MM2 Mill powered with Garage Door Opener?

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Glad I found this thread.

I also have been looking to get rid of my HF drill for milling. I remember someone here said that milling 22 lbs is no problem. What about 30 or 40 lbs? I imagine there is none, but its better to ask from someone that has done it before. Has anyone ever done 30 or 40 lbs with this setup before? Are these 1/2 hp motors interchangeable?
 
johns said:
Glad I found this thread. I also have been looking to get rid of my HF drill for milling. I remember someone here said that milling 22 lbs is no problem. What about 30 or 40 lbs? I imagine there is none, but its better to ask from someone that has done it before. Has anyone ever done 30 or 40 lbs with this setup before? Are these 1/2 hp motors interchangeable?
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To my knowledge, I'm the only one that has built this so far, and the most I've tested is 22lb. I don't see any reason it couldn't do 40lb, but you may need to take a break during the crush to let the motor cool (or put a fan on it) as it has no cooling capability and would get pretty warm if run for this long. It has a thermal safety switch, though, so will cut itself off when it gets too hot.
 
slbradley01 said:
Since I own a garage door company I have access to hundreds of used garage door motors. We generally put them in the steel dumpster. I have an MM2 crusher and will try to adapt one over the weekend. A remote control grain mill would be wickid pissa!
www.colonialdoorworks.com
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Any chance you would consider throughing one in a box and sending it over to New Zealand? :D
 
slbradley01 said:
Since I own a garage door company I have access to hundreds of used garage door motors. We generally put them in the steel dumpster. I have an MM2 crusher and will try to adapt one over the weekend. A remote control grain mill would be wickid pissa!
www.colonialdoorworks.com
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Just placed my order at the Surplus site. Was going to hit you up for one but figured it would be easier at first to get it all from one site. I might be begging for one if I burn this one up :mug:
 
Crush-Master! Only does about 120RPM's but I think it should work great. It's a attached to a Crankendsein 2D I think.

I adapted an old Lift Master door opener. Ripped out the electronics and added a on/off switch to the open side of the motor. Welded a 3/8" sleeve onto the drive sprocket, slid it over the shaft of the mill, drilled a hole and tapped in a roll pin. Added an angle iron support and voila!
 
image-672521177.jpg
 
mattd2 said:
All that in a little over 40 hours! Amazing!
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Took about an hour and a half, including poking around the garage for parts. I was originally going to leave the electronics so i could run it off a remote control but thanks to UL safety built into the circuit board, it auto shut down after 30 seconds.

I'll post a video when I get to crush something.
 
slbradley01 said:
Crush-Master! Only does about 120RPM's but I think it should work great. It's a attached to a Crankendsein 2D I think. I adapted an old Lift Master door opener. Ripped out the electronics and added a on/off switch to the open side of the motor. Welded a 3/8" sleeve onto the drive sprocket, slid it over the shaft of the mill, drilled a hole and tapped in a roll pin. Added an angle iron support and voila!
Click to expand...

Sweet!
 
I would bet any local garage door company would have these in their dumpster. You need a unit with a good gear. The circuit board can be junk cause you can eliminate it. In most cases, if a unit is over 12 years old, and has a fried board, we install a whole new unit. ANY CHAIN DRIVE LiftMaster. SEARS. CHAMBERLAIN newer than 1980 will work. There all the same. 1/3 1/2 Hp. Same motor, different capacitor. Then all you need is a switch a ferule with the same ID as your mill's drive shaft, a couple pieces of steel angle iron a few nuts and bolts and a steel roll pin about 5/32 x 1".

You might go for s 3 position on/off/on switch so you can run the mill in reverse if it jams.
 
Parts

image-510028504.jpg

Make sure to weld the ferrule dead center on the door opener sprocket to prevent wobble. That's the trickiest part.
 
slbradley01 said:
Crush-Master! Only does about 120RPM's but I think it should work great. It's a attached to a Crankendsein 2D I think.

I adapted an old Lift Master door opener. Ripped out the electronics and added a on/off switch to the open side of the motor. Welded a 3/8" sleeve onto the drive sprocket, slid it over the shaft of the mill, drilled a hole and tapped in a roll pin. Added an angle iron support and voila!
Click to expand...

Is there a gear reducer on that thing? If so would it be possible to get a close up picture of it?
 
slbradley01 said:
Took about an hour and a half, including poking around the garage for parts. I was originally going to leave the electronics so i could run it off a remote control but thanks to UL safety built into the circuit board, it auto shut down after 30 seconds. .
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Bradley, post the up close pic of the connection between the motor and the mill. That should help.
 
If you don't want to weld this connection, you could probably get away with slapping a lovejoy connection onto the sprocket with some JB Weld. Wouldn't be the most professional approach, but should get the job done and would tolerate some misalignment.
 
That sounds like a good option. The connection I came up with is pretty positive. There's not much give to it. Dora the Lovejoy have a rubber bushing?
 
slbradley01 said:
That sounds like a good option. The connection I came up with is pretty positive. There's not much give to it. Dora the Lovejoy have a rubber bushing?
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Yep, Lovejoy is just the brand name of jaw type couplings (2 jaws and rubber spider in between), like this:

!Bq4zYMwBGk~$(KGrHqEOKjsEuZcfpNpUBL)Tp)3iZQ~~_3.jpg
 
I have a door opener that the circuit board got fried when we got hit by lightening last year, im going to pull the motor and test it.
 
slbradley01 said:
Yes the 1100+- rpm motor is reduced to 110 via a worm gear. The worm gear is on the motor shaft, the drive gear is on the sprocket shaft.
Click to expand...

Those worm gears look interesting. Does anyone know if it would be possible to replace them with metal worm gears from say, Grainger, or another place similar?

I was just wondering how durable they would be milling 40 lbs of crystal malt (its really hard stuff to go through), The motors are a dime a dozen. Washing machine, furnace, or garage door openers are all about the same, more or less. the main point in these setup is the gear reduction output in terms or rpm and torque as measured in foot/pounds. Id still like to get away from HF drills, but dont want to spend hundreds of dollars for an industrial gear reducer.
 
johns said:
Those worm gears look interesting. Does anyone know if it would be possible to replace them with metal worm gears from say, Grainger, or another place similar? I was just wondering how durable they would be milling 40 lbs of crystal malt (its really hard stuff to go through), The motors are a dime a dozen. Washing machine, furnace, or garage door openers are all about the same, more or less. the main point in these setup is the gear reduction output in terms or rpm and torque as measured in foot/pounds. Id still like to get away from HF drills, but dont want to spend hundreds of dollars for an industrial gear reducer.
Click to expand...

Buy 3 of them, and you still won't have $30 in it. I've milled over 200lb with my setup so far and have had no issues with durability of the worm gear. I greased it when I built it, and have greased it once more since, and it still looks like new.
 
johns said:
Those worm gears look interesting. Does anyone know if it would be possible to replace them with metal worm gears from say, Grainger, or another place similar?

I was just wondering how durable they would be milling 40 lbs of crystal malt (its really hard stuff to go through), The motors are a dime a dozen. Washing machine, furnace, or garage door openers are all about the same, more or less. the main point in these setup is the gear reduction output in terms or rpm and torque as measured in foot/pounds. Id still like to get away from HF drills, but dont want to spend hundreds of dollars for an industrial gear reducer.
Click to expand...

I seriously doubt you will have any problem with the plastic drive gears. They are very durable and although not designed to do so, they can dead lift a 150 lb garage door without stripping out. This is when both springs on the garage door have broken but somehow nobody managed to notice.
HOMEOWNER: " I thought that since it had an electric door opener, it didn't need any springs."
you wouldn't believe the number of times I have heard this.
 
slbradley01 said:
I seriously doubt you will have any problem with the plastic drive gears. They are very durable and although not designed to do so, they can dead lift a 150 lb garage door without stripping out. This is when both springs on the garage door have broken but somehow nobody managed to notice.
HOMEOWNER: " I thought that since it had an electric door opener, it didn't need any springs."
you wouldn't believe the number of times I have heard this.
Click to expand...

When I was a child, my brother and I rode the door up and down one day, until we burned up something. Got a pretty good scolding and had to pay it off in chores, but the gears never stripped. Of course they could have been metal 30 years ago, but they are tough little buggers.
 
Tested the Crush Master. Milled 20 lbs of grain for the Wheat Kolsch I brewed. Took 6 minutes, no problems. Worked great.
 
wilconrad said:
Sure thing, will give it a shot:

Garage Door Opener Motor & Gearcase: $9.95
http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=5-1677&catname=electric

L050 Lovejoy Coupling, made up of:
Drive side, 1/2" Bore: $3.26
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003HIWO0G/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Driven Side, 3/8" Bore: $3.26
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003HIWNX4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Rubber Spider: $2.10
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003HIWQJK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

10A DPDT Toggle Switch (Used for FWD/REV): $4.49
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062514

Single Pole 15A Light Switch $0.69
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-...t-Almond-R56-01451-02T/100669880#.UhGUWtKt3Ws

White Lithium Grease (I added this to the worm gear after the first batch to help it out with the load/duration, I had noticed some wear during the first batch but it's looked clean since I put this stuff on there). $4.58
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lucas-Oil-8-oz-White-Lithium-Grease-10533/202535870#.UhGV7dKt3Ws

Other than the wood, the mill itself, and the stereo cabinet (which I bought at goodwill for nothing), I think that's it. Motorized for <$40!

Let me know if I missed anything and/or you still have questions about the guts. Happy to help a fellow cheapskate :)
Click to expand...

Ordered the opener (finally! and then the Lovejoy items from amazon and soon I'll get the remaining items from brick-and-mortar stores in the area. Now I only have to wait for everything to arrive and then I'll try my luck!!! Wifey said I need to brew more beer :mug:
 
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