Milling with Crankandstein

[Scallywag]

I used my 3D for the first time yesterday with my power-drill, using the default settings.

Maris Otter Pale took ALOT more effort and sometimes seized up the rollers.

Has anyone else experienced this or is there something wrong with my mill or the MOPA?

 

[Bitterbrush]

I have a MM-3 and milled my second batch with it yesterday. I first tried just dumping the grain in and starting up my drill, oh man the mill about jumped on the floor. If I have someone hold the thing down and I use my 1/2" Milwaukee with the side handle I can get it to start but it takes all the power it has. If I slowed down to much it seized up and I ended up dumping the grain out and starting over.

Second time I had the drill going pretty good and had my assistant dump the grain in the hopper. The drill bogged down and I had to vary the speed keeping it going pretty good as to not stall. I think these 3 roller mills take more power than a 2 roller for sure. You just have to have enough power and keep the drill rpm moving. My grain never looked so good!

 

[BrewThruYou]

I don't have a crankandstein, but my Barley Crusher needs to be held down over my Homer bucket. I have a Porter Cable 18V cordless and it was bucking like crazy. I hadn't charged the battery in a while, but it drained it on my first try...had to swap the battery out midway through. I had to adjust the drill settings in order to mill...I needed to increase the torque.

I'm not going to use my cordless again as I've been handcranking it now (takes forever and is quite the workout). I'm looking on picking up a corded drill from Harbor Freight for future milling.

 

[vonZwicky]

Any three roller mill will be more difficult to operate with a drill. Two gaps offer a lot more resistance than one. Just got my Crankandstein 3D around Christmas time, and I'm working on getting the parts together to motorize it.

I will have to use the mill (with drill) for the first time this weekend. Wish me luck!

A corded drill is a must. I don't think a battery operated drill would hold up through any but the most modest grain bills.

Edit: link to the thread where I've been soliciting mill and motor advice: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/shiny-new-mill-motorize-not-motorize-216710/