Mill Motors

[real_beer]

Just picked up my mill and need to figure out how I'll going to power it.

You could keep an eye out for one of these:

I was lucky and picked this one up for $15 at a Recycle Tip while looking for a transformer to make a Styrofoam cutter.
To switch the power from AC to DC I bolted the ZR-1324 Bridge Rectifier onto the side (about $6 from Jaycar) and Bob's your auntie.

Because the MashMaster 1 Mill is such a big brute I got the bigger SC450G geared motor from Oatley Electronics instead of the SC250G but then needed plenty of amps to power it.
They're are similar transformers to this around so you might want to keep an eye out for one that might suit your setup. Until I found mine I just wheeled the mill to the car & used its battery.

 

[white.grant]

Why use a PC power supply?
Ebay has heaps of them, all cheap.


Just look for a suitable unit and buy it!

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12V-20A-240W-Sw...=item35b49c930c

just buy a proper unit, cheap as chips!

I did just that, though as an early adopter I was slayed on the purchase price - think I was gouged $35 when I bought mine . It was (very)easy to wire up and works like a charm.

Motorising my mill master has been one of the best investments I've made in my brewing. Everytime I switch it on and it grinds away I cant help but smile.

cheers

grant

 

[motiondynamics]

I did just that, though as an early adopter I was slayed on the purchase price - think I was gouged $35 when I bought mine . It was (very)easy to wire up and works like a charm.

Motorising my mill master has been one of the best investments I've made in my brewing. Everytime I switch it on and it grinds away I cant help but smile.

cheers

grant

Yeh, they more expensive back then weren't they? Yours is probably less of a fire hazard than this one
I forget, I deal with this stuff every day. its like watching someone you see daily get fat... you don't notice it until they break the floorboards or there's no food in the fridge.

I'm glad you are happy with your motorized mill, it really makes all the torture of building the controllers worthwhile. I hate building those things.

 

[Mister Wilson]

Excuse my ignorance, but is this simply a matter of connecting a power cord to these (screw in the +, - and ground)? Or is there a specific cord that is needed. The sellers ad refers to no instructions or cord.

Cheers

Mr W

Why use a PC power supply?
Ebay has heaps of them, all cheap.


Just look for a suitable unit and buy it!

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12V-20A-240W-Sw...=item35b49c930c

just buy a proper unit, cheap as chips!

 

[Hammo7]

My mill motor turned up today, thanks Shane.
It is certainly a lot more motor that I was expecting!!

Will be hooking it up tonight (somehow)!
Will let you know how it goes.


Cheers!

 

[kjparker]

Excuse my ignorance, but is this simply a matter of connecting a power cord to these (screw in the +, - and ground)? Or is there a specific cord that is needed. The sellers ad refers to no instructions or cord.

Cheers

Mr W

Why use a PC power supply?
Ebay has heaps of them, all cheap.


Just look for a suitable unit and buy it!

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12V-20A-240W-Sw...=item35b49c930c

just buy a proper unit, cheap as chips!

Those ones require the mains side to be wired as well.

Using a pc power supply (I like the hot plug server ones) gives you a beefy (often more than 30 amps on the 12v line), with only minimal mods required.

Something like this is what i'm talking about... https://www.serversupply.com/HP-COMPAQ/POWE...ANT/ESP-135.htm

Sometimes as little as shorting two wires for a regular PC supply, with a server supply it can be a couple more connections, but they are still fairly simple, and if you can wire up a fridgemate, you'll have no trouble...

 

[Mister Wilson]

Those ones require the mains side to be wired as well.

Using a pc power supply (I like the hot plug server ones) gives you a beefy (often more than 30 amps on the 12v line), with only minimal mods required.

Something like this is what i'm talking about... https://www.serversupply.com/HP-COMPAQ/POWE...ANT/ESP-135.htm

Sometimes as little as shorting two wires for a regular PC supply, with a server supply it can be a couple more connections, but they are still fairly simple, and if you can wire up a fridgemate, you'll have no trouble...

OK, so I found this that seems to explain the wiring side of things needed for the server power supply ...

http://sites.google.com/site/tjinguytech/my-projects/HP47A

Looks like a few bits from Jaycar and you are away.

 

[kjparker]

OK, so I found this that seems to explain the wiring side of things needed for the server power supply ...

http://sites.google.com/site/tjinguytech/my-projects/HP47A

Looks like a few bits from Jaycar and you are away.

Yep thats the one....

 

[Cannibal Smurf]

Ordered motor and controller from MD yesterday, looking forward to delivery day

 

[kieran]

Hi Shane,

Mine arrived last week, thankyou very much. I haven't hooked it up yet.. i need to properly think about how I'm going to set it up.

Do you have a CAD or technical/3D plan file for it? or a document with all its dimensions?
hmmm..
EDIT

How thick is it? I see its 236mm long, 134.5mm high, and 76+x mm thick. I measured 9cm-ish yesterday..

cheers,
Kieran

 

[Paul H]

Guys,
I have an original Mashmaster Mill & am looking to motorize it with a drill (as I would kill myself & those around me if I tried to wire up a motor & stand). Any suggestions on what capacity drill I would need for such an endeavour?

:icon_cheers:

Paul

 

[gwb]

Guys,
I have an original Mashmaster Mill & am looking to motorize it with a drill (as I would kill myself & those around me if I tried to wire up a motor & stand). Any suggestions on what capacity drill I would need for such an endeavour?

:icon_cheers:

Paul

Hi Paul,
I use one of these http://www.ozito.com.au/spade-handle-drill-1050w on my Monster Mill 2 at the moment. It was ~$90 from big green place. Tried a number of other drills that I have in the shed including a large variable speed Bosch with 2 speed gear box (~750W) but not enough torque at low speeds.


I'm currently waiting for one of the motion dynamics motors to be delivered. The drill works well, but requires setup/teardown and hands on operation.


Good luck, Greg

 

[white.grant]

Guys,
I have an original Mashmaster Mill & am looking to motorize it with a drill (as I would kill myself & those around me if I tried to wire up a motor & stand). Any suggestions on what capacity drill I would need for such an endeavour?

:icon_cheers:

Paul

Hand drills don't work so well with the Mashmaster, you need quite a lot of torque to get them started and keep them going. While you may find a drill powerful enough, hanging on to it while it crushes your grain won't be easy.

cheers

Grant

 

[kieran]

Hey all,

Can anyone help me - I'm looking for a shaft to drive my setup. The Mashmaster minimill is 1/2" (12.7mm), and the MotionDynamics wormdrive motor opening thingo is 12.5mm.

So I have 2x 1/2" Lovejoy coupling halves.. one fits beautifully onto my minimill... but now I need a shaft to connect the motor to the other half of the coupling.

12.5mm rod would be perfect - it needs to have a hole through the centre of it at one end for a split-pin or something ( which the wormdrive motor has a notch to fit one through ), and the other end needs just a notch for the grub-screw in the Lovejoy coupling to grab onto.

any ideas?
cheers
kieran

 

[bignath]

Guys,
I have an original Mashmaster Mill & am looking to motorize it with a drill (as I would kill myself & those around me if I tried to wire up a motor & stand). Any suggestions on what capacity drill I would need for such an endeavour?

Hi Paul,
I use one of these http://www.ozito.com.au/spade-handle-drill-1050w on my Monster Mill 2 at the moment. It was ~$90 from big green place. Tried a number of other drills that I have in the shed including a large variable speed Bosch with 2 speed gear box (~750W) but not enough torque at low speeds.

I have a mashmaster mini mill (geared rollers). I know it's not the original mashmaster as you have though..

Can also vouch for that ozito spade handle drill. Bought one on the weekend. Crushed a double batch of grain with it 2hours after purchasing it. 9kg's of grain into hopper. Attached drill, tightened the chuck, and tentatively pulled the trigger. Off she went beautifully and very easy to adjust the speed with the variable control. I'm gonna put a dob of liquid paper paint on one side of the chuck so i can roughly guage RPM as it spins - im a drummer so used to counting things in time with tempo etc...

Reckon it was roughly turning at around 200rpm on the seventh click up from 0 on the variable control. Too easy, monstrous amounts of torque. it would run at 75-100 rpm if you wanted it to.

I swear i heard it laughing devilishly at me whilst it was churning through my grain bill....

EDIT: would love to have a motorised mill so i could walk away and do other things, but my particular setup with how my mill is mounted won't allow for it. Trust me.

This drill however is the next best thing!

 

[Hogan]

Received my Motion Dynamics mill motor a month back and put it into operation as soon as I could set it up. An awesome bit of kit and it chomps through the grain in my Barley Crusher with ease. No trouble with the shaft connection, a piece of aluminium tube slotted straight on. I got a regulated switching power supply off ebay for $32 delivered (they are a lot cheaper now but there are varying degrees of quality for the same Asian knockoff). My good mate Kabooby did the sparky connect and she was firing. The torque is massive and the drive control allows for a perfect crush.

Thanks to Shane for making this available to the HB community.

Would definitely recommend one if you don't mind paying a bit more than you would for a drill.


Pics attached.


Cheers, Hoges.

 

[kieran]

View attachment 49837

Where did you get that case from? I'm looking for something similar for my setup.

 

[stueywhytcross]

Where did you get that case from? I'm looking for something similar for my setup.

Im also looking for larger cases to house one power suppy and controller.
Any ideas?

 

[balconybrewer]

below is rig with controllers, mill and motor attached. i got sick of having it separate and having to drag it out of the cupboard every brew day. easily the best brewing money spent thus far.

i would have liked one neat controller but all the ones i looked at were to big for my stand.

cheers

 

[white.grant]

Nice looking rig. That's how I hope mine will look in a about a year!

cheers

grant