How many watts of power do you need in a ball mill

[oldmanbeefjerky]

Ok, so ive finally established what motors do and dont have brushes where AC is involved, but i just now discovered that i dont know exactly what kind of power a ball mill uses.
Looking at the motor in my 3lb harbour freight mill, it looks like that one is slightly bigger than whats used for microwave fans, having physically compared the two. Given that those motors actually have a power rating on them, i think it was 25W, i can asume then since the one "hint" on the whole internet, which is as to the power used by a ball mill, that being that you need at least a 100W step down converter, i can asume that a 3lb mill will need a motor between 40-80W am i right?

If however its on the high side this becomes a problem. Im really just looking to make a new mill with specs equal to or a bit higher than my current mill. the reason for this is that im running a mill with a motor used to 60hz, with 50hz, which causes heating which is bad. either that or the motor is too slow and the internal fan isnt moving enough air. either way i need a new one.

Ill note that im in australia, using a 110v ball mill.

BUT!, i need to know for sure what kind of power motor i should be using, i dont want to go for something beyond my means, or worse yet, get some huge power guzzling motor that will use way more power when its not running with its intended load, underunning a motor is apparently bad, plus i dont want to have to use a motor bigger than the intended mill size.

 

Until i know what sort of power to use i wont know where to start looking, given, i am looking to salvage a motor.

 

 

[MrB]

Not entirely sure, but doesn't commercial mills use like 0.6A 115v motors with a rpm around 1300-1700? I've been looking at so many replacement motors for lortone tumblers lately my head is spinning. The one in question is a fair bit larger then 3lb so i'm not sure how the numbers translate.

If you got a mill with a running motor, i'm thinking it should have the ratings on it. One upping it should be sufficient.

B!

[marks265]

1 horse power is about 750 watts. Power consumption will depend on how you configure the system of your mill. This is a handy little calculator that may help you. I personally use 1/2 hp motors to run 2 jars. But you can use much less.

[Bobosan]

Another link that may be helpful;

 

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/electrical-motor-horsepower-d_653.html

[MrB]

Just checked my numbers. The lortone QT12 uses a 115w motor. Thats 220v 50Hz. The motor is rated for a peak of 0.6A which should be 132w, This is as far as i know the lower limit for what you need to turn a 12lb, or a 4.3L barrel after tweaking it so the diameter of the drive-shaft is slightly increased to give the appropriate rotation speed.. Most, if not all fully charged QT12's using lead media needs to have the barrel hand reversed a quarter turn before turning it on, so that the motor gets to work with the mass of the media, not against it when starting. Then it runs reliably. If your not doing the mod, supposedly the motor is sufficient to self start.

Since i'm just researching to possibly upgrade to one of these my self, this is all from what i've read. Full disclosure. Take it for what it is.

 

A QT12 is the upper limit for what amounts i'm willing to mill. I think i'll keep my smaller homebuilt mill for BP, a lot in the light of recent threads on this forum. Jurry is still out on that one. 1L of BP is more then enough to mess you up badly, and 2L of lead balls is a nice IED... Speaking of which. I might need a new molds for media, all i got now is 12-12.5mm, and it should ideally be closer to 15mm for a 170 ID jar.

Meh. 12mm would work, i just want a reason to buy yet a new mold.

B!

[Arthur]

the typical rock tumbler has 40 - 100watts. So perhaps that size for a small mill or 200w for a moderate mill.

 

OK there was a mill made from a plastic 205 litre drum and that had a soft start three phase motor.

[MrB]

Working of Lortone numbers, i can drop what i got.

1x0.5L, 3x0.5L, 1x0.8L,2x0.8L ( 1x1.5L 70w (models 3A-S, 3-1.5B, 3A, 33B, 45C)

1x2L, 2x2L & 1x4.3L 115w (models QT6, QT66, QT12)

 

I'm working of liters, since that metric is known & familiar to me, sorry. Bottom line is that lortone puts capacity at 2 kilo charge on a 70w motor, and 6kg on a 115w. Aparently they do well with quite a bit more then that, but thats what the manufacturer sets the specs at, so working of those numbers should provide similar results.

 

Half a HP motors for 2 jars is in the area of 375w, the jars would have to be quite large to make that motor have any issues. At some point the motor just doesn't use all it 's strength, so hooking something "somewhat over powered" like that to a killawatt and see what it's actually using could be interesting.

B!

[Bobosan]

Don't forget the mechanical aspects involved reducing the motor wattage. Start up torque wattage needed vs. running wattage. If belted and/or geared.

[marks265]

Or gear belted

[Bobosan]

Or gear belted

Someone has bound to have done that too! Prefer chain belts myself, holds the pants up better.

[Eagle66]

The jar on my mill holds about 3-3/4 liter & weighs just over 15 kilos fully charged (13.6 kilos of 12.5mm lead balls + 1 L chemicals + jar itself) My motor is 1/3 h.p. TEFC and self starts with no problem and after a 3 hr run is just a bit warm. It cost me $100 & free shipping, but but that's for a U.S. address.

 

http://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Shopping/Catalog/Motors/AC_Motors_-_General_Purpose_and_Inverter_Duty_(0.25_-_300HP)/AC_Motors-General_Purpose,_Rolled_Steel,_IronHorse_(0.33_-_2HP)/1-Phase_Motors,_56C_(0.33_-_1.5HP)/MTR-P33-1AB18

 

My post My Ball Mill has some pictures.

[MrB]

My post My Ball Mill has some pictures.

That would be here Great build. It's my opinion that the motor is oversized, but better to over do, then not to do at all.

B!

Edited July 31, 2014 by MrB