Ball Mill

[rickzeien]

I purchase a rock tumbler from a school in Loisianna thru govdeal.com

I updated the gearbox and motor to a heavier unit. (Still have the 1/2 horse motor and drive that I plan to make a small bench top lab mill out of)

Anyway here is a video of the finished ball mill. (Well maybe an improvement or two to come later)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11U120BMWAlPEWSo9D4VEYntP9H8JYaIp/view?usp=drivesdk

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[snoman701]

I didn’t watch the whole video....but if you can over clock that vfd to get a little more speed, you’ll increase the efficiency of the grind. Right now it has a herky jerky cyclical sound....perfect rpm for grinding will have the balls falling at a constant rate when they reach a critical height.


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[snoman701]

Also...be careful with the starter. Disconnecting a VFD under load can do something that lets the magic smoke out of the IGBT's.

The magic smoke is what keeps the VFD (and all electronics) working.

Once the magic smoke is gone, it takes someone pretty smart to put it back in...and they like to charge lots of money to do so.

I generally resell the magnetic starter, then just put a fancy little project box on it with an on off switch and a potentiometer to control speed. You can usually find all the instructions to do so in the book.

Pretty nice little ball mill.

 

[rickzeien]

Snoman701

Thanks for the advice. I will check it out.

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[Striker753]

Would anyone of you know a place where one can get one of these ball mills in Southern Europe (or anywhere in the EU, I'm looking for a place in the Schengen space that uses the euro)? Because I was planning to move abroad in the next 2 years and get myself a house in Greece, as my job is going to become a remote one. And since I like to tinker with refining (not just gold) and other metal-based chemical processes, I thought it'd be an occasion to get bigger tools than the ones I have at my dacha (summer cottage)!

 

[g_axelsson]

There was a post a few days ago about a Dutch auction with a whole refinery in lots. I think there were some ball mills in it too.

Göran

 

[rickzeien]

Final video. Working great.

https://drive.google.com/a/group11elements.com/file/d/11Jgc9HZdUOrF7d1LpCehoPAKjVHhpvi0/view?usp=drivesdk

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[Shark]

I get the

"You need permission

Want in? Ask for access, or switch to an account with permission."

Page.

 

[FrugalRefiner]

Yep, I get a Google sign-in page.

Dave

 

[rickzeien]

Not sure why? Let's try this one.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12FUfwtnt6S2hChExZuLRUtvc7QzQgH-6/view?usp=drivesdk

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[FrugalRefiner]

That one works!

Dave

 

[rickzeien]

That one works!

Dave

Thanks Dave!

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[Shark]

That one worked for me too. That thing is cool!

 

[rickzeien]

That one worked for me too. That thing is cool!

Thanks Shark!

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[Thipdar]

I had an inspiration, but it looks like someone beat me to it!

Tru-square Metal Products Model B Heavy Duty 15# Rock Tumbler, THU140 $194.99 on Amazon.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tru-square-Metal-Products-Model-B-Heavy-Duty-15-Rock-Tumbler-THU140/37293531?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=17761&adid=22222222227026452205&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=52552497735&wl4=aud-430887228898la-79625692335&wl5=9032015&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=127767841&wl11=online&wl12=37293531&veh=sem&gclid=CjwKCAiA98TxBRBtEiwAVRLqu0z-B_YyPcKHkElg_0EYHca0eX3dZ_Z060GiJFwPmN9hZKSDRSIdfhoCDrkQAvD_BwE

I think I'd use these instead of the polishing media:
https://www.acrossinternational.com/Stainless-Steel-Grinding-Balls-STB.htm

I might consider using these:
https://www.acrossinternational.com/Highly-Polished-Tungsten-Carbide-Grinding-Balls-TCGB.htm

-- Thipdar

 

[kurtak]

Thipdar

The tumbler Rick used to make his ball mill is a LARGE industrial tumbler - the one you posted a link to is a SMALL bench top tumbler - likely to small to work as a ball mill if you intend to use it for milling incinerated IC chips

For ball milling incinerated IC chips I use a Harbor Freight cement mixer (there "small" one) cost (on sale) $150

You can get the balls you need from Action Mining - cost "about" $70 - $80

With the cement mixer you can mill 60 - 80 pounds of incinerated chip in a day

I have posted a lot about this

Click on my user name - that will take you to my profile page - click on "search user's post" - that will take you to everything I have post --- in the "search these result" box type in "ball mill"

That will give you results of things I have posted about ball milling with the cement mixer - read them

In some of those post there will be links to other post about it as well

That should give you "all" the info you need about using a cement mixer to mill incinerated IC chips

Kurt

 

[rickzeien]

I highly recommend Kurt's cement mixer mill. I used one prior to building my ball mill. The mixer works great I just needed more volume. (And I love to build things : )

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[Thipdar]

Thipdar

The tumbler Rick used to make his ball mill is a LARGE industrial tumbler - the one you posted a link to is a SMALL bench top tumbler - likely to small to work as a ball mill if you intend to use it for milling incinerated IC chips

For ball milling incinerated IC chips I use a Harbor Freight cement mixer (there "small" one) cost (on sale) $150

You can get the balls you need from Action Mining - cost "about" $70 - $80

With the cement mixer you can mill 60 - 80 pounds of incinerated chip in a day

I have posted a lot about this

Click on my user name - that will take you to my profile page - click on "search user's post" - that will take you to everything I have post --- in the "search these result" box type in "ball mill"

That will give you results of things I have posted about ball milling with the cement mixer - read them

In some of those post there will be links to other post about it as well

That should give you "all" the info you need about using a cement mixer to mill incinerated IC chips

Kurt

Thanks for the info.

I was thinking more along the lines of crushing ore samples (the kinds of things I might bring back from my placer claim).

Also, I was thinking about how to accomplish the milling without letting any dust escape; the rock tumbler uses a sealed vessel.

-- Thipdar

 

[rickzeien]

Thipdar

The tumbler Rick used to make his ball mill is a LARGE industrial tumbler - the one you posted a link to is a SMALL bench top tumbler - likely to small to work as a ball mill if you intend to use it for milling incinerated IC chips

For ball milling incinerated IC chips I use a Harbor Freight cement mixer (there "small" one) cost (on sale) $150

You can get the balls you need from Action Mining - cost "about" $70 - $80

With the cement mixer you can mill 60 - 80 pounds of incinerated chip in a day

I have posted a lot about this

Click on my user name - that will take you to my profile page - click on "search user's post" - that will take you to everything I have post --- in the "search these result" box type in "ball mill"

That will give you results of things I have posted about ball milling with the cement mixer - read them

In some of those post there will be links to other post about it as well

That should give you "all" the info you need about using a cement mixer to mill incinerated IC chips

Kurt

Thanks for the info.

I was thinking more along the lines of crushing ore samples (the kinds of things I might bring back from my placer claim).

Also, I was thinking about how to accomplish the milling without letting any dust escape; the rock tumbler uses a sealed vessel.

-- Thipdar

I milled some ore in the cement mixer. To solve the dust problem I used some duct tape to hold a heavy plastic bag over the opening. (A contractor garbage bag worked well)

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[Thipdar]

Thipdar

The tumbler Rick used to make his ball mill is a LARGE industrial tumbler - the one you posted a link to is a SMALL bench top tumbler - likely to small to work as a ball mill if you intend to use it for milling incinerated IC chips

For ball milling incinerated IC chips I use a Harbor Freight cement mixer (there "small" one) cost (on sale) $150

You can get the balls you need from Action Mining - cost "about" $70 - $80

With the cement mixer you can mill 60 - 80 pounds of incinerated chip in a day

I have posted a lot about this

Click on my user name - that will take you to my profile page - click on "search user's post" - that will take you to everything I have post --- in the "search these result" box type in "ball mill"

That will give you results of things I have posted about ball milling with the cement mixer - read them

In some of those post there will be links to other post about it as well

That should give you "all" the info you need about using a cement mixer to mill incinerated IC chips

Kurt

Thanks for the info.

I was thinking more along the lines of crushing ore samples (the kinds of things I might bring back from my placer claim).

Also, I was thinking about how to accomplish the milling without letting any dust escape; the rock tumbler uses a sealed vessel.

-- Thipdar

I milled some ore in the cement mixer. To solve the dust problem I used some duct tape to hold a heavy plastic bag over the opening. (A contractor garbage bag worked well)

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

I like it.
With a larger diameter I could go with larger milling balls, which should reduce the time it takes to crush the ore.