Bucknails
Member
Hi! Has anyone here have had experience grinding ore with an air mill? if so, any info on its use and operation would be very helpful. thank you! Buck
Vortex Air Mill - Ore Grinding
- Thread starter Bucknails
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Never heard of the term "air mill". Do you mean a rotary impact mill? I have heard of mills which use air for concentrating, but an air mill for grinding, kind of goes against the laws of physics. Air will break down silicious ores, just probably take a lot longer than say a ball mill, by maybe a few thousand years or more.
PeterM
Well-known member
Try this Rotary Collider Mill US Patent 5,368,243
PeterM
Well-known member
Here is the patent on the mill, my friend in Canada built one, and it scares him to death.
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- Aug 12, 2021
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I have one of these also. Scares the crap out of me when I drop a rock into it. Rotary impact mill. Still needs further classification after through put, but definitely smashes to bits. Dust is also a problem.
Martijn
Well-known member
I think the bucknails means this type. It works by ultrasonic distortion of an air vortex with increasing collision rate.
https://www.flexicone.net/services
https://www.flexicone.net/services
Hmm, nice.
Martijn
Well-known member
You're been waiting for an answer for some time i see.
Thread 'Centrifugal Concentrator' Centrifugal Concentrator
Did you ask the manufacturer for a user manual and setup of the variables and range of operation? Input of flow and particle size and such. Safety precautions?
Jet milling uses a ton of air!!
Bucknails
Member
Thank you everyone for your input and comments. Really appreciate it.
Yes, we have probably memorized the manufacturer specs and have conversed with them directly. Just a reseller so no ability to debug what's happening.
NanoCat, you are the first one to say they have used one of these in the wild. Can you elaborate more about it? What's happening with our unit is we are using about 115PSI, continuous drive air compressor. The feed material is about -30 mesh, homogeneous.
The air mill air discharge is strong so its flowing through the unit.
The problem we are having is when we add the feed material through the intake port, air is blowing back up the intake port and the feed is pushed back upwards. Its like a tornado around the intake port in that the out edge of air is blowing up and there is suction in the center. (that's natural to the device we believe). Bottom line is we don't get any discharge. We attenuated the air pressure but that didn't seem to help.
We have done wet and dry feed. We pumped in the wet feed under pressure. The wet feed did come out the discharge pipe but it hadn't been ground. It was the same size as the input.
We put dry feed in the chamber via the intake port and then hit it with the air. A lot blew back out and again, nothing coming out the discharge.
We took the thing apart but there are no moving parts and no obvious signs of defect.
We are thinking our air pressure may be on the lower side per the specs but the reseller said what we are using should be fine.
Any further idea on what might be happening? We are stuck at the moment.
Yes, we have probably memorized the manufacturer specs and have conversed with them directly. Just a reseller so no ability to debug what's happening.
NanoCat, you are the first one to say they have used one of these in the wild. Can you elaborate more about it? What's happening with our unit is we are using about 115PSI, continuous drive air compressor. The feed material is about -30 mesh, homogeneous.
The air mill air discharge is strong so its flowing through the unit.
The problem we are having is when we add the feed material through the intake port, air is blowing back up the intake port and the feed is pushed back upwards. Its like a tornado around the intake port in that the out edge of air is blowing up and there is suction in the center. (that's natural to the device we believe). Bottom line is we don't get any discharge. We attenuated the air pressure but that didn't seem to help.
We have done wet and dry feed. We pumped in the wet feed under pressure. The wet feed did come out the discharge pipe but it hadn't been ground. It was the same size as the input.
We put dry feed in the chamber via the intake port and then hit it with the air. A lot blew back out and again, nothing coming out the discharge.
We took the thing apart but there are no moving parts and no obvious signs of defect.
We are thinking our air pressure may be on the lower side per the specs but the reseller said what we are using should be fine.
Any further idea on what might be happening? We are stuck at the moment.
I'm very interested to hear what anyone has to say about these flexicone vortex Mills as I have one and am having the same problem...
And I'm using a 700 cubic feet per minute diesel powered air compressor.
Welcome to us
Bucknails have not been here in a year now.
Thank you very much I'm excited to be back. I've spent the last year working on building a mill.
