The Ball Mill Kit - components
Entry posted by Swede
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Where is everyone? 
This is my third blog entry, and only Frozentech has started another? I must not have a life... I'm more interested, I guess, in babbling on about Pyro stuff. Come on, let's see some pics! Having them accompanied by pyro ramblings is a bonus!
A while back on the forum, I started a thread called "The Ultimate Ball Mill" or something along those lines. I solicited input from experienced Pyros on what they'd like to see in a quality ball mill. I've often thought that a good ball mill kit would be a real boon to the hobby, especially for newbies... and I count myself in that group. We constantly have new members struggling with black powder production, especially, as they wonder why their product frankly sucks. The culprit is usually a $35 harbor freight rock tumbler. I have one, and yes they can be made to work, but how much better is a seriously powerful, durable, and heavy ball mill when it comes to producing good BP, and also milling individual chemicals?
If you buy one, the problem is the expense. For what you get, I feel the cost is too high. There is a guy on eBay who sells ball mills. I bought one of those, and for $175, I received a sheet metal frame, four low-quality sheet metal housed press bearings, some rollers, and the worst part, a miniscule, ridiculously whimpy motor that might put out 1/20th of a HP on a good day. Even with a moderate load, that motor could boil water, it heats up so badly. There wasn't even a switch for it! I had to add an on-off switch and a cooling fan. The unit wobbles about horribly when in use. I could go on and on. It was not a good deal.
I began to source hardware to create my own Super-Mill. When making a ball mill, the real hassle is gathering up enough mating hardware that actually works together. A typical hardware store might have sheaves (pullies), but the odds that they have one with a correct bore, AND of the correct diameter, is small. Frankly, it's a pain, and most guys resort to mail order. I figured, as long as I was resourcing this stuff, I might as well put together some sort of a kit and offer it for sale.
A good ball mill starts with good bearings. These are cast iron flange blocks with a quality sealed ball bearing, very heavy duty, and will run forever with an occasional dab of grease. The bores use a pair of set screws... one of them will be removed, the other will be tightened into the keyway which is milled into the surface of the roller bars. This will allow easy removal of the bars whenever desired, for maintenance on the roller bar cover, for example.
An assortment of sheaves also arrived in the goody box. These are mostly cast iron, and well painted so as to avoid rust. I've pondered various schemes to achieve variable speed but with overall cost being a prime concern. Probably the easiest way is to simply substitute a different sheave on the driven roller shaft, with smaller producing more speed, of course. Because both the shafting and the sheaves are keyed, this will be a snap to do.
One further experiment with variable speed that I simply could not resist was this oddball item: What the heck is it?? It is a beautifully made, miniature three-speed transmission! The output shaft is 1/2" in diameter, and quite long, probably long enough to act, by itself, as a driven roller.
I have not played with it yet, but the possibilities are certainly there. A "Three on the Floor" ball mill. 
The heart of a good ball mill is the motor. I was pleasantly surprised when I examined this motor which came NIB. It is a replacement motor for a small woodworking bandsaw. The case is heavy cast iron. It is a TEFC (Totally Enclosed Fan Cooled) motor that I believe will be ideally suited to power a ball mill.
The only problem with it that I forsee is that the output shaft is NOT standard. It is instead a non-standard diameter, and also a bit short. I will definitely have to machine an adapter to lengthen and also increase the diameter of the output shaft.
Over the next few days, I am going to put a basic mill together with some of these components, and see how it works out. Most of the time I spent researching this build has been in locating good materials at a low price. The flange block bearings, for example, will normally cost about $27 apiece at this quality level. I picked them up for significantly less. Once the mill is put together, I will create some simple plans... all that will be required will be a bit of work with some 3/4" ply, and I believe the end result will be an excellent ball mill at a really low price.
I will always be, first and foremost, a guy who gets a real thrill out of fireworks and chemistry. Being able to combine my machining hobby with pyrotechnics is just a bonus. Even though I've not been here on APC very long, hopefully you guys have gotten to know me a little bit, and realize I am not a hawker or a shill. I'm in this for the love of the hobby. Feel free to visit my personal web site, which has been up for years, yet contains not a single advertisement. I simply enjoy doing this sort of thing. If you think you might be interested in a ball mill kit using these components, feel free to leave a comment, positive or negative, and any suggestions for things you'd like to see. Thanks!!
One further note: Potassium Chlorate Batch Two was harvested this morning. Using 1/2 old electrolyte, and 1/2 fresh KCl to top up, the speed of production was easily doubled. 600 more grams to the kitty. Shortly, production of the perchlorate from this feed stock will begin. I am also going to try some recrystallization and purification experiments... I am particularly interested in the Hach chloride quantitative strips that are enroute. By dissolving 10 grams of these raw crystals in water, I can do a quick test - I am very curious to see exactly how much KCl they brought with them when they were formed.
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