Anarchy08 Posted September 4, 2011 Posted September 4, 2011 (edited) Hello pyro's,been skulking in the background for while now and thought it was time to show off a bit off tooling.Aussie pyro here. This is my ball mill, decided on the over under design for a compact mill. the motor is a 1/4horse power washing machine motor bolted to the mid board.the mill is made from jarrah using 4 skateboard bearings(12mm ID 28mm OD) used a hole saw to cut out the right diameter into the mounts. the pink on the outside to the 12mm plain steel is heat shrink (i know, not the most complementary colour http://forum.truebluepyro.com/Smileys/default/tongue.gif) was the easiest option for providing grip from the roller to the mill, the black rubber was purchased from clark rubber and works surprisingly well, recommend using a heap of epoxy to keep it on though. the whole frame cleaned up with putty, sanded back nd whacked with 2 coats of varnish. comments, questions welcomed. Edited September 4, 2011 by Anarchy08
guntoteninfadel Posted September 4, 2011 Posted September 4, 2011 That looks great. Glad to see I'm not the only person to utilize wood I'n the ball mill.
WSM Posted September 5, 2011 Posted September 5, 2011 Hello pyro's,been skulking in the background for while now and thought it was time to show off a bit off tooling.Aussie pyro here.This is my ball mill, decided on the over under design for a compact mill. the motor is a 1/4horse power washing machine motor bolted to the mid board.the mill is made from jarrah using 4 skateboard bearings(12mm ID 28mm OD) used a hole saw to cut out the right diameter into the mounts. the pink on the outside to the 12mm plain steel is heat shrink (i know, not the most complementary colour http://forum.truebluepyro.com/Smileys/default/tongue.gif) was the easiest option for providing grip from the roller to the mill, the black rubber was purchased from clark rubber and works surprisingly well, recommend using a heap of epoxy to keep it on though. the whole frame cleaned up with putty, sanded back nd whacked with 2 coats of varnish.comments, questions welcomed. Nice! It looks comparable to a commercial unit sold by a major chemistry supplier twenty years ago for $600 (Can't guess what it'd cost now). The one I'm refering to is metal, though with molded rubber rollers on steel shafts. The molded rubber rollers are concave and convex to keep the barrel centered. The drive used is a combination of belt and chain driven and I don't know why. I was fortunate enough to find one at a surplus yard that didn't work, so he let me have it for $45 (many years ago). I rewired it from the windings back to the plug and it worked fine for years. When the motor gave out I was able to replace it and it runs still today. Like you say; it's a nice, compact design. I admire your determination and creativity. One question though, where did you acquire the barrel? It looks nice. WSM
Anarchy08 Posted September 6, 2011 Author Posted September 6, 2011 hey, managed to pick it up from a bloke locally, he still has them listed on ebay if you would like on :http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Ball-mill-alumina-media-grinding-jar-glaze-pyrotechnics-/110617448765?pt=AU_Ceramics_Pottery&hash=item19c150513d the jar is big enough that you can mill 400g's of balsa bp in about 6 hours
optimus Posted September 6, 2011 Posted September 6, 2011 Nice find, those jars are incredibly expensive new. I happen to have a few and the matching mill from Pascal. Amazing what you can find in a skip
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