Motorized Grain Mills: Time to show them off!

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Well I finally finished my mill. Totally stole the spacer idea from hbt user dcpcooks :mug: - had a local fab shop make me some aluminum spacers to raise my Crankenstein 3D up to meet the motor. Wasn't bad, they just charged $50 for the two and had enough material left over to make a short set for under the table to stabilize the mill a bit better than just washers.



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Pretty happy with how it turned out.



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Well played sir, Well played! Everyone that comes over stares at the rollers through the plastic while its munching grain.
 
Well played sir, Well played! Everyone that comes over stares at the rollers through the plastic while its munching grain.

Thanks for the inspiration man. Worked out perfectly, the plex is cut about 1/16th" too long so it wedges nicely under the hopper surface and stays snug without bolts.
 
Quote: A friend and I just finished our grain mill. Here are the specs

-Kegco 3 roller 11lb Hopper
-19lb Aluminum hopper extension for a 30lb capacity
-All aluminum frame
-1/4HP Motor 1725RPM
-30:1 Gearbox
-235in lbs output torque at 58RPM
-FWD/Reverse drum switch

Awesome job. If you don't mind, can you share the particulars of the motor and gear box?
 
Quote: A friend and I just finished our grain mill. Here are the specs

-Kegco 3 roller 11lb Hopper
-19lb Aluminum hopper extension for a 30lb capacity
-All aluminum frame
-1/4HP Motor 1725RPM
-30:1 Gearbox
-235in lbs output torque at 58RPM
-FWD/Reverse drum switch

Awesome job. If you don't mind, can you share the particulars of the motor and gear box?
Sure, I used what I had on hand. If i bought a motor and gear box it would have been around the same torque but with a higher RPM. 58RPM will get the job done but a little slow. What information you looking for?
 
Finally got around to getting my mill motorized.

I'm tight for space, so a mill 'station' was pretty much out of the question. I wanted something bucket-top.

Motor is the Williams Brewing 3 roller motor.

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A me too post, got the William's motor when it was on sale and attached it to my Cereal Killer. Didn't hide all of the wiring but still happy with the way it came out. Opted for rubberized mat over stainless, was a lot easier to cut and keeps things (like carboys) from moving around. Table design is a modified version of this over-engineered rolling work cart. Modded some duct work pieces for the outlet and down spout, not cutting myself while making was a bonus.

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Finally got a chance to actually mill some grain today:

 
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Looks like a gear box, or that’s what I’m talking about anyway.. looks like motor-gear box-coupling



It's a gearmotor....Motor is sold with reduction gear / right angle gearbox as a unit.
Motor is a fractional horsepower motor, A C power.

The connection from the gearmotor assy., is a Lovejoy coupling.
 
I like belt drives on my mills, its just what I know and have always done. My latest mill is the first one I have bought (well except for that Corona 30 years ago)! I have a 3 roller Monster and LOVE it. I have built mills in the past but none have worked as well as this one.

When it comes to belts, I like the linked, adjustable ones Harbor Freight sells.

My mill is currently set up to utilize a standard 5 gallon bucket to collect the crushed drain.

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I'm a motor-and-pulley guy, too. I had originally mounted my MM-2 on this unwieldy wooden thing on legs that I built from 2x4s. Bulky and it took up a lot of space. I took out all the guts and did this (I kept the original DIY hopper). Just 3/4" plywood, some corner braces and threaded rod to make it rigid. Same 1/4 HP motor. I also installed a couple pillow blocks and attached a shaft extension, to eliminate side-loading on the MM, since the mill has sleeve bearings. Back in business, and I can carry the mill around like a suitcase. I will get some 1/4 wire mesh and make some guards later.

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How hard was hooking up the wiring?

Not that hard. If you can wire an outlet in a wall, you can do this. The wires are labeled, the instructions say where to connect them. The only thing the instructions were slightly off on was that you should disconnect them all at the outset, then wire them as they note.

If I get a chance I'll take a pic of how it looks and post it here.
 
How hard was hooking up the wiring?

Attached is the pic. The key to the wiring is getting ring terminals--you'll not be able to wrap the wires around the screws. The wires it comes with had those attached, but your power cord will need them.

It isn't perfectly clear from the instructions, but you essentially have to remove all the wires, then reattach as per the instructions. I told the owner at AAW about that--he said he'd revise the instructions. Still, not that hard to figure out, and not now, especially.

In the pic, you can see my power cord coming up from the bottom of the wiring compartment. There's a pinch grommet there that you can't see that will secure it. Then three of the wires on top are connected to one terminal, three to the other, then the "hot" and "neutral" wires are connected to the bottom of those terminals as well. All of those wires have numbers on them so it's pretty easy from the instructions to see what goes where.

The instructions suggest a particular nut (like 6mm IIRC) to tighten the ground wire to the frame, but I just reversed the screw so it tightened from the inside and attached the ground that way. Saved me a trip for a nut. Had to use one of those short right-angle screwdrivers to do it, but it's done and I like the elegance of it.

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Thank You. Guess I am going to put this motor off my want list and put it on my need list. The wiring was my only hold up.

TD
 
My homebrew mill, a cereal killer I bought 4 years ago hooked up to an old 110v dc gear reduction motor from a blueprint machine, wired up with a $7 wall dimmer for speed control to a $3 bridge rectifier to take the ac power and convert to a crude dc wave the to keep the motor happy. pulleys and belt from TSC store. (These mills use real bearings so sideload is not a problem). I repurposed some partical board from an old entertainment center I scrapped into a stand that holds the 5 gallon bucket... (wish I would have set it up for a 6 gallon bucket) It have worked very well for the last few years to mill grain. still a touch on the slow side though..
 

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Thank You. Guess I am going to put this motor off my want list and put it on my need list. The wiring was my only hold up.

TD

I struggled with the difference in cost between the AAW motor and some others you can find that are about $75-120 less. That's not a trivial price difference to me. But they didn't come with Lovejoy connectors that would have fit my MM3, so I would have had to spent time trying to get the right ones, at additional cost, and without certainty I was getting the correct ones.

The AAW is more heavy-duty, and the Lovejoy connectors were a perfect fit once I specified the diameter of my mill's shaft. I knew that in the long run I'd be much more satisfied with this, and once I bought it I was unlikely to ever need another.
 
Nothin fancy but finally got something set up. I picked up the cart (along with a nice level, a straight edge, a vacuum gauge, vacuum pump, and 11 gal pressure tank...anyone know what to do with a vacuum pump?!) for $20! My old cheap 1/2" drill, some u bolts and I've almost got a mill cart. Need to run a tap through the set screw holes and pick up some new thumb screws. Also need to install a little chute/ funnel from the mill to the bucket.
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