A Mill That Anybody Could Make

[Brewman_]

Have a look at yourself.

If I gave you hard earned knowledge you would not even recognise it.

 

[bum]

Have a look at yourself.

Ok.

Hmmm...my post acknowledged my strengths and weaknesses in the field and as yet no one has given me any reason to doubt my assumptions (although I do still accept them as assumptions)...yeah, I'm quite comfortable with my position so far.

Thanks for giving me this opportunity to see myself as I already think I am.

 

[matho]

ok so using pvc probably wasn't the best idea.

so here are some ideas that have been mentioned

1. using the pipe as a mold then removing it and using the bare concrete
2. using a steel pipe instead.

went for pvc because it would be easy to make round the concrete will come out of the pipe out of round so it will have to be made round.
the way i made the pvc pipe round was to mount in the mill body connected the drill and ran it while holding a block of wood and sand paper it worked well.
so for concrete i would have to use something harder im thinking an oil stone yes no ?
for the metal pipe i would have to do the samething maybe a ******* file and patients.

please disscuss

cheers steve

 

[Wolfy]

please disscuss

Concrete will crumble, degrade and get broken much more easily and most likely have a much shorter life span, how much more 'food safe' than PVC is it anyway?
Steel adds additional cost, complexity and difficulty - unless you can source pre-fabricated rollers, which most likely then adds to the cost and removes much of the DIY aspect.

There is sensible and there is pedantic, just like their is cheap DIY and commercial alternatives. Once your cost gets to about $50 I think that it passes the point where it's a viable alternative to some of the cheaper commercial products on the market, however your DIY mill may still have the advantage of a better crush. At the same time "Anybody Could Make" should really be "Anyone who has the tools, bits and bobs, equipment and basic skills to Make", I can't wait to read your instructions and see the pictures of how you did it, but even the process of centering the rollers seems to be a little more 'complex' than many inept tool users can manage (edit, I put myself in that category so it's not an insult targeted at anyone in particular).

 

[matho]

thanks wolfy for your thoughts
yeah maybe the title was a bit too much but i did put in the sub text with basic tools, i thought a set square, saw, hacksaw, drill bits and speedbores and a 13mm drill was fairly accessable to most people and when i put it together i thought it was that simple that anybody could do it.
maybe i couldn't explain myself very well when i talked about making the formers but it was very simple i could have gone out and bought a tank cutter that could do 150mm holes but they cost over $90 which is too much to spend for a one off use.

here i a pic of how i did it hopefully it show how easy it was.



ill have some time tonight as swmbo is going out so i should be able to start the step by step

oh and about the rollers i think the only way to find out is to try them both so ill have to make some more

cheer's steve

 

[kymba]

dunno if this is welcome, but have you thought about a holesaw? i used 160mm hole in my cheapass 1/3hp gmc drill press on some hardwood. took a while, but what brewing project hasn't?



-kymba

 

[matho]

dunno if this is welcome, but have you thought about a holesaw? i used 160mm hole in my cheapass 1/3hp gmc drill press on some hardwood. took a while, but what brewing project hasn't?

View attachment 40256

-kymba

thats a really good idea just looked that the price of a 6" 152mm holesaw about $50 cuts to a depth of 41mm what type of hardwood did you use kymba

cheer's steve

edit: found a cheaper one

 

[fraser_john]

dunno if this is welcome, but have you thought about a holesaw? i used 160mm hole in my cheapass 1/3hp gmc drill press on some hardwood. took a while, but what brewing project hasn't?

View attachment 40256

-kymba

Neat solution to driving the second roller too! O-rings, great lateral thinking.

 

[BjornJ]

dunno if this is welcome, but have you thought about a holesaw? i used 160mm hole in my cheapass 1/3hp gmc drill press on some hardwood. took a while, but what brewing project hasn't?

View attachment 40256

-kymba

Awesome thinking, there Kymba!

Do you have any more pics/descriptions of your mill project to get the small gray working?

thanks
Bjorn

 

[praxis178]

ok so using pvc probably wasn't the best idea.

so here are some ideas that have been mentioned

1. using the pipe as a mold then removing it and using the bare concrete
2. using a steel pipe instead.

please disscuss

cheers steve

1. using the pipe as a mold then removing it and using the bare concrete
2. using a steel pipe instead.
3. using aluminium irrigation pipe

I second Wolfy's comment on concrete's propensity to crumble, if using steel pipe you still have to get it knurled so you're more or less back to square one. The Al pipe option at least leaves you the option of bead basting instead of knurling.....

 

[kymba]

what type of hardwood did you use kymba

dunno mate, some sort of gum i think. i cut them from a 45mm thick offcut left over from a reno at my dad's house about 25 yrs ago...lol the only thing he has kept that long and i cut circles out of it - kids r awesome hey!

also the o-rings there are 3mm thick jobbies (about $3 each from an engineering joint), but when / if these die i will replace them with 2mm ones

Do you have any more pics/descriptions of your mill project to get the small gray working?

only the first handful of pics is in this thread http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...showtopic=47097

I am too proud to post pictures of it working at the moment...if only my level of skill matched my ambition

 

[argon]

love the idea of using timber for the rollers... but what about using one of these Aluminium Rolling Pin could be knurled i guess. stainless jobbies are bit more expensive though. I'd imagine they'd crush grain reasonably well.

 

[Bizier]

On the concrete tip, I am interested to know if the harder type concretes that people used for durable polished flooring would be good for a roller. Perhaps you could even run the rollers against abrasive until they have no variability.

 

[brando]

1. using the pipe as a mold then removing it and using the bare concrete
2. using a steel pipe instead.
3. using aluminium irrigation pipe

I second Wolfy's comment on concrete's propensity to crumble, if using steel pipe you still have to get it knurled so you're more or less back to square one. The Al pipe option at least leaves you the option of bead basting instead of knurling.....

Possibly etch the al pipe with acid from Bunnings?

 

[TroyNZ]

dunno if this is welcome, but have you thought about a holesaw? i used 160mm hole in my cheapass 1/3hp gmc drill press on some hardwood. took a while, but what brewing project hasn't?

View attachment 40256

-kymba

is that "food grade" hardwood?!?

 

[TroyNZ]

Im sure i could talk to an old concreter and get some tips. As for ensuring no air gaps, constant agitation should remove any bubbles (dont ask me how to do this - thats above my pay grade!)

Just tapping it with a hammer all over should get all the air bubbles out or if you have a drill with a hammer function hold that against the side of the mould

 

[Andyd]

Continuing on that note - why do you need to keep the piping after you have set the concrete? Why not remove the conduit and have a nifty set of concrete "stone" grinders? I guess there is potential for the concrete to degrade slightly at times and add a tiny amount of powder to your crushed grain, but again, this may not be the case. I have access to plenty of conduit offcuts (apprentice sparky), so if anyone in Canberra wants some, give me a yo...
?

If you did take the PVC away, I would expect quite a bit of concrete dust in the grain, and before long the rollers will pit and become ineffective. If you've ever rendered a wall and left it unsealed you'll know all about concrete dust...

Andy

 

[matho]

1. using the pipe as a mold then removing it and using the bare concrete
2. using a steel pipe instead.
3. using aluminium irrigation pipe

I second Wolfy's comment on concrete's propensity to crumble, if using steel pipe you still have to get it knurled so you're more or less back to square one. The Al pipe option at least leaves you the option of bead basting instead of knurling.....

i hadn't forgotten about the aluminium its just i cant get it easily, i have searched but cant find a place nearby, if you can get some mate try it out and let us know. i think the only way we are going to know is to try all the options. i really appreciate everybodys sugestions it has given me lot to think about and try.

cheer's steve

 

[kelbygreen]

yeah bare concrete wouldnt be the best idea as it leaches lime and only way to get away from that is to seal it then you are putting more chemicals in contact with the grain plus that will just wear off over time making maintenance a pain. I think for the cost of it getting some proper rollers might be the best not sure the cost of them though but surely it will still save you alot more then just buying a ready made mill

 

[matho]

The Frame:

Im not going to go into exact measurement because that all depends on the dimensions of the rollers

The frame is made out of Tasmanian oak that is 19mm thick to add some extra strength I doubled it up.

To hold the 2 pieces together I used 35mm MDF screws as with any hardwood work it is recommended that you drill pilot holes before you screw in any screw it stops the timber from splitting.

I cut the sides in such a way as to make the corners look like this



The inner short side was about 3mm longer than the length of the roller and the outer short side was 2* 19mm longer of course.

The inner longer sides are 2 times the diameter of the roller plus 5mm each side plus 19mm each side and the outer longer side is again 2* 19mm longer.

It is all held together with 6mm coach screws as shown in the picture once again it is a good idea to drill pilot holes .





Now that everything is screwed together check how square the box is with the set square it doesnt matter if its not perfect just close. Find the centre of one of the long sides and mark it, measure out from each side the centreline the radius of the rollers and mark it this is where the shafts are going to sit. Now get the set square and with it mark the other long side of the frame so that you know that you have two parallel lines on the top of the frame. Measure down the inner sides the length of the radius of the rollers from the shaft marks and drill a pilot holes. On the 1 in speedbor mark the depth of the bearings that you are using. Use the speedbor to bore 4 holes to the depth of the bearing.



On the side of the adjustable roller take the speedbor and bore another hole 5mm towards the edge, take you time and it should be ok, it should end up looking like this.



Take a 5/8 speedbor and bore right the way thru to the other side so that the shaft can go thru on the sides you want them too.

On the adjustable side take a 8mm drill and drill up from the side to the bearing hole like this



Then take a 11.5mm hole and drill down to meet the other hole like this



Now in that hole put in the nut

On the small side mark where the hole should be so you can put the threaded rod thru and drill it larger than the 8mm hole but smaller than the nut.

It looks like this



This is what the adjustment looks like when it is put together (I stole the adjustment idea off another AHB member)


cheers steve (the rollers will come later)