chemkid - 23-4-2008 at 15:01
So i had this idea last night...
Why not, rather than going through all the trouble of building a ball mill, just take the coffee can or ball milling container that your using, put it
in a big plastic jar for protection (both it and your drying machine) and put it in your drying machine for a few hours at a time. Might not be very
energy efficient, but if your not paying the bills...
Just a thought....
Chemkid
[Edited on 23-4-2008 by chemkid]
CyrusGrey - 23-4-2008 at 15:25
Wouldn't you waste a bunch of water doing that? Though you could put it in a drier on fluff or whatever its called (No heating tumbling).
Now what would be really neat is converting the entire drier into one giant ball mill! 
chemrox - 23-4-2008 at 15:48
"Now what would be really neat is converting the entire drier into one giant ball mill! "
How about an electric cement mixer? Harbor Fright has one for $100. You could use cue balls from the local tavern and a plumbers plug over the open
end. Use it to make Pd/C at a reasonable scale! ;^)
chemkid - 23-4-2008 at 16:00
Meant to say dryer. Converting the entire drying machine would be interesting. I was originally using a drying machine motor for my first ball mill
(which failed and was total overkill) Anyway, i think this method might work, provided its not too loud.
tumadre - 23-4-2008 at 16:12
The 20 gauge sheetmetal isn't going to hold up IMO
Mr. Wizard - 23-4-2008 at 17:27
I have used a cement mixer as a ball mill. I was cleaning the rust out of a gas tank. I padded the tank with some old carpet padding, taped up the
holes and threw in some old nuts and bolts and let it run for an hour. I put it on the dump position, which makes the drum horizontal. The rust that
came out was like dust. This was a very noisy operation. BTW it was a Harbor Freight mixer. It really is overkill for small jobs, and not suited for
long , or unattended operation.
After the gas tank was cleaned, some extra holes were revealed and soldered up, while the tank was flushed with CO2.
Edit: You can usually buy cast iron (steel?) balls where they sell steel and metal supplies. They are used for decorative fence and artistic metal.
[Edited on by Mr. Wizard]
Nick F - 24-4-2008 at 09:29
I've used a tumble drier before, it works great. Just disable the heater and fan first.
MagicJigPipe - 24-4-2008 at 09:52
Most dryers (at least all the ones I have ever had) should have an air dry or "tumble" setting that will disable the heater. I don't know why you
would have to disable the fan unless you were putting what you want to mill directly inside the dryer (instead of inside some kind of cylinder).
I see no reason why it shouldn't work if you pad the cylinder good enough. You could probably even throw in some clothes to reduce the noise. Also,
on this setting, electricity use is usually less than $1 an hour. In fact, it shouldn't be more than a few kilowatt hours per mill session.
Those are just estimates and, of course, it will vary from dryer to dryer but it's not that bad. Shouldn't be any worse than running your microwave
on defrost for a few hours.
[Edited on 4-24-2008 by MagicJigPipe]
tumadre - 24-4-2008 at 13:07
If electricity is really expensive where you live, ie. Cali. you could put a permanent magnet or universal motor in place of the existing one.
At that level of power, the efficiency is so low for common 1/4th Hp type induction motors that replacing it with a smaller one wouldn't necessarily
reduce the consumption.
MagicJigPipe: "Shouldn't be any worse than running your microwave on defrost for a few hours." Thanks man you just made my day.
-Take it easy.
chemkid - 24-4-2008 at 15:26
If i ever finish with all this damn school stuff I'll try this out with aluminum turnings to powder and report back....
Chemkid
chemrox - 24-4-2008 at 21:06
I was kidding about the cement mixer and assumed the dryer comments were jocular as well. I heard that aluminum foil could be turned to powder in a
blender and wonder, seriously, if the Waring technique could work for your turnings?
Phosphor-ing - 25-4-2008 at 10:51
I have also heard that small pieces of Al foil could be powdered in a blender full of NaCl. Carefully though, most blenders will not survive more a
second at a time with that kind of resistance!