Motorized Grain Mills: Time to show them off!

[cascadia]

Excellent. I love when a project comes together with parts on hand.

 

[Catt22]

Mine's turning at 62. Of course if I go pro, that will be too slow...

you should be fine.

IIRC, that right angle drill attachment you are using is geared at a 2:1 reduction. You could easily double the mill speed by eliminating it, provided the gear motor puts out enough torque without that reduction.

 

[rod]

just upgraded from a corona hand crank mill
i work at a john deere dealership and found a customer who had a roller mill he was no longer using.
a mechanic friend at work mounted it on a table with a 1/3 hp motor.
i made the chute and shields but the motor was too weak - could only put a handful of grain in at a time or the roller jammed.
i got a free 1 hp motor from another mechanic at work and hooked it up today.
just need a belt and a welder to weld the drive sprocket( i tried to braze but failed)
and its ready.
the rollers are joined by a chain so they run at slightly different speeds.

 

[Bullbythehorns]

just upgraded from a corona hand crank mill
i work at a john deere dealership and found a customer who had a roller mill he was no longer using.
a mechanic friend at work mounted it on a table with a 1/3 hp motor.
i made the chute and shields but the motor was too weak - could only put a handful of grain in at a time or the roller jammed.
i got a free 1 hp motor from another mechanic at work and hooked it up today.
just need a belt and a welder to weld the drive sprocket( i tried to braze but failed)
and its ready.
the rollers are joined by a chain so they run at slightly different speeds.

Rod,

I am running a roller mill that looks very similar, except that it is belt drive driven by a 1 hp motor with a 2 speed switch. I ended up torching out the dampening springs and making the adjustment screw solid. I was getting some variation out of the crush and found out on mine the spring would compress and not push the roller back. Since then it is working great and delivering a great crush, got the rollers currently set @ .030 but going to open up to .035 to soften it a little and help my sparge. I'll try to slip out and take some photos and add it to this thread.

I used to work at a JD dealership as well. I went to the JD Tech School in NE Iowa for 2 years then worked at a dealership in Missouri. Mainly worked on engines, powertrains & electronics of the large chasis and 4 wheel drive tractors (7, 8 and 9000 series). At times I sure miss those days.

 

[3 Dog Brew]

Schmidling Malt Mill with a 1/4 hp motor

Article for the Motorized Mill Station

 

[android]

rod, that thing is sweet man... nice score.

 

[rod]

yes - i think i will move the 2nd pillow block closer to the drive gear.
i have a reversing switch but could't figure out how to attach it
see:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/electrical-help-needed-162830/

edit for update:
moved the pillow block and hooked up the drives - works great - even chewed through the test handful of birdseed with whole corn and sunflower seeds like it was nothing.
did a barleywine -22 lbs of grain -under 5 minutes to crush it - took an hour with my old corona hand crank

 

[Sizz]

Nice builds everyone. MrH, I like how you have the scale and scoop holder integrated.

Here's a pic of mine before I mounted to the wall. It's Monster Mill MM3 with a 180 in/lb 154 RPM gearmotor made in 1974. Found the motor off of surpluscenter.com. It starts up easily even when fully loaded with wheat.

 

[Shay]

Can you show me hope you hooked up the on/off and forward/reverse swithces?

I used PJ's wiring diagram: http://www.programmingjobs.com/images/Bodine_motor_wiring.jpg. I had to ohm out the 3 way switch to figure out which posts to wire.

 

[Jaybird]

So I am starting the build of the Monster Mill for my store. I am using a 1725 rpm 1/4 HP "C" face sealed motor. I am going to a right angle industrial Falk gear box @ 7.5/1 will spin at 230 rpm. I will post up a few picts tomorrow eve when I get it all set up and running. I test ran the motor/gearbox tonight and I think I could run a 12" with this set up. It has so much torque, it's crazy.

 

[Randar]

So who has the guts to turn this into a grain mill?

http://treasuretrovesonline.com/programs/shop/showitem.cgi?Farm_Equipment&1074

Maybe Rob has the horsepower to do so?

 

[Jaybird]

Hmmm 230 seems right on as far as looking at the crush. I am sure slower would be better ther is no doubt, I will agree with you on that. But for the price, less than $70 for the gear box and the motor, brotha' I am loving it. We fired it up last night 10# a min and the crush looks WOW out of this world killer. We have been fighting the other grain mill we had for 5-6 months because I couldn't afford the parts to slow the damn thing down. Then my best friend DC (photohand here on HBT) found this killer combo. All I had to do is build a sleeve that went from 7/8 to 5/8 key one side and drill and tap some sets in the other and I was on my way. I will be at the store tomorrow I will snap a few photos and post up.

 

[BrewBeemer]

Keep those 841 oilite bushing oiled, they can suck up the oil from the outside ends of the mills bushings like a sponge. Just don't let them run dry or over oil them.

 

[arturo7]

So, what are you guys using for the rollers?

 

[BrewBeemer]

LOL... so far I have acquired no cost in the build. The motor I had lying around in the garage, cabinet and counter top came out of my buddies kitchen, and the pulley was given to me by neighbor.

I figured I would give it a shot and if the pulley starts to cause issues I'll spend the $24 for a zinc die cast 10". But so far so good.
Not bad for nearly FREE.

Even bad tasting bier's good if it's free unless your friend hates you.

 

[vincemash]

okay after much research and a nice score on bulk trash day last week (for the stand)....and I had the motor and capacitor from awhile ago.... I built this today...

 

[ClaudiusB]

vincemash looking good

With a small safety guard around the motor coupling, it would be a perfect setup.
Remember the guard is to protect the other i***t not you.

Cheers,
ClaudiusB

 

[vincemash]

vincemash looking good

With a small safety guard around the motor coupling, it would be a perfect setup.
Remember the guard is to protect the other i***t not you.

Cheers,
ClaudiusB

Thanks......maybe in time i'll put in a safety guard.

Another question, has anyone wired this motor with a start capacitor? In doing some tests it works great as long as you start the motor before adding grain, if you add grain first the motor does not have the torque required to get going. I was thinking of wiring in a 108-130 MFD motor start capacitor (in parallel with the motor run cap) and put in a push button switch to activate it when needed....has anyone done this?

 

[vincemash]

Another question, has anyone wired this motor with a start capacitor? In doing some tests it works great as long as you start the motor before adding grain, if you add grain first the motor does not have the torque required to get going. I was thinking of wiring in a 108-130 MFD motor start capacitor (in parallel with the motor run cap) and put in a push button switch to activate it when needed....has anyone done this?

I answered my own question and put in the additional motor start cap and wired it to an additional "turbo" button (momentary on push button switch).... not that I will ever need it but its nice to know its there as I tend to over engineer everything I do...


Filled the hopper with wheat last week and the motor wouldn't budge.....a quick push of the "turbo" button and it started right up.....more pics in my original post #52

 

[SweetSounds]

PTO

FTW! That's the greatest truck accessory I've ever seen!

 

[mariojr]

Here is my mill. I have been wanting to upgrade the base, but this one works so well I'll keep it around for a while.

The motor is mounted on a hinged base with a threaded rod to act as my tensioner. I saw this idea somewhere on this site but I can't remember where. But thanks to who ever it was!

 

[mrbubbly]

i wonder if knurled axle pegs (like for a bmx bike) would work? any thoughts?

 

[shipreck]

here's a picture of a motorized crankandstein 2S. the motor was salvaged from my brew bud's old kenmore dryer - motor is 110 VAC. sheave reduction yields ~325 mill roller rpm.

 

[Monster Mash]

I tend to make everything big.....

 

[kladue]

Here is picture taken during the build phase of the cobbled up malt mill hardware for the automated brewing system, hopper on right side, screw auger to gear motor driven valley mill on top, and 3" drop tube to mash tun https://picasaweb.google.com/kevin.ladue/ScrewConveyor#5188941488760211522
Here is a later picture of the system taken during testing https://picasaweb.google.com/kevin.ladue/Panels#5339967138764297570, insulation and tubing covering are not finished

 

[mrbubbly]

Holy brew shed batman!!!

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Here is picture taken during the build phase of the cobbled up malt mill hardware for the automated brewing system, hopper on right side, screw auger to gear motor driven valley mill on top, and 3" drop tube to mash tun https://picasaweb.google.com/kevin.ladue/ScrewConveyor#5188941488760211522

I need to post the actual photo on the thread so nobody misses it.... that's absolutely gorgeous. Just..... wow.

 

[TomRep]

I'm currently building one similar to MrH's (page 3). Cabinet is getting sanded down now and hope to have stain on it this weekend. I will post some pictures up with the stain. Didn't even get the mill or the motor yet, so it won't be a done deal for a couple weeks yet.
Tom

 

[hrafnkell]

Here's mine... Crankandstein 328d, 40-50lb hopper, 280rpm geared 1hp motor

Compared to my old BC

 

[hooks]

Nice Grain Mills everyone!!