Recent content by clintopher

I like that idea...one less thing to clean/sanitize.

I had an idea today. My fermentation area in the house is a little cubby behind the coat closet/under the stairs. We mostly use it for seasonal decorations storage, but there's enough room for a few fermenters. What I don't have room for is a fermentation cabinet. This little void in my...

Cool. I won't be up there this week. I'm trying to pin down some work in DC and coordinate it with another job I have in Germantown, MD so I don't have to make two trips. Once I get the dates firmed up I'll let you know. How do you want to get paid? Paypal?

I live in Norfolk but I'll be up that way for work later this week or maybe next week...depends on when the clients can schedule work. If you can hold onto it for a weekish I'll take it. Clint

The rim of it is bigger in diameter than my 44 qt Bayou Classic by a few inches. I'm with jeepin...better than 30 lbs is my guess. It's a little silly how big it is, but I didn't have to put anything together.

Almost finished. Just need to trim the plate the hopper sits on to final dimension and see if this thing actually works. Here's a pic of it looking into the hopper/rollers.

Yeah, but screaming machine gun sounds at your intended target has got to be more fun with aircraft controls in your hand vs. holding a mash paddle.

Definitely mount the xy vice in your drill press. That'll make life with the plates a cake walk. On the lathe, go slow with the knurling tool. I'm definitely no expert but I set the machine up for 135 rpm and pumped a cooling lubricant on the stock as it was rotating. I don't know if that...

I was originally going to use 4" pipe. Plan was to weld plates on the ends, drill holes in the plates, weld an axle in place through the holes, and true the pipe up in the lathe. I never got around to it. Then the round stock and the knurling tool popped up at the shop and I jumped on it.

You don't need a milling machine...I just used the one at the shop to drill holes in the side plates and to steady the tap while I got it started. I also faced the ends of the side plates with an end mill but that's not absolutely necessary. Do you have a drill press with a vice?

It does come in handy.

My hopper is just a metal halide light reflector. It's huge and I'll never need it's full capacity but it was just laying around the shop without a light fixture in it so it found it's way into my truck.

I'm sure the bearings would hold up but the bushings are much cheaper and they also don't have to be precision fit like a bearing would. Actually, I had another idea using pillow block bearings but at a dollar and change per bushing it was a no brainer. You're drawing looks good to me. As far...

The only money I have into this project is in the bushings and they were only a touch over a buck a piece. Unless you really enjoy building things, and I get that, I wouldn't bother building one when you can get one for around a hundred dollars. Granted, I'm a hack machinist if I'm even that...

Knurling tools can be had on ebay for 20 or 30 bucks. Do you have a lathe or access to one? That's the hard part. I'm lucky enough to work in an industry that has all kinds of neat tools. Regarding the gears...only way I can think of how to do that without affecting the gap on the gears...