635 replies to this topic

[fishy1]

Frozen.. don't you know, everything is more expensive here!

Most things have 17.5% tax added.

unless of course, you get them "on the business."

[Andrew]

lol
guilty as charged

[damocov]

I've given up on making my own ball mill and resoved to buy a rock tumbler from manchester minerals, only choice now is..

Do I want one with vanes in the barrel or not?

I've seen comments that vanes help the media to ride up the sides better, but does anyone have a strong opinion either way?

[Frozentech]

I've given up on making my own ball mill and resoved to buy a rock tumbler from manchester minerals, only choice now is..

Do I want one with vanes in the barrel or not?

I've seen comments that vanes help the media to ride up the sides better, but does anyone have a strong opinion either way?

No vanes. let the milling media work by cascading, not falling down and hammering the charge material. Lift bars or vanes are good if you want to corn pressed black powder or somthing, but for black powder, let the shearing action of the media do the work.

[pyromaniac303]

Just got my ball mill yesterday, from tideswell dale rock shop. It is a Beach Rock Tumbler, with lead fishing weights for some cheap temporary milling media, until I get some more durable stuff sorted out.

Here is the supplier: tideswell rock shop

I will let you know how well it works later and will hopefully post some pics soon. I would have tried earlier but didn't want to take the risk of leaving it on while I'm at college.

[Ritual33]

I need some advise, I'm buying a ball mill and wanted to know the advantages would be with this one...

http://www.pyrosuppl...dabbe2cac6.html

over the BEACH 6.75Kg TUMBLER

at http://www.mancheste...talog/shop.html

it's a +?70 more for the commercial ball mill but I'll be willing to spend the little bit extra if I know it's going to be worth it.

Would the commercial one be very loud? The tumbler one has rubber barrels, I mean will I be able to run this thing in my pit in the garden without getting noise complaints from my neighbours?

If somebody has one of these already or has any advise to give please let me know in this thread.

Cheers,
Drew

Edited by Ritual33, 23 August 2006 - 06:49 AM.

[adamw]

I need some advise, I'm buying a ball mill and wanted to know the advantages would be with this one...

http://www.pyrosuppl...dabbe2cac6.html

over the BEACH 6.75Kg TUMBLER

at http://www.mancheste...talog/shop.html

it's a +?70 more for the commercial ball mill but I'll be willing to spend the little bit extra if I know it's going to be worth it.

Would the commercial one be very loud? The tumbler one has rubber barrels, I mean will I be able to run this thing in my pit in the garden without getting noise complaints from my neighbours?

If somebody has one of these already or has any advise to give please let me know in this thread.

Cheers,
Drew

I can heartily recommend the CR2 - its well built and the rubber barrels are superb.

One question regarding both machines you have specified - do you really need to, or want to (or should you) need to mill that much capacity of material / composition?

[Ritual33]

Not really, I'm just one of those guys who has to get the best even though he doesnt need it. Plus I'm thinking about starting a small chem company soon so I thought why not.

I've heard alot of about CR2, the guy at MM spoke highly of that model also. This may be my choice if I dont spend silly money on the beast from america.

Drew

[newtoolsmith]

Hi Friends,

my last post is long ago because I was busy.

My new ball mill is finished now and works as great as silent!

A fully closed wooden box with included "air conditioning" helps not to let the neighbours notice and the motor still stays cool.

A few metres of cable makes it possible, to let the mill wotj outside and the water sensitive electronic inside the garage. This feature helps to prevent damage if an accident occours.

The milling container is made of PVC water pipe parts and rubber sealed. This works well and is easy to use.

Sorry, I cant post pictures but maybe, someone will help...

MfG
newtoolsmith

[adamw]

Hi Friends,

my last post is long ago because I was busy.

My new ball mill is finished now and works as great as silent!

A fully closed wooden box with included "air conditioning" helps not to let the neighbours notice and the motor still stays cool.

A few metres of cable makes it possible, to let the mill wotj outside and the water sensitive electronic inside the garage. This feature helps to prevent damage if an accident occours.

The milling container is made of PVC water pipe parts and rubber sealed. This works well and is easy to use.

Sorry, I cant post pictures but maybe, someone will help...

MfG
newtoolsmith

Hi

You can insert a picture into the post when you click the 'Reply' button. There is a row of icons at the top of the edit box, and one is to insert a picture (tree icon). Please size down your pictures to avoid slowing down the page.

[BrightStar]

My home made ball mill died yesterday - a shame since it was really very effective for the first 40 hours of so of use.

I stripped down a new ?15 floor-standing fan from the Focus DIY store for the motor. This was great as it had a built in 3-speed controller - approx 28w, 35w and 50w. I used 35w most of the time. It was a 4-pole 1400 RPM permanent capacitor induction motor.

The rollers were 1 1/4" pvc tube, painted with universal priming paint for grip, on 8mm studding. The bearings were 1-inch skateboard bearings from JJB sports. The pulleys were ?0.50, 80mm tufnol surplus from E-bay. For a drive belt I just used a couple of turns of cotton string, spring tensioned by mounting the fan motor on a cantilever arm. I hand-turned the motor pulley out of 25mm dowel, and glued on a 120mm blade from an old computer fan for extra cooling.

This rig spun my 4-inch jar at approx 95 RPM and could make half a pound of airfloat charcoal in 30 minutes with 20mm ceramic media... It really was scarily good.

It turns out that in over-tensioning the drive belt last night I stalled the motor. It cut out safely (I found a blown 130 centigrade thermal fuse attached to the winding), which I consider another good quality.

Despite my recent bad luck, these are really good motors to start off with...

Edited by BrightStar, 28 August 2006 - 10:12 PM.

[newtoolsmith]

Hi adamw,

when pressing the "insert image" button a URL is requested.

My pictures are not available on any server, only here at home.

How to transfer them to the ukrocketry server?

I didnt find a option to manage that.



@BrightStar:

It seems to me you should slow the gear ratio of your drive so the motor runs at maximum rpm but with much less torque.

This will help to reduce the current and keep the winding cooler because the induction increases.

To enlarge the air holes of the motors case and guiding the air can also help but try not to discover high voltage aereas.

The fuse is replaced easily - for those who know how to...

MfG
newtoolsmith

[BrightStar]

It seems to me you should slow the gear ratio of your drive so the motor runs at maximum rpm but with much less torque.

This will help to reduce the current and keep the winding cooler because the induction increases.

To enlarge the air holes of the motors case and guiding the air can also help but try not to discover high voltage aereas.

The fuse is replaced easily - for those who know how to...

MfG
newtoolsmith

Thanks for this. I did open up the motor casing and replaced the thermal fuse, but there wasn't much room in the casing and the crude home soldering left me worried. The motor ran much less smoothly when I put it back together. The original gear ratios of 0.28 motor to roller * 0.27 roller to jar were about right, but the drive belts were primitive at best and probably caused the problems.

I have just bought an industrial 1/4 HP 4-pole single phase motor very cheaply on Ebay, which might be overkill but should get the job done. I'll post some pics when I have it installed...

[adamw]

Try using the 'File Attachments' fuction below the edit box. I can't remember if it is enabled for members to use. If it is, that will allow you to add a picture file.

[karlfoxman]

Just a note to other members, when changing THERMAL fuses try not to solder them in, as this can 'pop' them due to the heat generated by the soldering iron. If the motor is running hot then it could be the windings are out of phase. Check the start capacitor is the correct value.