# Millmaster Mill



## cliffo (23/4/08)

So with quite a few us the proud owners of our new Millmaster Mill the question needs to be asked of the veteran millers...

What have you guys found to be the best setting on the mill for good efficiency/no stuck sparges?

I'm looking to mill some grain on ANZAC day so I am keen to get it right first go.

cliffo


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## Juddy (23/4/08)

Hey Cliffo

I've done about 10 brews with grain crushed by my millmaster and a massive rotary hammer drill. The gap setting equation worried me at first but I now have a pretty simple philosophy. 
- The finner I crush the better my efficency!
- The finner I crush the easier my sparge gets stuck!
- So! I find a crush as fine as I dare, and then regulate the speed of my sparge to hopefully avoid getting stuck!
This method is of course dependent on batch sparging, as if you get it wrong, and get stuck, you simply stir, wait, recirculate and try again.

Hope this helps, and sorry I don't have any actual gap specific settings! Just beware of any clock face related settings as these are dependant on which way up you mount the mill!

Cheers Juddy


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## Pumpy (23/4/08)

One or two clicks past 12 o clock is about 1mm gap it may be a bit too fine for some peoples set up but my mash tun and pump handles it niceley 

I have a hand crank handle as it is so easy to crush.

I dont really require a motor at this stage in life .

pumpy


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## Pumpy (23/4/08)

One minute per kilo of grain at a steady pace with my daughter feeding the hopper untill I extend it a bit 

pumpy


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## razz (23/4/08)

12 o'clock position for me too. I tried it at up to 3 settings closer but I have problems fly sparging. I'm still using the hand crank, the brew I just knocked out on Monday gave excellent efficiency and the sparge was great !
Hey Pumpy, you forgot to say, you're not a brewer until...........


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## Pumpy (23/4/08)

Cliffo 

Warra48 said to make a gear guard out of card ,

I dont know if this pic is clear enough but I made mine from a clear piece of thin easy to cut perspex it just slides down the side of the hopper and stops the grain going in the gears works a treat simple .

I am very happy with the mill 

pumpy


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## Pumpy (23/4/08)

razz said:


> 12 o'clock position for me too. I tried it at up to 3 settings closer but I have problems fly sparging. I'm still using the hand crank, the brew I just knocked out on Monday gave excellent efficiency and the sparge was great !
> Hey Pumpy, you forgot to say, you're not a brewer until...........




Your right Razz , 

This is a real mill .

This is a 'Mans Mill' not a 'Mickey mouse mill'.

If you got the Will
Take a Chill Pill.
Get a real Mill 
if not your Sill 
Its so strong you can leave it in your Will ,
I would even Kill Bill for this Mill
there is no Frill on ths Mill 
some cost you a Mill.
With Grain you can Fill
it really is Brill 
gee what a Dill
Who needs a Drill



Its the next step up from having a March pump .  

pumpy


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## razz (23/4/08)

:lol: :lol: :lol:


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## justsomeguy (23/4/08)

1 notch past 12 o'clock for me too though I may go finer to determine what the point of stuck mash will be.

I cut up a 2 litre plastic coke bottle and used it as a guard for the gears. Cheap and easy to make !

I'm also a hand cranker B) Makes me feel like I'm trying to crank over an old model T Ford.

I also read somewhere recently that the speed of doing the crush will change your efficiency for a given roller gap. This means that grain crushed through a mill running at 150rpm will given you a different efficiency than if you hand-cranked it through. Dunno of there is any truth to the theory though...

gary


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## Pumpy (24/4/08)

justsomeguy said:


> 1 notch past 12 o'clock for me too though I may go finer to determine what the point of stuck mash will be.
> 
> I cut up a 2 litre plastic coke bottle and used it as a guard for the gears. Cheap and easy to make !
> 
> ...



JSG ,

Go the handcrankers ,

There is something satisying about handcranking your grain, it is far better than just pressing a button and its all over red rover in a couple of minutes 


Pumpy


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## warrenlw63 (24/4/08)

Pumpy said:


> Go the handcrankers ,



So being a handcranker means no rumpy-pumpy for pumpy? B) 

You may need a new handle (or should that be crank?) :lol:

Warren -


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## justsomeguy (24/4/08)

Pumpy said:


> JSG ,
> 
> Go the handcrankers ,
> 
> There is something satisying about handcranking your grain, it is far better than just pressing a button and its all over red rover in a couple of minutes



Also works well as a punishment for the kids when they play up.

'You hit your brother again and I'll make you crush the grain for the next double batch', sounds mighty fine to me.


Contrary to popular belief I love my kids, I really do. <_< 
gary


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## warra48 (24/4/08)

I initially set my gap at 1 mm, and got 87% efficiency into the kettle. I did find it a bit hard to hand grind, so I backed it off for my next batch to 1.2 mm, and got 90% efficiency into the boiler. 
Although I batch sparge, they took over an hour to drain, but didn't get stuck, just very slow. I didn't use gulls. I had kg of wheat and rye in the first batch, and kg of rye in the second.


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## bindi (24/4/08)

Pumpy said:


> Cliffo
> 
> Warra48 said to make a gear guard out of card ,
> 
> ...




Pm sent Pumpy, I would love a copy of your design  PLEASE.  .

As I am sure others would .

Edit: Typo.


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## BrissyBrew (24/4/08)

If you are hand cranking your gap setting will probably be reasonably consistent between brewers (depending on mash system). If you are motorsing I can different crush results by just varying the RPMs the mill is running at.


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## Pumpy (24/4/08)

bindi said:


> Pm sent Pumpy, I would love a copy of your design  PLEASE.  .
> 
> As I am sure others would .
> 
> Edit: Typo.



No worries Bindi will cut one out for you 


Pumpy


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## bindi (24/4/08)

Pumpy said:


> No worries Bindi will cut one out for you
> 
> 
> Pumpy




Thank you Pumpy :super: what a great guy.

Now to get a handle for it, in my haste I forgot to order the crank. :unsure: 
I had the mill setup on a stand in half an hour of its arrival [yesterday], just removed the Marga mill from the stand and cut a bigger hole and bolted in on, but no bloody handle to do a test grind.


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## cliffo (24/4/08)

bindi said:


> Thank you Pumpy :super: what a great guy.
> 
> Now to get a handle for it, in my haste I forgot to order the crank. :unsure:
> I had the mill setup on a stand in half an hour of its arrival [yesterday], just removed the Marga mill from the stand and cut a bigger hole and bolted in on, but no bloody handle to do a test grind.



Speaking of stands....wouldn't mind seeing how you hand-crankers (I'll be one too) have setup the mill.

I bought a 20L pail from Bunnings today to catch the cracked grain and am using the long weekend to devise a simple (hopefully!) setup for the mill.
cliffo


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## pint of lager (24/4/08)

Probably the easiest stand to make up would be to buy some dexion and joiners from the local hardware store. You cut that to whatever size you want. Then add some plywood to the top, cut a hole out for the discharge shute and bolt the mill down. You can mount the mill on top, or underneath.

You can make any sort of shelving, or even desks from dexion. It is square tubing, the joiners fit internally to the tubing.

Don't try and balance the mill on the bucket, it will end in tears. The mill weighs 12.8kg.


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## lowtech (24/4/08)

Pumpy said:


> Your right Razz ,
> 
> This is a real mill .
> 
> ...



You may be a top poster, brewer, with good info and heaps of experience to share(bless ya)  .............But that is the worst type of rhyming what not that I've seen.It's almost as bad as the butchery that Aussie Hip Hop artists(?) inflict on us under the dubious title of lyrical poetry.


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## Pumpy (24/4/08)

lowtech said:


> You may be a top poster, brewer, with good info and heaps of experience to share(bless ya)  .............But that is the worst type of rhyming what not that I've seen.It's almost as bad as the butchery that Aussie Hip Hop artists(?) inflict on us under the dubious title of lyrical poetry.



Cheers for that Lowtech, well I take it as a compliment :huh: 

I regard myself as the self appointed cultural attach for the AHB site !!!

My poetry is classical ,it has to rhyme and if it dont I modify the word to make it rhyme rather like Edward Lear (1812 - 1888)who wrote the Owl and the pussycat .

Pumpy


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## Screwtop (24/4/08)

Pumpy said:


> Cheers for that Lowtech, well I take it as a compliment :huh:
> 
> I regard myself as the self appointed cultural attach for the AHB site !!!
> 
> ...



You need to chill about the mill, maybe take a pea green Pill


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## NickB (24/4/08)

LOL, Screwy's been into the Bock again!


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## justsomeguy (24/4/08)

cliffo said:


> Speaking of stands....wouldn't mind seeing how you hand-crankers (I'll be one too) have setup the mill.
> 
> I bought a 20L pail from Bunnings today to catch the cracked grain and am using the long weekend to devise a simple (hopefully!) setup for the mill.
> cliffo



I've just bolted the thing to a piece of chipboard (not that MDF crap  ). I added a couple of blocks of wood to the bottom to stop it slipping off the top of the 20 litre bucket the crushed grain goes into. Simple, cheap and does the job. I could weld up something more substantial in the future but I'm happy with what I've got at the moment. My hopper also comes off the top of the mill so that it doesn't take up quite so much room in the shed. Given I'm currently brewing every second weekend at the moment its not too big a deal to spend ten minute setting the mill and hopper up.

jsg


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## cliffo (25/4/08)

Guys,

I have been trying to attach the crank handle to the mill and can't get the bloody thing on.

The pin that goes in the grooves does not seem to be the right size and won't slide more than 1/2 the way along before it seems to wedge in place.

Additionally, even with the pin out, the handle only seems to slide on 1/2 way before refusing to go any further...is that normal? Do I need to apply force to get it on?

Now, I am a self-confessed tool tard so will greatfully accept any advice to get the handle on so I can start crushing my grain.

cliffo


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## Ecosse (25/4/08)

cliffo said:


> Guys,
> 
> I have been trying to attach the crank handle to the mill and can't get the bloody thing on.
> 
> ...



Cliff,

I've been experimenting with the my Millmaster this morning and experienced exactly the same thing with the handle and the pin and I've been pondering applying the hammer to it...  

One thing I've noticed that I can get the crush going without the pin provided I keep the grain out of the gears. Once it gets in there the handle spins helplessly. 

There weren't any instructions in the box and being a widely recognised as the unhandiest person in my postcode I'm proceeding with caution. 

Cheers,
Ecosse.


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## cliffo (25/4/08)

Ecosse said:


> Cliff,
> 
> I've been experimenting with the my Millmaster this morning and experienced exactly the same thing with the handle and the pin and I've been pondering applying the hammer to it...
> 
> ...



Hi Ecosse,

I've contemplated the hammer as well but I would most likely bugger the thing up and render it useless.

I was thinking about sanding the pin but it looks like quite a bit of sanding would be required so might need to give it some more thought or wait until it magically fixes itself.


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## Korev (25/4/08)

Some gentle sandpapering/filing of the keyway and the rectangular key to get it to fit properly worked for me to get the handle on . Plus some gentle persuasion with a few taps with the rubber mallet!

Cheers


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## cliffo (25/4/08)

Korev said:


> Some gentle sandpapering/filing of the keyway and the rectangular key to get it to fit properly worked for me to get the handle on . Plus some gentle persuasion with a few taps with the rubber mallet!
> 
> Cheers



Thanks Korev - looks like the sanding option might be the way to go.

Ecosse - does your handle go all the way on without the pin coz mine only gets 1/2 way on...maybe thats where the hammer will come in to play.


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## Ecosse (25/4/08)

Korev said:


> Some gentle sandpapering/filing of the keyway and the rectangular key to get it to fit properly worked for me to get the handle on . Plus some gentle persuasion with a few taps with the rubber mallet!
> 
> Cheers




Thanks Korev. 

I'll give the sandpaper a rub and the rubber mallet a gentle whacking. 

There isn't much that can't be fixed via the rubber mallet  

Cheers,
Ecosse.


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## Ecosse (25/4/08)

cliffo said:


> Thanks Korev - looks like the sanding option might be the way to go.
> 
> Ecosse - does your handle go all the way on without the pin coz mine only gets 1/2 way on...maybe thats where the hammer will come in to play.



Cliffo - yep my handle only fits about halfway onto the shaft and would need to be persuaded by the mallet to go any further. Also the pin will need a fair bit of sanding to fit the groove in the shaft.


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## cliffo (25/4/08)

An update...using brute force and iggnorance I have managed to smash the handle on to the mill without the pin in the groove.

I even managed to get the handle off again. Still need to do quite a bit more filing on the pin for it to sit in properly.

I must say I am quite dissapointed that I have to go to all this effort for something that should just fit together out of the box. Nevermind, I'm sure once I get it up and running I will forget about this little exercise.


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## geoff_tewierik (25/4/08)

Had the same keyway/handle problem with mine.

Handle goes on halfway and gets caught on the tiny bit of metal left in the centre i.e. a bit of swarf from when the hole was drilled out by the looks of it. Keyway fits into the handle but not the mill slot. Definately no leeway there.

*Edit - my bad - handle is cast, and the swarf is where the two parts of the mold join together in the hole.

Pulled out the persuader and a couple of knocks later it all fits together. The handle holes swarf got ground down by the tight squeeze and the keyway is designed to be an interference fit by the looks of it, so it's very tight and needs the persuasion to go in.


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## Pumpy (25/4/08)

Screwtop said:


> You need to chill about the mill, maybe take a pea green Pill



 


Just a note to the HandCrankers 

when Handcranking and you wish to stop for a rest .

Stop cranking in the 6 o clock position

The reason is that if you stop at five past 12 position the hand crank may rotate clockwise on its own weight, spilling uncrushed grain into your crushed grain.

Pumpy


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## Pumpy (25/4/08)

cliffo said:


> I must say I am quite dissapointed that I have to go to all this effort for something that should just fit together out of the box. Nevermind, I'm sure once I get it up and running I will forget about this little exercise.



Yes I know what you mean Cliffo , but with a little patience the fixes are relatively simple and at the end of it you will have the 'best Mill ever '

Pumpy


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## cliffo (25/4/08)

Pumpy said:


> Yes I know what you mean Cliffo , but with a little patience the fixes are relatively simple and at the end of it you will have the 'best Mill ever '
> 
> Pumpy



Looks the goods Pumpy. 

I've given the mill a quick spin with it just bolted to some MDF and sitting on the bucket and I realise that I'm gunna have to get something a little more sturdy for hand cranking.

Went fine until the grain got into the gears then it didn't want to budge...either that or I'm weak  

Off to Bunnings again tomorrow to part with some more of my hard earned on a stand of some type.

cliffo


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## warra48 (25/4/08)

I had the same problem with the grub screw.

I fixed it by inserting a short length of aluminium plate (bought at Bunnings), cut to the right size, and smoothed off with a file. 

It fits into the recessed slot inside the handle and into the slot in the mill shaft. It is what takes the load of milling, and the grub screw is there only to fix the handle in place.


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## Pumpy (25/4/08)

cliffo said:


> Looks the goods Pumpy.
> 
> I've given the mill a quick spin with it just bolted to some MDF and sitting on the bucket and I realise that I'm gunna have to get something a little more sturdy for hand cranking.
> 
> ...



The 'Pumpy Gear Guard' will fix that problem Cliffo dont you worry , One coming in the post monday 

You will be on Cloud Nine 

Pumpy


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## cliffo (25/4/08)

Pumpy said:


> The 'Pumpy Gear Guard' will fix that problem Cliffo dont you worry , One coming in the post monday
> 
> You will be on Cloud Nine
> 
> Pumpy



Thats good to hear. 

Thanks for taking the time to help a fellow brewer, you're a good man Pumpy :super: 

cliffo


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## cliffo (26/4/08)

Success...of sorts.

I managed to get the handle (with pin) nearly all the way on and managed to crack around 5kg of grain in about 10mins. The grain seems to have had a good crush so will put down the brew sometime today and hope that a. no stuck sparges and b. I get good efficiency.

I fashioned a temporary gear guard out of one side of the cardboard box packaged as Steggles Chinese Crispy Chicken (with Honey Sauce***) and had no trouble hand cranking the grain through.

Given the ease of the cracking I may not need to knock up a stand as my MDF on top of the bucket system worked fine with a bit of down force on my part.

Ecosse - how have you got on with you troublesome handle?

cliffo

**NOTE: Using the Sweet & Sour Sauce variety may vary results as described here* :lol:


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## reVoxAHB (26/4/08)

Pumpy said:


> I dont know if this pic is clear enough but I made mine from a clear piece of thin easy to cut perspex it just slides down the side of the hopper and stops the grain going in the gears works a treat simple .
> pumpy





cliffo said:


> I fashioned a temporary gear guard out of one side of the cardboard box.



I eagerly await the arrival of my MM - seems a gear guard is essential. I will be knocking up a wooden hopper extender so can do 10kg approx. in one go.

Do you reckon a thin piece of MDF, fitted to gears at bottom, with the top somehow affixed to the hopper extension would work? The thought is, as I slide the extender into place, the mdf gear guard fits in too, all in 1 piece (at the same time). MDF came to mind as I could easily attach it to the wooden extension.

Alternately, my aunt has an extra sheet of SS she's offered me.. would be a beaut knocking everything up in SS, but I wouldn't know where to start.

Cheers,
reVox


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## cliffo (26/4/08)

reVox said:


> Do you reckon a thin piece of MDF, fitted to gears at bottom, with the top somehow affixed to the hopper extension would work? The thought is, as I slide the extender into place, the mdf gear guard fits in too, all in 1 piece (at the same time). MDF came to mind as I could easily attach it to the wooden extension.
> Cheers,
> reVox



reVox,

I think MDF would be way too thick for use as the gear guard.

The cardboard I used (guessing 1mm thick) slots nicely down the side just over the gears and worked great.

Having said that, I'm not all that handy with such things so maybe you could get it to work.
cliffo


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## cliffo (26/4/08)

Just took a reading from the brew I put down today and came up with 72% efficiency.

Thats better than I have been getting having various HBS crack my grain so I'm happy.

I've adjusted the mill a bit tighter for the brew I'm doing tomorrow so will see what effect that has on efficiency - I know it was a lot harder to pull the grain through so hopefully no stuck sparge.

All in all I'm a happy camper.

cliffo


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## geoff_tewierik (26/4/08)

Mill is now motorised.

I used a 12V DC motor, a spider coupler, a 240V AC to 12V DC power adaptor, some wire and a 3.5mm socket, all from Jaycar.

I pulled the spider coupler apart and took one of the metal pieces, removed the grub screw and drilled out the 6mm hole to 1/2" to fit the drive axle on the Millmaster. I wired up the 3.5mm socket to the DC motor, using 5" lengths of wire. I then fitted the drilled out metal part of the spider coupler to the mill fitting the grub screw into the keyway and the other one to the DC motor with the grub screw tightened down onto the flat part of the shaft, connecting the two pieces of equipment together via the blue plastic central piece of the coupler.

Plugged in the power back to the wall socket, connected the 3.5mm plug into the socket and turned on the power pack. The motor easily turned the mill over. I need to now mount the whole lot onto a board which I'm planning on siting over the top of the Mash tun. I picked up some 1 & 1/2" saddle clips to go around the motor and hold it down on the board.

In the scheme of things a drive to Jaycar for some bits and pieces and not even ten minutes of work and it was all up and running. Now it's just a matter of throwing in some grain and getting the settings right for a good crush. If it does a good job, great, if not, I'll upgrade the motor to something with a bit more torque but with 50kg/cm or 4.2Nm on tap (if I use a grunty power supply) I don't think it'll be a massive issue for me.

Cheers,

GT


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## razz (26/4/08)

G'day Geoff, good luck with the motor turning the mill. I found that I had to close the gap in the bottom of the millmaster hopper to reduce the amount of grain going through. I used some plastic sheet cut from an ice-cream container. This made a noticeable reduction on the amount of work required to turn the mill.


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## bindi (29/4/08)

bindi said:


> Thank you Pumpy :super: what a great guy.
> 
> Now to get a handle for it, in my haste I forgot to order the crank. :unsure:
> I had the mill setup on a stand in half an hour of its arrival [yesterday], just removed the Marga mill from the stand and cut a bigger hole and bolted in on, but no bloody handle to do a test grind.




Ok, got the handle today, happy as  , connect it, also easy, wind handle and opps it hits parts of the stand [made for a Marga mill], bugger, make a new base plate for this mill after much cursing, cutting etc, and again happy as.

Works a treat, I just love looking at this mill, what a monster [sorry MillMaster].


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## Pumpy (29/4/08)

The perspex gear guarsds went in the post Monday picked up six o clock in the evening by the truck

pumpy


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## danman (29/4/08)

cliffo said:


> i took my mill into work today(partly coz its all ive talked about for the last week!) because i too had to sand the woodruff key down. a bit of elbow grease and some emery tape sorted that out. i also found that the handle was tight after it caught on the casting in the centre of the handle hole. a quick 5 mins with a round file and the handle slipped on like a finger in a bum
> so now to make a frame and start crankin some grain
> these days are sooo happy
> 
> ...


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## bindi (29/4/08)

Pumpy said:


> The perspex gear guarsds went in the post Monday picked up six o clock in the evening by the truck
> 
> pumpy




:super: :super: SUPER Pumpy.

Edit: Good session.


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## bindi (1/5/08)

Pumpy said:


> The perspex gear guarsds went in the post Monday picked up six o clock in the evening by the truck
> 
> pumpy


 

Mine arrived today, could not wait to fit it and fits perfect in the mill, also looks good..
Thanks Pumpy, :super: :super: what a legend.


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## Pumpy (1/5/08)

bindi said:


> Mine arrived today, could not wait to fit it and fits perfect in the mill, also looks good..
> Thanks Pumpy, :super: :super: what a legend.




Glad you like it Bindi,

It is very difficult to hand crank the Mill without the Gear Guard .

Pumpy


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## bindi (2/5/08)

Pumpy said:


> One or two clicks past 12 o clock is about 1mm gap it may be a bit too fine for some peoples set up but my mash tun and pump handles it niceley
> 
> I have a hand crank handle as it is so easy to crush.
> 
> ...






razz said:


> 12 o'clock position for me too. I tried it at up to 3 settings closer but I have problems fly sparging. I'm still using the hand crank, the brew I just knocked out on Monday gave excellent efficiency and the sparge was great !
> Hey Pumpy, you forgot to say, you're not a brewer until...........




Mashed grain milled at the 12 O'clock position today and thought it was a little too fine <_< came close to a stuck sparge [very slow].
Next crush I did as per Pumpy photo [just past 12 o'clock] and found it the Perfect crush.
Oh, milled by hand, have not done that for awhile, good exercise.


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## cliffo (2/5/08)

bindi said:


> Mine arrived today, could not wait to fit it and fits perfect in the mill, also looks good..
> Thanks Pumpy, :super: :super: what a legend.



Got mine today as well.

Thanks Pumpy - good bit of gear is your gear guard (pun intended) :super: 

cliffo


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## jlm (2/5/08)

Just used mine for the first time, using a 750W Makita on low, no problems, took less than a minute I'd say. Had mine on the twelve o'clock setting as well, and had the same thought as Bindi, looked a little fine so I threw in some rice hulls, will see how the sparge goes soon. Good fun, I wanna crush more grain, but will have to wait til monday, here's to the long weekend :beer: (If you in QLD that is)


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## reVoxAHB (12/5/08)

Pumpy said:


> It is very difficult to hand crank the Mill without the Gear Guard .
> 
> Pumpy



I learned this the hard way <_< . Knocked up a gear guard template using cardboard- will later replace with a more permanent solution like 1mm plastic, etc. Cardboard held up fine for a crush on Saturday, tho  








1 setting past 12 crush yielding 87% efficiency:



I must say, hand-cranking the crush was really satisfying.

Cheers, 
reVox


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## brettprevans (12/5/08)

I havent got mine from the bulk buy yet. I want my mill! I want to try out all this nifty things. very jelous.


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## bakkerman (12/5/08)

This topic is a godsend.. got the mill in last week, knocked up a stand from some Ivar planks I had spare (good old Ikea) and couldn't get the bloody crank to go round past six o clock. 

I thought I had mounted the hopper wrong or something, getting grain in the gear. Anticipated brew day gone...  

Pumpy, can you post a template for that most excellent design?


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## warra48 (12/5/08)

I'm loving this mill. 
I did a brew last Wednesday, 50% wheat and 50% premiun pilsner malts. The gap was set at 1 mm, but I did run the wheat through twice. The sparge was slow, as I didn't use gulls, but the efficiency into the boiler was 91% according to Beersmith.
Did a Brown Ale last Saturday, with the gap set at 1.2 mm, but all the specialty malts were run through twice. Efficiency into the boiler, according to Beersmith, was an unbelievable 95%.
At that level of efficiency, it will pay for itself eventually in savings in the grain bill.
It's made so well, I reckon my son will inherit it, if he ever moves out of K&K brewing.


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## GMK (26/5/08)

Ok - I must saythanks to Pumpy for the perspex - most excellent.

I am not sure with this 12 O'Clok stuff as mine were delivered out of alignment.
I have sent mine at 1.5mm - worked really good with the motor.
Will try at 1.25mm next time... you will need a 3mm key.

Very happy now it is motorised.

Edit: added the key ...


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## mika (26/5/08)

Think you'll find that's 4mm Ken. Standard size for a 12mm shaft


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## peas_and_corn (23/6/08)

OK, below is the hopper for my mill-







I got the design from this thread and modified it a little to fit the Monster (thanks Chad  ). I am hopeless with making things, so dad made it for me, which is really nice of him, and I give him kudos for it.

EDIT: I... I'm not sure why I posted it here.


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## white.grant (27/7/08)

I have been a very good boy and will be getting a millmaster for my birthday in couple of weeks.  I'm very excited.
I've taken note of the pumpy gear guard but are there any other tips for hopper design?

cheers

grant


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## warra48 (27/7/08)

Definitely go the gear guard. I can hand mill 5 kg of grain in 5 to 6 minutes with the guard. Without the guard, you will get grain caught between the gears, which will make cranking it very difficult.
I use the hopper supplied by MashMaster, and can fill it all the way up without problem. One day I'll work on extending it to take the full grain bill, but I don't see the need at present.


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## geoff_tewierik (2/9/08)

geoff_tewierik said:


> Mill is now motorised.
> 
> I used a 12V DC motor, a spider coupler, a 240V AC to 12V DC power adaptor, some wire and a 3.5mm socket, all from Jaycar.
> 
> ...



I know it's a bit naff to reply to your own post, but I finally got a chance to bolt all this together last night, rather than paying the in-laws and visiting sister in-law a lot of attention. The father-in-law gave me a hand with squeezing the saddle clips in tight before they were screwed in. All up took me about 45 minutes of work over a couple of hours (dinner intervened).






Filled up the hopper with grain and turned on the power, flicked the switch and nothing happened 

The motor doesn't have enough grunt to crack a hopper full of grain, in fact after it was all emptied out I couldn't even get it to crack one grain. 

So my simple, cheap, milling setup is going back to the drawing boards and I'll be sourcing the same motor for electric bikes that others have used.

Cheers,

GT


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## bindi (2/9/08)

Can't stop laughing :lol:  that is so good for the soul.
Thanks, I needed that. :lol:


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## kabooby (2/9/08)

You could always use that motor to sharpen pencils  

Kabooby


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## browndog (2/9/08)

That picture should become a poster for unbridled optomism. Well done GT, at least you can put the motor back in your slot car now  

cheers

Browndog


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## porky (3/9/08)

geoff_tewierik said:


> Filled up the hopper with grain and turned on the power, flicked the switch and nothing happened
> 
> The motor doesn't have enough grunt to crack a hopper full of grain, in fact after it was all emptied out I couldn't even get it to crack one grain.
> 
> ...




Here is my three attempts at getting a motor to run my mill. Third time lucky. First one was an old mixmaster. Didn't do anything, but didn't try one grain at a time. Second I was sure would work. It was a floor polishing motor which seemed to have lots of torque....wrong! 
It might have worked if I started it before the grain went in, but I don't want something like that 'cause I will do it wrong all the time.
So, at last put a 1/3 hp motor, 2 inch drive pulley and a 14 inch pully on the mill......starts full with no problems!


Cheers,
BD


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## bouncingcastle (3/9/08)

budwiser said:


> Here is my three attempts at getting a motor to run my mill. Third time lucky. First one was an old mixmaster. Didn't do anything, but didn't try one grain at a time. Second I was sure would work. It was a floor polishing motor which seemed to have lots of torque....wrong!
> It might have worked if I started it before the grain went in, but I don't want something like that 'cause I will do it wrong all the time.
> So, at last put a 1/3 hp motor, 2 inch drive pulley and a 14 inch pully on the mill......starts full with no problems!
> 
> ...



I know why you couldn't get the first one to work... The mixmaster needed to be on setting 5 "white sauce, puddings" 

Glad I could add to this thread....


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## Simon W (3/9/08)

geoff_tewierik said:


> So my simple, cheap, milling setup is going back to the drawing boards and I'll be sourcing the same motor for electric bikes that others have used.
> 
> GT


Doesn't even crack one grain?
I'd guess that your power supply is as soft as fresh sh!t.
Sorry, haven't read any of you're previous posts, but the gearheadmotor looks like a Jaycar YG-2738??
The 55kg per cm torque, 160RPM one?
What's the diameter of the millmaster rollers?
If, for example, the rollers are 2" diameter, their radius is 2.5cm, so 55kg/2.5 = 22kg of crushing force _IF_ your power supply could handle the current draw.
Which is 14 amps(or 14000 mA -- what does your supply say?) at full-load (170 Watts - almost 1/4 horsepower), a wall-wart aint gonna cut it, either is a Car Battery charger.
The motor needs almost half an amp( 6 Watts) with _no load_ at all, just spinning in the air.
A modified PC switch-mode power supply? ---- maybe, if it doesn't freak out at the surge current when the motor is switched on.
If you have a fully charged car battery nearby, hook that up with some heavy duty wiring(not the stuff in your photo, which would probably smoke and melt at 14 amps) and a couple of decent aligator clips to connect to the battery terminals, get rid of the wimpy switch and the 3.5mm plug which will probably weld itself together at 14amps... and I think you'll be a happy man


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## geoff_tewierik (3/9/08)

browndog said:


> That picture should become a poster for unbridled optomism. Well done GT, at least you can put the motor back in your slot car now



Funny bloke 

Seriously though, the motor has 50kg/cm of torque @55rpm, which is 4.9N-m.

Considering that people are using this unit: http://secure.oatleyelectronics.com//produ...ba2bd12b2538818 which puts out only 7.42N-m (75.6kg/cm) @ 320rpm on 24V, I didn't think it was too big an ask as most people aren't event running that unit at 24V, most are using 12V to get lower rpms, thus they wouldn't be getting the max torque.


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## Simon W (6/9/08)

How did you go with the car battery Geoff?

Just for interest sake, I tried crushing a few individual grains (JW Trad. Ale) on a set of scales and got some surprising results!
The least amount of weight required to crush one grain was ~2kg, most was 6.25kg+(limit of my scales), est. average from 10 grains would be between 4 and 5kg. Much much higher than I had expected.

My comment above about 1/4 horsepower is missleading(dunno what I was thinking).
Shaft horsepower would probably be little over 1/8 HP.


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## hoohaaman (12/9/08)

Bit the bullet today and ordered the millmaster plus hopper,now out to the garage and build a suitable cabinet to house this beast and motor.

Could you guys in Victoria please refresh me where to buy pulley's,belts ect.Got a nice motor already,just need the pulley's/belts

Cheers Hoohaa


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## geoff_tewierik (13/9/08)

Simon W said:


> How did you go with the car battery Geoff?
> 
> Just for interest sake, I tried crushing a few individual grains (JW Trad. Ale) on a set of scales and got some surprising results!
> The least amount of weight required to crush one grain was ~2kg, most was 6.25kg+(limit of my scales), est. average from 10 grains would be between 4 and 5kg. Much much higher than I had expected.
> ...




Hey Simon, haven't had a crack at it yet, will try a different power source, I have a fair few 12V ones, and see what I can get to work.


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## clarkey7 (13/9/08)

Hi All,

Used my Millmaster on a real brew for the first time today.

Due to excellent information provided here (gear guard) and the boys at Craftbrewer, I had no troubles cracking 5kg of grain in around 1 minute with a gap setting of 1mm (was 1 increment toward roller gap from the 12 O'clock position).

The $60 Impact drill from Bunnings did the trick..no handcrancking for this puppy.

During testing, I did nearly burn out the drill attempting to crack grain with the gears full of grain..... :angry: 

It is curious that the hopper provided by the manufacturer doesn't do it's job and stop this from happening. Not to worry, cardboard from drill box worked...

My effeciency was a couple of percent up on my usual numbers @ 77%....I have beersmith set to 75% and was currently averaging 74%. 

I think I'll do a couple more brews before mucking with the gap settings as the grain looked good.
I'm one happy guy about now.  

Cheers,

PB


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## warra48 (13/9/08)

I'm still handcranking mine. The only downside is the MillMaster handle is rather long. 
I've solved that problem by drilling a hole through the handle about 6 or 7 cm closer to the shaft, and remounted the handpiece there, so the throw is quite a bit shorter. It didn't seem to make it any harder to use by hand, but the gear guard is essential.


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## Ross (13/9/08)

Pocket Beers said:


> It is curious that the hopper provided by the manufacturer doesn't do it's job and stop this from happening. Not to worry, cardboard from drill box worked...
> 
> 
> PB



Hi PB,

I've spoken to Frank at mashmaster & this problem is being addressed.  

cheers Ross


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## barls (13/9/08)

is that why there are no hoppers available at the moment then ross or are you just out of stock?


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## bconnery (13/9/08)

The great thing is though, this site being the way it is, someone already has the answer. 
I set mine up with a gear guard from Pumpy's design, I'm pretty sure it was. I just approximated mine out of carboard and even with my dodgy cutting skills it worked a treat...
I agree it would be better if it did it out of the box but the mill works so well it's hard to worry about it 

For a hopper I use the water diverter hopper that I put together for the marga, following another thread somewhere on here... It doesn't fit exact but it is pretty close. Fits a fair bit of grain without doing the full batch.


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## Paul H (13/9/08)

bconnery said:


> For a hopper I use the water diverter hopper that I put together for the marga, following another thread somewhere on here... It doesn't fit exact but it is pretty close. Fits a fair bit of grain without doing the full batch.



WTF is a water diverter hopper?

Cheers

paul


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## Ross (13/9/08)

barls said:


> is that why there are no hoppers available at the moment then ross or are you just out of stock?



Just out of stock - will have back in early next week.

cheers Ross


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## barls (13/9/08)

cheers ross. might be ordering shortly


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## bconnery (13/9/08)

Paul H said:


> WTF is a water diverter hopper?
> 
> Cheers
> 
> paul



A hopper made from a water diverter of course...
It's a first flush rainwater diverter turned upside down, as shown in this thread...


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## barls (13/9/08)

any pics of this mate if possible?
well at least the mashmaster version


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## matti (14/9/08)

Drool. :icon_drool2: 
I think I have read this thread 100 times and yet to get a good mill.
My little "mincer"/ corn mill is tearing my Barley and causing me grief.

With a good crush or "shop crushed" I get 75%-85% efficiencies fly sparging.
Now I get 65-75 depending on how well the sparge goes and I cant really fly sparge all the way.
I also have to be super duper diligent to avoid chill haze.
I want to brew Pilsner again but not likely to be able to get good result because my mash will neither float or filter bed will not settle. 

I am ranting as I am trying to convince myself spending $269 + postage. 

i am about to read it gain just to convinve my self hehehe


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## clarkey7 (14/9/08)

Ross said:


> Hi PB,
> 
> I've spoken to Frank at mashmaster & this problem is being addressed.
> 
> cheers Ross


Thanks Ross, 

Thats good....Obviously this would be for future purchasers.

Do you know if past purchasers will be supplied with a bolt on guard of some description to finish off the product with a professional look??

Cheers,

PB


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## Sammus (26/9/08)

Anyone else notice the SS version of the mill has appeared on sponsor sits just recently?

Can anyone perhaps elaborate as to why they are $500 on CB but $369 on MM?


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## redbeard (26/9/08)

Bargain ?!


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## Ross (26/9/08)

Pocket Beers said:


> Thanks Ross,
> 
> Thats good....Obviously this would be for future purchasers.
> 
> ...



Sorry, no idea PB, & Frank is away overseas at the moment.

cheers Ross


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## Ross (26/9/08)

Sammus said:


> Anyone else notice the SS version of the mill has appeared on sponsor sits just recently?
> 
> Can anyone perhaps elaborate as to why they are $500 on CB but $369 on MM?




might explain why i've not sold any Stainless ones!!! I'll have to check in the morning, but guessing I've made a pricing error.

cheers Ross


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## Sammus (26/9/08)

Ross said:


> might explain why i've not sold any Stainless ones!!! I'll have to check in the morning, but guessing I've made a pricing error.
> 
> cheers Ross




One of you has lol. Lets hope it was you, so I'm not kicking myself when Frank bumps his up to $500


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## hoohaaman (27/9/08)

Will you be putting your order in sammus,once corrected? 

Just got the millmaster,had a motor but finding a pulley off the shelf was a pain in the arse.Kept looking and found a place with 12mm bore and 4mm key.Well the MM key needs light work for a fit,as I'm sure many who hand crank have found as well.

Overall a great mill,cons:the slack key way.

So is key 3 or 4mm be nice if spec sheet was included


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## Sammus (27/9/08)

Probably not straight away. Woulda got it from mashmaster if I was that keen to jump on the bandwagon. I think when (no ifs) I do get a mill, that will be it though.


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## browndog (4/11/08)

I'm assembling a Millmaster for Ross at the moment and am having trouble sourcing a pulley with a 12mm center, they all seem to be 1/2". Has anyone got their Millmaster set up with an electric motor with belt and pulleys?

cheers

Browndog


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## Batz (4/11/08)

browndog said:


> I'm assembling a Millmaster for Ross at the moment and am having trouble sourcing a pulley with a 12mm center, they all seem to be 1/2". Has anyone got their Millmaster set up with an electric motor with belt and pulleys?
> 
> cheers
> 
> Browndog




You can get blank ones Tony,just need a lathe to bore it out.

Batz


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## koongara (16/3/09)

Pumpy said:


> The perspex gear guarsds went in the post Monday picked up six o clock in the evening by the truck
> 
> pumpy




G'day Pumpy,

did you end up posting a template for the gear guard, I have a millmaster on its way as I type.

Cheers DK


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## Pumpy (16/3/09)

Dont forget the 'Gear guard'

Pumpy


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## koongara (17/3/09)

Pumpy said:


> Dont forget the 'Gear guard'
> 
> Pumpy



Wouldnt dream of forgetting the gear guard Pumpy but any chance of a template or dimensions of your gear guard?

My Mill is in the mail somewhere between Brisy and Melb, on its second run, thanks Australia Post.


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## Sammus (22/3/09)

I thought the new hoppers had a gear guard built in?

Anyone know how new the hoppers have to be to have one that protects the gears as its meant to? I noticed there is 'clearance stock' on mashmaster website, but wasn't sure if they are also older non gear covering ones...


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## samhighley (22/3/09)

You can easily shield the grain from dropping straight into the gears, but the problem comes when the grain bounces along the top of the rollers into the gears. It only takes one or two pieces of grain to get in there, and it makes things very difficult to crank.

My recommendation is to make a shield that sits across the top of the rollers and stops grain bouncing into the gears.

Something like this:


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## FarsideOfCrazy (22/3/09)

I thought the same Sammus, but I had to make a pumpy style gear guard. I made mine out of some plastic sheeting that I got from bunnings a while ago. It is a little disapionting when you spend all that coin on a mill and it doesn't work 'out of the box'. But with a bit fiddling I got it setup well.


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## white.grant (22/3/09)

I have been using a bit of carboard, (only roughtly cut to size) with my ghetto hopper. It does the job.

cheers

grant


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## Sammus (25/3/09)

got mine today. Gotta say I wasn't totally impressed. After dropping $330 on this beast I get it with little nicks all over the rollers, rust on the gears, the key for the handle looks like an old rusty nail, and there is still the issue with the ill fitting handle and key. Basically what I expected I guess, but I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised. I hope that rust doesnt appear on the rollers anytime soon. I guess I had the option of forking out the extra 100 for stainless, but I just dont have that kind of $. Kinda wish I'd waited the extra month of saving and did though. Anyone have any problem with rusty rollers?


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## Batz (25/3/09)

Sammus said:


> got mine today. Gotta say I wasn't totally impressed. After dropping $330 on this beast I get it with little nicks all over the rollers, rust on the gears, the key for the handle looks like an old rusty nail, and there is still the issue with the ill fitting handle and key. Basically what I expected I guess, but I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised. I hope that rust doesnt appear on the rollers anytime soon. I guess I had the option of forking out the extra 100 for stainless, but I just dont have that kind of $. Kinda wish I'd waited the extra month of saving and did though. Anyone have any problem with rusty rollers?




Get onto the retailer you bought it from,I'm sure they would like to know as they must have a problem with storage and moisture.

I still use a Valley Mill no longer produced unfortunately,it's 7-8 years old,steel rollers and never had a rust problem.Poor old thing lives in the shed as well.

Batz


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## Sammus (25/3/09)

That post sounded a little harsher than I wanted it to. It still looks like an awesome mill, and only they key is particularly rusty, the other bits have a very slight amount of surface rust that isn't really a problem. Some of which I just noticed wasnt even rust, just some brown sticky residue that made it look more rusty than it was


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## bconnery (25/3/09)

Grantw said:


> I have been using a bit of carboard, (only roughtly cut to size) with my ghetto hopper. It does the job.
> 
> cheers
> 
> grant


Same. I roughly followed the guide from Pumpy and cut up some cardboard. The only time I've had an issue it turned out that the guard had been moved and wasn't in place. Never had an issue since...


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## T.D. (25/3/09)

Sammus said:


> got mine today. Gotta say I wasn't totally impressed. After dropping $330 on this beast I get it with little nicks all over the rollers, rust on the gears, the key for the handle looks like an old rusty nail, and there is still the issue with the ill fitting handle and key. Basically what I expected I guess, but I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised. I hope that rust doesnt appear on the rollers anytime soon. I guess I had the option of forking out the extra 100 for stainless, but I just dont have that kind of $. Kinda wish I'd waited the extra month of saving and did though. Anyone have any problem with rusty rollers?



Hey Sammus, any chance of posting some pics?


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## Sammus (25/3/09)

I dunno why I thought there was rust on the gears on initial inspection. It looks as though theyre cast alu or something anyway, no rust on them at any rate, a bit of crud that I cleaned off.

The mill handle had some seams left inside the hole from the casting that I filed out and it fits nicely now, the key hole on the actual roller axle is a little small, I think it was probably machine to the right size before plating without taking into account the plating thickness or something. Anyway, I filed the plating back a bit on the axle so the key fits in now - I also filed the key a bit to make it slightly smaller so it would fit, and to clean off some of the rust (dont know why, itll be back in no time).

some pics here http://issima.customer.netspace.net.au/mill/ that show a bit of corrosion on the mill body (non-alu part) and some nicks in the roller knurls, as well as where the plating has been scratch on non-knurled parts. Hard to pick up these minor defects with my phone camera. All in all I'm not unhappy with it. When I said I wasn't totally impressed, I just had high hopes. I'd buy it again, and I take it back - I don't regret not getting the stainless one. At least not yet.


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## Sammus (26/4/09)

Aight, got this thing up a running (finally). And experience first hand how important that gear guard is! I thought I'd give it a test (before I'd finished my hopper), and quickly wondered how the hell anyone handcranked it or got away with drills etc, after about 10minutes of f*cking and sh*tting, I'd ground my way through about 2 cups of grain. I ended up building a hopper and making a gear guard, and now it barely requires any effort to turn at all, a much required "mod".

Pics of my new hopper for anyone that cares 

Yes it is made from some scraps of plastic sheet and mdf I had kicking around. yes it is riveted together lol. Will it last? who cares, it works now. I'll come back and yell at all you for not making me make it sturdier the the day it splits apart full of grain.


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## Sammus (18/5/09)

Alright so I'm looking to motorize my mill (instead of selling it lol).

Does this motor seem a little too cheap to be decent?

Yeah its one of the higher rpm ones (2800), but I figure every other motor I've seen on ebay is usually $100+

Some alu pulleys from blackwoods (a 1.25" and a 18") should bring the rpm down to 190-200... would be nice to go slower I think, but that should be ok yeah?

Haven't thought about how I'd attach the pully to the end.. any ideas?


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## Sammus (19/5/09)

I also just found this in my garage:







1.1kw should be enough for this beast of a mill, am I right? 

And is that capacitor much larger than normal? A lot of the AC motors I've been looking at use a much smaller one (eg the link my last post says 20uF)

24mm shaft though  kinda hard to fit the required 1.25" (31.75mm) pulley on a 24mm shaft..


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## porky (19/5/09)

That motor will do it for sure.

It is also only 1420 RPM so you can increase the small pulley up to 2 inch or more and also use a smaller one on the mill. 14 inch would give you close to 200 rpm. 

Cheers,
Bud


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## Sammus (19/5/09)

damn never realised how expensive pulleys are, and how little I know.

I read about GMK (I think) setting his up with pulleys from blackwoods for like $50, but the only pulleys they seem to get for a 12mm shaft (mill) and 24mm shaft (motor) are some taperlock thing, and those pulleys are ridiculously expensive over $50 for a little pully (Smallest they have is like 70mm) and the biggest is a 400mm which is over $300 for just a pulley... bloody ridiculous I reckon, and thats still under a 6x reduction, I'd need to go a double pulley reduction and endup spending a grand on pulleys... I think i'll stick with a hand crank <_<

Apart from that I was thinking of going with the cheaper alu pulleys like gmk did, but I'm 99.9% certain that the difference between 12mm and 1/2" is too much to forget about. I'd have to shim it with some foil or something... and as far as the 24mm goes, I think I'd need to get the 3/4" and bore it out. Am I on the right track here?

I was originaly looking at drill presses since they come with motors and gear reduction and everything, but anything under about $500 is piss weak and has a minimum rpm of like 600, that is limiting motor speed not gear reduction, so on top of a piss weak motor its running at 1/6th capacity so the torque will be piss weak too...based on others experience with this mill I decided I need full motor power.


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## spog (19/5/09)

Sammus said:


> damn never realised how expensive pulleys are, and how little I know.
> 
> I read about GMK (I think) setting his up with pulleys from blackwoods for like $50, but the only pulleys they seem to get for a 12mm shaft (mill) and 24mm shaft (motor) are some taperlock thing, and those pulleys are ridiculously expensive over $50 for a little pully (Smallest they have is like 70mm) and the biggest is a 400mm which is over $300 for just a pulley... bloody ridiculous I reckon, and thats still under a 6x reduction, I'd need to go a double pulley reduction and endup spending a grand on pulleys... I think i'll stick with a hand crank <_<
> 
> ...


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## spog (19/5/09)

jeez i really stuffed that reply up , :huh: ........cheers...spog...


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## porky (19/5/09)

You are on the right track.

Find someone to bore the small one, and take the big one, bore it out and make a bush for it to fit the 12 mil shaft. 
Shims are not recommended, but if done well you could get by with it. 

Avoid taper loc pulleys as that is where all the cost is in them, and you don't need them.

My 18" pulley I found at the dump. The hole was buggered so I fixed it. I do have machines to work with so it was easy to bore out and make a bush. 

Cheers,
Bud


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## Henno (16/7/09)

Ross said:


> Hi PB,
> 
> I've spoken to Frank at mashmaster & this problem is being addressed.
> 
> cheers Ross




Whatever happened with Frank curing this problem with the design of the hopper Ross?


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