Ball Mill Media

[Sparx88]

I'm getting a new ball mill and just wanted to ask one last time once and for all...what really is the best media to use for doing c.coal, sulfur, kno3, kcIo4, titanium etc. Is it still 00/000 lead buckshot or doeas the newer ceramic have any worth?

 

I am hoping that maybe moving to ceramic will be possible due to the drastic weight reduction on the mills motor. wear and tear.

 

[LambentPyro]

Contact Leadballs on here. His media is the best hardened media, just as hard as stainless steel. He is super friendly and will have the best price you can get. I got 30 LBS. for $175, optimal for a 1 gallon jar. If you don't purchase media from him, you're doing things wrong!

 

Ceramic can spark, especially if there is A LOT. If you do not want lead, which you should definitely get, than get Alumina, mind you it is outrageously more expensive for it as I have done the research from numerous companies, none of which were cheap. After the shipping, you'd be paying close to $750 for the media.

Edited December 10, 2013 by LambentPyro

[Bobosan]

Get both if you can. Alumina for individually milled chems, hardened lead media for BP comps and charcoal.

[LambentPyro]

Get both if you can. Alumina for individually milled chems, hardened lead media for BP comps and charcoal.

I like this idea. I bought Alumina for milling Barium Nitrate from FMC and Strontium Nitrate from DuPont, both crystallized. The trick is, you must use them right after milling unless they begin to clump up again and become rock hard.

 

Unless you have dessicant bags, then you must use it right afterwards unless you just wasted all that time milling.

 

It's not smart to use anti-cakes in coloring agents, they actually change the color significantly.

 

I wouldn't use a large mill for individual chems, like I said, it is way too expensive for Alumina, use your HF tumbler with Alumina for individ. chems.

Edited December 10, 2013 by LambentPyro

[Mumbles]

I'm sure you were just being dramatic, but stainless steel is at least 3x as hard as the stuff Leadballs supplies. Even actual stainless steel really isn't hard enough to mill Titanium. You'll have a hard time finding anything that can mill it efficiently. You're better off just getting it sized how you want, or using what is available.

 

If you get the right grades of ceramic (high alumina), there is virtually no risk of sparking. Sparking in a dangerous manner at least. I have no idea where you were looking, but I suspect you weren't doing your research very well. High alumina ceramic should probably be $6/lb or so in small quantities and maybe $1-3/lb in bulk. Are you sure you're not thinking of zirconia? 750 is even high for that.

 

A screen will break up any finely milled, but clumped material. Desiccants also don't stop all the caking either.

 

Depending on the anti-cake, very little to no color should be imparted. Fumed silica, cab-o-sil, will lend no colors and is used in extremely small quantities.

[LambentPyro]

I'm sure you were just being dramatic, but stainless steel is at least 3x as hard as the stuff Leadballs supplies. Even actual stainless steel really isn't hard enough to mill Titanium. You'll have a hard time finding anything that can mill it efficiently. You're better off just getting it sized how you want, or using what is available.

 

If you get the right grades of ceramic (high alumina), there is virtually no risk of sparking. Sparking in a dangerous manner at least. I have no idea where you were looking, but I suspect you weren't doing your research very well. High alumina ceramic should probably be $6/lb or so in small quantities and maybe $1-3/lb in bulk. Are you sure you're not thinking of zirconia? 750 is even high for that.

 

A screen will break up any finely milled, but clumped material. Desiccants also don't stop all the caking either.

 

Depending on the anti-cake, very little to no color should be imparted. Fumed silica, cab-o-sil, will lend no colors and is used in extremely small quantities.

 

What would you even mill Ti with?

 

Yes, that's what I mentioned before, OP said ceramic, which can spark, so I replied with the fact of Alumina's milling capability.

 

You and I were discussing this on chat once, for 90 lbs. to fill the 2.75 gallon along with shipping came out to nearly $700 from these companies, I did not even think to consider it. That is why I purchased the one gallon barrel.

 

Where are you getting your coloring Nitrates, I'd love to know, anytime I would mill it, a week later in the bag it would be as hard as granite rocks. When I milled it, it was soft and fluffy like hammer milled KNO3. I did put Silica gel in there once, it kept it fluffy for a couple of weeks in an air-tight bag.

 

I once bought KNO3 that had anti-cake in it and performed a sugar burn, it came out as a very dim yellow, with hints of purple. The supplier said that the anti-cake was causing that issue. I also asked my Pyro supplier about putting Cab-o-sil into my coloring Nitrates, he said not to do that and to just mill it before use, so I assumed that the coloring agents would be affected by the anti-cake, why not just buy anti-cake for it instead of milling it? It's logical.

[Bobosan]

I wouldn't use a large mill for individual chems, like I said, it is way too expensive for Alumina, use your HF tumbler with Alumina for individ. chems.

 

Make sure you have marked your rubber HF jars for the chem family to be milled. No matter how thoroughly you wash them, some residue of the previously milled chem will be present in the rubber. PVC jars are cheaper but noisy.

[psyco_1322]

You should really not being milling Ti. It's pyrophoric and once it's fine enough, with catch fire and burn on it's own. Plus you can pretty much buy any mesh size you want or need, there really is not a need to refine it on your own.

 

The lead media that is used is usually larger than buckshot. Common media ranges from 1/2" to 3/4". Lead is probably your best bet, it's cheap and can always be remelted and cast if there is extensive wear.

[Nessalco]

Just a FWIW - I use brass media and have been very happy with it. I don't mill anything with AP, of course.

 

Kevin

[shouldnoteatindat]

i got lead media from pyro direct and was very pleased they worked perfectly out of the box and still work perfect today

[LambentPyro]

Leadballs actually supplies PyroDirect with their media! You could have gotten it cheaper from the person who actually makes it.

[Sparx88]

Lead it is.

 

No lol, I won't be milling titanium. Hmm. What about tungsten carbide ball bearings

 

I'm getting a Lee round ball mold to cast the media. I'm using it for one of my boom sticks and I have a crap load of 2 and 4 oz hardened crab'in sinkers . For a 6 pound mill would .60 size ball work out ok? It's 325 grain per, and to have enough so they tumble and not overload the motor. Psyco I know you said 1/2 to 3/4" so I was thinking that the .60 would be ok. I worked out the math it will take 43 .60 lead balls for 2 lbs. So on a 6 pounder I suppose an even 60 of them would put it at about 3 pounds. But then theres volume.

 

Is there any chance that static can build up in a pvc jar? I would like to make a couple to use for separate chems and with the way the mill is made I can make the pvc jars quite a bit larger than the rubber tub that comes with it.

Edited December 18, 2013 by Sparx88

[LambentPyro]

You need 5 lbs. of media in order to properly fill those tumblers. Edited December 18, 2013 by LambentPyro

[Bobosan]

Lead it is.

 

No lol, I won't be milling titanium. Hmm. What about tungsten carbide ball bearings

 

I'm getting a Lee round ball mold to cast the media. I'm using it for one of my boom sticks and I have a crap load of 2 and 4 oz hardened crab'in sinkers . For a 6 pound mill would .60 size ball work out ok? It's 325 grain per, and to have enough so they tumble and not overload the motor. Psyco I know you said 1/2 to 3/4" so I was thinking that the .60 would be ok. I worked out the math it will take 43 .60 lead balls for 2 lbs. So on a 6 pounder I suppose an even 60 of them would put it at about 3 pounds. But then theres volume.

 

Is there any chance that static can build up in a pvc jar? I would like to make a couple to use for separate chems and with the way the mill is made I can make the pvc jars quite a bit larger than the rubber tub that comes with it.

 

It would be easier on the motor and belt to run only one jar filled to optimum capacity. I've not tried .600 lead with the HF mill but It should work as well as .500 media, perhaps requiring a longer mill run due to more free space volume between the balls.. The .600 works great in a larger drum like the 15 pounders.

 

My rubber HF mill jars and PVC jars are used only with ceramic media to mill individual chems.

[Sparx88]

So then it's approx 80% capacity should be media. I have been doing it wrong for quite awile then and would explain the loong run times. I was using 00 buckshot at 1/2 capacity of media. The old mill, a 3 pound. You know the one It still works I just needed another to do more items at a time.

 

Leadballs.net I checked that out and I may just order 75 of one of the 45 cal sizes because I get what your saying Lambent and Bobosan. They should be tumbling over each other and not kinda just rolling in one spot at all. TY for that.

[Leadballs]

You want to put 5 pounds of media into 1 jar with 150 grams of chemicals. Run only one jar at a time. Should mill in 2 hours or less. To reduce any confusion, leadballs.net sells only soft musket balls and has no relation to me or my super hard lead media.

[LambentPyro]

So then it's approx 80% capacity should be media. I have been doing it wrong for quite awile then and would explain the loong run times. I was using 00 buckshot at 1/2 capacity of media. The old mill, a 3 pound. You know the one It still works I just needed another to do more items at a time.

 

Leadballs.net I checked that out and I may just order 75 of one of the 45 cal sizes because I get what your saying Lambent and Bobosan. They should be tumbling over each other and not kinda just rolling in one spot at all. TY for that.

Yes, here he is, contact him and he will give you super hard lead balls for a great price. That website has no connection with him.

 

 

You want to put 5 pounds of media into 1 jar with 150 grams of chemicals. Run only one jar at a time. Should mill in 2 hours or less. To reduce any confusion, leadballs.net sells only soft musket balls and has no relation to me or my super hard lead media.

[Mumbles]

To avoid a little confusion the rating on rock tumblers is related to their actual use, tumbling and polishing rocks. It doesn't necessarily relate to the strength of the motor or any of that. If you take the rock tumbling rating and double it, that's about the mass of jars when running with lead media I ran the single jar, 3lb model, properly charged (about 6lbs in total) for the better part of 8 years and never had a problem besides having to replace some belts. If you do some of the mods to increase speed you might lower the lifetime. It took me about 8hr or so to make 200g of BP. This was running at stock speed, using mostly soft lead media, coarse materials, and kind of overcharged. Your mill time will depends on all these things, so take a sample every hour or so until it stops improving.

[Bobosan]

Sparx88,

 

Here is a link to the modification Mumbles was talking about and it also has information on optimal loading of the jar as a reference.

 

http://www.skylighter.com/fireworks/how-to/ball-mill.asp

[Leadballs]

Here is updated polyurethane tube replacement Ned now recommends. This is information which he has included in the tutorial on his forum, Fireworking.com:

 

"Fortunately there is a specific polyurethane tubing available which is 5/16"-inch ID x 1/2" OD, to replace the existing smooth and slick tubing that is on the drive roller, and 1/2" ID x ¾-inch OD tubing which will fit over that smaller tubing. A length of that smaller tubing can be used to replace the existing tubing, and a length of the larger tubing slid over that, and Voila!, a ¾-inch diameter drive roller.

 

This soft, abrasion-resistant, polyurethane tubing, has a somewhat “sticky” surface, and really grips the drive shaft, and the rubber mill barrel nicely, preventing it from slipping during a mill run. The smaller tubing is part number #5792K38, and the larger tubing is #5792K44 from McMaster Carr, available in 2-foot lengths, for about 3 dollars a foot, and 6 dollars a foot respectively.

Just putting the larger tubing over the existing stock roller tubing does not work well, since the outer tubing will eventually slip on the slick, stock, inner tubing. It is important to use both sizes of tubing in this operation."