kpknd Posted October 15, 2013 Posted October 15, 2013 Has anyone used a small power inverter to plug into thier car and use it to run a ball mill? Would that be a practical idea?
LambentPyro Posted October 15, 2013 Posted October 15, 2013 (edited) Yes, if you ball mill it at a distance far enough from the car that if something were to go wrong, it wouldn't damage your car, most likely your insurance company wouldn't cover a vehicle explosion caused by making black powder. I don't see any flaws about it, but I do recommend to just use an extension cord. Edit: Except it will waste some gas, and is probably cheaper to get a portable battery. I use one when I bring out my telescope to an area where there is no power. It lasts me a pretty long time too. Edited October 15, 2013 by LambentPyrotechnics
mikeee Posted October 16, 2013 Posted October 16, 2013 If you could get a 12VDC motor to run your ball mill you could use a car battery to run it.You could also get a solar cell to charge the battery in your remote location.Or just get a small gas powered generator to run your line voltage ball mill with.May be easier to get a really long extension cord and a safe location to run the ball mill.If you put the ball mill in a steel barrel most of the blast will be directed upward.Or you can even dig a hole in the ground which will direct the blast upward.
hindsight Posted October 16, 2013 Posted October 16, 2013 As part of a remote security installation, I use solar power to drive cameras, moving metal detectors, DVR's etc. To power a 250 watt ball mill running 6 hours could (depending on $/watt panel, hours/day of sun, % system efficiency...) easily cost $1000USD or more. That's just a very rough, from-the-hip estimate; but, in any event it would be an expensive setup. Much cheaper to tie in to the AC grid, if possible. Gas powered generators need petrol and attention, are noisy and stinky, IMO. How long do you think you could run your car engine at idle, putting wear and tear on your engine and burning gasoline, while leaving your vehicle somewhere remote and far from the mill? A couple hundred years ago, you would have found a swift stream and made a mill driven by a water wheel. Hmmm.
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