fred815 Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 Okay one last post and I'll shut up for a while. Was wandering around harbor freight and noticed a cute little cement mixer on Sale for 139.00. 1-1\2 cu ft. Your not gonna pave your driveway BUT is this a Star roller in the making?? You assemble it but leave off the paddles and top half of the mixing bowl. Enclosed 1/4 hp motor and belt system. Drives a small gear driving the bowl exactly like an automobile starter. With the outer rim of bowl acting like the flywheel. Can hook up my 1500 watt rated dimmer switch giving me varioable speeds. It's not plastic or stainless but a painted steel. So what's the drawback - the steel?? It's ain't the cost considering what you can spend on your kid's tennis shoes or a meal and drinks. A heck of a lot better than the dumb contraptions on youtube or even on the forums. web site has a decent picture.
dagabu Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 There must be a dozen people I know that use cement mixers for rolling stars. The painted steel really poses some challenges and the plastic one they sell works good as well with some prep. You might find that motors don't like dimmer switches much. I think the speed they run at is pretty good for stars once they are 1/4" or so. -dag
NightHawkInLight Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 (edited) Might work ok as a star roller, but I know they don't work as ball mills. The cheap metal the gearing is made of grinds itself out. edit: By that I mean on Harbor Freight mixers, other high quality mixers work great as both mills and rollers. Edited February 16, 2012 by NightHawkInLight
fred815 Posted February 17, 2012 Author Posted February 17, 2012 There must be a dozen people I know that use cement mixers for rolling stars. The painted steel really poses some challenges and the plastic one they sell works good as well with some prep. You might find that motors don't like dimmer switches much. I think the speed they run at is pretty good for stars once they are 1/4" or so. -dag
fred815 Posted February 17, 2012 Author Posted February 17, 2012 [There must be a dozen people I know that use cement mixers for rolling stars. The painted steel really poses some challenges and the plastic one they sell works good as well with some prep. You might find that motors don't like dimmer switches much. I think the speed they run at is pretty good for stars once they are 1/4" or so. -dag OOps no maybe about it. Dimmers only work on dc motors and aforementioned hot plate. Only lowers torque not rpm on ac. You knoiw your stuff. So what do I do sand the paint off roughen up the metal somehow. So it grips better - are talking a static spark election ignition thing here??
dagabu Posted February 17, 2012 Posted February 17, 2012 [There must be a dozen people I know that use cement mixers for rolling stars. The painted steel really poses some challenges and the plastic one they sell works good as well with some prep. You might find that motors don't like dimmer switches much. I think the speed they run at is pretty good for stars once they are 1/4" or so. -dag OOps no maybe about it. Dimmers only work on dc motors and aforementioned hot plate. Only lowers torque not rpm on ac. You knoiw your stuff. So what do I do sand the paint off roughen up the metal somehow. So it grips better - are talking a static spark election ignition thing here?? Actually, a variac will work well on AC motors as long as you don't go beyond +-10% of the plate voltage though I have done so as low as 50% without letting the smoke out. I have a cheap VFD for ac motors that does a great job even down to only 5% of voltage but maintains most of the torque due to the square sign the currant has due to the VFD. No, I suggest a sanding with a rough sand paper just to get grip and then a high quality epoxy, 2-3 coats to build up to 10mil or so. Most epoxy is not effected by most chems so even an acetone thinned comp can be used in them. The epoxy also ceeps the rust at bay as well as gives the comp some grip to roll stars. -dag
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