Anyone here made a diy hammer, or ball mill?

[julianf]

Ive used the search function but not really found any posts.

Wondering if anyone has made either. Ball mill is obviously much simpler, but only any good for batch processing.

What do i want one for?

If i had a large enough hammer mill (not really going to happen) id feed it pallets.
A small ball mill would be interesting for pulverising pcbs for (hobby) precious metals recovery.

So i dont really have any direct fixed application, just an interest.

 

[Parm]

Not realy worth the time effort and trouble.

I used to go the the largest PCB processing place near Stalybridge.

They handled many skip loads aday, ran virtually 24/7 and recovered about 3 grams of gold a day.

Process cost more than than they earned. They did it cause the pulverised PCB were cheaper to dispose of

 

[gordon stephenson]

Not made or designed any, but worked on some big beauties. in power stations, crushing coal into powder form, Amazing how abrasive the coal is, doesn't take too long for the balls to be reduced in diameter quite a bit.

 

[rtbcomp]

I used to do quite a bit of gold reclamation, but modern PCBs have very little gold on them. I cut the edge connectors off and used an old wood chisel to remove the components and crushed them in an old coffee grinder, which didn't last very long.

 

[julianf]

I'm doing it out of entertainment rather than as an ongoing profit thing. I fully expect it to loose money rather than make.

If I make a ball mill, which seems way simpler, but not suited to doing wood (which would be very nice to be able to do) then the same unit can be used as a rotary tumbler (or so I think!) with some grit and without the balls.

 

[Shox Dr]

Believe me you need one mother of a motor to power a hammer mill. Oh prepare to spend alot of tine fixing it

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

I once made a "Rolling Ball Mill"
It was a 9lt fire extinguisher, door cut into it and resting on 4 wheels. One wheel was driven by wheel chair motor. The balls were 1 1/4 steel balls.

Recovering metal from computers is cost effective. The amount of gold is very small. The money is in the solder, copper in the PCB and the tiny amount of gold in the processors terminals.

It is fun to do, lots of You tube on recovering gold etc from PCB.

 

[gordon stephenson]

There are also rod mills too, That I have also worked on quite a bit years ago, Steel rods around four inches diameter X twenty feet long, after getting worn the got down to about two inch diameter,

 

[TechnicAl]

Ive seen hammer mills in cement works.....they scare the **** out of me......I wouldnt want one.....and the neighbours would agree

 

[bigegg]

I've always fancied making a small one of these:

I see a small version (100x80mm) is available on eBay for £200

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/264061886931

 

[wookie]

Ive seen hammer mills in cement works.....they scare the **** out of me......I wouldnt want one.....and the neighbours would agree

Always think of the one in the Bond film Licence to Kill where they are fighting it out on the conveyor belt leading to one of these, not a lot makes me wince in films but when he's feet are hanging just above the thing it makes my toes curl.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

I've always fancied making a small one of these:

Plenty of teeth like that, along with the shafts they turn on, if you can get hold of a dead shredder or two

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

I've always fancied making a small one of these:

I see a small version (100x80mm) is available on eBay for £200

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/264061886931