I've had a dead washing machine in the basement for about a year now. (It dumped between 250 and 300 gallons of water in the basement, but the motor was still good).
My efficiencies have been complete rubbish. I think part of this is just a brewery issue (too much piping ect.) and part of it is the crush at the LHBS. Finally when I brewed a 45 lb beer and had to hand mill it all at the LHBS, while holding the hopper down because one of the bolts had brocked, I decided it was time to look into a mill.
I debated a lot on what mill to get and I finally settled on a monster mill. Then I debated for a long time about 2 roller v 3 roller, 1.5 v 2 inch, and which variety of steel. Luckily the motor out of the washing machine help narrow the field, it is a 0.5 HP motor and the monster mill FAQ suggest a 0.5 for 1.5 inch rollers and a 1.0 HP for 2.0 inch rollers. That also narrowed by choices to standard steel or stainless (I couldn't resist the shiny factor of stainless.)
I managed to find a wiring diagram for the motor. It is 2 speed (1440 and 1725) and "reversible". I did a proof of concept run, rigging the wiring and running the motor in both speeds forwards and backwards. I think ordered the parts to build the rig . . .
The first build of the control unit failed miserably. I built a toggle for the hi/low speed and the fwd/rev direction. Apparently, switching the direction toggle with blow a toggle rated for 240v @ 15A (motor is 120V @ 9.8A) right out of the water. I blame the capacitor. This version of the control uses two standard wall switches. The first is a simple on/off switch, the second is a standard 3-way pull switch rigged to the 1440/1725 speed.
The pulleys have pitch diameters of 1.05 and 9.75 connected by a 4L 41 inch belt.
As with everything in my brewery this is phase 1, I am sure I will come up with flaws and better idea.
If anyone is curious about the wiring I can go into that as well.
P.S. those rollers are SHARP, I didn't realize it until I got in the shower and my fingers pruned up on the cuts.
My efficiencies have been complete rubbish. I think part of this is just a brewery issue (too much piping ect.) and part of it is the crush at the LHBS. Finally when I brewed a 45 lb beer and had to hand mill it all at the LHBS, while holding the hopper down because one of the bolts had brocked, I decided it was time to look into a mill.
I debated a lot on what mill to get and I finally settled on a monster mill. Then I debated for a long time about 2 roller v 3 roller, 1.5 v 2 inch, and which variety of steel. Luckily the motor out of the washing machine help narrow the field, it is a 0.5 HP motor and the monster mill FAQ suggest a 0.5 for 1.5 inch rollers and a 1.0 HP for 2.0 inch rollers. That also narrowed by choices to standard steel or stainless (I couldn't resist the shiny factor of stainless.)
I managed to find a wiring diagram for the motor. It is 2 speed (1440 and 1725) and "reversible". I did a proof of concept run, rigging the wiring and running the motor in both speeds forwards and backwards. I think ordered the parts to build the rig . . .
The first build of the control unit failed miserably. I built a toggle for the hi/low speed and the fwd/rev direction. Apparently, switching the direction toggle with blow a toggle rated for 240v @ 15A (motor is 120V @ 9.8A) right out of the water. I blame the capacitor. This version of the control uses two standard wall switches. The first is a simple on/off switch, the second is a standard 3-way pull switch rigged to the 1440/1725 speed.
The pulleys have pitch diameters of 1.05 and 9.75 connected by a 4L 41 inch belt.
As with everything in my brewery this is phase 1, I am sure I will come up with flaws and better idea.
If anyone is curious about the wiring I can go into that as well.
P.S. those rollers are SHARP, I didn't realize it until I got in the shower and my fingers pruned up on the cuts.
