Marga Muino Mill Adjustments

[arsenewenger]

Thanks Andrew and Gough for the advice .

Those pictures have come in real handy .
The Marga Mill I found was $105 from Bake and Brew in SA so i thinnk that price is not to badd as i can put a washing machine motor that i have on it and make a larger hopper as well

Cheers
AW

 

[warrenlw63]

Just a word of warning.

Don't go totally ham-fisted like I did with mine. I used the cut-off screwdriver in the drill and unfortunately the bit jumped out of the slot a couple of times.

The slot in the Marga isn't very strong and slipping bit caused it to get worse under the torque of the crushing grain. Eventually the slot wore out completely and to my eyes rather easily.

Now this is not a common predicament for Marga owners but I found that the slot on mine did not spin in a proper concentric circle. This is what I thought may have caused the drill to jump and strip the slot.

My remedy was to clean the hole out a little and force a bolt into the shaft. A couple of taps with the mallet to drive the bolt in further then I removed the plate of the side of the mill and drilled a hole through the edge of the roller and the bolt. Then I inserted a small 5/32 bolt through the hole to pin both together.

Early testing with a few cups of grain looks good. I've also attached the spider coupler to balance out the mis-alignment. This works quite well. :beerbang:

Warren -

 

[warrenlw63]

Another pic of the coupler.

Warren -

 

[Trough Lolly]

Excellent tip Warren!
My Marga is a bit worn out after crushing many kilo's of grain and this is a mod that I will do in the near future - thanks!

The old Marga is a great mill, and it's the best $80 I ever spent...

Cheers,
TL

 

[warrenlw63]

No worries TL.

It's actually a fairly easy mod to make. Just take the plate off on the crank side. There's a bit of the roller that's narrowed down and protrudes out. With a bit of care you can drill a hole through the side and through the bolt. Then it's just a matter of 'pinning' it with a smaller screw (or even a split pin or circlip :unsure: ). I made sure it was a tight fit. The 5/32 bolt virtually self-tapped through this hole to eliminate any play.

No guarantees of the longevity. I've only tested it with a couple of cups of grain thus far. Seems sturdy though. The spider coupler will take the mis-alignment shudders away and probably reduce stress on the bolt.

Warren -

 

[Ross]

How's the windscreen wiper attachment going Warren?

i've got the parts, but held off doing mine, waiting for your report


Cheers Ross

 

[deadly]

How did you get the end cap off the adjustment knob?it wouldnt budge for me so i taped it in position

 

[warrenlw63]

How's the windscreen wiper attachment going Warren?

i've got the parts, but held off doing mine, waiting for your report


Cheers Ross

[post="124376"][/post]​

Not that good Ross. If I was waiting for the low RPMs of a wiper motor to crush 9kg of grain I think I'd die from boredom.

Being the impatient person I am I shelved the wiper motor and just stuck with a drill. There's a greater chance of crushing the grain within 30 minutes this way with some care.

I also found the wiper motor stopping inexplainably and having to turn the battery charger on and off a couple of times to restart. I'm wondering if a 4 amp charger is a little underpowered for the job? :unsure:

Warren -

 

[warrenlw63]

How did you get the end cap off the adjustment knob?it wouldnt budge for me so i taped it in position

[post="124377"][/post]​

G'day Deadly

It was a total p***k to get off! :angry:

I wound up carefully drilling a hole in it and cutting it off with some snips and pulling with some pliers. Not pretty but it eventually worked. Needless to say don't expect to be able to put the cap back on again any time soon. You don't need it anyway. :lol:

Warren -

 

[crells]

If you pull out the rollers, there is a hole on the reverse side of the knob where you can push small diameter wire in to pop out the cap.

 

[AndrewQLD]

OR, you can simply get a small thin flat screwdriver and gently pry around the crack between the knob and the cap, mine levered out very easily with a bit of care.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[warrenlw63]

That's what I tried Andrew and it wouldn't move a muscle. Then I tried tapping with a nail punch on the edge and it still resisted.

Then I drilled a small hole in the edge, hooked through a bit of wire and tried to pull but to no avail.

Then I just lost the plot and decided to cut with the snips, then levered and the little bugger gave way.

As stated earlier. The mill functions just fine without it anyway. :lol:

Warren -

 

[Gough]

I used the flat screwdriver end of a swiss army knife bottle opener :lol: Came off no worries and has gone back on easily too.

Shawn.

 

[Borret]

The Marga family photo :lol:



Brent

 

[deadly]

sounds like mine is the same as yours Warren,tried the screwdriver then nailpunch then drilled and its still on there! doesnt look pretty anymore.

edit to add unsmiley

 

[deadly]

BTW i found that the charger would cut out on the faster off the 2 wiper speeds,it has to be the slowest setting-and it does take awhlie to crush but there are plenty of other things to do while its going.

 

[jayse]

How did you get the end cap off the adjustment knob?it wouldnt budge for me so i taped it in position

[post="124377"][/post]​

Thats all I did too! I'am very happy with my marga and its been going for near on 4 years, I widened the hopper slot and attached a bigger carboard hopper to it.
I run mine with a power drill with a 10mm spade bit slotted in. The handle doesn't fit back in very nicely anymore because the slot has been widened but no big deal.
Warrens idea looks cool so if it ever does widen anymore i'll have to end up doing that. So far its fine though.
You can run these things pretty fast but with the power drill and the noisy rollers at that speed it is pretty loud.

Anyway I'am not adding anything that has'nt been mentioned before really just post whoring my post count up. :lol:


Alcohol fueled brewtality.
Jayse

 

[Trough Lolly]

Actually, I've never used the drill bit attachment - always hand cranked the grains. That way if people ask about my thick forearms and hairy hands, I tell them that I'm an all grain brewer and they quickly walk the other way....

TL

 

[arsenewenger]

Is is possible tyo add a motor from a washing machine with a fanbelt . Has anyone attempted this or got it going.

Cheers
TK :beer:

 

[Ash in Perth]

i bought a modified one fomr grumpys. ever seen those 5L heinken kegs around? i got an empty one off a swill loving mate and cut it up. cut the top off and the bottom was cut into flaps which i screwed in the the inside of the existing hopper so it can still be removed easily for cleaning. works great as long as you beat the bottom a bit so it is angled downwards.