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Greetings and welcome to my Instructable on how to make a ball mill using lego and PVC pipe.
This instructable is under heavy revision, and wasnt too helpful to others, and i apologise.
In this instructable i will show you the basic design you will need to follow, in order to build a ball mill from lego.
My design is very close to what you would expect from commercial lapidary tools (fancy work for rock tumbler/ball mill).
The problem with ball mills though, particularly the commercial ones, is that the worst of them still cost around $100 bucks.
Most people, namely you, do not want to pay this $100 for a ball mill. Not if you just want to make a little thermite to try out in a one off thing.
Thats why i came up with the idea of making one out of lego.
Most of us all have lego, and recently people are finding that lego is perfect for prototyping stuff, as i did with this!
You should be warned, lego motors will be quite noisy, which is why i leep mine in a tacklebox under a blanket.
Lego is also not designed for such use as many have said before, not unless you properly lubricate it, it will wear down the axels/rods, but thats pretty much it.
I have used my mill to successfully make aluminium powder which i was able to use for thermite and flash powder (never mill flash powder or any oxidizer and fuel mixes in a pvc barrel)
This instructable is under heavy revision, and wasnt too helpful to others, and i apologise.
In this instructable i will show you the basic design you will need to follow, in order to build a ball mill from lego.
My design is very close to what you would expect from commercial lapidary tools (fancy work for rock tumbler/ball mill).
The problem with ball mills though, particularly the commercial ones, is that the worst of them still cost around $100 bucks.
Most people, namely you, do not want to pay this $100 for a ball mill. Not if you just want to make a little thermite to try out in a one off thing.
Thats why i came up with the idea of making one out of lego.
Most of us all have lego, and recently people are finding that lego is perfect for prototyping stuff, as i did with this!
You should be warned, lego motors will be quite noisy, which is why i leep mine in a tacklebox under a blanket.
Lego is also not designed for such use as many have said before, not unless you properly lubricate it, it will wear down the axels/rods, but thats pretty much it.
I have used my mill to successfully make aluminium powder which i was able to use for thermite and flash powder (never mill flash powder or any oxidizer and fuel mixes in a pvc barrel)
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Signing UpStep 1What is a ball mill, rock tumbler ect and whats it for?
Now,
A ball mill, rock tumbler, lapidary polisher ect, is a machine which rorates a barrel full of media , like steel or ceramic balls / beads which as the name suggests, tumble over each other. Any meterials caught between the media get grinded, milled and smahed into super fine dust, and if given the time, even go micronic.
I used my own mill primarily to make aluminium powder, the most important ingredient to thermite. As i learnt later thermite doesnt require all of the aluminium to be a fine dust, small flakes as seen on step 10 are sufficient enough in the right proportions.
Thats it, its pretty simple what it does. It grinds stuff into powder.
Not just aluminium, but everything. Put rocks and a little water in there and you get shiny gemstones. Put gun powder in there, and if it doesnt explode which its almost guaranteed to do with this media and barrel, you will get even more volatile gunpowder.
Some say though that my design is dangerous because it uses PVC, which is prone to building up static electricity and causing internal combustion. I agree, it does, however with as little air there is inside the barrel considering its size, the only real danger this makes is if there is a small explosion inside big enough to pop open the barrel and throw all the aluminium dust inside all over the place, which in a small room could create a explosion or fire. The other possible scenario more likely is that it creates a pile of burning aluminium , sets the mill on fire, and causes a fire.
Schrapnel damage with a barrel this size, and aluminium powder only good enough for thermite, is extremely unlikely.
If you mill any oxidizer / fuel mixes like gunpowder, using PVC and Steel balls, you are almost guaranteed to get an explosion.
Never mill anything which can self combust with steel, or PVC.
A ball mill, rock tumbler, lapidary polisher ect, is a machine which rorates a barrel full of media , like steel or ceramic balls / beads which as the name suggests, tumble over each other. Any meterials caught between the media get grinded, milled and smahed into super fine dust, and if given the time, even go micronic.
I used my own mill primarily to make aluminium powder, the most important ingredient to thermite. As i learnt later thermite doesnt require all of the aluminium to be a fine dust, small flakes as seen on step 10 are sufficient enough in the right proportions.
Thats it, its pretty simple what it does. It grinds stuff into powder.
Not just aluminium, but everything. Put rocks and a little water in there and you get shiny gemstones. Put gun powder in there, and if it doesnt explode which its almost guaranteed to do with this media and barrel, you will get even more volatile gunpowder.
Some say though that my design is dangerous because it uses PVC, which is prone to building up static electricity and causing internal combustion. I agree, it does, however with as little air there is inside the barrel considering its size, the only real danger this makes is if there is a small explosion inside big enough to pop open the barrel and throw all the aluminium dust inside all over the place, which in a small room could create a explosion or fire. The other possible scenario more likely is that it creates a pile of burning aluminium , sets the mill on fire, and causes a fire.
Schrapnel damage with a barrel this size, and aluminium powder only good enough for thermite, is extremely unlikely.
If you mill any oxidizer / fuel mixes like gunpowder, using PVC and Steel balls, you are almost guaranteed to get an explosion.
Never mill anything which can self combust with steel, or PVC.
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Also, step 4 seems to be missing everything.
Lastly, what's a done, and why is it mine?
ill also stop refering to the mill as mine, thanks for pointing it out.
and i shall also change done to completed. thanks, over 9000 points for you :)
if you wouldnt mind telling me, to benifit all those who read it, what , if any, errors are in my instructable that i have over looked? as you seem so observant of these "little" things.
yes, because this is basically what a (rock) tumbler does, and acts, and everything about it, however, tumbler is a term given to it when its used for that purpose......tumbling, and therefore polishing, rocks!!!
we call it a mill when its used to powderize things, aka aluminium foil.
its called this for the reason that its purpose is no longer to tumble wet rocks, but instead grind up , or mill (such as flour), things into powder. you wouldnt want to by a rock grinder or rock powder miller, if you wanted to smoothen out your precious stones now would you.
its all about how you look at it, which in this case is the miller, as thats what it was built for, rock tumblers just "happen" to be able to do the exact same also.
just make sure yor barrel is clean and smooth on the outside, and your wheels have rubber on them, or a dense foam, like my lego tires, or have rubber on the outsode of the barrel and on the tires or treads, according to your design. i hope you succeed :)