For Sale small ceramic ball mill

[4metals]

Probably most don't know what this even is so no one seems to be bidding. This would be a score for a small refiner.

https://www.govdeals.com/asset/52/22686

 

[goldshark]

Probably most don't know what this even is so no one seems to be bidding. This would be a score for a small refiner.

https://www.govdeals.com/asset/52/22686

Hey 4metals, if you ever see a Bico disc grinder, 1-3 HP, 1 Ph., let me know. I saw 1 at the same website that went for $150. Used to be a registered bidder on the site, but not current.

 

[Alondro]

Very tempting... this would make ceramic chip processing so much simpler.

Unfortunately, we still have the 1972 Triumph GT6 in the garage taking up all the space. Anyone want it? IT NEEDS TO GO!!! It's been in there 45 years!!

 

[Shark]

You can't even build one for $20. That is real bargain.

 

[4metals]

You can't even build one for $20. That is real bargain.

Those porcelain mill jars cost north of $500 new.

 

[kurtak]

Very tempting... this would make ceramic chip processing so much simpler.

not sure how you think trying to mill ceramic with ceramic is going to make anything simpler

Ceramic in the first place is VERY HARD - so trying to mill ceramic chips in a mill made of iron along with LARGE HEAVY iron balls is at best a difficult task

That mill is relatively small to start with - about 5 gallon in size (about the same size as the 5 gallon buckets on the floor next to mill) so the ceramic balls in the mill are also relatively small in size so they are going to have little or NO effect on "milling" of ceramic chips --- all that would happen is "some" abrasion of "all" the ceramics --- in other words - as much as the balls would cause "some" abrasion of the chips - the chips are going to cause "some" abrasion to the balls - & the balls & chips are going to cause "some" abrasion to the ceramic mill jar - & after a week of running in the mill all you end up with is what you started with minus "some" fine ceramic powder abraded from ALL the ceramic from the mill the balls & the chips

It would be like trying to mill a bunch of iron nuts & bolts in an iron mill with iron balls - NOTHING would actually get "milled" (crushed/ground) down in size - other then "some" abrasion to ALL the iron components in the mill --- in other words - all you would get (after a week of milling) is "some" ware & tear on the iron mill, the iron balls & the iron nuts & bolts - NO actual "milling"

For "milling" to be effective the material being milled needs to be more brittle/softer' then the mill (it self) & the "milling" media (the balls)

So - that all said - that mill would work fine for "small batch" milling of incinerated epoxy chips - but will have little or no effect on trying to mill ceramic chips

Kurt

 

[4metals]

As Kurt pointed out a ball mill, even a small one, is very useful for a lot of material in a refinery, but not for everything. I ball milled ceramic chips in a large steel mill with heavy steel balls after it was granulated before milling. Ceramics are quite hard.

 

[anarxi]

Ceramics are hard, but they are brittle, which is why they hit well with a hammer.
not strong, but a sharp blow is what you need.


probably a hammer mill is the best solution?

 

[goldshark]

There are a myriad number of choices for impact, or crushing mills. As Kurtak said, not a ball mill for ceramics

 

[SRM]

Hmm, I read that as .5 gallon capacity. Looks more like a deburr/polishing setup than a ball mill. It would be easy to fabricate a steel drum and use grinding balls to grind ceramics.

SRM

 

[4metals]

This is a small mill but effective for the right material. But the roller mechanism can serve multiple mills that can rotate on the rubber coated drive rod. Jar mill rollers of this size will tumble a barrel up to about 12" in diameter. If you make a barrel out of steel pipe it can handle the impact, a plain old paint can cannot. Weld a slip by thread coupling on each end and weld one end closed with a piece of plate steel. Then a threaded plug can serve as a door on the other end. Before welding on the couplings, weld in a short length of rebar inside the pipe. (it needs a continuous weld bead or it will fail quickly) This will serve as a lifter bar to lift and drop the balls and make them more effective.

 

[goldshark]

This is a small mill but effective for the right material. But the roller mechanism can serve multiple mills that can rotate on the rubber coated drive rod. Jar mill rollers of this size will tumble a barrel up to about 12" in diameter. If you make a barrel out of steel pipe it can handle the impact, a plain old paint can cannot. Weld a slip by thread coupling on each end and weld one end closed with a piece of plate steel. Then a threaded plug can serve as a door on the other end. Before welding on the couplings, weld in a short length of rebar inside the pipe. (it needs a continuous weld bead or it will fail quickly) This will serve as a lifter bar to lift and drop the balls and make them more effective.

So in theory, a ball mill grinds by attrition- the act of grinding surface to surface. All ball mills I have seen, and design theory from the Mining Engineers Handbook, as well as personal experience, should not have lifting bars. If you are trying to crush something, an impact or jaw crusher is your best best. This is why certain labs have testing equipment , to determine the compressive strength of materials being processed, and their "friability". Friabilty will test fracture properties of the material being processed. Some materials have a laminar fracture, and some will have a conchoidal fracture, as well as average compressive strength.

 

[4metals]

The lifter bar I mentioned will not lift and drop the balls as much as it will facilitate better agitation of the charge. That is because a low lifter bar will move the charge and a high lifter bar, one that will be tall enough to lift and drop the balls where higher impact velocities are needed for harder materials. If the correct rotation speed is achieved no lifter bars are required because the speed lifts the balls without lifter bars.

If I were in the mining business and working a particular ore, there are formulas to determine both the proper rotation speed to grind by attrition and, if required the optimal height of the lifter bars. Those equations would also make Einstein scratch his head!.

But in a refinery working on processing the many types of customer generated scrap I never had the luxury of multiple ball mills to choose from with different speeds and different height lifter bars. So we settled on what worked out to be the best fit for most of our different scrap types.