A Mill That Anybody Could Make
- Thread starter matho
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matho
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i think the general consensus is that you can use a blender especially if you BIAB because you dont need the husks to form a filter bed but you can only do small amounts at a time so its not as conveniant as a mill where you can load up the hopper with the grain and crush 5+ kg in under 5min.
on the pvc topic here are a few things that i have been sent or found on the net
wiki on vinyl cloride
material safty data sheets on pvc pipe.
View attachment material_safety_data_sheets.pdf
and a safe handling instruction on PVC resin
View attachment GuidetotheSafeHandlingOfCorvicPVCResin.pdf
vinyl chloride is nasty stuff and starts to decompose above 60 deg c and pvc pipe look like it can have lead added to it as a stabiliser
i dont know how much will get into the mash but ill try out some alternatives too see if i can make them work.
The whole idea of this thread was to give people a easy to make and realatively cheap mill hopefully i can accomplish that
cheer's steve
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Good work so far Math. Keep it coming mate :beerbang:
matho
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The rollers.
Cut the shaft to the length required drill two 4mm holes in the shaft so that you can put 2 4mm bolts thru it should look like this
The bolts are required to key the shaft into the concrete.
Next take a piece of sheet material I used plastic but I think 3mm MDF will do just as good a job with a coat of paint. Cut out a square that is larger that the diameter of the roller find where the center is (doesnt have to be exact just close) and drill a hole the same size as the shaft that your using (12mm for me). Now get a nut and bolt the same size as the shaft, put the bolt thru the hole and bolt it up.
Now take another piece of sheet and drill a hole the same size as the shaft then measure out from the centreline of that hole the internal radius of the pipe your are using and make a cut down to the level of the center of the hole, this is to hold the blade that is going to cut the circle so make it as close to the width of the blade as you can. Place that piece of sheet over the bolt. For the blade I used both a Stanley knife and a cut off hacksaw blade both worked well so you can use either.
Now put the bolt into the drill and the blade into the cut and slowly start to cut the circle out, take your time and it should come out OK.
On the pipe that your using make sure one end is square this might take a little while, then take a piece of material that you can rest a hacksaw blade on and cut it to the width you want for your rollers. Rest your hacksaw blade on that piece of material and slowly rotate the pipe so that the hacksaw blade cuts the pipe that way you can make sure both ends are true. You dont have to cut completely thru the pipe just make a deep enough grove so that when you saw it your blade doesnt skip out.
Put one of the formers into an end of pipe then put the shaft in, mix up some concrete and fill up the pipe then put the other former on. Try to get a lot of air bubbles out before you push the former all the way home then let the concrete set.
The rollers are not exactly round so what I did was to put them into the non adjustable side of the frame, cut a leftover piece of timber so that it was a tight fit between the frame. Put a piece of sandpaper on that block of timber and start roller spinning and push the timber so that the sandpaper just touches the roller slowly take out the out of round of each roller. That is it put the rollers into the frame and check how round the are, then work out how you are going to drive them.
These are instructions for the pvc rollers as has been pointed out they are food grade I have found some 6in stainless steel pipe that has 2mm wall thickness and is about $35 a metre. Im going to try and find some locally but if I cant then Ill have to get it sent up from Melbourne the instructions shouldnt change to much may be a few more tools to cope with the stainless.
cheers steve
Cut the shaft to the length required drill two 4mm holes in the shaft so that you can put 2 4mm bolts thru it should look like this
The bolts are required to key the shaft into the concrete.
Next take a piece of sheet material I used plastic but I think 3mm MDF will do just as good a job with a coat of paint. Cut out a square that is larger that the diameter of the roller find where the center is (doesnt have to be exact just close) and drill a hole the same size as the shaft that your using (12mm for me). Now get a nut and bolt the same size as the shaft, put the bolt thru the hole and bolt it up.
Now take another piece of sheet and drill a hole the same size as the shaft then measure out from the centreline of that hole the internal radius of the pipe your are using and make a cut down to the level of the center of the hole, this is to hold the blade that is going to cut the circle so make it as close to the width of the blade as you can. Place that piece of sheet over the bolt. For the blade I used both a Stanley knife and a cut off hacksaw blade both worked well so you can use either.
Now put the bolt into the drill and the blade into the cut and slowly start to cut the circle out, take your time and it should come out OK.
On the pipe that your using make sure one end is square this might take a little while, then take a piece of material that you can rest a hacksaw blade on and cut it to the width you want for your rollers. Rest your hacksaw blade on that piece of material and slowly rotate the pipe so that the hacksaw blade cuts the pipe that way you can make sure both ends are true. You dont have to cut completely thru the pipe just make a deep enough grove so that when you saw it your blade doesnt skip out.
Put one of the formers into an end of pipe then put the shaft in, mix up some concrete and fill up the pipe then put the other former on. Try to get a lot of air bubbles out before you push the former all the way home then let the concrete set.
The rollers are not exactly round so what I did was to put them into the non adjustable side of the frame, cut a leftover piece of timber so that it was a tight fit between the frame. Put a piece of sandpaper on that block of timber and start roller spinning and push the timber so that the sandpaper just touches the roller slowly take out the out of round of each roller. That is it put the rollers into the frame and check how round the are, then work out how you are going to drive them.
These are instructions for the pvc rollers as has been pointed out they are food grade I have found some 6in stainless steel pipe that has 2mm wall thickness and is about $35 a metre. Im going to try and find some locally but if I cant then Ill have to get it sent up from Melbourne the instructions shouldnt change to much may be a few more tools to cope with the stainless.
cheers steve
dago001
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The solution that I found for driving the rollers on my DIY mill was to use 2 drills. One on each roller. I use a low speed cordless on one and a standard pistol drill on the other. I have 38mm stainless rollers, and couldn't find any gears the correct size. I tried using o rings but on the small diameter rollers it slipped when the going got a little tough. When I machined up the shafts I puposely left an extra 40 mm hanging out the ends, as I hadn't decided on the drive system. This has left me enough shaft to fit the drills on to. The 2 drills work a treat, with a bit of practice you can get the speed perfect - I am crushing 5 kg of grain in about 2 - 4 mins depending on crush size.
Cheers
David
Cheers
David
matho
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david,
ultimately thats what i think im going to do with this one i have two spare drill bodies laying around so ill see how it goes just for a laugh
i was thinking of using chain like this
sprockets are surprisingly cheap, chain isnt and it would just be too much work for a side project
thanks for that steve
ultimately thats what i think im going to do with this one i have two spare drill bodies laying around so ill see how it goes just for a laugh
i was thinking of using chain like this
sprockets are surprisingly cheap, chain isnt and it would just be too much work for a side project
thanks for that steve
g'day , well done on both of your grain mills they look well constructed. is there any chance of getting the plans for your steel grain mill ? i am pretty keen on having a go at it as i have access to a lathe and milling machine. any info would be greatly appreciated.
cheers.
cheers.
Thirsty Boy
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Pushbike chains/sprockets/gears/tensioner etc ????
Phoney
Well-Known Member
So the final cost is around $188? Maybe im missing something here, but why is 4m of conduit needed? You cant buy it in shorter lengths?
While avoiding sleep I found this 5 page thread on the HBT forums "Budget concrete roller mill", it might have some useful information related to this thread.
matho
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Phoneyhuh,
i dont think there is a place where you can buy short bits of conduit i just put the price in there to show people the whole picture. Look at my post above with the MSDS on PVC pipes and make up your mind on using PVC if you still want to then use water pipe which you are more likely to find off cuts for. I have some 3 inch steel tubing which can be bought from bunnings for about $35 which ill try soon. i have checked it out and its very close to being round so that is a bonus. im also trying to find some local stainless steel tubing to use if you live down in melboure then Geordi is selling 6in ss pipe at $35 a meter in their surplus stock section.
fitarm,
i basically followed the instuctions here with a few mods i got some ss stock but unfortunately they were only 200mm long each which made knerling difficult if you look at the pics you can see where the jaws slightly cruched the knerl on the rollers if i did it again i would knerl before cutting to length.
thristy, yeah i was thinking of using bike chain but as i said i dont think ill have the time to play around with the idea maybe later.
cheer's steve
matho
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great find wolfy looks good.
i have also found this pdf for anyone with a few spare electric motors
View attachment Motorised_malt_mill_1_.pdf
cheer's steve
i have also found this pdf for anyone with a few spare electric motors
View attachment Motorised_malt_mill_1_.pdf
cheer's steve
