sparks Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 Have seen many notes on how to properly fill a mill for BP.....1/2 full of balls, 1/3 full.....anyone here really give me the proper fill ratio....using a 5x8 container....3/8 or 1/2 balls...
dagabu Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 Lloyd Sponenburgh, the guy who literally wrote the book on making ball mills says to fill the jar 1/2 way with the grinding media and then to just cover the media with your material to be ground. I find that I have to shake the jar a little to get it to settle and then I write the weight down after I screen it out of the media after its milled. I find that I can mill 500g in one batch with sst balls but only 400g with ceramic balls. The sst balls are round and the ceramic is more cylinder shaped so there is less space between them. Honestly, I can do 1000g batches in five hours so I will often grind larger batches of single chemicals overnight and screen them in the morning.
pyrogeorge Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 The best answer is to make your own test..you will find the ideal filling ratio for your mill.Don't overfill your mill..
Fly Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 1/2 full media & 1/4 of mix & no more.Works for me every time. Fly
Mumbles Posted January 11, 2011 Posted January 11, 2011 I find an optimal load takes a little dialing in. For me, compositions high in charcoal tend to get compacted while milling, so I tend to overload them at the beginning so that it reaches the proper level when it's been mixed. I generally start with around 80% of what I would do for BP. My mill takes around 1kg of BP in a load, so if I mill something like spider stars or tiger tail I start with around 800g and see how that works. Typically I make 1kg batches of stars, so I'd probably just over load and mill for an extra hour than take the time to do two smaller batches.
AdmiralDonSnider Posted January 12, 2011 Posted January 12, 2011 I second what Mumbles said about charcoal comps. In addition, when changing the type of charcoal e.g. in BP, the optimum charge may change quite a bit depending on the volume of the new material.
dagabu Posted January 12, 2011 Posted January 12, 2011 Good point about charcoal, when I ball mill lump charcoal, I fill the jar with charcoal all the way up. Yes, the media is in the jar too
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