Backyard Mill

[Kid Saxon]

First Run

Ran six pounds of rock in my small homemade ball mill (14" x 12") for two hours,rock was reduced to flower fine dust. Nice pay day in gold too !

Luck on your next hunt. Chuck

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Hi my new friend Chuck: A nice looking setup. The only suggestion that I have is to mimic the larger mills and weld or fasten thick strips of metal transversely inside of your drum.. this tends to lift your balls, blocks or whatever, much higher before dropping instead of sorta slipping around.

Don Jose de La Mancha

[strickman]

dang !!!!! that's better than a nice payday ! must have some nice specimens to boot !

[strickman]

nice looking ball mill ,how loud is it ? what did you make the drum out of ?

[Kid Saxon]

Hi my new friend Chuck: A nice looking setup. The only suggestion that I have is to mimic the larger mills and weld or fasten thick strips of metal transversely inside of your drum.. this tends to lift your balls, blocks or whatever, much higher before dropping instead of sorta slipping around.

Don Jose de La Mancha

Yes, I thought of doing that but I had some rock laying around the house I wanted to run. Still might weld some strips in yet.
Take Care, Chuck

[Kid Saxon]

nice looking ball mill ,how loud is it ? what did you make the drum out of ?

Hi , Strickman

The drum is a piece of 12 inch inside diameter pipe with a 3/8 inch wall. Most of the moving parts are an old reel power lawn mower. Not loud at all.
Take Care , Chuck

[strickman]

i like it ......

[Darshevo]

I've always been told a ball mill without fins was a rock polisher

In truth I'd love to see some more pics of it. That's one of the best home built mills I have seen. A+ job my friend

-Lance

[kuger]

I like it Chuck!!!

[Astrobouncer]

That's a nice setup you got there. Quite a bit of shine too

[Mad Machinist]

Picked up a Lincoln Weldpak 140 HD on Sunday. So now it is game on. Nice Mill. Gives me ideas.

[Eric Willoughby]

What are those items that you are using as the crushing balls?

[Goodyguy]

Awesome! Great workmanship. I like the gear reduction set up.
How many rpm's does the motor turn, and how many rpm's does the drum turn?

Also, Good job on the welding
Looks like you have a good helper too.

Thanks for sharing,
GG~

[Kid Saxon]

What are those items that you are using as the crushing balls?

The round ones are balls from a marcy mill, the other ones are cut from a three inch shaft that was part of a stamp mill. Take care, Chuck

[Kid Saxon]

Awesome! Great workmanship. I like the gear reduction set up.
How many rpm's does the motor turn, and how many rpm's does the drum turn?

Also, Good job on the welding
Looks like you have a good helper too.

Thanks for sharing,
GG~

The motor is a 1/4 horse that runs 1125 RPM , The drum runs 20 RPM .

Take Care, Chuck

[russau]

NICE JOB!

[strickman]

20 rpm's at 2 hrs. , man thats pretty good ! not bad at all ! I might to make one of those !

[kilnmaint]

Nice back yard rig!! From my last 30 years of working with mills and kilns I see only one potential problem. The 1/2 inch pipe will wear much faster than you might expect. Industrial mills have rubber or alloy steel liners . However,you will get a lot of life from your rig running two hours a week or so. Horizonal lifters welded on the walls or multiple passes with welding rods will make the product tumble more and not tend to slide around the shell causing additional wear.

[nuggy]

Really nice job on the ball mill, not sure if the round shaft is a good thing or not. Have you run it with just the balls? Nuggy

[TerryC]

VERY nice piece of equipment! Question... raw ore to powder... how long? Tnx. TTC