Some star roller questions

[dangerousamateur]

As I'm getting fed up with ruining my tools with titanium and magnalium rolling seems to be the natural way to get around this.

To run this a long time the whole thing should run as quit as possible.

I would prefer a belt drive.

 

What bowl diameter (I would use some kind of bucket) is optimal in your opinion and how much power is usually required?

 

 

Can you provide me with some rpm figures (with bowl diameters)?

I want to save a regulator so I will have to buy the right diameter belt wheels.

And I would like to hit the sweet spot at the first try

Edited January 7, 2023 by dangerousamateur

[Sulphurstan]

In my humble experience the fact that you can slightly speed up or slow down the rpm is good... When my stars become somewhat messy at some moment of the process (ovalisation, sticky, raspberry...), Playing around with moisture level, but also with rpm avoided to ruin the batch...

[dangerousamateur]

So a regulator is needed. In this case it would make things a lot easier to use 12 or 24V.

 

I see a lot of people use wiper motors.

Some seem to be well encapsulated, no airholes, so the brush fire is well shielded.

 

Are those bearings at the output shaft strong enough to directly mount the bowl to it, with additional rollers on the underside?

 

 

What bowl/bucket diameter do you guys recommend?

[cmjlab]

I've not been around as long as some, but from my limited experience - wiper motor and PWM DC motor controller (~$4.50 and up on Amazon), with a wiper motor (wired to the higher speed side) seems to work great for me. I agree with Sulphurstan that there does not seem to be one speed, especially if you want to different size batches.

 

My bowl is "direct drive" by the wiper motor, meaning I modified a 3/8" all thread to be the "axle" driven by the wiper motor.

 

Lastly, IMHO, a round bottom bowl is better than a bucket with a 90° walls, where comp will inevitably get stuck in an attempt to round itself out and is harder to clean after.

 

Charles

[Arthur]

Adjustable speed helps as does a selection of sprayers with different spray patterns. A great system is to have a hydraulic system with the electric motor outside the rolling room, other systems are available. I think star drums exist in all the sizes that exist for cement mixers, for amateur use try to look for one smaller drum (rolling 50lbs of mix simply costs a lot of money) Be realistic about what star sizes you want and how many of each, in how many different formulations. Remember stars dry very slowly. Big stars may take a month to dry completely!

 

Some people roll on cores (from crackle to small seeds) some people simply fill the drum with dry powder and rely on the first spritz sprays of water to start the formation of stars with no core. Usually it helps to have some suitable screens and take out the finished stars (by diameter) returning the undersize back to the drum. Stars may shrink a little as they dry.

[Arthur]

For the bowl go look round cooking pot shops, The big metal pots used for boiling rice were an interesting start once, all depends on the nature of the cookery in your home area.

[dangerousamateur]

I should have posed the question different:

Do you think that the rim speed I can achieve with a typical wiper motor is sufficient?

 

Be realistic about what star sizes you want and how many of each

I do mostly small batches, a pound, maybe 2 at a time.And the stars I have in mind range from 6 to 20mm.

What kind of bowl diameter would you recommend for that?

 

A great system is to have a hydraulic system with the electric motor outside the rolling room, other systems are available

When I open my own factory some time...

Right now I'm looking for a low price solution.

Edited January 8, 2023 by dangerousamateur

[cmjlab]

I should have posed the question different:

Do you think that the rim speed I can achieve with a typical wiper motor is sufficient?

 

 

Yes.

 

Every windshield motor I've seen has two hookup options (3 prongs - 1 for high speed, a common in the middle, and 1 for high speed). Use the high speed hookup, and a DC power modulator for with a control knob, then you have from 0 rpm up to as fast it can go which is much faster than you will ever need.

[dangerousamateur]

OK, I'll get one.

 

 

Can you say something about useful bowl diameters?

[Arthur]

A diameter between 9 and 15 inches would be my starting point. The nearer to apple shape the better.

[dangerousamateur]

Apple shape is difficult, most kitchen stuff I found has straight walls, like a bucket.

Is that really so bad?

Little scraping every once in a while should fix that, wont it?

 

I really must get that going to gain my own experience, wait for next summer...

Edited January 12, 2023 by dangerousamateur

[Sulphurstan]

https://images.app.goo.gl/J6Aspy78eZxuhmv68