grain mill issue

[scottvin]

I had a problem last night with my grain mill - Crankandstein 2A. The free roller would spin some and then not spin finally it got bound up, tipped the hopper and mill over and dumped grain all over the ground. I found that if I put in minimal grain it would work for a bit but if I filled the hopper it would work for a bit but then it would bind.

I have run about 100+ pounds of grain in the mill and the rollers look alright.

Any ideas?

 

[unionrdr]

Do you ever use a dry trim brush or the like to brush the grainy dusty stuff out before each use? They should be kept cleaned out,or it seems to me that stuff would bind up the bearings eventually. I gotta brush mine out so hopefully I can finally brew tomorrow.

 

[RM-MN]

Your bearings probably need lubrication. Use something like a toothpick and put a tiny amount of olive oil on each bearing (4 total?) and then run the mill with no grain to work it in. Turn the free roller by hand a few turns, then put a small amount of grain through and see if that doesn't free it up.

 

[mikescooling]

This mill is new, look for adjustment problems, how it's bolted down will affect how the mill works. You should tighten in a cross pattern. Again, this mill is new and if your still having problems call the MFR.

 

[scottvin]

Finally got the mill apart and here are the two non moving ends look like ( I assume ball bearings). They don't look too good to me







How do I clean?

 

[unionrdr]

I used rubbing alcohol & a trim brush to clean everything. I mean the bristled brushes,not those dollar store foam ones. Gett'em clean & dry,the lube with cooking oil slightle before re-assembly.

 

[Channel66]

I used rubbing alcohol & a trim brush to clean everything. I mean the birstled brushes,not those dollar store foam ones. Gett'em clean & dry,the lube with cooking oil slightle before re-assembly.

Olive oil and vegetable oil will go rancid and dry up. Use a food grade mineral oil, won't spoil, and will lubricate for much longer.

 

[VladOfTrub]

What's all the stuff on the bearings? Cooked grain from hot bearings or from milling moist grain? The bearings look out of round. If they are they're shot. I'm not sure if using alcohol to clean a bearing that is porous is a good idea. Bearings like the ones on a grinder are made with porous metal that draws in the oil. The alcohol might soak in and thin the lube. Maybe even block the pores with residue when it evaporates. I have a 7 year old Schmidling. I use a couple of drops of 3-1 on each bearing after each sack of grain. Never binds up, never had a problem.

 

[unionrdr]

Olive oil and vegetable oil will go rancid and dry up. Use a food grade mineral oil, won't spoil, and will lubricate for much longer.

What's all the stuff on the bearings? Cooked grain from hot bearings or from milling moist grain? The bearings look out of round. If they are they're shot. I'm not sure if using alcohol to clean a bearing that is porous is a good idea. Bearings like the ones on a grinder are made with porous metal that draws in the oil. The alcohol might soak in and thin the lube. Maybe even block the pores with residue when it evaporates. I have a 7 year old Schmidling. I use a couple of drops of 3-1 on each bearing after each sack of grain. Never binds up, never had a problem.

Good points to concider. I used rubbing alcohol to do the first cleaning on my new grain mill with a trim brush. Then sacrificed a half pound of grin to run through it after it dried,per instructions. I soaked the brush clean,rinsed & dried it. I now use it to clean the mill after use before storing it.

 

[scottvin]

What's all the stuff on the bearings? Cooked grain from hot bearings or from milling moist grain? The bearings look out of round. If they are they're shot. I'm not sure if using alcohol to clean a bearing that is porous is a good idea. Bearings like the ones on a grinder are made with porous metal that draws in the oil. The alcohol might soak in and thin the lube. Maybe even block the pores with residue when it evaporates. I have a 7 year old Schmidling. I use a couple of drops of 3-1 on each bearing after each sack of grain. Never binds up, never had a problem.

I have never milled wet grains. Should I contact crankandstein about the bearings?

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

The bearings look out of round.

Not sure what you're seeing that's out of round, I don't see it. There is a C-clip that protrudes about mid way, that's normal.

MC

 

[wickman6]

Not sure what you're seeing that's out of round, I don't see it. There is a C-clip that protrudes about mid way, that's normal.

MC

The inside of the brass looks out of round to me as well. Hard to say for sure from those pics tho.


To the op- yea I would contact crankandstien. That mill is too new for that sort of problem.

 

[VladOfTrub]

Originally Posted by Misplaced_Canuck
Not sure what you're seeing that's out of round, I don't see it. There is a C-clip that protrudes about mid way, that's normal.

Yes, I agree, the C clip looks normal, but, it's not a bearing.
I'm looking at bearings that appear to be oblong. The bearing is in the center of the thing with the clip on it. The bearing is made from porous, sintered bronze. When they are made, oil is drawn into the bearing using vacuum. The spinning motion from the roller, pulls the oil through the pores. The roller rides on a film of oil. If too much heat is created, due to a heavy bearing load, kind of like when crushing grain at a high speed. The friction, creates heat in the bearing, the oil loses viscosity and runs out of the bearing. The roller, rides on the bearing, metal to metal, getting hotter, until the bearing seizes to it....The thing with the clip around it is a bearing retainer.

OP. If the bearing is out of round. I'm wondering if the roller shaft is in alignment with both bearings. If it's the adjustable roller, maybe one side of the roller isn't adjusted quite the same as the other side. If it isn't aligned, too much pressure will be placed on one side of each bearing. Does the guy that built the mill, mention a max RPM? I'd call the guy and tell him what happened. The thing that got me, is the crud on the face of the bearing and retainer. It looks like corrosion, burned husk, flour or oil.

 

[scottvin]

It is an adjustable model. I also noticed that the roller is really worn down in one section - here is an example:

|------------------------xxx--------|

the x's denote the area where the knurls are very flat as opposed to the rest of the roller. I will give the manufacturer a call about this.

From their website it looks like they recommend a 200 RPM speed.

 

[unionrdr]

It sounds like the roller is out of alignment on that side where it's flattening the knurles. It needs to be aligned with feeler guages on that side to match the other side. Use the kind of feeler guages we used to adjust solid lifters with.

 

[Hackwood]

Looking at the pics I don't even see bearing. Those look to be bushings to me. Solid pieces that have some oil in them. they'll do the job, but would probably need to be oiled from time to time. I would contact Crankenstein and find out for sure. You could either purchase actual bearings from them or see if you can find some locally.

We use to run bushings in our RC cars back in the day and they worked good, but bearings will beat out a bushing in almost every instance. Unless they purposely use bushings because of all the tiny dust particles that will be present when milling grain. Bearings would be prone to POSSIBLY clogging if not the sealed kind and or cleaned out enough or correctly.