Low bucks motorized grain mill

[eastoak]

Well not exactly sure how some of you have made this work... I currently have a 19 amp power supply hooked up but with no luck. It binds up when grain is introduced. I can flip the switch a few times and get it to turn again but will bind a few seconds later. No real way to get through a full batch. This is the 2nd weekend that I have spent in the garge tinkering with no luck. I've tried larger guage wire, Larger power supply, adding grain sfrom stand still and with it already running. I just don't think my motor has enough ass in it to get the job done.

same here. for some reason it works well for a short period of time with a pound or two, then it can't grind 2-3 grains.

 

[MerlinWerks]

I had pretty much the same results and I had a beastly 50A bench supply. Bit the bullet and got a Powergrinder, certainly pricey, but works great. I would imagine it will retain a decent resale value if need be.

I wonder if there could be a wide variation in motor performance/quality? I think j_hanna and spellman are the only two have posted successful results with these, If we were really curious maybe we could send them our motors to see if they perform in their setup...

 

[SevenOaks]

I'm thinking that these motors are not created equal, but I discovered a bit ago that my power supply is only delivering 11.7 volts. It also could be a limitation of the controller. Mine died when I hooked up power to the jump starter battery. When I have more grain to mill I'll try again with the battery wired directly to the motor, but I'm not optimistic it will drive my 3-roller mill. No sweat because my drill works just fine and my Altbier is fermenting away in its chamber

 

[adamranders]

So I've been busy lately and not able to brew or work on projects, until recently. Then this happened, I still need to test it with grain but otherwise it runs.

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[JINKS]

So I've been busy lately and not able to brew or work on projects, until recently. Then this happened, I still need to test it with grain but otherwise it runs.

Looks awesome:rockin: I'm just days away from making mine.

 

[Just-a-sip]

Hope you have better luck then me .

 

[Spellman]

adamranders, did you happen to flip which side the shaft comes out of? Mine is on the opposite side. I really dig having a similar setup that I can place a couple different buckets underneath and have space for a scale on top. The only improvement I want to make is to keep the milled grain from being sucked back out by static electricity. It kind of makes a mess towards the end when the bucket starts to get full.

 

[govner1]

I had pretty much the same results and I had a beastly 50A bench supply. Bit the bullet and got a Powergrinder, certainly pricey, but works great. I would imagine it will retain a decent resale value if need be.



I wonder if there could be a wide variation in motor performance/quality? I think j_hanna and spellman are the only two have posted successful results with these, If we were really curious maybe we could send them our motors to see if they perform in their setup...

+++1 on the Powergrinder. It is a beast! And so far, very reliable.

 

[adamranders]

adamranders, did you happen to flip which side the shaft comes out of? Mine is on the opposite side. I really dig having a similar setup that I can place a couple different buckets underneath and have space for a scale on top. The only improvement I want to make is to keep the milled grain from being sucked back out by static electricity. It kind of makes a mess towards the end when the bucket starts to get full.

Yes I did flip the shaft, I found that with the shaft on the other side resting the gearbox square on the surface it aligns perfectly with the shaft on my cereal killer height wise. And yeah, having the bucket enclosed to catch the grain to keep the airborn particulate down was a must for my design as I will be milling in my basement near where I ferment. I only do 5 gallon batches at the moment so I won't often fill the bucket, but I'll probably just use two if I'm doing a lot of grain and keep them about half full each.

 

[MerlinWerks]

If you don't already do it, conditioning your malt before crushing dramatically reduces the amount of dust.

 

[adamranders]

If you don't already do it, conditioning your malt before crushing dramatically reduces the amount of dust.

Before now I've been milling at my lhbs, but now that I can mill at home I most likely will be conditioning before milling.

 

[J_Hanna]

While on eBay looking for a wort chiller for my 15 gallon kettle I stumbled across this interesting grain mill for $400...





It uses a very similar motor to the AC motor I started with on this project, a Molon EM5R-153-1



The one I was using was a Molon EM5R-63-1



The motors are the same physical size, the 153-1 runs at 82 RPM ( looks like a speed reducing chain drive, more torque at 82 then at 153? ) the 153-1 is rated .85A the 63 RPM 63-1 is rated at .33A.
Man I wish I could get my hands on one of those 153-1s!

BTW, the Molon EM5R-63-1 I started with did work okay, albeit kinda slow.
I suspect that the main factor using any motor is what mill is attached to it, my cereal killer spins super easy and only has the one drive roller, that's probably why my setup worked. I also left the gap at the factory setting, I don't know whether or not it would continue to work if I set it tighter. Since the factory setting is about the right crush I don't plan on doing any experiements along those lines.

 

[Spellman]

It's hard to say because I'm guessing the em5r-63-1 is probably out of production which is why it is not listed anywhere, but I'm guessing they are the same motor at different rated speeds. I'm guessing the 153-1 runs at 153 rpm, but looses torque, so if it is reduced down with the gear it does supply more torque. I think that original website we got the 63 from stated it was 10 in-lb, which I could not get any math to come out correctly to corroborate. According to this page: http://www.molon.com/standard_ac_reversible_motors.html I would estimate the 63 should be close to the 30 in-lb of the 56-1m, maybe a little less (don't have my notes in front of me but 27 in-lb sticks out for some reason as what I got). By going off that chart, wide open the 153 is about 10 in-lb, which may be too little (never found any concrete evidence of exactly how much is needed, probably a function of number of rollers, roller size, gap setting, grain type and size). I bet if you were to get your hands on one, if you were to open them both up the only difference would be the sizing of the internal gears. Either way an interesting find. Still happy with my 12v motor. I have the 63-1 shelved at the moment, trying to think of a use for it. (Make a conveyor belt to add grain to mlt? ) Looking around at different motors for some kicks, both motors that I got were just about given away at the prices I got them for. Too bad some people were having trouble with the 12v ones.

 

[Spellman]

Just found that on ebay, it is a nice little compact unit, but yikes, $400 can buy you a lot of cool stuff!

 

[adamranders]

So I ran my first batch of grain through my mill today and am as happy as a pig in it's own filth to say that it worked flawlessly! Tore through 7lbs of 2row like nothing. Very happy with my setup, and thank you guys for putting this info all together here, and those that guinea pigged to figure it out.

 

[J_Hanna]

So I ran my first batch of grain through my mill today and am as happy as a pig in it's own filth to say that it worked flawlessly! Tore through 7lbs of 2row like nothing. Very happy with my setup, and thank you guys for putting this info all together here, and those that guinea pigged to figure it out.

Super, one more in the plus column!
Looking at the pictures you posted I see you improved the design by adding some addition support for the motor and building an awesome stand, very nice!

Unless I missed it you might put a picture up of how you wired in your ATX P/S, that seems to be a gray area.

 

[adamranders]

I clipped and terminated all the wires except the grounds(black), 12v(yellow), and remote?(green). Then clipped/terminated wires, I opened the PSU and stuffed them inside making sure they weren't going to cause problems with anything including the fan. One ground and the remote wired to the toggle switch (I tried to get it to light up but the remote wire carries too little current). All the remaining grounds got bound together to 14 gauge wire( I split them to three wires then bound them again to one as I didn't have any heat shrink that would fit all of them at once but the end goal is the same). Same as above for the 12v wires but only bound once as there were far less of them. Used a dremmel as recommend to cut away around the terminals on the motor, and attached a few spade connectors to finish it off.

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[adamranders]

I think the biggest thing is to get a single 12v rail PSU. You don't want to bind multiple 12v rails as the will likely have different amps and you don't want to mix that. The other thing is to check for remote wires, in researching psu wiring via Google I found that there are a few different setups that are used to determine that the psu is attached to a motherboard and/or additional devices. These remote wires need to have current moving to have the various rails run full power. And they are not all green wires so you may have to dig a bit online for your supply's layout and have a good multimeter on hand to test with.

 

[adamranders]

And J_Hanna, and Spellman, if you're ever in Milwaukee I owe you both several beers. Thanks for putting this thread together, and answering questions along the way. As a side note, the first batch of grain is also for my first sour.

 

[Spellman]

That's a good call on getting a single rail PSU, don't remember if that got covered before or not. J_Hanna is the man, without his find on these and starting the thread, I'd probably still me slumped over a bucket with a drill.

 

[Just-a-sip]

After trying and trying with no luck I broke down and went this route

https://youtu.be/E14uVU2WIaY

 

[adamranders]

After trying and trying with no luck I broke down and went this route

https://youtu.be/E14uVU2WIaY

That's nice. Good job.

 

[J_Hanna]

After trying and trying with no luck I broke down and went this route

https://youtu.be/E14uVU2WIaY

Nice!
Yeah, those three roller mills need a lot more power than that seat motor can deliver, glad you are back in business!

 

[MI_Dogman]

+1

 

[Huaco]

Going to read this thread later... Sub'd

 

[BeardedIdiot]

Just ordered the worm drive, Lovejoy couplers, switch, and spider fitting (how is the spider fitting 4x the cost of the couplers?!).

I've got a 12V 300W (19A) ATX power supply I'm not using, so I'm going to wire it up once the motor arrives and see if it works.

I've got a cereal killer grain mill I got for Christmas. Hopefully this power supply will work with it.

I'll update here once I get it all put together (hopefully everything will show up this week so I can work on it next weekend).

 

[BeardedIdiot]

And I just found this on Amazon. If my ATX power supply doesn't work, I'm going to buy this:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D7CWSCG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[J_Hanna]

I was in Harbor Freight last week and saw this little variable speed bench grinder and wondered if it might work, it's 1.3 amps which I'd guess would be about .2 horse so it probably stalls out pretty easy.
I've looked at small bench grinder motors before but this the only cheap variable speed model I've seen so far. It'd be about $42 after the usual 20% off coupon.

 

[J_Hanna]

I've made a blog with all of my DIY projects including yet another power supply option..

http://ramrev.blogspot.com/2015/07/low-bucks-grain-mill-part-3-dc-power.html

 

[BeardedBrews]

Just ordered the worm drive, Lovejoy couplers, switch, and spider fitting (how is the spider fitting 4x the cost of the couplers?!).

I've got a 12V 300W (19A) ATX power supply I'm not using, so I'm going to wire it up once the motor arrives and see if it works.

I placed my order based on this thread as well. So far I'm into the project:

Cereal Killer - $99.00
Motor - $22.65
Lovejoys - $14.07
Overkill ATX PSU - $0.00
Wires and Bolts - $0.00 (hopefully)

I'm debating the dedicated stand right now... I'm running short on floor space and it might be better if I just kept everything confined to a bucket-top approach.