Motorising A Mill

[QldKev]

Well the motor arrived the other day and I picked up a spider coupling from jaycar last night. Final piece of the puzzle is a power supply. Any idea where to get one? There's a pc store nearby and I guess I could grab a 350w psu. How to tell what amps the 12v rail will provide? Any other ideas for 12V 12A DC?

I found the PSU to be the cheapest option. Either a new one from the local computer shop or ebay. Otherwise have a look in the local paper there is normally someone who always runs a 'wanted pc parts' type advert; normally they will sell you one pretty cheap.

Most PSU will have at least 12A, as I think the minimum PSU is about 420w now; I just had an old one with 8A so I used it. All of them have the output rails listed on them. In you case I would make sure you have at least 12A as the larger rollers will require more torque to spin under load.



ps. If the pic is hard to read I have a clickable link to a large pic under 'mill' on my website.

QldKev

 

[cdbrown]

Ahh nice one Kev. I c you've just updated the website as I had to refresh to get the pic to display.

There's a Thermaltake Litepower 430W for about $40 at my local pc shop. Specs show two 12V rails each with 20A output. http://www.thermaltake.com.au/Products/Pow...epower430W.aspx
Guess it's a matter of chopping off the ATX 4-pin plug, use one of the yellow wires and a black wire and connect to the cable on the motor. Switch to suit direction requirements.

 

[dent]

You'll have to bridge the green wire to ground (pin 14 to one of the black wires ) to get the PSU started without a PC attached.

 

[mxd]

some instructions
http://web2.murraystate.edu/andy.batts/ps/powersupply.htm

 

[peter.b]

Hi lads,

I don't get onto AHB regularly but a while ago i posted some photo's of my home made mill. It will crush 12kg of grain in about 4mins on the slowest speed. And can adjust the gap on the fly,via the handle with the dial guage. I have a food grade plastic hopper that sits on top to deliver the grain.
The rollers are 200mm diameter and rotate at approx 100 rpm. I have tried faster speeds but this gives a good consistent crush
Beers, Pete.

 

[QldKev]

Hi lads,

I don't get onto AHB regularly but a while ago i posted some photo's of my home made mill. It will crush 12kg of grain in about 4mins on the slowest speed. And can adjust the gap on the fly,via the handle with the dial guage. I have a food grade plastic hopper that sits on top to deliver the grain.
The rollers are 200mm diameter and rotate at approx 100 rpm. I have tried faster speeds but this gives a good consistent crush
Beers, Pete.

Bit of a serious setup there. Love the fanbelt + gearbox working together

QldKev

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Linky HERE some usefull info.

BYB

 

[Bizier]

Hi lads,

I don't get onto AHB regularly but a while ago i posted some photo's of my home made mill. It will crush 12kg of grain in about 4mins on the slowest speed. And can adjust the gap on the fly,via the handle with the dial guage. I have a food grade plastic hopper that sits on top to deliver the grain.
The rollers are 200mm diameter and rotate at approx 100 rpm. I have tried faster speeds but this gives a good consistent crush
Beers, Pete.

What a mill!

 

[cdbrown]

Picked up a 500w PSU on Saturday which as 18A on the 12v rail. Cut away a yellow and black wire from a plug, bridged the green and black from the main motherboard plug and connected her up to the mill. At first I thought is was extremely slow but soon realised it was doing at least 100rpm. Just need to remove the nut and cog, grind down the thread and do some mods to the spider to make it all fit together.

 

[proudscum]

Well the motor arrived the other day and I picked up a spider coupling from jaycar last night. Final piece of the puzzle is a power supply. Any idea where to get one? There's a pc store nearby and I guess I could grab a 350w psu. How to tell what amps the 12v rail will provide? Any other ideas for 12V 12A DC?

I goggled 2nd hand PSU(Victoria) and you will just have to look through what they have there were a few at the required size for around $30-50.hope this is of some help.

 

[ekul]

To all you smart, well endowed people who have motorised your mills, does anyone have a crank handle for a monster mill that they aren't using anymore? I will gladly pay for it, postage from america is a killer! Wish i'd bought one when i bought my mill.

Currently i'm using a cheap drill from bunnings. It only has too speeds, off and flat out. So the grain gets shredded hard and a considerable amount of it blows away in the wind! I may as well be using a coffee grinder!

thanks

 

[cdbrown]

I tried out the motorised mill over the break and the motor is very powerful. Unfortunately when I drilled out one side of the coupler to match the 1/2" shaft on the mill it wasn't center which caused a fair bit of movement of the mill and with adding grain soon tore up the rubber piece in the coupler. Still managed to do 11kg of grain and it came out crushed quite nicely. Looking at getting a 1/4" - 1/2" coupler from the USA and will add another bracket to the motor to try and reduce the movement.

 

[Frag_Dog]

To all you smart, well endowed people who have motorised your mills, does anyone have a crank handle for a monster mill that they aren't using anymore? I will gladly pay for it, postage from america is a killer! Wish i'd bought one when i bought my mill.

Currently i'm using a cheap drill from bunnings. It only has too speeds, off and flat out. So the grain gets shredded hard and a considerable amount of it blows away in the wind! I may as well be using a coffee grinder!

thanks

I currently use a set of vice-grips on the shaft. They do mark the shaft, but its only cosmetic (at this stage anyway). I am just using this as a stop-gap measure until I can sort out a 240v Motor / pulley setup.

If you're looking for something to just get you by, try some vice-grips....

 

[NickB]

Bit of a thread necro, but finally got around to motorising my mill. Being the tightarse that I am, the only things I paid for out of the setup were the mill, the flywheel (thanks Ross) and the bucket. The rest were salvaged from work (electrical stuff) and from kerbside collections (the desk/stand itself) Works OK, but the mill stalls with the gap too small. I'm compensating by crushing twice at a larger setting. Seems to work OK, but the proof will be in the next brew day



The completed unit


Hopper


Motor from an old Dryer


The bucket and the grain chute....

Cheers!!!

 

[NickB]

Forgot to mention that the belt was from a drier as well. Has grooves that fit the motor perfectly, but also fit the flywheel!

Cheers

 

[matho]

looks good nick, love your use of salvaged parts :icon_cheers:

 

[NickB]

Thanks mate! OT- will be using your plans or similar to build a Brewmiser - not because I want to replace the HERMs, but because I can..

Cheers

 

[matho]

Thanks mate! OT- will be using your plans or similar to build a Brewmiser - not because I want to replace the HERMs, but because I can..

Cheers

awesome mate