Engine for rock crushing.

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Hi everyone,

Im tossing around the idea of making a rock crusher, an impact mill is what Im aiming for.

My question is what motor do you guys believe would be best. I dont have a lot of money to play with. I had considered the idea of trying a lawn mower motor. Only problem I can see is how to build the casing for it.

I have a local recycling yard that has quite a lot of mowers/whipper snippers and but Ive yet to see anything else.
 
Donny said:
Hi everyone,

Im tossing around the idea of making a rock crusher, an impact mill is what Im aiming for.

My question is what motor do you guys believe would be best. I dont have a lot of money to play with. I had considered the idea of trying a lawn mower motor. Only problem I can see is how to build the casing for it.

I have a local recycling yard that has quite a lot of mowers/whipper snippers and but Ive yet to see anything else.

take the motor off it turn it on its side go to your local tip get a 25mm or thicker steel bar for a shaft wack 2 bearings either side put a pulley on one end and a belt to your motor you can go direct drive to your motor but ill explain why belts maybe better later. get thick 3 to 5mm thick steel plate if you have a welder weld the thick panels together cut the plate into like a hex shape drill holes in the bottom of your hex shape box for a screen for the crushed sand to pass through after that make like a snorkel on the top of your crusher this will be for the feed feeding rocks into it from the top make the feed a zig zag shape as if you just have it strait the rocks will be shot back out to you put a few angles into it.

here's why belts are better in my opinion if a rock jams between the small space in your crusher wall and the hammers and its direct drive I've seen either the shaft snap or bend if its a powerful motor or if its a smaller motor it really can't over come the jam and just runs flat out or simply stops with belts if a rock jams all it dose is either breaks your belt if the belt is too tight and you have a large motor. or it just simply spins on the pulley in witch case you turn your motor off pull off the bolt able service plate off get the jammed rock out put it back on and keep going or you can always make the screen part at the bottom into a small door to get jammed rocks out too.

[video=480,360]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYLC-urG9TI[/video]

here's my one for and idea it depends too how much rock you want to crush and how big it is if your crushing football size rocks make a jaw crusher use that as your primary crusher then make a hammer/chain mill for your secondary crusher to get it down to sand size then if you want it like a power or supper fine use a ball or rod mill to get it down even further.

other ideas for rock crushers
[video=480,360]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OtZWOjfNmg[/video]

[video=480,360]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDx1-o_xZcI[/video]

[video=480,360]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OJpcmgaDjA[/video]

this last one I like very simple to make too if you have a hammer drill set it to hammer only not drill weld a large nut or thick flat washer to a drill bit you may have to make your own somehow then just turn it on in a dolly put really quick and easy but use a mask because there will be a lot of dust.
 
I have a 80 year old Stationary engine that I've sometimes thought of using for this. Its presently hooked up to a alternator and car battery + inverter to use during blackouts. 1-2 times a year.

Not sure how my neighbors would feel about it though. It makes enough noise already lol
 
Donny, Ebay has some cheap honda knock offs. $139 for a 6.5 hp petrol engine. The one I bought for use on my crushers etc has a 2:1 reduction and a centrifugal clutch so that the machine can be stopped by throttling back to clear jams easier also helps make starting easier as you are not trying to turn over the whole crusher on the rope start.
 
I am also going to make one of these in the coming weeks. I don't mean to hijack the thread and hope this question is helpful to Donny:

I just made these dolly pots using a mild steel 20mm solid bar to crush the rock and tried one on the weekend. It left small bits of steel in the crushed rock and when I panned it in the turbo pan, I had quite a lot of steel flakes left. They stayed in the pan which I was surprised about.

So, these whipping/chain style crushers in general apparently wear out the chains quickly which I understand to mean the sand will be full of metal flakes. Am i just panning wrong or will the pan always be left with metal flakes in the bottom?

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If you are getting metal flakes in your pan concentrates you are doing things exactly right. The only ways to reduce the wear that you will get from smashing hard quartz with steel is to either pre soften your rock or use hardened steel. You can soften quartz by burning it in a hot fire. Do this outdoors away from everyone else and stay upwind as this process can release some noxious gases. the other alternative is to build your impact plates and hammers out of some sort of toughened steel like bisalloy. Or you can hardface your hammers with hardfacing rods designed to resist impact wear rather than abrasive wear.
 
Thanks everyone for the responses.

HTY I was of the assumption that turning a motor like that on it's side was no good for the motor and would starve it for oil and seize?
Thanks for the links also they will be very helpful. Some i have seen as I've been trying to research the best way to make it.

Jethro thanks for the heads up mate, I'll defiantly look into it.
 
Nothing a magnet wont get out of your pan. Im also looking at a portable petrol crusher myself for my next project.
And also considered a good 5-6 hp motor. So this thread will keep me interested. The clutch idea seems the go.
In the old days of using the cornish oven to heat the quartz, was it also quenched in water to aid in cracking?
If not, would it help?
 
Highly advised to use belts as a drive.
They take the shock out of the hammers/chains.
4 stroke lawn mower engine is designed to be used flat. It will starve for oil.
Two stroke can be set upright as long as you can tilt the carby to suit but,
The crusher itself will be only a small one and only use a chain type.
About 150 mm id max as it would not have the power to run.
I have put a lot of research into crushers and I hope to build one one day.
Not hard to do so don't give up. :Y: :Y: :Y: :Y:
 
If a rock jambs unit it will stop in a hell of a hurry. This will either bend your motor crank or snap the crank or drive shaft. I have had this happen to stationary motors but was using for a different purpose. Belt drive is the way to go, when it locks up the belt will take some of the shock and will then hopefully slip for you. TG
 
Tathradj said:
Highly advised to use belts as a drive.
They take the shock out of the hammers/chains.
4 stroke lawn mower engine is designed to be used flat. It will starve for oil.
Two stroke can be set upright as long as you can tilt the carby to suit but,
The crusher itself will be only a small one and only use a chain type.
About 150 mm id max as it would not have the power to run.
I have put a lot of research into crushers and I hope to build one one day.
Not hard to do so don't give up. :Y: :Y: :Y: :Y:

yes two stroke I meant not 4 and only tilt it slightly forgot to add make up a steel frame with wheels to move it around too
 
Donny said:
Thanks everyone for the responses.

HTY I was of the assumption that turning a motor like that on it's side was no good for the motor and would starve it for oil and seize?
Thanks for the links also they will be very helpful. Some i have seen as I've been trying to research the best way to make it.

Jethro thanks for the heads up mate, I'll defiantly look into it.

yes this is true I was meaning if using a 2 stroke motor but a stationary motor would suit much better. but if you want something quick and fast I would just go buy a hammer drill set it to hammer only not drill and attach a thick metal plate on the end make a dolly pot as seen above and simply turn on and crush it without even lifting a heavy steel rod. quickest cheapest easiest way of making a basic crusher that works better than using a dolly pot by hand.
 
I've only dollyed one quartz rock but cooking it first made all the difference. It was a solid white rock but set the detector off. I cooked it with the oxy and then dropped into a bucket of water. It came out on multiple pieces and could be broken further by hand. From there it only needed a light hammering in the dollypot to reduce it to sand and one nice little nugget. I'm sure if you threw your rocks into the fire first it would take a lot of load off your machinery.
 

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