My DIY, low-budget, concrete-roller grain mill

[EvilTOJ]

I've actually made concrete rollers as well, but it never worked because I could never center the axles exactly. I guess I feel better that it took you having a lathe (which I don't have) to get them exactly centered.

 

[wilserbrewer]

.... I could never center the axles exactly. exactly

Yes a lathe is probably key here! I did read a DIY concrete roller project where the guy cast the rollers, then trued them with a grinder while spinning them. Interesting approach I thought.

 

[conpewter]

Awesome project! It should last a good long time with the amount a homebrewer will need to crush grain.

 

[sjlammer]

pretty bad ass... gives me good idea for two of those marble rolling pins... hummmm

 

[-TH-]

UPDATE - In case anyone is wondering I used this a few weeks ago for my first AG. It worked awesome! There seems to be a bit more pitting in the rollers now than before so hopefully that won't get worse. We'll see as time goes on.

 

[-TH-]

Here's a video of it in action:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UobT0qR2gxU]YouTube - DIY concrete-roller grain mill in action[/ame]

As you can see its not screaming fast, but the hopper holds at least 12 lbs and it will crush that in less than 10 minutes.

The rollers are holding up really well. I think the crush could be a little better if I closed the gap a little more but I'm not sure if the motor would handle the extra torque required. I'm getting about 75% eff. pretty consistently and I can live with that.

 

[Revvy]

I love the questions from your daughter. Priceless!!!!

 

[JKoravos]

That thing is seriously badass.

 

[brewmonk]

It looks slick!

I'm about to start a second attempt at one.

For anyone interested in pipe forms, I don't use my lathe, I use my router with a circle cutting jig (it's a trammel - a piece of board screwed to the base, with a scrap of wood held on the bottom with one screw, and rotated into the cutter until the screw is the center of my hub/wheel/table-top/etc).

Be careful, or else don't do it! (rough it out with a bandsaw or jigsaw first).
[insert legal warnings here]

 

[JewBrew]

I plan on doing something similar.
To form the rollers a 6 inch by 3 inch diameter pvc pipe will be fitted with a 3 inch to .5 inch reducer an each end (see pic below) and and have a .5 inch threaded rod centered in the two fittings. Once the form is assembled with the rod in place it will be filled with cement and left to cure. Once cured the pvc mold is cut away leaving a perfectly round roller with a perfectly centered shaft.
Since the PVC pipe is perfectly round and so are the fittings everything is centered.

What do you guys think???

Here is a pic of the reducer from flexpvc.com

 

[jiggs_casey]

I WANT ONE! Completely cool...

 

[eddie]

Just in case nobody's said it yet, that is pretty damned awesome!!! Kudos to the brew assistant as well.

 

[martinworswick]

i've been thinking of doing something with concrete rollers and i stumbled across this thread,just wondering,how is the surface of the rollers holding up?

 

[-TH-]

i've been thinking of doing something with concrete rollers and i stumbled across this thread,just wondering,how is the surface of the rollers holding up?

The surface of the rollers looks fine - but I only used it about 5 or 6 times. The problem is that with rollers that large in diameter, it takes a lot of force from the motor to crush the grain. I couldn't set the rollers too close or the motor would stall. Therefore I wasn't getting a real great crush. I have a more powerful motor now that I was going to install but since my LHBS upgraded their mill and I actually prefer to use that one.

 

[Catt22]

I plan on doing something similar.
To form the rollers a 6 inch by 3 inch diameter pvc pipe will be fitted with a 3 inch to .5 inch reducer an each end (see pic below) and and have a .5 inch threaded rod centered in the two fittings. Once the form is assembled with the rod in place it will be filled with cement and left to cure. Once cured the pvc mold is cut away leaving a perfectly round roller with a perfectly centered shaft.
Since the PVC pipe is perfectly round and so are the fittings everything is centered.

What do you guys think???

Here is a pic of the reducer from flexpvc.com

The only problem is that PVC pipe is not perfectly round. Might be close enough though, so it's worth a try. OTOH, mills are not all that expensive to buy off the shelf. It's a dollar chasing a dime kind of thing. Not that there's anything wrong with that, ya know.

 

[Skrimpy]

Hhhhhhhuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugggggggggggggggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Been watching to many Fucillo commercials, I see.

 

[SkylerChaBro]

I need to start becoming more crafty.

 

[mikelikesit2000]

Nice job. A very well planned out and clean build.

 

[woodstone]

Missed this two-year old post...that thing is sweet and my engineer buddies approve 100%. Cheers!

 

[slim49]

So impressed! I was going to use a different method, but this is THE BEST!
Am wondering, how did you get away from some diagonal lines carved into teh idler roller?
Slim49

 

[-TH-]

So impressed! I was going to use a different method, but this is THE BEST!
Am wondering, how did you get away from some diagonal lines carved into teh idler roller?
Slim49

Well like I said earlier, I only ended up using it about 5 or 6 times. The problem is that with rollers that large in diameter, it takes a lot of force from the motor to crush the grain. I couldn't set the rollers too close or the motor would stall. Therefore I wasn't getting a real great crush. I was going to try a more powerful motor but my LHBS has an awesome mill and I prefer to use that one.

 

[stamandster]

Holy thread revival Batman! Although, it is pretty awesome ;-)

 

[slim49]

TH,
from my research over years, I note that the "Stones" in any mill are scored or grooved.
I wonder if you were to take a 4.5" angle grinder & cut in diagonal grooves across teh face of your rollers. would it improve the crush & perhaps unload the motor as a happy extra?
Slim49

 

[-TH-]

TH,
from my research over years, I note that the "Stones" in any mill are scored or grooved.
I wonder if you were to take a 4.5" angle grinder & cut in diagonal grooves across teh face of your rollers. would it improve the crush & perhaps unload the motor as a happy extra?
Slim49

Yeah that could very well make a big difference. I won't be able to test that theory however since my mill is in a landfill somewhere.