# Hammer Mill



## rusty (Oct 3, 2010)

The trick


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## Anonymous (Oct 3, 2010)

Thanks gil for getting back in the game,and not getting upset over what I said.
And thank you for starting this thread.....now do you still have the pics and info on the other mill you made,the one with the swivel ends on it?I think that was very well made and would be an asset to new people making mills.


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## rusty (Oct 4, 2010)

Never did find the silver from the thermostats,


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## Barren Realms 007 (Oct 4, 2010)

rusty said:


> Never did find the silver from the thermostats, but it's in there somewhere.
> 
> The picture of the metals sitting on the lid, separated the the milled circuit breakers and thermostats are from left to right brass, copper, aluminum and iron.
> 
> ...



Get one of those machine that chops cars up.


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## qst42know (Oct 4, 2010)

You may want to check the magnetic bits for your silver. 

You still have some contacts that haven't been hammered?


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## rusty (Oct 4, 2010)

Your absolutely right


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## joem (Oct 4, 2010)

looking at the picture of the four separated metals they look melted, are you saying that the metal naturally came together within the ball mill?


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## rusty (Oct 4, 2010)

Yes this is how the metals came out,


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## Oz (Oct 4, 2010)

Something to consider with ball and hammer mills is grounding. This is probably more important with ball mills than the hammer mills but it might be worth it to just play it safe. At issue is the build-up of static electricity in a finely dispersed dust environment. This could cause a dust explosion much like they have at feed mills occasionally. This is why they use non-sparking shovels.

A simple ground to your drum can prevent this. It would not be pretty if this were to happen in a tightly sealed steel ball mill drum.


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## rusty (Oct 4, 2010)

How ever I must thank Oz for bringing this to your attention, and extend my apologies for my oversight.


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## joedirt (Oct 5, 2010)

Howdy Rusty,

I was wondering about the details of your Hammer Mill, especially since you said you spent a couple of hundred dollars on it. Where did you buy it and what size materials will it do? Will it do hard drives? I would appreciate any info you could provide. I definitely like that price range.

Thanks


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## rusty (Oct 5, 2010)

Yes the price was right,


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## Barren Realms 007 (Oct 5, 2010)

rusty said:


> joedirt said:
> 
> 
> > Howdy Rusty,
> ...



On the PTO driven unit you will possibly want a smaller screen so the items are chopped up better. The tanks on them are emptied by an auger and if the pieces are too big you will take the chance of bogging down the auger. Trust me you don't want that to happen. And don't forget about dust colletion or a water spray system.


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## rusty (Oct 5, 2010)

Ball of putty.


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## darshevo (Oct 5, 2010)

Rusty, 

I have seen the idea floated (pun totally intended) of using floatation to separate plastic from the mix, how has your experience been with it? Does all of the plastic float, or just certain densities? Once the snow flies I'll be retiring to the shop for the winter where I will finally assemble my ball mill and (for another project) rock crusher I have been amassing parts for all summer. I got a line on a shredder today that uses hammers, thinking maybe I can make it work for this application with the addition of a screen mechanism. Hopefully I can pick it up this week and get it into the project pile for the upcoming winter

-Lance


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## joedirt (Oct 6, 2010)

Ok, thanks Rusty. From the info that I have seen I assume the ones you are buying are used for grains, etc.? What kind of hammers are they?


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## rusty (Oct 6, 2010)

Pay income tax.


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## joedirt (Oct 7, 2010)

I hope I'm not wearing this thread out, but I'm thinking about driving around to some farms in the surrounding areas to look for a mill. Rusty do you or anybody else have any suggestions about what to look for? I'm currently taking motherboards, cd and floppy drives, and power supplies to a buyer, but am looking for a mill to process them myself. I would also like to be able to destroy hard drives, as there might be some money in offering this service to businesses. A lot of our ewaste still goes to overseas, and I would like to make some of that money myself.

Thanks


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## rusty (Oct 7, 2010)

Look for one of the larger mills


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## joedirt (Oct 7, 2010)

Thanks Rusty for the great info and pictures, very, very helpful. Is there any manufacturer info for the one in the 2nd picture(Name and/or Model #)? I think I understand what the PTO does, but what does it stand for? Did you have to modify yours? Thanks, again.


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## dtectr (Oct 7, 2010)

joedirt said:


> Thanks Rusty for the great info and pictures, very, very helpful. Is there any manufacturer info for the one in the 2nd picture(Name and/or Model #)? I think I understand what the PTO does, but what does it stand for? Did you have to modify yours? Thanks, again.


 PTO is farmer-speak (everyone-speak, really, i guess) for Power Take Off, consider it a mechanical "power out" fitting from a tractor or other piece of power farm machinery. Some run off of a shaft from the rear whose particular hook-up i can't recall; the older ones also had a drum on the side which could be hooked up with a wide rubber belt, thrasher-style.


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## rusty (Oct 8, 2010)

qst42know said:


> You may want to check the magnetic bits for your silver.
> 
> You still have some contacts that haven't been hammered?



About ten pounds give or take.


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## rusty (Oct 8, 2010)

joedirt said:


> Thanks Rusty for the great info and pictures, very, very helpful. Is there any manufacturer info for the one in the 2nd picture(Name and/or Model #)? I think I understand what the PTO does, but what does it stand for? Did you have to modify yours? Thanks, again.



The only information on the mill itself is " Farm King " these are fairly generic sold under many names and colors all use a standard diameter screen with different hole combinations.

Take a good look at that mill, it has a design flaw, the impeller shaft is only supported on one end. You could easy bend the shaft and this thing could go into orbit running a 3600 RPM. 

Make it a habit to check the pins that hold the hammers in place are not overly worn you would not want to throw a hammer, I once had a blade form a fan break off going through the fiber glass hood of my gravel truck. The worse part of that was I thought the truck was going to shake to pieces.

The motor is a 5 Hp single phase.


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## Harold_V (Oct 8, 2010)

rusty said:


> I once had a blade form a fan break off going through the fiber glass hood of my gravel truck.


Yep! It happens. 

I did an engine transplant years ago---a 430 Buick engine installed in my '68 GMC pickup. I used to drag a travel trailer with the truck and needed more performance than I was getting from the original 327. 

After installing the Buick engine, I removed the fan clutch and replaced it with an adapter to mount the fan, which drove the fan full time, to insure adequate cooling. Big mistake. I lost one blade on a road trip, but got away clean. As Gill alluded, the shaking was unbelievable. 

Bought a new fan and drove for a few more months, then, again on a road trip, tossed another blade. This time I wasn't so lucky. Ended up exiting the engine compartment out of the bottom, but not before taking out the radiator and battery. 

Harold


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## joedirt (Oct 18, 2010)

It sure got quiet! Rusty, how is your Hammermill holding up? What have you been destroying  ? Has any body else out there been using one? I still haven't found anything, but I'm not giving up. Has anyone else in the Houston, Texas area been looking, or know where I can find one?

Thanks


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## dtectr (Oct 19, 2010)

joedirt,
are there an dairies near you? Some of them had portable feed mills, some truck or PTO powered. they would use them to grind their own silage, which is chopped corn stalks, which is sprayed with molasses & allowed to ferment. my dad drove one when i was a child, and the hammers took the end of his finger off when he was trying to clear a jam. 

anyway, very powerful hammer mills.


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## rusty (Oct 19, 2010)

dtectr said:


> joedirt,
> are there an dairies near you? Some of them had portable feed mills, some truck or PTO powered. they would use them to grind their own silage, which is chopped corn stalks, which is sprayed with molasses & allowed to ferment. my dad drove one when i was a child, and the hammers took the end of his finger off when he was trying to clear a jam.
> 
> anyway, very powerful hammer mills.




I think your confusing the silage chopper with the hammer mill, these are two completely different animals. 

The silage chopper has knives affixed to the face of a rotary disc which also doubles up as the blower.


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## dtectr (Oct 19, 2010)

rusty said:


> dtectr said:
> 
> 
> > joedirt,
> ...


 
No, this was a portable feed mill that was attached to a truck frame - to a kid it looked almost like a cement truck. 
they would drive to the farmers' feed lots & provide custom feed milling. If you wanted a mix with X5 protein, X% fodder,
& etc. they would feed the grain, supplements & fodder, usually straw or corn stalks into a chute with a conveyor - just inside the chute
was a series of hammers which would shred whatever feedstock you used for easier mixing further inside the mill. as i recall 
(i was 5), you could set the degree of coarseness of the chop. The resulting mix was shot into the storage bin, combine-style. 
i know it was hammers, as Dad tried to free some cornstalks which had jammed & he got too close to the hammers & one caught the very tip of his middle finger & whacked it off as neat as you please.

They may use something completely different now, like what you described at the dairies, esp. the big ones. I have not seen 
another one of these mills since. They couldn't have been cheap to operate or maintain.


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## Barren Realms 007 (Oct 19, 2010)

dtectr said:


> rusty said:
> 
> 
> > dtectr said:
> ...



You are describing a silage machine. The machine you describe and the silage machine Rusty is describing are both doing the same thing just different styles of machines. Neither one are considered to be hammer mills. Both the machines you are describing have fixed blades to chop up material. A hammer mill has hammers that swivel like the pictures Rusty has poated before.


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