Crankandstein 3GT

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@mbg

I would buy this Harbor Freight drill if I didn't already have the one I do.
 
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IslandLizard said:
I would not run a mill with that drill. It runs at 2800 rpm (!), way too fast, and by the time you slow it down to 150rpm, there's no torque left.

The following model runs at 600 rpm, and is more similar in specs to the older Low Speed Heavy Duty model drill I've been using for over 8 years.
https://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-low-speed-spade-handle-drillmixer-56179.html
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Haha. Yes, indeed. Those were the specs I was reading, too many pages open I suppose.
 
GoeHaarden said:
Haha. Yes, indeed. Those were the specs I was reading, too many pages open I suppose.
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Think I'll give the drill some thought. There is a HF couple miles from me and I bought that drill to use for mixing thinset for a big tile job in our bathroom. It was strange but it would loose variable speed control and only run on high when it was warmed up. I exchanged it and the second one did the same thing. Guess I could try one again - they actually have a great return policy.
 
GoeHaarden said:
That's crazy. Sorry you're having issues with it. I don't think there is anything wrong with the mill, it's just straight from Mad Max and it runs on anger. Jokes aside, it was a little worrisome the first few times I ran it as those gears sound a little scary when they run.

I use a Dewalt DW235G that I've had boxed up for a few years and it pulls 7.8amps. Right now I try to throttle it manually, but I can tell when it starts to get bogged down and I need to bump the trigger a little. I try to run it on the lower side, but no way to know for sure at the moment (drill max rpm is 865). I need to get a router speed controller, but it mills so fast that doing it manually hasn't been an issue yet.

Honestly, I've thought about widening the gap a little and running it twice. I could probably mill my batch twice faster than most other mills can get through once. It takes under 90 seconds to get through.

I didn't even try to use any of my cordless drills with it. I should test my 20V cordless Dewalt to see if it'll even budge it.
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When the 3GT would run on my gear motor it would really gulp the grain even at 160 rpm. Reminds me of a positive displacement pump - what you feed it must go through since all rollers are geared together. Other pumps have leakage so they don't get overloaded - like my old Barley Crusher.

That old gear motor I have is only rated at about 3.4 amps and 4.9 ft-lbs (my 18v makita drill is 42 ft-lbs).

Oh well, I can put this back on my BC and sell it as a motorized mill now.
 
mbg said:
Think I'll give the drill some thought. There is a HF couple miles from me and I bought that drill to use for mixing thinset for a big tile job in our bathroom. It was strange but it would loose variable speed control and only run on high when it was warmed up. I exchanged it and the second one did the same thing. Guess I could try one again - they actually have a great return policy.
Click to expand...

I love Harbor Freight. Any tool I buy these days is from HF. I'm willing to bet that some of their stuff is built in the same buildings as other name brand. All from China anyways...
 
mbg said:
When the 3GT would run on my gear motor it would really gulp the grain even at 160 rpm. Reminds me of a positive displacement pump - what you feed it must go through since all rollers are geared together. Other pumps have leakage so they don't get overloaded - like my old Barley Crusher.

That old gear motor I have is only rated at about 3.4 amps and 4.9 ft-lbs (my 18v makita drill is 42 ft-lbs).

Oh well, I can put this back on my BC and sell it as a motorized mill now.
Click to expand...

Did you try the Makita on it?
 
GoeHaarden said:
Did you try the Makita on it?
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SUCCESS!!!

Put my Makita cordless on it and it will run 0.025" even with the hopper filled from a dead stop! But, @GoeHaarden is correct the mill-drill-base are starting to hop around badly.

So glad - thanks for all the help. My setup will be much simpler now with a removable drill.

Thanks
Mike
 
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mbg said:
SUCCESS!!!

Put my Makita cordless on it and it will run 0.025" even with the hopper filled from a dead stop! But, @GoeHaarden is correct the mill-drill-base are starting to hop around badly.

So glad - thanks for all the help. My setup will be much simpler now with a removable drill.

Thanks
Mike
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Sweet. Glad to hear it. With how short you have to run this thing battery discharge shouldn't be an issue.
 
Got my mill, hopper, and base put together and thought I'd share some pics. I borrowed ideas from here and the internet:

IMG_2537.jpg


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IMG_2535.jpg
 

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I love this new mill!

I made two beers today. One I milled on 0.025" gap and the other on 0.055". On 0.025" I thought my Makita cordless had plenty of torque but I had to throttle the grain input and give the drill three rests to cool off. Plus, if I were to use 0.025" gap with this mill all the time it would need a stronger base than plywood - it looks like the mill is ready to torque itself off of the platform! At 0.055" my drill handled it with ease. With the geared rollers it's amazing how fast it gobbles through the grain.

OK for the numbers. My 0.025" gap got me 86.4% Mash Efficiency and the 0.055" gap was at 82.7%. These are by far the highest ME's I have gotten in my 40+ years of brewing. I was surprised how close the ME was for the two drastically different gap sizes. Maybe the quality of the mill is more important than the crush size?

Mike
 
mbg said:
I love this new mill!
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Me too!! Glad you tamed it.

mbg said:
Plus, if I were to use 0.025" gap with this mill all the time it would need a stronger base than plywood
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I'm still impressed you did a whole batch on 0.025". It scares me. Maybe I'll try it again since I've secured the drill to the base.
 
After my previous mill decided it no longer wanted to play nice, I recently upgraded to a Crankanstaein 3GT. Compared to my old mill that claimed to "crush barley", this thing is built like a tank. I am positively impressed with the build quality. It is very heavy, and I love having all of the rollers geared. I've run through ~50lbs in the month that I've had it, and I'm really liking it. Time will tell how the knurls on the rollers hold up, but I just ran 30lbs through at 0.025" for a BIAB batch, and it ate right through it without any difficulties.
 
YeastFeast said:
@GoeHaarden and others in this thread who have the 3GT......do you still like it? Any issues or regrets?
Pretty sure I'm going to order one but just checking in.
Thanks!
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Still like mine and can highly recommend it. I haven’t had any issues with it. Time will tell how long the knurls on the rollers will last, but the geared rollers should alleviate any knurl wearing issues
 
YeastFeast said:
@GoeHaarden and others in this thread who have the 3GT......do you still like it? Any issues or regrets?
Pretty sure I'm going to order one but just checking in.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
I still love mine. No regrets here. Finally broke down and got an Ale Works motor for it last year and the whole setup is great.
 
rgrrbt said:
Still like mine and can highly recommend it. I haven’t had any issues with it. Time will tell how long the knurls on the rollers will last, but the geared rollers should alleviate any knurl wearing issues
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GoeHaarden said:
I still love mine. No regrets here. Finally broke down and got an Ale Works motor for it last year and the whole setup is great.
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Good to hear. Placed my order! Looking forward to taking over that part of the brewing.
 
Tom R said:
Not a 3GT, but I made sides and a hopper for my 3D.

View attachment 739487
The hopper is 3/8" hardwood plywood and 1/8" acrylic. It holds about 6-1/2# of grain, so I have to stop and refill. I usually use an aux handle (not shown) to avoid tweaking my wrist when milling, it takes some serious torque to run this mill when the gap is set tight.

View attachment 739488
The sides are more 1/8" acrylic. If the sides extended into the cutout, that dust wouldn't be there. But that was all that escapes after a typical 5 gal grain bill, so I'll probably leave it as is.

The circular base has a rabbet on both sides, one to center onto my MLT, and the other to center on a bucket for inverted storage.
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How is the hopper attached to the board on top of the mill?
 
Tom R said:
Hopper is glued and screwed to the triangular pieces, and triangular pieces are glued and screwed to the hopper's base.

There's a lot of bonding surface, so the screws could probably be omitted if well glued.
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Thank you.
Would it be possible to get sketch of the hopper with the dimensions?
 

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