Grain Mill Motor

[merrick]

It's been over a year since there was a post to this thread on motorising grain mills. Having just acquired a Marga Mill from Ross my next steps are to modify and add a motor.

I was wondering whether anybody had new thoughts on using motors such as windscreen wiper motors etc. Maybe some alternative motors and/or sources have surfaced. What has proved reliable?

Cheers

Merrick

 

[domonsura]

Just scored a couple of continuous duty motors out of the blue yesterday morning that I wish I had found earlier when I was setting my cranky 3D mill up...they have reduction gearboxes on them that has the final output running at 102 rpm....with so much torque that I don't reckon you'd want to get your fingers caught in the rollers if these were running a mill, you'd get dragged right through......planning on remaking my mill stand to fit one of these to it, direct drive (no belts/pulleys to get fingers caught in), as the rotation direction is perfect as well.....not going to say how much I got them for, but lets just say it was less than a 10th of the original cost of the motor alone....

The motor/gearbox..

gearbox output label

motor output label....

 

[crozdog]

Top score domonsura!!

My brother who has been an IT service tech / manager for years recently gave me a motor out of 1 of the old monster disk drives (the ones with the 2' diameter platters). From memory it is 1/4 Hp & runs at 2850 rpm, so I'll need to step it down.

What speed do most of you use? I currently run my mill on the electric drill on low speed - what ever that is, and it takes around 15 minutes to do a bag of grain.

MHB, top idea!

The shredder at work was getting services the other day - it has a chunky motor and gear drive - pity I couldn't score it Just an idea to keep the eyes out for....

 

[Rudy]

Is direct drive a good idea? I'd hate to see what happens if there is a stone in the malt and it gets in your rollers!

 

[HKS]

I find this works very well; as we are crushing a fair bit of grain my first criterion was that it be reliable.
It cost about $100 and required some creative surgery but hasn't missed a beat over a couple of tons of malt.

View attachment 8040
MHB

Since you have that new mega-monster mill now, care to sell that one to me? I'll come down today with a hungie and take it off your hands? Talk about mill envy you should see his new 1!

 

[tangent]

i really like the melamine cabinet idea! might have to look into that since just about everything in the shed is coated in malt flour.

 

[Andyd]

Guys,

Has anyone used anything as big as an old mulcher motor? I've got one sitting around, with shite loads of torque but also massive revs.

Andy

 

[tangent]

massive revs obliterate the malt into flour. slow and steady is the go.

 

[Plastic Man]

I was looking around for a wiper motor last week for the Marga. Oatley have a new one for $28 which seems OK.

But they also have a car window motor that they are selling cheap bundled with a PWM speed controller for $27. I had a chat with the guy at OAtley to see what the Torque was like and he said it was about half the wiper motor, but he had used one and it was still pretty grunty. I grabbed one anyway and will give it a go. Worse case the motor doesn't have the torque but the speed contriller will still come in handy for other projects anyway. I can always wack the motor on the HLT as a stirrer.

window motor from Oatley Electronics

Pulled a power supply out of an old computer at work so will drive it from that.

 

[BrissyBrew]

I've been toying with this solution......

View attachment 7727

humm just what I have been looking for to soop up my millmaster.
In all seriousness cheapo drills with speed control do offer a good cheapo alternative, just mounting them can be a bit of a pita and probalby does not look as neat. I cant find the link but I have been a drill used to power a mill and it looked like a big shinny motor casing, which was hollow with a cheapo drill inside.

 

[haysie]

some advice pls guys, i have been told i will need motor with 1/2" drive, pulleys and gears to drive my millmaster, this seems complicated :blink: . If the milmaster has 1/2" drive, do i buy a motor (ebay 1hp thing`s with 1/2" drive approx $80) and use this? question 1/ what do you use from shaft of mil to shaft of motor? 2/ is the speed of say 1hp motor adjustable or is this where different pulleys, gears come in? 3/ gears n pulleys seem messy. Reply welcome & appreciated.
Haysie

 

[Simon W]

Sorry Haysie, can't help ya, but I'm sure BrissyBrew will reply.

For those toying with wiper motors, most are pretty inefficient motors and not really suited.
I've been using a cordless drill (an old XU1) for a while without drama's. The Jaycar gearheadmotor in the first post would be a bit small as already mentioned, but it's big brother should work fine because its the same size motor as used in the cordless drills (Mabuchi RS-540/550 and Johnson 600 series)

Jaycar Cat# YG-2738
50kg/cm torque @ 55 RPM
160 RPM max
Only problem tho, it's $40

I say should because even tho the Jaycar motor has the same dimensions as the Mabuchi 550 (incl. the fluxring) they come with different windings for different applications. (check the Mabuchi Motor or Johnson Electric websites to see what I mean) And there are a lot of 'clones' coming out of china that may be a bit soft.

I reckon tho that the 50kg/cm torque would be plenty 'nuff for a small mill, I know my cordless doesn't have anywhere near that much torque(higher rpm).

Or... gut the old cordless for its motor/gearhead and link it up with an Oldham coupler.

 

[BrissyBrew]

some advice pls guys, i have been told i will need motor with 1/2" drive, pulleys and gears to drive my millmaster, this seems complicated :blink: . If the milmaster has 1/2" drive, do i buy a motor (ebay 1hp thing`s with 1/2" drive approx $80) and use this? question 1/ what do you use from shaft of mil to shaft of motor? 2/ is the speed of say 1hp motor adjustable or is this where different pulleys, gears come in? 3/ gears n pulleys seem messy. Reply welcome & appreciated.
Haysie

The shaft is actually 12mm with a 4mm keyway milled into so you use standard couplers. The rest of the setup depends on the rpm and wattage of your motor or if it is geared. I have been looking around and still am of the opinion that a few cheapo drills on the market offer the best value for money unless you have a freebie motor of course.

 

[NRB]

Is anyone running an old washing machine motor? I've just bought a new front loader (ridiculously water efficient compared to my 30+ yo top loader) and have salvaged the motor from it. I'm obviously going to need to get a pulley, or several pulleys to step the speed down. I don't know where to begin looking for such items and any help would be appreciated.

 

[warrenlw63]

NRB

I recently bought an old 1/4 HP $25 electric motor from Ebay for my Monster Mill. It's rated at 1440 RPM with a capacitor start (washing machine should be similar). You'll need to gear your mill down to around 150 rpm.

I bought a 12 inch pulley for $60. The belt was about $10.

Rook put me onto this place and I can't recommend them more highly;

Australian Power Transmissions
1483 Sydney Rd. Campbellfield
Phone: 9357 0201

Any Power Transmission or Bearing place should be able to help you out. Just tell them what you're trying to achieve.

Being a homebrewer opens many doors. :lol:

(Attached shameless mill pic)

Warren -

 

[NRB]

Thanks Warren, it's a hell of a way to go, but if I have to I have to... The washing machine motor certainly does have a capacitor attached to it.

 

[AUHEAMIC]

Thanks Warren, it's a hell of a way to go, but if I have to I have to... The washing machine motor certainly does have a capacitor attached to it.

What suburb are you in NRB. I work in the industry and may be able to recommend someone closer. PM me if you like.

 

[NRB]

I'm in Box Hill Peels.

Oh, and Warren, do you have any pictures from the other side? I'd love to see how the pulleys are set up.

 

[warrenlw63]

Yeah no worries. Pretty straight forward to set up.

Motor is on a piece of hinged board. That way the weight of the motor keeps tension on the belt.

Warren -

 

[AUHEAMIC]

Unfortunately Box Hill is a power transmission black hole. The closest one thats any good is.

U.M.S Transmissions Pty Ltd
Unit 1/ 29 Barry St Bayswater VIC 3153
ph: (03) 9720 2355

If your motor is running at 1440rpm and you use an 1 pulley on the motor and a 12 pulley on the mill you will end up at 180rpm.