Grain Mill Build > Frustration Growing

[tavas]

View attachment 61652Here is a picture of my Monster Mill, hopper and base. The base is 20mm MDF which comes pre drilled and routed. Monster Mill charge US$10 for it which is good value but it is heavy. I don't know if it would make much difference to the shipping cost. If not I would recommend getting it.

The hopper is 1mm galv and comes as a flat pack you assemble. Pretty easy to assemble. It will hold around 6kg of grain. I see they also sell an extension if you want bigger grain bills.

Mill size is 180mm x 90mm or 6 x 3.5 inches. Hole spacing between the long edge bolts is approx 170, as is the spacing between the lock nuts for adjusting bushes. Spacing for the short edge bolts is approx 75mm. Bolts come with the hopper.

Hopper dimensions are 11.5" wide, 12.5" long and about 10" or 10.5" deep (note: NOT vertical height, but measured as actual length of the steel, if that makes sense). Hopper design is flared in both X and Y axis. It also has some deflectors inside the hopper to kiee

Please note, these measurements are approximate as I did not disassemble the hopper and used a 300mm steel rule as best as I could.

 

[kieran]

My mill rig, using the same mill, same motor, a motiondynamics PWM controlller, my own shaft (a bit of rod from bunnings, which i dodgily cut key grooves in with a dremel), a lovejoy coupling, an ikea kitchen trolley, and my hopper as you can see is a little bin from Kmart. I cut a hole in the bottom of the bin, and inserted a funnel in the bin to provide a conical 'slip' through to the hole in the base. The bin sits nice and still, maximises volume for the area it occupies, and I can pop a lid over it when done.. and it's easily removed (it is held in place by 4 decent size rather powerful N52 rare earth neodymium magnets).

my rig:
http://youtu.be/T_npJGP276U

 

[431neb]

Nice!

 

[lael]

My mill rig, using the same mill, same motor, a motiondynamics PWM controlller, my own shaft (a bit of rod from bunnings, which i dodgily cut key grooves in with a dremel), a lovejoy coupling, an ikea kitchen trolley, and my hopper as you can see is a little bin from Kmart. I cut a hole in the bottom of the bin, and inserted a funnel in the bin to provide a conical 'slip' through to the hole in the base. The bin sits nice and still, maximises volume for the area it occupies, and I can pop a lid over it when done.. and it's easily removed (it is held in place by 4 decent size rather powerful N52 rare earth neodymium magnets).

That is pretty nice looking. Sounds super loud in the video. What is it like in real life? Are you willing to share total cost of parts for the motor, coupling and other bits to make it work?

 

[kieran]

That is pretty nice looking. Sounds super loud in the video. What is it like in real life? Are you willing to share total cost of parts for the motor, coupling and other bits to make it work?

You're right.. in the video it sounds like an Airbus A380 waiting to take off. You'll have to take it from me though, that it really doesn't sound that loud in 'real life'. My phone does an amazing job of picking up those frequencies. This high pitched noise is the PWM in action.. it turns the 12V motor on and off at very high frequencies, and that is the source of the noise. You can hear the noise, but its lower than a normal 'talking voice' volume.

I did have a spreadsheet/doc with the whole build info.. but from rough estimates:
This motor/speed controller from motiondynamics: http://www.motiondynamics.com.au/home-brewer-special-worm-drive-motor-dc-speed-controller.html $140
A 1/2" lovejoy L075 coupling ( http://www.lovejoy-inc.com/products/jaw-type-couplings/l-type.aspx )
with urethane spider (the blue one), from BSC Bearings in Clayton http://www.bsc.com.au/ (I work at monash uni, so it was easy). Set me back $70 for both.. a bit steep, you can get them much cheaper O/S - but I bought local for the convenience.
A steel rod to fit that 1/2" shaft of the motiondynamics worm gear motor, from bunnings.. $7 I cut a groove in it with a dremel clone from jaycar which I already owned: http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=TD2459 ($40)
Then the ABS case like this http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=HB6132 , rack front blank panel http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=HB5420 which was cut to size, holes drilled out for the PWM knob.. a couple of power switches from jaycar (1x 240VAC, 1x12vDC LED illuminated). A gutsy 240VAC to 12VDC transformer off of EBAY (the first one I got failed). So don't **** around with anyhting less than a 20Amp transformer, as the Motiondynamics 20nM wormdrive motor will just overload it in my experience.. so http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/240V-12VDC-30-AMP-Driver-Transformer-Power-Supply-for-Led-lighting-fridge-30A-/151001121454?pt=AU_B_I_Electrical_Test_Equipment&hash=item23285e42ae&_uhb=1
would suit (I paid about $60-$80).
Then there was the ikea kitchen trolley, which Ikea ran out of stock of, so I bought it off of ebay in desperation. The bastards have them in stock now though http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/10240349/
but I cut two of the legs off, and bought four casters for it from bunnings, with breaks - these ones http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_product_castor-heavy-duty-swivel-50mm-grey-brake-cd1-15129_P3941538.aspx?search=castors&searchType=any&searchSubType=products&page=4
So there goes another $20.
Then there was the bin from KMart which was $5. A funnel which was cut off and put inside the bin, cost $7. Polyfilla to hold it in place, $7, then some Bondo type stuff to make the gap between the funnel and the walls of the bin baby bum smooth. That was about $8.
So that's about $426.. then there was the Mashmaster minimill which I bought from Craftbrewer http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=1987 and is still the "new product special price" 1 year later lol..
$239 + delivery.. so all up about $670 all up.

That is about the complete shopping list.. absolutely everything.. christ don't tell the wife.
I could've cut a ton of corners and saved a packet, but I'm stoked with the way it came out.

 

[lael]

That's awesome. I think you've cured my jealousy though I think I might go with the $90 ozito drill

 

[Spiesy]

My build is now done. Thank the Lord above.

=

More photos here:
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/gallery/album/1030-spiesys-mill/

 

[matho]

Evening Spiesy,
Sorry for the delay in the pics. Basically a piece of board screwed to the top of the mill with a hole cut to direct the grain. I added a slide so that I can fill the hopper, start my drill and then let the grain go as my drill won't start with grain in the rollers. I put a couple of boards with the appropriate sized hole inside the piece of 100mm DWV pipe to locate the bottle neck and the pipe supports the rest of it. A few screws through the whole lot to keep it all together. I think my mill cost me about $5 if you ignore the 20 lunchtimes in the workshop making it!! All scrap or recycled materials.
Hope this helps.

you have to love foreign orders, I have a lathe at work but find 30min a very short time to do any work. I made my mill for about $20 (the bushings cost $15).

cheers steve

 

[Spiesy]

good chats

 

[matho]

hey spiesy, your setup looks awesome, well done

cheers steve

 

[Spiesy]

thanks Steve

 

[Cocko]

Amazing mate, well done.

:super:

 

[Edak]

Yeah looks Like a quality build indeed, good job mate.

 

[jeddog]

Tried out my mill and motor today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UwHV4zFYNc

Nothing like sipping a home poured beer in the shed on a Sunday arvo trying to nut out shit..
This mill keeps changing the more I build it, and I'm loving it

A stolen quote from someone.

Homebrewing..
An expensive way to make cheap beer. :lol:

 

[Khellendros13]

Choice music jeddog

 

[Thefatdoghead]

Tried out my mill and motor today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UwHV4zFYNc

Nothing like sipping a home poured beer in the shed on a Sunday arvo trying to nut out shit..
This mill keeps changing the more I build it, and I'm loving it

A stolen quote from someone.

Homebrewing..
An expensive way to make cheap beer. :lol:

Hey Jeddog, where did you get your shaft from? The one from the Gbox to the coupling?
Cheers
Gav

 

[Spiesy]

I just went to a local metalworks place, that sells metal... got a solid round cut and drilled to my specs.

 

[Thefatdoghead]

Oh I thought it had a keyway on the coupling end? Just a couple of shear pins ay?

Cheers

 

[Spiesy]

Oh I thought it had a keyway on the coupling end? Just a couple of shear pins ay?

Cheers

My coupler has a grub screw that seems to fix itself to the shaft nicely.

The mill spindle has a keyed shaft for the keyed coupler.

 

[Thefatdoghead]

Sweet as, thanks for the info. You guys still stoked with the setup? I really like the whole idea and Speisys rig looks mean as. I usually mill 11kg at a time so it will be we'll worth it.

Cheers

Gav