# my unfinished ball mill



## glondor (Jul 2, 2011)

My welder got to busy to finish the drive system, however I do have the mill part. I really need to get this going asap. Just thought I would post a pic.


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## Cody Reeder (Jul 10, 2011)

nice  

I built a ball mill a while back and I have been thinking of posting a thread to show it off but I think I will go take some photos right now and I may as well post them on this thread.

maybe I could give you some Ideas.


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## glondor (Jul 10, 2011)

Cool Cody. I would like to see some simple ideas. I will try to work on it a bit next week. Cheers.


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## Cody Reeder (Jul 10, 2011)

allright here it is. 


we just had a thunder storm but a little water never hurt anything. 8)


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## Cody Reeder (Jul 10, 2011)

this is of the inside, I am grinding up some old melting dishes.this is befor and after a 20 min run.


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## rusty (Jul 10, 2011)

Nice job Cody Reeder with such simplicity shown in your mill design there is no reason why other forum members should be with out a ball mill.

Could you give the drum diameter and motor RPM plus the v pulley size used on the motor, this would be of a great help to others contemplating a ball mill. 

Did you salvage the steel plate to make the drum, angle iron for the stand, bearings, motor, total cost to built and time in hours.

Regards
Rusty


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## Cody Reeder (Jul 10, 2011)

rusty said:


> Nice job Cody Reeder with such simplicity shown in your mill design there is no reason why other forum members should be with out a ball mill.
> 
> Could you give the drum diameter and motor RPM plus the v pulley size used on the motor, this would be of a great help to others contemplating a ball mill.
> 
> ...




Thanks  

the drum is about 1 ft in diamiter and 2 ft long and I got it so it turns about 60 RPM. the bungy cord (made into a belt) runs around the shaft of the motor which is an old washing macheen motor. (could be better but still works)

the mill is 100% salvaged material (other than the welding wire of coarse) even the berings are idler pullys off of a scrap car. I originaly wanted to use pipe but I didnt have any big enugh so I made my own from 6in strap and I think it works better that way.

I proably spent 7-8 hours from start to finish, spred out over 3 days.

its entierly my design so no making mony off my plans ok :lol:


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## trashmaster (Jul 11, 2011)

Simple and to the point .  SWEET :lol: :lol: 

Thanks


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## glondor (Jul 11, 2011)

That is a very good, easy design. Looks like it will do the job for sure. The drive system is as easy as pie by the looks of things. Thanks for letting us have a peek. I will try to get somewhere with mine very soon. Cheers.


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## kurt (Jul 11, 2011)

Cool stuff guys - I used to be involved in both hard rock & placer minning about 20 years ago when I lived out in Northern California. --- What are you guys using for balls & were are you getting them?

Kurt


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## rusty (Jul 11, 2011)

kurt said:


> Cool stuff guys - I used to be involved in both hard rock & placer minning about 20 years ago when I lived out in Northern California. --- What are you guys using for balls & were are you getting them?
> 
> Kurt



Get an axle from a large 3 tone truck then cut into short chunks with your chop saw, be sure to round off the sharp edges so your not going to cut your fingers. Eventually these corners will round themselves up inside the mill.

Looks like Cody Reeder is using some cam rollers from an air brake system for milling balls along with some real mill balls

Regards
Rusty


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## kurt (Jul 11, 2011)

Awesome - Thats just what I was thinking (cut up axal) for when I get around to making a ball mill - got that slated to work on as a project this coming winter

Kurt


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## Cody Reeder (Jul 11, 2011)

I have been colecting bits of metal to use as balls for quite a while and a friend of mine gave me the real mill balls. 

I have knoticed that it works better if you use a variety of ball scizes rather than all one scize.

it is a verry usefull tool and so worth building. one thing I would do diffrent is make the spindles shorter becouse they break off every couple weeks. and it is so loud that I am glad I dont have nabors. your mill with the smooth sides will proably not make as mush noise but grind slower too.


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## Harold_V (Jul 12, 2011)

Cody Reeder said:


> I have knoticed that it works better if you use a variety of ball scizes rather than all one scize.


Part of that is due to the hexagonal shape of your drum. Not being critical of your mill, mind you, but commenting that you'd have much better luck if the drum was a cylinder, so there weren't corners in which material could escape the required hammering. Given ideal conditions, your mill will take longer to accomplish a given amount of work, because the material can avoid being hit by the balls. 



> it is a verry usefull tool and so worth building. one thing I would do diffrent is make the spindles shorter becouse they break off every couple weeks.


Yep! The support should be direcly adjacent to the weld, with little or no space between. Right now, they're flexing and failing from fatigue. If you want to keep the existing construction, add some gussets between the side plates and the shafts, so they are very near the bearings. That should limit flexing and make the shafts quit breaking. 



> and it is so loud that I am glad I dont have nabors. your mill with the smooth sides will proably not make as mush noise but grind slower too.


The noise is very much the function of a properly grinding mill---which means that you operate at a speed that carries the balls near the apex of the top curve, then drops them. It's the dropping of the balls that does all the work (properly, anyway---you can grind by attrition, but that's not recommended, and is much slower). There's a formula for calculating proper rotational speed, so the balls behave as they should. Sorry, can't provide the source---I found it in an old mining journal---or it may have been in Sir T.K. Rose's book, The Metallurgy of Gold. At any rate, rotational speed is critical if you expect proper performance from a ball mill. Any speed will yield results of sorts, however, unless it's too fast and carries the balls without dropping or rolling. 

Harold


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## Sodbuster (Jul 12, 2011)

Nice work guys!
I have been building me a ball mill in my head for over a year now. Hope to someday soon ( thanks to your inspiring photos ) find the time to go through with it. 

The one thing that I haven't quite figured out yet, is how to come up with a seal for the lid. I think I'm leaning towards an o-ring imbedded into the end of the drum or the lid. 
The problem for me is to find someone that can flycut the groove for the O-ring, and to even find me an O-ring big enough. My drum will be 18-24" diameter, what ever I can readily find.

So how do you guys seal your lids? Are you liquid / dust tight ? or is that even a concern?

glondor : 
I like that lid recessed like that, but now I need a picture with the lid off to show how you did the hardware for the lid. Is their a gasket in there?

Cody Reeder :
I like that clever use of the bungy strap. Never seen a bungy used like that, who would of ever thought. Try some of those same straps around the outside of the drum to kill some of the noise, or maybe some bicycle inner tubes stretched over the drum like you would a rubber band over a newspaper.

I know I'll be watching this thread, so keep us updated.
Thanks

Ray


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## kurt (Jul 12, 2011)

Yes - having a variety of different size balls in your mill is important -large balls to really "brake" stuff up, medium balls to brake/crush & small balls to fill in the spaces between large & medium to make actual crushing effective.

Kurt


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## Cody Reeder (Jul 12, 2011)

Sodbuster said:


> Nice work guys!
> I have been building me a ball mill in my head for over a year now. Hope to someday soon ( thanks to your inspiring photos ) find the time to go through with it.
> 
> The one thing that I haven't quite figured out yet, is how to come up with a seal for the lid. I think I'm leaning towards an o-ring imbedded into the end of the drum or the lid.
> ...



I just glued in a peice of rubber sheet on the inside of the lid to serve as the gasket, very simple it holds back the dust but is not quite water tight. (unless I crank doun on the bolts realy hard)

I thought about wrapping a cloth around it to help with the noise but I havent gotten around to it yet( at least it gives me a reason to leave it alown)


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## Barren Realms 007 (Jul 12, 2011)

Cody Reeder said:


> Sodbuster said:
> 
> 
> > Nice work guys!
> ...



Cody, what is the RPM on the motor you are using?


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## kurt (Jul 13, 2011)

Cody - were did you get that actual balls you are running in your mill

Kurt


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## glondor (Jul 13, 2011)

Posted per request. I will just use a rubber gasket to seal it closed if I run it wet.


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## Cody Reeder (Jul 13, 2011)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> Cody, what is the RPM on the motor you are using?



last I cheaked it was 1356 rpm when moderetly loded. if I use any kind of pully it goes much too fast so I have been running it directly on the 1/2'' shaft (with a small pully to keep the belt on.)



kurt said:


> Cody - were did you get that actual balls you are running in your mill
> 
> Kurt



a friend that lives in navada had some gave them to me when I was visiting, I dont think that I can get any more with out buying them but ball berings and bits of rod seem to work just fine with small mills.


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## Sodbuster (Jul 16, 2011)

glondor :
Thanks for the additional picture. 

That is about what I had in mind, but with the hardware on the outside of the drum.

"My welder got to busy to finish the drive system" 
You'll have to crack the whip on him. 
I'm curious to see the final product. I know you have to be also.

I can guess that the drum will turn on two parallel drive rollers, with that nice drum and the lid flush like that. 

Thanks again

Ray


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## capt_dugout (Sep 5, 2011)

One might try spray foam insulation applied between the outside of the mill and a section of plastic drum to reduce noise. 
P.S. A well drilling company usually has access to large iron pipe and may be able to direct you to a source for the drum.


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## Smack (Sep 5, 2011)

Glondor, you will want a gasket in there regardless. If your going to grind to powder, the powder will leak out without a gasket, not a bunch but still some even with all the bolts you have in the lid. I use tool box tray liners to cut mine out of.


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## glondor (Sep 5, 2011)

Thanks Smack. I use a piece of bell wire cut to size. The round wire crushes flat and makes a good seal. Keeps the dust in. I need to get this mill rolling...


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## NoIdea (Sep 5, 2011)

Hello - When and if I make a ball mill, I will use and old LPG bottle. Just throwing in a new idea.  

Deano


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## Anonymous (Sep 6, 2011)

Whos pretty painted toenails are those? :mrgreen:
Nice job on the ball mill.


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