Another mill motor question - garage door opener?

[BrewBeemer]

If you'll scoll down on the below attachment you'll see how these clamp on pumps are driven by the motor thru a coupling. This should explain what you were up against. These Procon pumps are what Coke and Pepsi used as well with Miller Tig welders for their wet torches. I located a stainless one for my Tig machine that has an adjustable pressure relief vs spending $900 for a Miller Coolmate V3 unit. Call me cheap.

http://www.proconpumps.com/Products.htm#Series3

 

[Homercidal]

Harbour Freight drills are garbage. My cheap Ryobi cordless drill can power through any grain. And that's a cordless. I also have a big dewalt hammer drill that could crush grain until the cows come home. Really with a half way decent drill you should have more then enough power to run a mill.

I agree that Harbour Freight drills are garbage. I'm not so sure that your drill will crush grain on my crusher. I had been using an older heavy drill with tons of torque, but it would get real hot real fast, and spun way too fast. And at any rate, the convenience of not having to stand there with a drill in my hand when I can just flip a switch and walk away is worth the price I paid to build it.

The question isn't whether or I could use any drill, but rather why would I want to? I think the quest for an alternative is worth looking into. I've seen gearmotors on ebay that are a direct drop in for like $60-80. Just bolt down with a lovejoy connected to the mill. That's not a bad price, but I bet there are tons of garage door openers out there for about nothing. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to use them for this?

 

[Homercidal]

Well, I just answered my own question. I ran the motor, without any sort of resistance, to see how long it would go

About one minute in, it started vibrating a little.

About two minutes, the capacitor started hissing and venting some sort of steam, at which point I unplugged it. It's going in the trash, and I'm ordering up a different motor!

That capacitor would be venting electrolytes. I don't know if running too long would cause this or if it's just a bad cap. I would normally expect the windings to get hot, or the plastic to start getting soft before a cap would blow.

At one time I had a door opener, but I tossed it a long time back. I know my FIL had one that was broken, but I'm sure the motor still ran. not sure if she still has it mounted in his garage or not. I am not confident that they could be used reliably, but it might be worth trying again.

 

[maida7]

I already have several drills so I don't really need to spend the money on a motor.

It only takes a few minutes for me to crush grain for a batch. If I was standing there with the drill in my hand for a half hour or more then I could see going through all the trouble of attaching a motor. Besides, with the motor you need a stand and the whole thing becomes much more bulky and harder to store. I really like that I can remove the drill and the mill is light and easy to store on a shelf.

But we don't need to do the same things. You can use your mill however you want. Enjoy!

PS: what kind of mill do you have?

 

[Homercidal]

I built my mill on the Bridgeport CNC and Lathe machines at work. I'm in IT, so it was a fun and practical way to learn more about the process the guys use on the floor, and now I know a bit more that I can (hopefully) apply to my personal life.

The rollers were scrap steel that I scavenged an knurled on the lathe. It's got an aluminum frame and eccentric gap adjustments. The hopper is obsolete SS hopper that we had left over from years back when we made hydraulic plastic injection molding machines. They were going to sell a skid of them, and I asked to take 2. They hold about 6 lbs IIRC.

If I had a drill, there is no doubt that I would have used it. I ended up buying the drill I did because I needed something better than the B&D cordless I had to drill holes into the garage floor. I got a drill that I hoped would also turn my mill.

FYI - I did not build a stand for my crusher. It's all set up on a sheet of Stainless Steel. When I want to crush, I take it down from a nail on the wall and set it on a bucket. Takes about 2 minutes to run through the 6 lbs. Then I blow it off and put it back on the nail. If the rollers had been longer, it would crush much faster, but I used what was available in the scrap bin. The only money I have into it was a couple of bolts from the hardware store.

 

[maida7]

I built my mill on the Bridgeport CNC and Lathe machines at work. I'm in IT, so it was a fun and practical way to learn more about the process the guys use on the floor, and now I know a bit more that I can (hopefully) apply to my personal life.

The rollers were scrap steel that I scavenged an knurled on the lathe. It's got an aluminum frame and eccentric gap adjustments. The hopper is obsolete SS hopper that we had left over from years back when we made hydraulic plastic injection molding machines. They were going to sell a skid of them, and I asked to take 2. They hold about 6 lbs IIRC.

If I had a drill, there is no doubt that I would have used it. I ended up buying the drill I did because I needed something better than the B&D cordless I had to drill holes into the garage floor. I got a drill that I hoped would also turn my mill.

FYI - I did not build a stand for my crusher. It's all set up on a sheet of Stainless Steel. When I want to crush, I take it down from a nail on the wall and set it on a bucket. Takes about 2 minutes to run through the 6 lbs. Then I blow it off and put it back on the nail. If the rollers had been longer, it would crush much faster, but I used what was available in the scrap bin. The only money I have into it was a couple of bolts from the hardware store.

wow that sounds like quite a project. I love making stuff like that but I have so many ideas and so little time. I was using a friends mill for all my grain until my wife bought me a crankandstien for fathers day. It's a very solid mill. Should last me a lifetime.

 

[Homercidal]

I tried finding pics of my mill, but so far no luck. I might check my server.

The crankandstein is a great unit. I like that they use teeth to mesh the two rollers. Mine works by friction to pull the grain in with the knurls. It has been working well once I deepened the knurling.

 

[user 40839]

wow that sounds like quite a project. I love making stuff like that but I have so many ideas and so little time. I was using a friends mill for all my grain until my wife bought me a crankandstien for fathers day. It's a very solid mill. Should last me a lifetime.

Your wife is awesome. My dog (since we don't have a kid) snagged my mill for me for father's day. No idea how he was able to earn the cash, what with his lack of opposable thumbs and all...

 

[SweetSounds]

Your wife is awesome. My dog (since we don't have a kid) snagged my mill for me for father's day. No idea how he was able to earn the cash, what with his lack of opposable thumbs and all...

Has he been pimpin' the poodle down the street behind your back?!? You might want to lean on him a bit and get your cut :rockin:

 

[Homercidal]

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.

 

[lumpher]

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

 

[passedpawn]

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]

Has he been pimpin' the poodle down the street behind your back?!? You might want to lean on him a bit and get your cut :rockin:

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...

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

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)

 

[Homercidal]

Hmmm... what's the conspicuous thing blurred out on the bottom right corner?

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]

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.

 

[Qtrhoss]

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.