Anyone make / use a stamp mill?

[Red_desert]

Guy says he is making them for people and his combo is gas powered (portable) even being used in Africa. Can process 1 ton ore an hour. Another portable crusher fits in pickup truck also, to crush, large size ore down to about 3/4" pieces (for hammer mill).

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[Assembler]

Guy says he is making them for people and his combo is gas powered (portable) even being used in Africa. Can process 1 ton ore an hour. Another portable crusher fits in pickup truck also, to crush, large size ore down to about 3/4" pieces (for hammer mill).

Did you catch any costs of the units?

 

[Red_desert]

This whole page has me confused, are we talking gold mining, farming, lead mining, I'm lost here guys, guess I've had to much coffee...
Gt...

Back to farming, I picked up this feed mill that uses a hammer mill to pulverize straw and grain as cattle feed.

I paid $100.00 to a farmer fro the one I have and it came with a good selection of screens.

Keep learning more as you go. I was at an Arizona claim once. looked like they blasted the hard ground down about 9-12 feet (depending on where you were). I'll bet chunks of hard placer caliche would process good in hammer mills.

 

[Red_desert]

Guy says he is making them for people and his combo is gas powered (portable) even being used in Africa. Can process 1 ton ore an hour. Another portable crusher fits in pickup truck also, to crush, large size ore down to about 3/4" pieces (for hammer mill).

Did you catch any costs of the units?

No, didn't quite get finished watching it.

 

[Assembler]

The output size is determined by the screen installed.

View attachment 2009053

I think you will find that thin screens like the ones pictured will not even last one ton of material.

The very fine opening screens will very quickly plug up maybe in as little as a few minutes due to not enough surface area and will have to be cleaned.

 

[Assembler]

The biggest plus factor of a stamp mill is there is no screen to quickly plug up you just keep stamping until the majority of the material in that given batch is reduced to a size more to your liking then remove it.

 

[Assembler]

Post number 7 in thread home built equipment, hammer mill cleaning insulated copper wire.

There is a big difference between soft copper and plastic coated wire and most hard rocks as far as wear goes on equipment.
For a test on one ton of material expect to replace the screens and maybe more after about a ton of hard rock.

 

[Assembler]

Replacing say the sledge hammers heads and the base metal is very cheep for a given amount of tons of materials reduced. This is the biggest factor going for the stamp mill. A lot less cost overall.

 

[Assembler]

Gold is a very soft metal, after hours of use your stamp mill will accumulate a layer of gold on the hammers.

Hammer welding, fortunately gold is soft and it will peel off of the hammer face.

Damascus steel is a form of hammer welding, video below is a demonstration for forge hammer welding.

Yes soft gold will conform to every pit on the surface of the stamps or hammers and may need to be pealed off / cleaned off from time to time.

The hard rock will also remove the soft gold from the hammers.

 

[Assembler]

You can also screen and process any size mesh material you want dry easier with the stamp mill.
Just vacuum out the material at any point you want. The stamp mill does not generate as much dust in the process compared to a rotatory hammer mill that acts like a air pump.

There appears to be very few people using stamp mills today. One does not want to reinvent the wheel here in the process of just a simple stamp mill that is to be fabricated.

 

[Assembler]

My hammer mill has a cyclone too remove dust.

Rod mills, ball mills, stamp mills along with mortar and pestle all have their place in reducing ore.

The 64 dollar question which machine will process the most ore in a given time, secondly which is best suited to the type of ore I'm processing.

Assembler, I plead with you PLEASE read the attached file.

Correct all of the above equipment has it's place and is useful.
Equipment that one can acquire and is best suited for the type of ore you have may be the most important question.

I will take a look at your attachment and thanks for sharing.

 

[Assembler]

I started to take a look at the PDF document some of the information is useful.
I will point out that most of the equipment shown and described is designed for nearly flat ground operation only and can not be used on steep slopes with out unreal costs added. The road costs alone will likely rule out much of this type of equipment.

It boils down to what can be used for the ore you have and the type of grounds it is on.

 

[Assembler]

Assembler we could spend the next couple of months discussing the contents of that file.

I'm fast loosing my sense of humor, had you read the full document you would have seen the Clarkson Rod Mill.

Time to take your foot out of yer mouth.

View attachment 2009122

View attachment 2009123

Like I said there is some useful information contained in the document and will add that even just one good gem can make a reduction of ore that anyone can use.

I will point out that documents that are geared for mostly flat grounds have to be sifted for the few gems they contain. A small rod mill like the one shown can be used in even the smallest claim ore reduction. I think you may find a stamp mill will reduce more ore (in a given time) all depending on the factors you may be dealing with. This is likely why stamp mills where very popular in the past.

Also a stamp mills can be light weight and somewhat compact. Will not cost an arm and a leg.

 

[Assembler]

I wish there was a mention of any information for a stamp mill.

The information about ball mills is useful.

 

[BlasterJ]

My hammer mill has a cyclone too remove dust.

Rod mills, ball mills, stamp mills along with mortar and pestle all have their place in reducing ore.

The 64 dollar question which machine will process the most ore in a given time, secondly which is best suited to the type of ore I'm processing.

Assembler, I plead with you PLEASE read the attached file.

That's a great read, thanks!

 

[N-Lionberger]

The biggest plus factor of a stamp mill is there is no screen to quickly plug up you just keep stamping until the majority of the material in that given batch is reduced to a size more to your liking then remove it.

This isn’t really how stampmills work. They have a screen which is installed in front and sometimes sides of the stamp battery. Water and ore are added in a continuous feed.

 

[BlasterJ]

This isn’t really how stampmills work. They have a screen which is installed in front and sometimes sides of the stamp battery. Water and ore are added in a continuous feed.

My understanding of stamp mills is that the real key to their success was the (then revolutionary) automatic ore feeding system. This both distributed it to all of the stamps and kept it from piling up:

US224946A - o harra - Google Patents

patents.google.com

 

[N-Lionberger]

Yes before the auto feeders the ore had to be pitched in by hand. Mark Twain had the job for a short time while in Virginia City.
The ore feeder operated by a rotating plate at the base of a hopper, the flow of ore into the stamp battery is regulated by a rocker arm connected to the ore feeder. When the stamp battery is full of ore, a tappet on the stamp stem is too high to engage the rocker arm. When material is crushed and flushed out through the screens the stamps are able to fall lower in the battery and the rocker arm will again be contacted by the tappet causing the plate to rotate and feed more ore into the battery.

 

[N-Lionberger]

“We had to turn out at six in the morning and keep at it till dark. This mill was a six-stamp affair, driven by steam. Six tall, upright rods of iron, as large as a man’s ankle, and heavily shod with a mass of iron and steel at their lower ends, were framed together like a gate, and these rose and fell, one after the other, in a ponderous dance, in an iron box called a “battery.” Each of these rods or stamps weighed six hundred pounds. One of us stood by the battery all day long, breaking up masses of silver-bearing rock with a sledge and shoveling it into the battery. The ceaseless dance of the stamps pulverized the rock to powder, and a stream of water that trickled into the battery turned it to a creamy paste. The minutest particles were driven through a fine wire screen which fitted close around the battery, and were washed into great tubs warmed by super-heated steam—amalgamating pans, they are called. The mass of pulp in the pans was kept constantly stirred up by revolving “mullers.” A quantity of quicksilver was kept always in the battery, and this seized some of the liberated gold and silver particles and held on to them; quicksilver was shaken in a fine shower into the pans, also, about every half hour, through a buckskin sack. Quantities of coarse salt and sulphate of copper were added, from time to time to assist the amalgamation by destroying base metals which coated the gold and silver and would not let it unite with the quicksilver.” - Quote from Roughing It by Mark Twain.

 

[N-Lionberger]

This is the mill my ECV chapter has. I’m on the Stampmill crew. We’re hoping to get going on a rebuild this summer the wood needs to be replaced as the woodpeckers have destroyed it. In the video you can see the tappet on the left stamp stem engaging the rocker arm to the feeder.