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Author Topic: And now...the other end of the motorized grain mill cart spectrum  (Read 9049 times)

Offline restlesnativ

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Re: And now...the other end of the motorized grain mill cart spectrum
« Reply #15 on: February 20, 2014, 08:28:20 am »
This is great!! Thanks for the pictures. I have been stumped on mounting my drill. I don't why I couldn't think around trying to mount it upright instead of just laying it on it's side. I'll be setting up a similar mount this weekend!

Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: And now...the other end of the motorized grain mill cart spectrum
« Reply #16 on: February 20, 2014, 08:35:19 am »
Instead of the valuable wood-clamp how about an appropriately sized hose-clamp? Then you could fine tune the speed by simply turning a screw.
Good idea. I was trying to think of something like that so it would be out of the way.
 
Althought that looks like a harbor freight clamp. Costs about $1 and worth about a nickel. Good to use in an application where you'll never adjust it.
 
Nice build, by the way. Very pragmatic.

The bar clamps I use at home have a screw adjustment, like you'd find on a c-clamp.  A tad more expensive than the Harbor Freight $1 clamp, but it could give you the adjustability factor.
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Offline james

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Re: And now...the other end of the motorized grain mill cart spectrum
« Reply #17 on: February 20, 2014, 09:13:55 am »
I like it! Had thoughts about this exact approach in the past. Great to see it visualized and realized by another homebrewer.

Instead of the valuable wood-clamp how about an appropriately sized hose-clamp? Then you could fine tune the speed by simply turning a screw.

A zip tie works well like this, though you can't really slow it down without cutting it off and starting over

Offline lbrewski

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Re: And now...the other end of the motorized grain mill cart spectrum
« Reply #18 on: February 20, 2014, 10:56:21 am »
Looks nice!

Harbor freight and amazon sell cheap router speed controllers. These work with brew pumps(I use one on a cold transfer pump) and should work with the drill as well. Just clamp the trigger down all the way on the drill and plug it into the controller. Then you'll have a nice way to adjust the mill speed.


Thanks, did not know about those, seems like a very good way to go. I'm thinking I could use one on my mash recirc pump too.

As far as the bar clamp, yes I used a cheap one from HF and it's quite simple to adjust the speed on brew day. When done milling I removed it an tossed it in the hopper along with the nylon paint brush used for dusting. I thought that leaving it on when I'm not using it might eventually fatigue the trigger spring.


Offline ccfoo242

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Re: And now...the other end of the motorized grain mill cart spectrum
« Reply #19 on: February 20, 2014, 01:45:11 pm »
Now that I think about it I'm not sure how well this would work with the recirc pumps. I use it with a diaphragm pump that's self priming. I guess I should experiment.


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Re: And now...the other end of the motorized grain mill cart spectrum
« Reply #20 on: February 22, 2014, 10:02:15 pm »
I have thought about motorizing my mill; however, I have hand cranked a Schmidling Malt Mill for so long that motorizing it would feel like I was cheating.  :)  If I brewed 10+ gallon batches, I would definitely motorize it. 


Offline klickitat jim

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Re: And now...the other end of the motorized grain mill cart spectrum
« Reply #21 on: February 22, 2014, 10:20:59 pm »
Ya know, my carona worked fine, and the exercise wasn't killing me, I did it because I wanted too. But I haven't brewed a beer from this machine yet, so maybe I'll miss that corona taste. (I'm kidding, don't take me too serious)

Offline lbrewski

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Re: And now...the other end of the motorized grain mill cart spectrum
« Reply #22 on: February 22, 2014, 11:02:46 pm »
I hand cranked a couple of 5 gal batches - a real PIA. I realized i wasn't going to get a medal & hooked up a motor. But I do understand the notion.

Offline gmac

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Re: And now...the other end of the motorized grain mill cart spectrum
« Reply #23 on: February 23, 2014, 11:58:39 am »
Needs duct tape.
Otherwise it's pretty awesome though.