The ideal mill motor solution is not hard to find, and hasn't been hard to find for five years now. You only need to look elsewhere than in the US.
It all began six years ago when a local Australian company, MotionDynamics, asked the members of this forum's sister site (Aussie Home Brewer) what brewers are looking for in a mill motor (see
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/44766-mill-motors/ , but check out more recent posts for brewers' mill builds etc).
The result was this (see pic below), a variable speed 12 volt DC motor with 20 Newton metres of torque (that's about 15 foot pounds, or 177 inch pounds): See
https://www.motiondynamics.com.au/home-brewer-special-worm-drive-motor-dc-speed-controller.html
Now that's $159 in Australian dollars, which at the current exchange rate is about US$122. And you can deduct a further 10% to remove the Australian GST tax that's included in the online price and not applicable to you in the US (also note that there is a Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the US, so import taxes should not apply). Add the cost of a 120vAC/12vDC power supply at about $30, a Love Joy coupling (aka spider coupling), a steel shaft to connect the coupling to the motor, and shipping to the US and it should still come in under US$200 delivered to the US. Problem sorted.
Here's a youtube of the mill motor in action (note the variable speed control so you can get the crush you want, and see how it can start and stop crushing grain while the hopper is full): [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5oa-UGcKnw[/ame]
I have no affiliation to this company. Just see that fellow brewers in the US are still playing around with mains powered motors and building arm-ripping exposed pulley systems. Time to enter the 21st century and keep yourself safe and save some money on quality kit.
And
Bobby M, love your brew gear and your engagement with the home brew community. Why not consider doing a a bulk import of this motor at wholesale price to retail to US brewers? You'd be doing yourself and them a favour to check it out.
(And for those thinking of buying a motor of this type direct from China, be warned that they are not all the same even though they may look the same. The MotionDynamics ones have been lab tested and field trialed so their durability and performance is known. Fly solo at your own risk).
Good luck.
Steve
(Melbourne)