A Mortar and Pestle for Ceramic Parts - With No Guarantee
I hadn't looked at the Action Mining catalog in awhile and they've sure come a long way. I saw the pulverizor you mentioned and I wonder if you noticed that the material has to be 1/2" or less before you put it in the pulverizer. They actually recommend 1/4". Also, their prices seem high on about everything.
If you're young, strong, and energetic, you can use a big, homemade, mortar and pestle that will probably do the job. I've used it to grind slags and they're about as hard to break up as anything. You could also probably use it for most ores. I think it would work fine for CPU packages and other ceramic IC's. I haven't tried it and I'm not guaranteeing it but, I think it would work, after I saw what it did with the slag. About the only other way to break them up is with a ball mill, which is actually the best way. I've also seen people break them up with a heavy sledge hammer. They held the hammer vertically and pounded with the top of the hammer head and, not the faces. In this case, it would probably be best to put the parts in a heavy steel tray, about a foot deep, to keep them from flying around.
I'll give you the dimensions, as I remember them, from the last one I made. I'll tell you what each piece is for so that you can vary these dimensions a bit, depending on what you're able to find.
The mortar is a piece of wide, heavy walled, pipe about 2 feet high with a plate welded to the bottom. The plate on the bottom should be thick enough to not warp when welding and large enough so you can stand on it. The pipe is heavy walled to withstand the banging and tall enough so that the pieces don't fly out while pounding. The pestle is simply a piece of thick steel rod that you pound with and is long enough to keep from banging your hands on the mortar while pounding. A tall person will probably get a sore back from bending over plus, the pestle is heavy. If the tall person is strong enough, make the pestle a little longer.
The mortar is heavy and it would be nice to have a couple of handles when dumping it out. I would suggest making them in this shape, [ , from 3/8"rebar or rod. Make them about 2"X6". Weld one on the side of the pipe, vertically, and the other on one edge of the plate, bent up about an inch, or so, so you can get your hand under it.
I've never done this but, I think the pounding would be easier if you had 2 similar handles near the end of the pestle. I'm thinking handles similar to those on the tool you use to pound steel fence posts into the ground.
Here's what you need, besides the handles.
(1) 6" to 8" dia. pipe with 3/16" to 1/4" walls, about 24" to 28" long. The ends don't have to be ground but, they should be cut off square. Most scrap dealers that sell steel have a big band saw for this purpose.
(2) A 1/4" plate, about 15" to 18" square for the bottom.
(3) For the pestle. I think the one I had was steel rod about 1 3/4" to 2" in diameter and about 36" to 40" long, cut off square on the ends. That's about right for me and I'm 5'9". A 40", 2" dia steel rod will weigh 35#.
Weld on the bottom plate and the handles on the mortar and pestle. Put some parts in, put some heavy leather work gloves on, stand on the plate, and pound away. You may need to take a few breaks.