grinding powdered chemicals

[crazy white guy]

The school wont let me use their ball mill, not that i would trust them with my stuff. And both that i know of are too hard to steal it for the fact that they are both five times the size of my backpack and always in a heavily supervised area or in a locked room.

I wanted to make my own ball mill but im short on cash. My mum threw out all of my electronic goodies when i started to use them for illegal deeds...at the age of 9. I would have had the perfect motor to run it. But that is besides the point. I need a way to grind my aluminum shavings into a fine powder. I dont want to spend a week using a mortar and pestle so thats not an option.

Is there any good way to grind chemicals other than a ball mill that im missing?

And/or is there a place I could buy a cheap (less than 20$) ball mill or motor to drive one?

[Nemesix]

not sure on this.. just gonna throw it out there..and im high.. would a coffee grinder be out of the question? it may not beable to get it to a very fine "powder" but i would guess it should still do a decent job.

[Nox (ADVANCED)]

not sure on this.. just gonna throw it out there..and im high.. would a coffee grinder be out of the question? it may not beable to get it to a very fine "powder" but i would guess it should still do a decent job.

Same here as VX pretty high.

Than use a mortar and pestal to finish it off.

[.VX]

What about me?

[Nox (ADVANCED)]

I agreed with you on the no idea part, coffee grinder and was high.

[.VX]

Oh, ok.

[Th0r]

Ever heard of the washing machine/tumble dryer method?

Get the barrel that you would use for putting the flint or stainless steel balls in the washing machine with the balls and what you want to grind. I would put it in the tumble drier at a low temperature. I used the method for Black powder with varied success...

Remember to cap the barrel...

[torcher]

found a kinda cheap one. though since you're looking for under $20 i would say buying any ball mill is out of your price range...though so is buying a motor even if you decided to make one. just save up around $150 and go to UnitedNuclear and that should cover the ball mill, extra media(if needed), and the shipping. this may seem like an unattainable goal at this point, but trust me, ball mills are useful for way more than just making aluminum powder.

or there's always ebay.

[Th0r]

I built a standard fairly crappy one today, all with stuff I found around the house.

As for a motor costing over $20, I have seen ones [Medium sized ones mind you] in hardware stores for ?5/$10...

I got all my motors from school...

I love the education system...

[crazy white guy]

im going to stop by princess auto sometime on the weekend and pickup a small moto

does anyone suggest a way of slowing it down?

[davey_crockshit]

belts and/or gears would work. it would require some ingenuity though, but would move your motor and its inevitable sparks further away from what you are grinding.

[Nox (ADVANCED)]

Ever heard of the tumble dryer method?
I used the method for Black powder with varied success...

Remember to cap the barrel...


I fuckin hope not!

[Th0r]

I fuckin hope not!

One symbol. ?...

[davey_crockshit]

erm, blackpowder is static sensitive. if its a gas dryer, there is a flame not too far away. electric dryer, there is a red hot chunk of metal not too far away.

one component at a time, maybe it would be safe. keep in mind, whatever leaks will wind up in the lint trap with the flammable lint. if you spill your oxidizer, you get a MASSIVE fire hazard.

people throw away old appliances. some of them contain motors, some of the motors work. an old ceiling fan with belts and homemade pulleys coupled with bearings from bicycle wheels could be made into a ball mill with a little time, lumber, and ingenuity.

[Th0r]

I was lucky. May I say my Black Powder was complete crap...

I did not use the right amount of Charcoal and Sulphur...

I was thinking for another idea you could attach a drill bit to the container. Attach the drill bit to a drill. Then fill up the container with the desired chemical then cap it.

What do you think?

[Nox (ADVANCED)]

One symbol. ?...

What?

[Th0r]

Ignore the comment...

[torcher]

I was lucky. May I say my Black Powder was complete crap...

I did not use the right amount of Charcoal and Sulphur...

I was thinking for another idea you could attach a drill bit to the container. Attach the drill bit to a drill. Then fill up the container with the desired chemical then cap it.

What do you think?

i could see that working. you'd have to find some way to stabilize the drill and drum. and get something to hold the trigger down. because you are gonna get really bored holding it for hours and hours on end.

[Th0r]

The triggers on my drill are relatively sensitive so I figured I could use some duct tape to hold the trigger down. Drill a hole in the bottom of the container. Glue the drill bit into the hole then attach the drill bit to the drill...

What "balls" would you recommend one should use?

I have heard Steel balls are good so...

[torcher]

steel would be ok for things like aluminum, sulfur, ammonium nitrate, things that arent flammable very flammable by themselves. otherwise get some hardened lead balls or the like.

[davey_crockshit]

most hand drills turn very fast. you would need to slow the speed of rotation. the motors might not like being run for hours on end and may burn up. if you are thinking of hanging the entire weight of the drum from the chuck, the bearings won't like it either.

NON SPARKING media is what you are looking for. steel is out. lead and brass are good.

[Th0r]

My drills do have an adjustable speed setting. From fast to moderate to slow. This wouldn't be a problem I feel...