140 replies to this topic

[Arthur Brown]

Pipipi If they look and feel like lead then they are worth a try!

Loadsa folk on here have made or bought mills - mostly rock tumblers I suspect! However in Greece you will have to evaluate buying a mill on the web and paying for transport of a mill and some lead, or you will have to get a local supplier from whom the carriage costs may be more reasonable.

[cooperman435]

My media is plain lead and hasn't deformed or warn at all from since I made it a year and a half ago so they should be fine Pipipi though be aware that weights tend to have brass inserts that may systematically erode your lead media when hitting each other

[Pyrogeorge]

Also i think to buy lead balls from hunting store..it is good idea or not?

[dr thrust]

hi, it depends on what size they are, look for 12mm/ 1/2" balls for a small milling jar, what are you planning on milling?

[Pyrogeorge]

Hi,i plan to use for black powder comp.For large milling jar the lead balls could be larger than 1/2''?

[dr thrust]

yes you can use bigger media ,18mm- 40mm ! but weight does become an issue!! you,ll really need a heavy duty mill, possibly home made/ designed, or an American 15lb model found on ebay, sometimes its better to start off small, there's an entire thread on milling have a look

[Pyrogeorge]

i found a motor of 2800 direct rpm,and i plan to reduce the rpm..how many rpm is best?

[maxman]

If the motor is AC use step down pully arrangement (ie mechanical) If Motor is DC use same or reduce voltage to motor

[Pyrogeorge]

How many rpm is the best?

[maxman]

Depends on the size of your jar and media. Join passfire, everything you ever wanted to know about ball mills

[Pyrogeorge]

As far the jar,it depend on the diameter of jar or of the capacity?

[Zinginex]

I recently extracted the motor out of a hoover the other day and found it would be too loud to make a ball mill lol i should have realised seeing how loud hoovers are...

Just wondering before i buy one is there any specifications which tell you how loud the motor is or are all motors loud?
I guess a fan motor is pretty quiet and reasonably fast so I'll look out for one
THanks

[Arthur Brown]

An AC induction motor will be MUCH quieter than a AC/DC brush motor.

An induction motor should only just hum as it works and would suit discrete running well.

Some DC motors are quiet but some are NOT as you have found.

With motors TEFC means totally enclosed fan cooled and this is a good sign for pyro use! Airfloat powder WILL air float to everywhere! Even inside motors!

[Zinginex]

Ah right thanks

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...1QQcmdZViewItem

So would a motor like that be suitable for a ball mill?

[Arthur Brown]

That motor would be OK IF you had three phase power and planned to handle 50 kilo batches. 1.5 Horse Power is WAY over the top

A 1/10hp motor would be sufficient to spin a small home mill with say up to 500g compound and maybe 5Kilos of media inside.

Also you must work out how to spin the drum at a speed between 50 and 100 RPM and big drums need lower speeds!