Cheap Miniature Ball mill

Hi, in this instructable, I am gonna show you how to make a miniature Ball mill, that you can use to grind chemicals and stuff. First, this is my first instructable, so any constructive comment will be apreciated. Second, I am not responsible for what you do with the chemicals you grind.

Ok, so lets get started!

Step 1 The materials

We wont need a whole lot of thing. Just these few thing:

-Film canister
-Grinding media. (Lead pellet)

Also, if you want a more efficient mini-ball mill, you will need:

-Epoxy paste
-A metal bit (Usally from a drill or something like that.

Tool: A drill

Comments

[batman96]

what about marbles in a bigger drum? u can get 100 @ the dollar store.

[Lildevil963]

yeah um dont do this with a dremel and then put it on the highest setting the thing went flying off the dremel and the epoxy held but the cap of the container litterally was ripped apart

[lpdunwell]

you want to set a ball mill to spin at a low enough speed, so that the media doesn't just stick to the sides from the centrifugal forces. in such a tiny mill this is going to be far less than a dremel on max power (that would be like 20k-30k rpm), duh

[pancotti]

is coppper a safe media? is there a certain amount of media to use in relation to the mass of what im grinding?

[stephenniall]

i use this in my dremel multi to make a little bit of charcoal powder

[lemonie]

Ball mills work better with balls, and lead is a bit soft for grinding. Can you get hold of some steel BBs? L

[PKM]

It depends what you want to grind- lead is soft but it's stil harder than charcoal or _NO₃. I thought steel was frowned upon because you want something non-sparking if you are grinding pyro compositions. Yes, for rock polishing you might want something harder but for that use I'd expect the name "rock tumbler"- to me "ball mill" says pyro.

[ramses]

sparking doesn't matter unless you are milling compositions (blackpowder) I would recommend different balls for different chems; steel for sulfur/sulfides/sulfates, oxidizers, fuels, maybe a dedicated set for metal powders and lead/brass/bronze/bismuth/something else for BP.

[Scar16]

 blackpowder & gun powder

[sharlston]

how long would i have to run it to grind aluminium

[ramses]

I've heard 72hrs minimum, in a larger drum with at least half inch steel media

[sharlston]

not bad my ball mill can make pint of charcoal powder in 30 mins

[ramses]

I remember you are supposed to add a few wt. % of some chemical used in candle making to the mix to coat the powder. Apparently, it greatly increased milling efficiency, too.

[lemonie]

Well it does depend, I guess I was thinking of coal, limestone etc... _(Insustrial)

L

[sharlston]

i would suggest ball bearings or metall bb's for grinding media

[sharlston]

what would the hardest thing that this thing would grind be?

[jtobako]

Nested comment boxes on pics don't work-only the outside one activates text. How slow do you have to go to get the 'advanced' one to work? I mean so that it actually grinds something?

[powextreme]

Well that depend on what you use as grinding media, what you want to grind, and what you use as a motor. Just tell me what exacly you want to grind, and I will help you. :)

[ramses]

you might be able to use one of those Knex motors, running off a wall wart. you could gear it if you have the "gear" pieces, and make a stand out of knex. replace the shaft with a short knex piece.

[powextreme]

I sugest low speed.