now with my build plan set on scratch paper.
Thanks for your support all. What a pleasure to type and enjoy a Obsidian Stout, the wife picked up 8 six packs knowing the weathers changing this weekend to warm side.

Oh BTW; I got the correct answers from Claudius B. airbalancer, wilserbrewer and catt22 I believe if my memory is still thinking straight this morning from this HBT forum. Thanks guys for your input that I also trust is correct as I crossed them all against each other and the numbers came out correct. Sorry Clayton, your idea would cost more with a lower quality system overall, i'll pass on your reply this time but thanks for posting.

This allows me to order the correct two sprockets for the correct gear ratio for this project monday morning.

Nothing worse than wasting my money on the wrong parts working off the wrong answers. Well no answer at all would of been better yet vs only one answer with the mill "producing 10 plus pounds per minute" of grain crushed is the winner so far. I asked also at what RPM the mill would be running and got no answer on that question. One would think that RPM number asked might have an influence on how they reached this "10 plus pounds per minute" number?

I'm off to see about getting a 350 chebbie unstuck in free 24' Grand Bataeu boat my friend was given at the dock a block away. This will require plenty of bier on my part before my evening heavy pain meds time. A motor with the darn distributor stuck at the wrong end of the engine go figure.

wilserbrewer said:

Brewbeemer,

Sounds like quite the mill project you have in progress...nice job! Whereas you are looking for an estimate for the mill throughput in lbs/min., my question is how many tons/day will that thing be capable of. I'm guessing it could keep a small city in grist.

Well, or maybe that 20,000 hour motor will someday quit, by that point it will likely have milled a few million pounds of grain...plus - minus!

Click to expand...

Today I had my hands on a couple of those custom in house elevator lifts to take apart, one rated at 1/2 HP with 565 in/lbs TQ output 60:1 worm drive gearbox like the one I have but I have a 1/3 HP motor mounted as a single unit plus a 3/4 HP belt driven gearbox that had a 960 in/lbs TQ output with a 2" shaft at 40:1 ratio.

I would need machined mill end plates with 3/4" shafts supported with flanged ball bearings, no bushings allowed on 6" sch 80 pipe 12" long knurled as a set of three rollers for this big gearbox unit to drive a large mill I was thinking. Have the knurled points case hardened, I just have to see if I can get this motor /gearbox away from my cousins hot little hands at his stock pile of disability lifts in the storage area at the boat loft. This is large enough for a 50' boat pulled up on the rails out of the water fully closed in a warm dry boat barn.
So far there are 20:1, 40:1 and 60:1 right angle gearboxes rated 1/3, 1/2 (use the same gearbox) and the 3/4 HP driven gearbox. Man these are high quality taper bearing Industrially rated gearboxes for moving and lifting disabled people. There must be a high reserve safety factor added into these drive units. Thought I would pass this on as my eyes get large with the possible ideas coming to mind every day when I go for a walk to this storage area and boat loft. Some motor drives are 120 AC with a few 24 volt DC, the DC motors are twice as large as a old American V-8 car starter. Not your little toy Honda starters in size.

Catt22 said:

BrewBeemer,

Your plan seems to be just fine. I'm sure you are wise enough to install proper safety guards over the sprockets and drive chains. That mill and motor should be bad enough for use in a commercial micro brewery! I think you should maybe reconsider the kids college fund. They could hold off a year or two longer and that would free up some cash for more brewing toys. What were you thinking?

Click to expand...

I hear ya bro but the kids college funds took a dumper over the past year or so and I want to get it back up so it will grow faster when it recovers again. They come first they have a long future vs my older age and life. Call it carma it will come back in life.

Clayton said:

imho that is the wrong motor to hook directly to the mill.
mills and worm gears are not in the same school and the worm is for short use.
just save that motor for a wench in your shop or for lifting a heavy roll up door.

for the mill get you a motor out of a dryer from scrap-repair-resale-swapmeet-fleamarket for ten bucks. then get ceiling fan speed controller from the hardwere store *(NOT A DIMMER SWITCH!!!) and two sprockets; a big one and a small one and a belt.

Click to expand...

http://www.winsmith.com/perfection/SilverPerf. Catalog.pdf

Just the breaking in one of these gearboxes takes many hours of use.
I have an attachment to the quality of their gearboxes vs pulleys and a belt, just me.
Duty cycle rating under intermittent use is hours a day, I think this can handle a few minutes of grain milling required at each brewing session, I bet i'll take a dirt nap and this gearbox will still be running. Good old American quality.

You should be working for Perfection Gear so that they could learn something about you and how wrong they are about gearboxes like my little 565 inch/lb torque unit for my MM3-2.0 mill. Hell that 3/4 HP 960 inch/lb gearbox might be able to turn the rollers, this sound correct and matching to your high standards as a mechanical engineer?