Grain Mill Purchase

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Sosman,
They put jarrah in mallet heads for a reason... it's very tough stuff!
Love your work, I don't think i could be bothered doing that good a job... eccentric adjustment, roller bearings, having a steel shaft through wood, and cutting wood on my good metal lathe, don't think so.
Glad to hear it's working well.
 
Personal I like to make all my own gear for my brewery, I am a fitter and Machinist by trade and make things like that all day however I could not make one for under $100. If I was to put a price on mine it would be $300 plus.
What I have read here $100 that cheap.


Stagger
:super:
 
Sos, how is the jarrah holding up? And how many kilos have you put through it now?
 
pint of lager said:
Sos, how is the jarrah holding up? And how many kilos have you put through it now?
[post="52873"][/post]​
I probably would have put through near 100kg of grain including wheat and roasted varieties. Holding up very well.
 
Dunkel_Boy said:
Love your work, I don't think i could be bothered doing that good a job... eccentric adjustment, roller bearings, having a steel shaft through wood, and cutting wood on my good metal lathe, don't think so.
Glad to hear it's working well.
[post="52844"][/post]​
Believe it or not, I figured the eccentric adjustment was the easiest to construct - I didn't even use the 4 jaw chuck, just a spacer on the one of the 3 jaws. The ball bearings were inexpensive, the length of Jarrah cost me $10, the Ally plate $5. A few dollars for bits of steel and nuts etc, probably cost me no more than $70 in materials.

The jarrah "swarf" was no problem to clean up from the lathe. In fact I am thinking of making a rest and buying a few wood working tools.
 
sosman said:
In fact I am thinking of making a rest and buying a few word working tools.
[post="52894"][/post]​

Can I be the first to put my hand up if you are considering starting to sell them sosman.
After crushing the grain at your place I was very impressed with your mill.


cheers
johnno
 
Hmmm, very interesting... I was mostly worried about the swarf (love that word). I guess working from left to right would be a good idea so that deck doesn't get any sawdust caught in it.

My plan was to get a 200-300mm x 80mm round bar of mild steel, and basically cut down both ends into an axle (one end longer than the other so I can put it in my drill chuck). This would leave the middle 150-250mm untouched, and I'd attack that with the knurler or anything else dangerous that was lying around.
This would mount on sleeve/roller bearings on the wooden chassis, and the crush plate would be a bit of 1/2" ply with some 2mm thick SS glued to it. Pivot point will be below/past the tangent of the roller, with adjustment done by moving the entire crush plate 20-30mm each way. The crush plate will be probably 200mm x width of roller, with adjustment done pivoting the crush plate and locking the nuts at the top of the crush plate. The other half of the hopped will be fixed, and probably cut to sit as close to the roller as possible, at whatever angle I desire.
 
Dunkel_Boy said:
Hmmm, very interesting... I was mostly worried about the swarf (love that word). I guess working from left to right would be a good idea so that deck doesn't get any sawdust caught in it.

My plan was to get a 200-300mm x 80mm round bar of mild steel, and basically cut down both ends into an axle (one end longer than the other so I can put it in my drill chuck). This would leave the middle 150-250mm untouched, and I'd attack that with the knurler or anything else dangerous that was lying around.
This would mount on sleeve/roller bearings on the wooden chassis, and the crush plate would be a bit of 1/2" ply with some 2mm thick SS glued to it. Pivot point will be below/past the tangent of the roller, with adjustment done by moving the entire crush plate 20-30mm each way. The crush plate will be probably 200mm x width of roller, with adjustment done pivoting the crush plate and locking the nuts at the top of the crush plate. The other half of the hopped will be fixed, and probably cut to sit as close to the roller as possible, at whatever angle I desire.
[post="52897"][/post]​
If you are going to go to the effort of making a mill - you should seriously consider a two roller design.

If my jarrah roller were to ever wear out - I would be tempted to make a replacement set from concrete.
 
johnno said:
Can I be the first to put my hand up if you are considering starting to sell them sosman.
After crushing the grain at your place I was very impressed with your mill.
[post="52896"][/post]​
You can be the first to know. Don't hold your breath though.
 
I forgot to mention I'm coating the mild steel in POR-15, a rust preventative etchant.

Two roller would be nice, and I have a good design, but I want to try the single-roller design. The good news is that if it doesn't work I can just make another roller and modify the driving one if necessary. Will probably do your trick using o-rings to drive the secondary roller.
 
Thaks guys on your replie re the cranknstein just found out it is $28 postage so I am off there now to place an order

sintax
 
sintax, which cranknstein did you decide to buy?
,voota
 
I final ordered the 2S model the cheapest one he had($129au to the door), just waiting on the post now he sent it of friday morning .Like all the other post say you cant complain about this guy he has been great so far prompt with email etc no BS with him he told me out right that he would have a 5day wait before he even started on it . I like that rather than yes sir its in our system BS.

just waiting now ... was that the postie.... ooh ooh no dam

sintax
 
labour
$50-60/hour +.
hope mates rates apply other wise cheap mills go out the window once mass produced.

thats my bummer for the night ;)

cheers
d
 
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