Mm3-2.0-ss

[komodo]

Right I've got the shits up.

I had my mill going great guns but I was never happy with the setup from a safety (and dare I say aesthetic) perspective.

So I stripped my setup and marked out a new bit of MDF and set my mill, hopper and motor up. But I must be doing something wrong as I cant get the ******* to run! It keeps locking up with grain.
Does anyone know the spacings for the mounting holes for a MM3-2.0(-SS)? as I think my issue is that I havent got the spacings right and the rollers arent running true which is causing the lock up.
I've thrown my board out now and I'm going to start again now so if someone has suggestions - fire away!

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Is it a torque issue?

Do the rollers spin freely when there is no grain?

Cheers

 

[Kingbrownbrewing]

Right I've got the shits up.

I had my mill going great guns but I was never happy with the setup from a safety (and dare I say aesthetic) perspective.

So I stripped my setup and marked out a new bit of MDF and set my mill, hopper and motor up. But I must be doing something wrong as I cant get the ******* to run! It keeps locking up with grain.
Does anyone know the spacings for the mounting holes for a MM3-2.0(-SS)? as I think my issue is that I havent got the spacings right and the rollers arent running true which is causing the lock up.
I've thrown my board out now and I'm going to start again now so if someone has suggestions - fire away!

I have the exact same mill, what I did was mount it on a MDF board that was part of the shelving in a kit I bought from bunnings. Works a treat.

I would suggest drilling in one side first, screwing it in, the put the whole thing together as tight as possible (where the rollers can still move of course), then you can figure out where the other side has to be drilled.

Once you have your 4 holes drilled and you are happy that it is tight enough, you can cut the rectangle hole in it.

I dont think that the rollers wouldn't work even if the holes were a little further away than you wanted, they should still turn.

The only problem I have seen with mine is that after about 10-15 mills you probably want to pull it apart and give it a clean, this is evident when only the roller attached to the drill/ motor will turn and the others wont.

Couple of questions though....

1. have you tried it with anything other that the motor (corded drill)?
2. have you oiled the ends of all 3 rollers with sewing machine oil (2 drops on each will suffice)

 

[komodo]

Torque issue I doubt - I've got a 1hp 240V motor 1425RP motor on it with a 10" pully on the mill and a 1.25" pully on the motor. Never had an issue with torque the way it was setup (im regretting stripping it more and more - should have just left it)
I'm more than convinced its an alignment issue as I've noticed "grooves" have cut into the end plate where the roller as bitten into the aluminium
I've just found the original instructions in PDF online
and a thread on HBT about pretty much the exact same issue so I'm going to try a few things tonight.

Seems I should have my holes drilled using a 5/16" (7.94mm) bit and spaced 3-7/8" (98.43mm) x 6-5/8" (168.27mm) square.

 

[komodo]

So I got some 12mm aluminium plates laser cut to square it up. I got a plate for the underside, a plate for the top side with a narrower hole for the grain feed and two plates to clamp the hopper which I chopped the sides off.
I mounted the mill on the underside of the board with its top and bottom plates then the MDF board on top of the top plate then the hopper on top. Didnt end up using the two plates to clamp the hopper. Its working like a dream! better than ever before. I'll get pics later.
Got me wondering about contacting some of my suppliers about making up components to make another mill though...

 

[mikk]

You'll notice that the adjustment knobs move the lower roller in a rotary movement- not straight up/down or back/forth. Adjustment needs to be made to adjust the gap to the upper front roller, but you also NEED to ensure that the knob is turned in the appropriate (CORRECT) direction so as to minimise the gap between the lower roller & upper rear roller.
The lower roller/upper rear roller gap NEEDS to be smaller than the lower roller/upper front roller gap.
You'll also notice that the adjustment knobs might need to be turned in different directions to make this happen. Moving the knobs the same way will lead to mis-alignment of the rollers & cause wear between the rollers & side plates.
Also, make sure the sideplates are aligned properly, or the rollers become too stiff to turn.

This is a great mill, once it's set up properly. Don't be tempted to mill your grain too finely, either. 1mm absolute minimum, imho.

 

[reVoxAHB]

Torque issue I doubt - I've got a 1hp 240V motor 1425RP motor on it with a 10" pully on the mill and a 1.25" pully on the motor.

I've plugged your info into a pulley belt RPM speed calculator and it's showing the large pulley at an RPM of 178.1, which is absolutely fine. I've spoken with Frank on these mills and he's advised anything from 100-300 rpm will do the trick, 200 being a good ballpark to shoot for. IMO, it's safe to rule-out torque as issue especially as you've mentioned you never had a problem with it before stripping it down.

my 2c

reVox

 

[komodo]

Pics (sorry crappy iphone camera and a shakey opperator)


Pic from the undriven top roller side showing the thickness of the plates top and bottom

showing the bottom plate - this has a large opening the top plate has a smaller opening (a bit larger than large enough for the hopper to poke through)

Showing the driven top roller side.

Pic of the setup (having the boys make me up a steel bench for is soon)



Only issue is a bit of grain does sit on the bottom plate but thats easily brushed off.

 

[komodo]

hind sight I should have put a radius on the corners - they are fricken sharp (tore my pants and sliced the shit out of my fingers) and being square edges will be prone to cracking from the inside of the square opening. Im hoping the thickness of the material is enough to absorb the vibrations though.

I also had some additional clamping plate made but didnt have to use them in the end.
Very happy (again) with the mill now!

 

[komodo]

Mikk you're right re the adjustment. You need to move the two of them (adjusters) looking at the mill with the roller running east west and the undriven roller closest to you so that the eccentric action moves from the top towards the driven roller and back down then take the gap measurement as it comes closer and starts to complet the circle. Does that make sence?
I think i may have adjusted them incorrectly with my original setup wich caused the scuffing on the end plates which has lead the to jamming and issues I've ended up with

 

[komodo]

So after a few years use the board between two chairs gave up the ghost last brew day.
So I got the boys to knock me up a bench.
6mm steel plate top and 50 x 50 x 3 EA with 100kg rated castors all HD galvanized - should outlast me

 

[QldKev]

Looks great, a nice solid build.

 

[MastersBrewery]

hell Komodo you taking orders,
all you need is the bling scales and some pro's would be cutting your throat for that set up!
Nice work thus far, my only tip if your still having dramas is to sand down any scored areas as much as possible and ensure the mill is set square, failing this you may need if you can get replacements parts from MM.

best of luck

MB

 

[BeerCoAU]

Hey

Komodo
That's some serious Mill porn right there man, I think you are almost like hospital surgeon like precision there bro with that bench. I'm with @Singlehandedbrewing - are you taking orders for that benchtop cause I want one!

cheers,
DD

 

[komodo]

Yeah @MastersBrewery I got the mill working ages back in 2011. I had some 1/2" aluminium plates laser cut to square up the frame and make it rigid. This upgrade was because since then I'd had it mounted crappily on a bit of 16mm MDF that I used to sit on two chairs with the bucked underneath. But the weight of the mill and motor slowly sagged the board (it was only ever done like that 'temporarily') and last time I brewed it took three of us to hold the board so we could get tension on the pulley to drive the mill so I cracked the shits and told the work shop to knock me up something to hold it. They get carried away at times

I could turn these out all day every day but no one would buy them. Theres over $100 worth of casters alone on there. With the casters, bench, galvanizing, mill and the ally plates you wouldn't have much change from $1k. And really to sell them commercially I'd need to put a guard on the belt, put a safety of some form on the hopper to stop people sticking their hand into the rollers & I'd have to source an explosion proof motor. Not saying its out of the realms of the possible and if someone was interested I could look into getting it all done for them but I'm warning anyone that wanted me to get this done - it wouldn't be cheap.

I have actually looked at building mills locally. I wanted to build something versatile enough to crush small batches of grapes, apples and still precise enough to crush grains. I have ideas and I'm looking at lathes & mills for another hobby.
As for what I do though - I run a large structural steel fabrication workshop. Things like this are 'strays' that I get the apprentice to knock out when we're a bit quiet (like we have been this whole year...). Gives him the opportunity to use his own noggin rather than always referring to shop drawings to build something and also gives him a chance to work with light material like this for a change.