Mill Motors

[Fat Bastard]

I wouldn't dare play my vinyl on a Jaycar turntable!

Anyway, got it all rigged up:


I'd just like to thank the folks at Motion Dynamics, who went way over and above to assist me with setting it up. Service of the highest order. Buy your motors from 'em.

And it's a good bit of kit too. I did make it jam when testing, by throwing a handful of rye with the mill closed all the way up, but that's not really a real world situation. Handled my normal grist with aplomb.

 

[razz]

Nice job FB, did the folks at MD recommend the heat sink?

 

[Fat Bastard]

Thanks, it was part of the package!

The little box was my idea though!

 

[Milk-lizard84]

That's a nice enclosure Fat barstad. Where did you get it from? Do you have the power supply in an enclosure as well?

 

[CmdrRyekr]

How picky are these with input voltage? The website says 12v/24v/36v/48v but I'm wondering how close to that number it needs to be, or only in the range. I've rigged mine up to an 18V DeWalt battery, but it it switches on, the motor moves, then immediately switches off again. The power light stays on. Thinking it's the board picking up the excess voltage and cutting the power. Motor works when connected directly to 6v (didn't want to connect to 18V directly incase it damaged the motor. Haven't tried a 12v power source as yet, but will in the morning. No multimeter available to check the potentiometer or the output voltages, or anything on the board.

Any thoughts guys?

 

[CmdrRyekr]

Looks like the potentiometer is screwed. Switched to another one and it works OK.

 

[Camo6]

Never. The internet is for ETERRRRNITY!

Come on, spill. What did you do?

 

[nosco]

Never. The internet is for ETERRRRNITY!

Come on, spill. What did you do?

Not much I could do Camo. I just had to make do with a half assed mill. I crushed 2kg for some starter wort I did as a test for my kettle control replacment. I managed to crush it but had to stop 3 times to vacuum out the stuck grain. Only lost about 1/2 a cup. I cant really blame the mini mill for my total lack off electric motor knowledge and **** DIY skills. So getting back on topic ill have to get a MD motor asap.

 

[Camo6]

Not much I could do Camo. I just had to make do with a half assed mill. I crushed 2kg for some starter wort I did as a test for my kettle control replacment. I managed to crush it but had to stop 3 times to vacuum out the stuck grain. Only lost about 1/2 a cup. I cant really blame the mini mill for my total lack off electric motor knowledge and **** DIY skills. So getting back on topic ill have to get a MD motor asap.

My mistake. I read your post as if you'd made a simple error and all was well in the world and we'd all look back and laugh at that post in a few years and remember the simple times.

If your rollers are sticking with grain sounds like you may have an issue with your gap or knurling. I've never had that issue but, if you're not already aware, there's been an issue with the knurling on some mini mills. There's a couple of threads on it somewhere.

My brass bearing did creep out over time on the shaft side of mine but I think it was more to do with shaft alignment to the motor and hasn't happened since I reposition with the MD setup.

Definitely get yourself an MD motor. Awesome bit of gear and well priced for the quality of components. Nothing beats milling your own grain when you decide to brew on a whim.


Edit: Just noticed you're using direct drive with an AC motor yeah? From what I've seen, others use a pulley arrangement and a capacitor for startup. AC motors have pretty poor starting torque hence the reason for using a DC motor.

 

[clickeral]

Anyone know the hole size for the pin on the motor? Going to pick up some pins tonight but dont have the size on me

 

[nosco]

And then there was the goat incident

Sorry Stu I got nothin. I did have a funny meme about goats and cars down on the old mill road but the site wouldnt let me use it. Honest.

The problem is totally with the bread machine motor Camo. Not enough torque. I didnt have any problems crushing when I used a drill but thats when I had problems with the brass bearings. I just finished crushing 3.5kg of grains and it only took me 2 hours :lol: . I did mess around with the gap a bit which did help but not much. Plus it was half wheat. Hopefully my wife feels sorry for me enough to get an MD motor.

 

[Grainer]

Still mucking around with mine since Im not an electrician ..makes life a little difficult esp when I want to add LED switched and an AMP/VOLT meter to the setup.. may need to get an electrician to give it the once over.. then will post the results

 

[Fat Bastard]

That's a nice enclosure Fat barstad. Where did you get it from? Do you have the power supply in an enclosure as well?

The enclosure for the unit is a TiBox from Jaycar. I got a basic grey plastic job for the powersupply from the same place. Didn't take a pic of it, because it is boring looking!

Anyone know the hole size for the pin on the motor? Going to pick up some pins tonight but dont have the size on me

4mm. I reckon you could use a 1/2" shaft down the hole in the gearbox too. 12mm was kind of loose. It shouldn't matter much though.

Still mucking around with mine since Im not an electrician ..makes life a little difficult esp when I want to add LED switched and an AMP/VOLT meter to the setup.. may need to get an electrician to give it the once over.. then will post the results

Cant wit to see it. It'll look like the control panel for a nuclear power station!

 

[motiondynamics]

Nosco,
Dude! that sounds brutal !!!!
You did a nice job of installing it though, it looks great and would actually be pretty simple to install one of our motors as you've already done all of the hard work for the mounting!
But if you want to run the bread maker motor you need to seriously gear it down if you want any sort of usable torque, the motor is just too under powered for any serious milling (serious milling starts at 10 simultaneous grains being crushed at once) You had 9 !!. Right on the limit of reality !

Fat *******, any feedback on the controller? We haven't had any complaints so far, but we've received no feedback either... usually that's a good thing, but it'd be nice to know if there's places where it can be improved!

Obsessed
What are you actually trying to add? You should throw some pictures up, as there's plenty of talented people here ready to step in and laugh at you :beerbang:
Sometimes, they'll even offer help and advice!

 

[desitter]

Great product. I haven't had a chance to tune the current limiting on the controller yet, but I'm more than happy with what I've seen so far (pictures to come). I have two suggestions for added functionality if you're looking for feedback? The first would be to allow the momentary switch to reverse the motor when the latching switch has been pressed, even when NOT in overload mode. At present it appears that the only way to reverse the motor is after an excess of current has been detected.

With a large amount of grain to mill and the addition of current sensing, it would be nice to leave the mill unsupervised while it does it's thing without worrying about it being left spinning with nothing more to mill. If the controller could use its existing current sensing to know when it's just running idle, say if it senses 10-20 seconds < 3A, or around whatever the idle current is, then it could brake the motor as if detecting an excess of current. Perhaps future iterations of such a board could output ~12V to a specific pin for the purpose of triggering a relay/alarm.

EDIT: Post some pics and info Grainer, we'll be more than happy to help where we can.

 

[contrarian]

Am finally building my set up after having this motor for over a year. All going well so far with the exception of realizing I will need to relearn to solder after many years if I want an on/off switch and pot. When I get there I'll post some pics.

 

[motiondynamics]

Desitter,
Thanks! That's really good feedback!
Good idea too!

I'll make these changes with the next software revision!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Desitter,
Thanks! That's really good feedback!
Good idea too!

I'll make these changes with the next software revision!

If you get a machine shop on board to make a stack of rollers for you I think you have the market sewn up

 

[Fat Bastard]

Nosco,
Dude! that sounds brutal !!!!
You did a nice job of installing it though, it looks great and would actually be pretty simple to install one of our motors as you've already done all of the hard work for the mounting!
But if you want to run the bread maker motor you need to seriously gear it down if you want any sort of usable torque, the motor is just too under powered for any serious milling (serious milling starts at 10 simultaneous grains being crushed at once) You had 9 !!. Right on the limit of reality !

Fat *******, any feedback on the controller? We haven't had any complaints so far, but we've received no feedback either... usually that's a good thing, but it'd be nice to know if there's places where it can be improved!

Obsessed
What are you actually trying to add? You should throw some pictures up, as there's plenty of talented people here ready to step in and laugh at you :beerbang:
Sometimes, they'll even offer help and advice!

I think a latching switch for the brake would be nice. Most of my comments would be around the size of the board. By far the biggest pain was trying to find a box to fit it neatly, the ones that would, were huge! I also replaced my on/off switch with a Sprecher and Schuh pushbutton type, which is probably overkll, but I feared my ham fistedness would kill the stock unit! Also, round buttons would be nice, as its far easier to make a round hole than a square hole.

Very minor stuff. It's a great product, with great post sales backup & service!

 

[jibba02]

Desitter,
Thanks! That's really good feedback!
Good idea too!

I'll make these changes with the next software revision!

what's involved in firmware update?