I just received my brand new Crankandstein 3 roller mill, and I'm feverishly researching the forums here- looking at the fine work of others and trying to decide on how I want to proceed with a build for a base and hopper, possibly motorized.
I do have the very simple base and hopper that Crankandstein offers, and a drill, so I'll be able to use it that way in the short term- but I don't think I'll be able to overcome my nagging desire to MODIFY. I want to build something really cool!
It would be nice to have a mill that would work without electricity, so it will function off the grid, or after the Apocalypse, when the grid is no more. But handmilling grain sucks... unless the process could be MODIFIED.
This is my idea- design the mill to work with a handcrank, but give it a mechanical advantage so the chore is not so arduous. It would employ a large and a small sheave, just as many of the motorized ones I've seen here, but the small sheave (3" diameter)would be on the mill, and the larger one (let's say 12") would have the handcrank to power the mill:
Every turn of the crank would result in four rotations of the rollers. So, if you could manage 1 turn per second, that would drive the rollers at 240 rpm (more than fast enough). I think it would help if the large sheave had a fair amount of mass, to work as a flywheel and provide torque.
I've searched and not found another example of this type of setup. Has anybody done something similar to this? I'm certainly no mechanical engineer... Is there some reason why this would be impractical? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!
I do have the very simple base and hopper that Crankandstein offers, and a drill, so I'll be able to use it that way in the short term- but I don't think I'll be able to overcome my nagging desire to MODIFY. I want to build something really cool!
It would be nice to have a mill that would work without electricity, so it will function off the grid, or after the Apocalypse, when the grid is no more. But handmilling grain sucks... unless the process could be MODIFIED.
This is my idea- design the mill to work with a handcrank, but give it a mechanical advantage so the chore is not so arduous. It would employ a large and a small sheave, just as many of the motorized ones I've seen here, but the small sheave (3" diameter)would be on the mill, and the larger one (let's say 12") would have the handcrank to power the mill:
Every turn of the crank would result in four rotations of the rollers. So, if you could manage 1 turn per second, that would drive the rollers at 240 rpm (more than fast enough). I think it would help if the large sheave had a fair amount of mass, to work as a flywheel and provide torque.
I've searched and not found another example of this type of setup. Has anybody done something similar to this? I'm certainly no mechanical engineer... Is there some reason why this would be impractical? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!