Cereal Killer roller inconsistent gap?

[thrust]

Hi folks,

I just purchased a Cereal Killer mill and there is about .003" of variance in the gap as the roller spins. Should this be cause for concern? I've read where this problem was previously reported, but didn't know whether the above is considered "within tolerance"?

Thanks for any advice/suggestions!

 

[brew_ny]

.003" it is what the thickness of a hair?

might not be a problem. have you tried crushing grain with it? how it do for you?

all the best

S_M

 

[thrust]

I haven't tried crushing grain with it yet since I wanted to ensure this was an acceptable amount of runout. The width of a hair (I had to check....lol) is 0.0004" or so.

 

[augiedoggy]

bottom line is it will work perfectly fine...these are grain mills (inexpensive ones at that) not swiss watches... Even the pricer units have realistic tolerances .003 is nothing considering the acceptable crush range variance is much wider than that....
So unless your OCD ( dont laugh we have more than a couple here) dont worry about it.

 

[thrust]

Thanks! Given it's my first mill, along with all the discussion about such matters, I just wanted some reassurance!

 

[atoughram]

I got a Cereal Killer the other day and estimated that it has 0.003 - 0.004" of run out. I measured that with feeler gauges as I doubt a dial indicator could be accurate on a knurled roller. I set the gap at 0.037" at the widest run out point and crushed some grain - came out great, although I forgot to turn my drill to low speed...

 

[thrust]

I got a Cereal Killer the other day and estimated that it has 0.003 - 0.004" of run out. I measured that with feeler gauges as I doubt a dial indicator could be accurate on a knurled roller. I set the gap at 0.037" at the widest run out point and crushed some grain - came out great, although I forgot to turn my drill to low speed...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJPpj9FiTCo&feature=share&list=UUPu0i3spSLdIbvpsBP_oGzg

Thanks! I used the mill today (set to .037") and the crush was great. My efficiency was 81%. I'm very pleased with the crush the mill provided.

 

[augiedoggy]

Many use a credit card as a feeler gauge for adjustment.

 

[brew_ny]

never have checked mine just set it at .035 and have used it like that

used it to crush 25 pounds of grain on Thursday and 25 pounds on Saturday

I could not be happier with mine, when it dies and some day it will I will more then likely just buy another one

all the best

S_M

 

[kevink]

A 0.003" change in gap as the rollers turn is good. I bought a Barley Crusher that changed 0.008" as the drive roller turned. I returned it immediately, especially after the manufacturer said that it seems a little excessive and that I should just try it out. No thanks. I then bought a Mash Master mill. Out of the box there was about a 0.005" variance during operation. Because the rollers are geared, you can play with the clocking of the rollers to cancel out any variances due to out of round rollers. This is the second main reason I decided on this mill. On my first try at re clocking the rollers, I was able to get a variance of 0.002". I might be able to do better, but that is good enough for milling grain. The 0.008" of the Barley Crusher, though, was more than a step I might make when adjusting gap.

 

[augiedoggy]

A 0.003" change in gap as the rollers turn is good. I bought a Barley Crusher that changed 0.008" as the drive roller turned. I returned it immediately, especially after the manufacturer said that it seems a little excessive and that I should just try it out. No thanks. I then bought a Mash Master mill. Out of the box there was about a 0.005" variance during operation. Because the rollers are geared, you can play with the clocking of the rollers to cancel out any variances due to out of round rollers. This is the second main reason I decided on this mill. On my first try at re clocking the rollers, I was able to get a variance of 0.002". I might be able to do better, but that is good enough for milling grain. The 0.008" of the Barley Crusher, though, was more than a step I might make when adjusting gap.

See now call me crazy but I never even bothered to measure my tolerances and gaps and such...I just tried it out testing it with grain.... and when I felt the crush could be a bit finer I loosened the lock nuts and adjusted it freehand on each side a tiny it at a time -each time checking it with grain, till I got the crush amount I wanted if the roler started to bind I readjusted while spinning it to make sure it was free.

Here we are 10 brews later and everything still works great....