This is the ball mill. It took me a while to build since finding the necessary parts was difficult and some things had to be made by myself. The motor (220V, 190W, 1450rpm) is used and was bought from a hardware store. It's very sturdy and weighs around 10kg-s. The smaller sheave came with the motor and the bigger one was salvaged from an old washing machine. The drive belt, ball bearings, 12mm drive shaft, fuel hose (for the shaft), nuts, bolts, screws, and the small furniture wheels are also all store-bought. I'm using small wheels instead of an equipment roller because I couldn't find one and besides, the wheels work without any problems. The frame of the mill is screwed together from 1.5cm thick chipboard and some scrap wood. I had to make the sockets for the bearings from wood, epoxy and screws: they're probably the weakest part of the mill... Somehow I managed to get just the right parts so that the 110mm jars are rotating at 93rpm. The mill with the jars and media costs about 130$. I could have built it for a lot less money but I thought that if I'm going to build a ball mill, I might as well build one that lasts for a while.

	This is a picture of the 20mm brass media and the parts necessary to make a milling jar with a screw-on cap. The media (now blackened from milling charcoal containing compositions) was cut from 20mm brass bar, then the edges were ground down and the "final touch" was added by tumbling them with sand. The milling jar is made from sewage PVC, one jar costs about 7$. It's capacity is 2.3 liters and about 330 grams of meal can be milled at once. The jar is turning very close to it's optimum rpm but milling meal takes about 5 hours instead of 3, probably because I have been milling in under 10 deg. C. The jar is well sealed and making one is really easy, only some PVC glue is needed for the assembly. As an added bonus the jar has ridges on it which prevent the jar from sliding off the mill (the little wheels are positioned between them).

	This is a hydraulic press. It's cost is currently around 42$. It isn't finished yet, but it's still perfectly functional. I got the 20mm thick 30x12cm steel plates from a metal shop for 7$. The 20mm threaded rods, the 20mm nuts and the 5-ton jack were bought from a hardware store. I haven't been able to find a decent supply for thick plexiglass/lexan so there's no blast shield. I'm also going to weld a small metal plate to the jack for better stability and perhaps add some retraction springs...

	This is an improvised powder die. The piston and the base plate are made from plywood and the thick 3-layered 70mm ID pipe is made from two HDPE pipes and one PVC pipe tightly fitted inside each other. There isn't a real need for the hose clamp since the 5 ton press can barley press the cake but I left it on to know which is the bottom and which is the top of the die. It should also protect me from some shrapnel in case of an accident...

E-mail: p_mcmalley@hotmail.com