| Building a Ball Mill |
Building a
Ball Mill
Note:
We now carry a complete line of ready-to-use Ball Mills
You can find them by
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An Easy to
make Ball Mill.
Nothing
is very critical in the design of a Ball Mill and it can be made
virtually any size. The one pictured here is quite large and holds
up to 10 pounds of chemicals.
Ball Mills simply consist of a motor that turns two drive shafts
that a container sits on.
Inside the container are a quantity of Lead-Antimony Balls that
grind the chemicals into a fine dust.
Below are several additional images to give you an idea how to put
one together. |
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The drive shaft
layout of the Mill. All the parts used are available at any hardware
store. The pulleys, drive shafts, bearings & motor can all be
purchased as replacement parts for a Swamp Cooler. The belts and
3/4" rubber hose were purchased from an automotive parts store. As
new motors are expensive, it's certainly worth a trip to the local
junkyard to remove one from an old clothes dryer. |
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A close-up of
the lower pulley, belt & bearing arrangement.
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Side
view of the Ball Mill. Note the small wheel that the container rests
on. The Mill is tilted up at a 30 to 45 degree angle. This keeps the
chemical powder and the lead balls in the bottom of the container. |
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Front view of
the Ball Mill. As stated before, the basic design is simple and can
be scaled down to a small coffee can sized container, or scaled up
to something larger. The container should be strong plastic as it
takes a beating will a pile of Lead balls bouncing around inside.
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