Millmaster Mill

[reVoxAHB]

I dont know if this pic is clear enough but I made mine from a clear piece of thin easy to cut perspex it just slides down the side of the hopper and stops the grain going in the gears works a treat simple .
pumpy

I fashioned a temporary gear guard out of one side of the cardboard box.

I eagerly await the arrival of my MM - seems a gear guard is essential. I will be knocking up a wooden hopper extender so can do 10kg approx. in one go.

Do you reckon a thin piece of MDF, fitted to gears at bottom, with the top somehow affixed to the hopper extension would work? The thought is, as I slide the extender into place, the mdf gear guard fits in too, all in 1 piece (at the same time). MDF came to mind as I could easily attach it to the wooden extension.

Alternately, my aunt has an extra sheet of SS she's offered me.. would be a beaut knocking everything up in SS, but I wouldn't know where to start.

Cheers,
reVox

 

[cliffo]

Do you reckon a thin piece of MDF, fitted to gears at bottom, with the top somehow affixed to the hopper extension would work? The thought is, as I slide the extender into place, the mdf gear guard fits in too, all in 1 piece (at the same time). MDF came to mind as I could easily attach it to the wooden extension.
Cheers,
reVox

reVox,

I think MDF would be way too thick for use as the gear guard.

The cardboard I used (guessing 1mm thick) slots nicely down the side just over the gears and worked great.

Having said that, I'm not all that handy with such things so maybe you could get it to work.
cliffo

 

[cliffo]

Just took a reading from the brew I put down today and came up with 72% efficiency.

Thats better than I have been getting having various HBS crack my grain so I'm happy.

I've adjusted the mill a bit tighter for the brew I'm doing tomorrow so will see what effect that has on efficiency - I know it was a lot harder to pull the grain through so hopefully no stuck sparge.

All in all I'm a happy camper.

cliffo

 

[geoff_tewierik]

Mill is now motorised.

I used a 12V DC motor, a spider coupler, a 240V AC to 12V DC power adaptor, some wire and a 3.5mm socket, all from Jaycar.

I pulled the spider coupler apart and took one of the metal pieces, removed the grub screw and drilled out the 6mm hole to 1/2" to fit the drive axle on the Millmaster. I wired up the 3.5mm socket to the DC motor, using 5" lengths of wire. I then fitted the drilled out metal part of the spider coupler to the mill fitting the grub screw into the keyway and the other one to the DC motor with the grub screw tightened down onto the flat part of the shaft, connecting the two pieces of equipment together via the blue plastic central piece of the coupler.

Plugged in the power back to the wall socket, connected the 3.5mm plug into the socket and turned on the power pack. The motor easily turned the mill over. I need to now mount the whole lot onto a board which I'm planning on siting over the top of the Mash tun. I picked up some 1 & 1/2" saddle clips to go around the motor and hold it down on the board.

In the scheme of things a drive to Jaycar for some bits and pieces and not even ten minutes of work and it was all up and running. Now it's just a matter of throwing in some grain and getting the settings right for a good crush. If it does a good job, great, if not, I'll upgrade the motor to something with a bit more torque but with 50kg/cm or 4.2Nm on tap (if I use a grunty power supply) I don't think it'll be a massive issue for me.

Cheers,

GT

 

[razz]

G'day Geoff, good luck with the motor turning the mill. I found that I had to close the gap in the bottom of the millmaster hopper to reduce the amount of grain going through. I used some plastic sheet cut from an ice-cream container. This made a noticeable reduction on the amount of work required to turn the mill.

 

[bindi]

Thank you Pumpy :super: what a great guy.

Now to get a handle for it, in my haste I forgot to order the crank. :unsure:
I had the mill setup on a stand in half an hour of its arrival [yesterday], just removed the Marga mill from the stand and cut a bigger hole and bolted in on, but no bloody handle to do a test grind.

Ok, got the handle today, happy as , connect it, also easy, wind handle and opps it hits parts of the stand [made for a Marga mill], bugger, make a new base plate for this mill after much cursing, cutting etc, and again happy as.

Works a treat, I just love looking at this mill, what a monster [sorry MillMaster].

 

[Pumpy]

The perspex gear guarsds went in the post Monday picked up six o clock in the evening by the truck

pumpy

 

[danman]

i took my mill into work today(partly coz its all ive talked about for the last week!) because i too had to sand the woodruff key down. a bit of elbow grease and some emery tape sorted that out. i also found that the handle was tight after it caught on the casting in the centre of the handle hole. a quick 5 mins with a round file and the handle slipped on like a finger in a bum
so now to make a frame and start crankin some grain
these days are sooo happy

cheers,dan

P.S. if you need a hammer something aint right,look before you belt!

 

[bindi]

The perspex gear guarsds went in the post Monday picked up six o clock in the evening by the truck

pumpy

:super: :super: SUPER Pumpy.

Edit: Good session.

 

[bindi]

The perspex gear guarsds went in the post Monday picked up six o clock in the evening by the truck

pumpy

Mine arrived today, could not wait to fit it and fits perfect in the mill, also looks good..
Thanks Pumpy, :super: :super: what a legend.

 

[Pumpy]

Mine arrived today, could not wait to fit it and fits perfect in the mill, also looks good..
Thanks Pumpy, :super: :super: what a legend.

Glad you like it Bindi,

It is very difficult to hand crank the Mill without the Gear Guard .

Pumpy

 

[bindi]

One or two clicks past 12 o clock is about 1mm gap it may be a bit too fine for some peoples set up but my mash tun and pump handles it niceley

I have a hand crank handle as it is so easy to crush.

I dont really require a motor at this stage in life .

pumpy

12 o'clock position for me too. I tried it at up to 3 settings closer but I have problems fly sparging. I'm still using the hand crank, the brew I just knocked out on Monday gave excellent efficiency and the sparge was great !
Hey Pumpy, you forgot to say, you're not a brewer until...........

Mashed grain milled at the 12 O'clock position today and thought it was a little too fine <_< came close to a stuck sparge [very slow].
Next crush I did as per Pumpy photo [just past 12 o'clock] and found it the Perfect crush.
Oh, milled by hand, have not done that for awhile, good exercise.

 

[cliffo]

Mine arrived today, could not wait to fit it and fits perfect in the mill, also looks good..
Thanks Pumpy, :super: :super: what a legend.

Got mine today as well.

Thanks Pumpy - good bit of gear is your gear guard (pun intended) :super:

cliffo

 

[jlm]

Just used mine for the first time, using a 750W Makita on low, no problems, took less than a minute I'd say. Had mine on the twelve o'clock setting as well, and had the same thought as Bindi, looked a little fine so I threw in some rice hulls, will see how the sparge goes soon. Good fun, I wanna crush more grain, but will have to wait til monday, here's to the long weekend :beer: (If you in QLD that is)

 

[reVoxAHB]

It is very difficult to hand crank the Mill without the Gear Guard .

Pumpy

I learned this the hard way <_< . Knocked up a gear guard template using cardboard- will later replace with a more permanent solution like 1mm plastic, etc. Cardboard held up fine for a crush on Saturday, tho





1 setting past 12 crush yielding 87% efficiency:


I must say, hand-cranking the crush was really satisfying.

Cheers,
reVox

 

[brettprevans]

I havent got mine from the bulk buy yet. I want my mill! I want to try out all this nifty things. very jelous.

 

[bakkerman]

This topic is a godsend.. got the mill in last week, knocked up a stand from some Ivar planks I had spare (good old Ikea) and couldn't get the bloody crank to go round past six o clock.

I thought I had mounted the hopper wrong or something, getting grain in the gear. Anticipated brew day gone...

Pumpy, can you post a template for that most excellent design?

 

[warra48]

I'm loving this mill.
I did a brew last Wednesday, 50% wheat and 50% premiun pilsner malts. The gap was set at 1 mm, but I did run the wheat through twice. The sparge was slow, as I didn't use gulls, but the efficiency into the boiler was 91% according to Beersmith.
Did a Brown Ale last Saturday, with the gap set at 1.2 mm, but all the specialty malts were run through twice. Efficiency into the boiler, according to Beersmith, was an unbelievable 95%.
At that level of efficiency, it will pay for itself eventually in savings in the grain bill.
It's made so well, I reckon my son will inherit it, if he ever moves out of K&K brewing.

 

[GMK]

Ok - I must saythanks to Pumpy for the perspex - most excellent.

I am not sure with this 12 O'Clok stuff as mine were delivered out of alignment.
I have sent mine at 1.5mm - worked really good with the motor.
Will try at 1.25mm next time... you will need a 3mm key.

Very happy now it is motorised.

Edit: added the key ...

 

[mika]

Think you'll find that's 4mm Ken. Standard size for a 12mm shaft