How To: Modify A Marga Mill.

[DrewCarey82]

Lazy bastards!

Just use the crank lol.

 

[Screwtop]

Seems less ham fisted.

Warren -

You know me then! All the finesse of a bull in a china shop

 

[jimmy01]

Received my Marga and done the mods(except hopper). Only about 30mins work and I'm not handy with these sorts of things. So if I can do it I think anyone can

Thanks to everyone who posted hints on this thread

Fixa's photos were spot on and Screwtop, your diagram helped me understand what I needed to do with the rollers - except I also had to go with.060" for the gap Link

Done the first crush for a Pils I'm doing on Sunday. Not too bad doing the crush by hand. Will defiintely have to build a bigger hopper, though.

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[fixa]

Good work Jimmy!
I did my first crush by hand to. Crushing 6kgs by hand has balls on it. Need to get a bit for the cordless drill for the next crush.

 

[grabman]

top effort Fixa, geez sort of wish I seen this before I laid out on a crankenstsien,

but hey a mill is a mill is a keg of beer!! (at least in the end anyway)

Grab

 

[mimerbryg]

Inspired by this and other threads I bought a Marga Mill a while ago.
Today I give the hopper its first paint:

To-do list:
- paint again with teak and dustgreen colour
- give it a colourless wax
- make a house for the motor (motor is a disassembled power drill)
- assemble a speedcontrol for motor
- make a base for mill and motor

Thanks for a wonderfull forum

Kind regards
Flemming

 

[fixa]

Nice work flemming! looks great!

 

[lucas]

seeking some clarification. I get the part about opening the feed gap right up but the crush gap is a little foggy (i do understand which gap is the crush gap thanks to screwtop's diagram). am I right in thinking that this gap is adjusted by the nuts on either side of the mill and I need to adjust both so the gap is equal at both ends? how do you adjust the one at the end with the cap without altering the feed gap? when I turn it with the cap off it moves the feed gap too.

also, I dont have a set of feeler gauges. can anyone tell me something pretty standard that would be about the right width for the crush gap? would a drivers licence/credit card (ignoring the impressed text) be too thin/thick/about right?

 

[hughman666]

seeking some clarification. I get the part about opening the feed gap right up but the crush gap is a little foggy (i do understand which gap is the crush gap thanks to screwtop's diagram). am I right in thinking that this gap is adjusted by the nuts on either side of the mill and I need to adjust both so the gap is equal at both ends? how do you adjust the one at the end with the cap without altering the feed gap? when I turn it with the cap off it moves the feed gap too.

also, I dont have a set of feeler gauges. can anyone tell me something pretty standard that would be about the right width for the crush gap? would a drivers licence/credit card (ignoring the impressed text) be too thin/thick/about right?

i got my feeler gauge from bunnings for $8. well worth it as the crush gap width is critical.

 

[lucas]

ah, If they're that cheap I'll pick one up tonight

 

[Maxt]

Another mod...I added a dynabolt to the shaft, and now the cordless drill works a treat!

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Another mod...I added a dynabolt to the shaft, and now the cordless drill works a treat!

That's a brilliant idea - I'm gonna give it a go

Does the dyna bolt cause any damage to the hole?

Cheers

 

[stillscottish]

I modded my mill as per the info in this thread but felt that the gap was a little bit narrow and very slow to draw grain in.
What I did yesterday as I was crushing was open the gap a little using the knob and slowly closed it until grain looked just right coming out. Marked the position, drilled another hole and got the best crush ever.
I haven't measured the gap yet but the new hole was right beside the existing one so it hasn't opened it up that much more but obviously just enough to give me the right crush with the grain I'm using.
It's easy to drill knob without taking it off, just put a little bit of timber behind it as someone said here somewhere.

Campbell

 

[Cortez The Killer]

as someone said here somewhere.

That was me!

 

[warrenlw63]

Another mod...I added a dynabolt to the shaft, and now the cordless drill works a treat!

Sounds vaguely similar to what I did with mine. Works well and no more jumping screwdriver blade. :beerbang:

Warren -

 

[stillscottish]

That was me!

Shhh, I'm reading this at work just now and it keeps getting in the way of proper attribution.

Campbell
having a reasonably quiet arvo so far

 

[Maxt]

Dyna bolt just happily crushed 6kg of grain tonight. Has not missed a beat since I put it on (after I used a screwdriver bit on the drill and gouged the beejezus out of the spindle).

 

[dicko]

Hah! Good old Marga Molino!!

I modified and used one for a good many AG brews when I first started out.
They are a good mill and do the job quite well.
All Marga users need to know that the mill is essentually is a flour mill and it its original form will produce flour (for bread making).
The gearing on a Marga Mill has a differential between the rollers to deliberately create a "tearing" effect on the grain husks (so as to easily achieve "flour")
The gap you choose, create, redrill, etc, needs to be in direct relation to the speed at which you drive the mill.
For example, if you are driving the mill at high speed you will need a wider gap so as not to produce too much flour, in comparison to if you are turning it at hand cranking speed you will generally achieve a lot of grains that aren't fully broken open.
Pick a speed with a variable speed drill or a fixed electric motor that remains the same each time you use the mill for malted barley for brewing so that you will achieve the same crush and therefore achieve the same (or close to) efficiency every time you crack grains to create your favourite brew.
If at all possible, get rid of the plastic hopper that is supplied with the mill and build a hopper that supplies the mill with grains that will cover the full length of the rollers.
Speed is not that important with cracking malted barley for beer production in the HB situation but the uniform cracking and being able to reproduce the same result each time is paramount when brewing the same recipe time after time.
I no longer have the pics of my modified Marga Molino but a hopper is very easy to make out of MDF Board that slips into the top of the mill body and covers the rollers with grain to produce a reasonably speedy crush without having to run the mill rollers at high speed.

I hope that all you Marga users achieve your desired results,
BTW I am not Italian and not married to an Itilian and have no affiliation with the manufacturers of the Marga Molino Flour Mill.

Cheers

 

[Ross]

Went round the other morning to drop off some grain to RichardR & while we had a breakfast beer he showed me his Marga setup - His hopper mod was nothing short of brilliant, for us tool challenged individuals - Straight off the shelf from Bunnings, just slots straight into the exisiting hopper - How easy is that
Richard is a retiree who has just made the plunge into AG, so shows you're never too late to start - He's putting a great little rig together & already making beautiful beer - Great work mate :super:



Cheers Ross

 

[blackbock]

Ross is that one of those 'leaf eater' things? :unsure: