Make German Dark Aluminum Powder in Bulk

Step 2 Shredding the Foil

You'll need to take ten sheets of foil the length of your forearm and shred them into smithereens. I suggest shredding into strips.

Once you are done, you're ready for the fun.

Comments

[randyclark747]

Please tell me what size steel shot to use in my ball mill, I am about to order one right now.  3/4 diameter, or 1/2 inch diameter.  I am considering using activated carbon from aquarium supply stores for my "dark" adding.  What do you think, mr Berkin.?

[Berkin]

I used 1/2 inch balls.

[randyclark747]

I have tried your method.  I failed miserably.  I wasted a hundred dollars on equipment.  I am reverting back to purchasing aluminum powder instead.  It just seemed to take damn near forever to crush the confetti down.  Plus, noisy, and I anticipated burning the motor out on the ball mill eventually

[spawnos3717]

If one could combine a standard mill with something like 'jpoops' setup, (a set of driven wheels under the mill container in addition to the main drive motor), it should balance the power between the two and augment speed as well

[barley8]

@randyclark747 what size steel balls did you use? If it took forever to crush down the confetti, is the foil too thick? I put a bucket over the tumbler to reduce the noise.

[Berkin]

Holy crap. That sucks. :(

I can only say that the same method does not work for everyone, I do apologize for wasting your time.

[sillypig]

how much tin foil should you add to 1 teaspoon of charcoal in grams

[duct tape]

5% carbon by weight.

[Berkin]

I didn't measure in grams. But you'll find a foil-to-carbon proportion in the comments, if you look.

[jpoopdog]

i found that turning the shredded foil into 8mm by 8mm squares helps it grind quicker, and for an even faster milling process, put 1-2 teaspoons of aluminium powder into the mil before use, instead of taking 2 days to break down the quares into sand sized squares, it did it over night.

as for shreeding the foill, just use scissors, but be sure to wipe the blade every 4-5 cuts becuase aluminium powder builds up on them and that prevents a clean cut, instead it just tears the foil .

by the way randyclark747 what kind of mill did you use? did you halve fill the barrel with sbb's and did you reduce the gear ratio, becuase running a dc motor with a barrel capable of grinding the alumiunium foil, with gears only reduced to halfe speed will almost always burn out, unless its a lego/gear head motor which has stepped down 4-5 times inside itself

if your looking for motors with gears built inside look at jarcar.com they have huge torques, but im not sure how exactly you make the mill from that, just have a go, they have 50kg@55rpm torque and only cost about $20

if possible, you can attach the barrel directly to the motor and it will run fine no probs.

by the way, i am making an instructable on making a 1L capacity lego ball mill from lego and a pvc pipe, keep a look out its nearly finnished, the way it works is like an upside down car with the barrel rolling on the tires

  
__O__
 |O  O|

thats basicly what it looks like , with the barrel being the top "O"

[elmarchi]

wodnt that kill the paper shredder I dont want to have ro buy another shredder

[Berkin]

Why would it? It's just foil.

[pyrorower]

How did you go about shredding the foil?

[Berkin]

Paper shredder!!! :D