unfortunately, i have a cheap drill, and an expensive desire to motorize my jsp. trying to find a cheap used motor is a problem, though
Another mill motor question - garage door opener?
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Here is mine before mounting on the Sheet of Stainless with the gearmotor. The legs that used to sit across the bucket were removed, and it was screwed right to a 20x20 ish square sheet. I'll try to remember to post a quick vid of it actually working, but it's on my daughter's video camera and I forget to download it.
Hmmm... what's the conspicuous thing blurred out on the bottom right corner?
user 40839
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I got my cut already, what with the MM3 and the stainless upgrade. I've got my eye on him tho... he goes to doggie daycare twice a week, and I'm thinkin' there's some action going on there...
Ain't that the truth. Every motorizing a mill thread I see involves the phrase "I got the motor for $20 shipped on ebay/Science Surplus/Surplus Center" but can't find one that fits the bill for anywhere near that price. (More like $99 plus $40 shipping)
Well... I was just a little bit excited about building it. Some things are just not meant to show in HBT!
Seriously, it's the name of my former employer. I have no idea if they would care that their name was online or not, but I decided to just blur it anyway. They sent me an old server to play with when we were still owned by them.
FredTheBuilder
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I know I am years late pitching in my 2 cents, but wish there was information available to me before I spent time finding out that this won't work. In short, it didn't work for me.
I was in the same boat. I had been looking for a high torque low rpm motor and happened to have a retired 1/2hp Craftsman garage door opener (GDO)power head. I decided the rpm would be on the slow side, but it would do, so I welded a coupling directly to the final drive (sprocket) of the GDO that would allow me to connect it directly to the shaft of my 3 roller monster mill. At first it seemed to work, it really worked that motor hard, but it could keep it moving.
Note, (They don't actually lift garage doors, they just move them. The energy used is just to take them from stationary state to a moving state. The garage door springs make the garage door very close to balanced. This is how it is possible to raise a garage door by hand and also how you can open it partially.)
That was the first problem, but the real problem is how much heat it caused the electric motor to generate and then the thermal protection switch to shut it off. I brew 10 gallon batches and only made it through a third of my grain bill. The last two thirds took forever. The only way I got through it was that I took an air nozzle with compressed air and shot it through the motor/armature to try to cool it down some. That brew day was off to a rocky start.
You might have better luck than I did (maybe a better GDO) I have just purchased a 12 speed drill press from Harbor Freight for less than $100 and I think it will provide me everything I need. I have the belt/pulleys set for 300 RPM and expect it to work. If it doesn't, I'll update my post.
I was in the same boat. I had been looking for a high torque low rpm motor and happened to have a retired 1/2hp Craftsman garage door opener (GDO)power head. I decided the rpm would be on the slow side, but it would do, so I welded a coupling directly to the final drive (sprocket) of the GDO that would allow me to connect it directly to the shaft of my 3 roller monster mill. At first it seemed to work, it really worked that motor hard, but it could keep it moving.
Note, (They don't actually lift garage doors, they just move them. The energy used is just to take them from stationary state to a moving state. The garage door springs make the garage door very close to balanced. This is how it is possible to raise a garage door by hand and also how you can open it partially.)
That was the first problem, but the real problem is how much heat it caused the electric motor to generate and then the thermal protection switch to shut it off. I brew 10 gallon batches and only made it through a third of my grain bill. The last two thirds took forever. The only way I got through it was that I took an air nozzle with compressed air and shot it through the motor/armature to try to cool it down some. That brew day was off to a rocky start.
You might have better luck than I did (maybe a better GDO) I have just purchased a 12 speed drill press from Harbor Freight for less than $100 and I think it will provide me everything I need. I have the belt/pulleys set for 300 RPM and expect it to work. If it doesn't, I'll update my post.
I too built my own mill. Knurled my own rollers, mounted them on sealed ball bearings and made them adjustable from .035" to over .125". I built an aluminum sheet hopper that will hold 50 lbs of grain (a bit overkill). Mounted the whole thing on a 1" MDF board and I sit it on one of those plastic totes. For power, I used a late 60's Ford windshield wiper motor attached to a car battery charger. I run it on the high speed wire. Still a bit slow but the motor has a 100% duty cycle. I turn it on and let it grind. Takes 10 minutes or so to work 25 lbs of grain. I had the wiper motor on the shelf but salvage yards will sell them quite cheap for an old Ford truck. 
