My Mill is up and running!

[Meatwasp]

I am really fascinated with your mill. Does it stamp it into flour the first time or do you have to stamp it several times to make flour? After breaking into flour or coarse ground flour can you use a regular flour grinder to make it even finer?

 

[LibertyEagle]

I am just astounded at the ingenuity of the folks around here.

 

[Meatwasp]

I am just astounded at the ingenuity of the folks around here.

Isn't it wonderful?

 

[Acala]

I am really fascinated with your mill. Does it stamp it into flour the first time or do you have to stamp it several times to make flour? After breaking into flour or coarse ground flour can you use a regular flour grinder to make it even finer?

The heart of the hammer mill consists of a shaft with a bunch of swinging steel bars attached. This shaft spins at about 3600 rpm inside an enclosed housing with a fine-mesh screen at the bottom. I pour the pods in the top, they hit the spinning hammers, are pulverized, and the flour is sucked through the screen, through a blower, and into the collection duct work. One pass does it, although I am getting some chaff blowing by the screen so I need to make some adjustments.

Here is a photo I took last night:

Pardon the messy patio! Note the rainwater collecting system in the background.

 

[kaleidoscope eyes]

Wow, this is pretty darn exciting!
Awesome Acala.

 

[Acala]

Hmmmm

Can't seem to get the photo posted. Any idea what the problem might be?

Edit: Done. Thanks LibertyEagle!

 

[Acala]

Next phase

And here is the seed oil press I will be using to get vegetable oil fuel for the diesel engine:

 

[Meatwasp]

And here is the seed oil press I will be using to get vegetable oil fuel for the diesel engine:

Now I see how it works. Thank you. I planted some sea berries plants this year and heard the Germans make oil out of the seeds. It is suppose to be really great for skin and eating. Would your press make oil from them?
I also googled Mesquite and there is another outfit with two mills making it. Has a restaurant and sells pancakes. The flour contains 30% protein.
I was surprised to see how big the Mesquite trees are and they were loaded with pods.
I really enjoyed this thread and keep us posted on how you are doing.

 

[cheapseats]

Hey!

Way back, I started looking around at how I was going to survive when the inflationary depression hits and the food trucks stop coming to town. In a nutshell, I decided that the key in my particular neck o' the woods was the ability to harvest and process native food plants that nobody else would have the equipment or knowledge to use. That meant, among other things, acquiring a mill to grind mesquite pods into flour. Mesquite flour is nutritious and tasty and the trees they grow on are very common. BUT the seeds are hard. REAL hard. The natives of the region essentially used large tree branches to smash the pods in depressions in boulders. Hard work. Too hard.

So I bought a hammer mill and a 12hp diesel engine to power it. It has taken me a long time to finally get around to completing the project (had to get the rainwater harvesting system running first - water takes priority over food). But I finally got it running and ground my first batch of mesquite pods.

Works GREAT! The mill makes nice flour and operates very efficiently. I estimate I could grind a year's supply of flour in a day or less. I took mesquite flour muffins to Thanksgiving!

I figure I will be able to grind mesquite and other crops for the locals in exchange for a percentage of their harvest. Or a little silver.

Genius, BRAVO.

Hold that silver lining thought.

The next step is to get my seed oil press up and running. With it I will be able to press oil out of local wild and cultivated seeds crops and use that oil to run the diesel engine. That takes my food production totally off grid.

Down the road a bit I will consider ethanol production and wood gas for fueling internal combusion engines in vehicles and to run a generator.

I have been pretty sure of my plans all along. But I must admit that producing that first bag of tasty flour helped dispel that nagging thought in the back of my mind that I might be crazy. Of course I still MIGHT be crazy. But I won't be hungry and crazy.

Brilliant. Logical. Straightforward. Understandable. Effective. Consequential.

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=220784&highlight=DRAFT+ACALA

I'd say DRAFT ACALA, but I already asked. Turned it down flat. Tough as nails, that one. I don't take him to be the sort given often to changin' his mind, but I always say not to forget to remind yourself to remember never to say never.

Acala would be a brilliant, impartial AND effective Senator. Take no prisoners.

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WANTED, nay, NEEDED
GOOD GUY BAD ASSES
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XO.

 

[cheapseats]

Thanks!

You are all invited for mesquite pancakes if you are ever in Arizona.

Me, January.

 

[Acala]

Now I see how it works. Thank you. I planted some sea berries plants this year and heard the Germans make oil out of the seeds. It is suppose to be really great for skin and eating. Would your press make oil from them?
I also googled Mesquite and there is another outfit with two mills making it. Has a restaurant and sells pancakes. The flour contains 30% protein.
I was surprised to see how big the Mesquite trees are and they were loaded with pods.
I really enjoyed this thread and keep us posted on how you are doing.

I'm not familiar with the sea berry plant, but the press is highly adjustable to accomodate different seeds. Many native plants here have useful oils - acorn, buffalo gourds, devil's claw, and jojoba. Locally cultivated plants with useful oils include olive, corn, and sunflower.

Mesquite trees are very fruitful if they get a little water when they need it. They often have two crops of pods a year. And they are very common in urban landscaping and in the wild.

 

[Acala]

Me, January.

Only IF you stop trying to make a politician out of me! BAD Cheapseats!

 

[Dieseler]

You rock!
Good job and congratulations.

THAT ^^^!
Was an understatement on my part.
When you get more time could you give us a breakdown on the equipment you purchased, cost and manufacturer info?
Very interested.
I definitely believe you're on the right track, storage is great but being able to replenish the storage is key.

 

[Acala]

When you get more time could you give us a breakdown on the equipment you purchased, cost and manufacturer info?

Sure, to the best of my recollection.

The hammer mill came from Meadows mills. It is their number 5 and with the flour handling option I think it cost about $3000

The engine is a 13 hp s195 diesel from Golden Flying Fish Diesel Engine Company in China. I love the name. I bought it (and the oil press) from a guy named Joel Koch. I just emailed him to ask if he has another engine. He gave me a deal on the engine because I bought the seed press too. ~$350

There are very similar engines from other Chinese makers.

I had custom pulleys made so I could use an easily available automotive serpentine belt. That was another $100

The seed press is also of Chinese origin and cost somewhere around $2000.

I was planning on using the one engine to run both the mill and the press, but have decided to get another engine if possible so I can have more flexibility AND have a backup.

storage is great but being able to replenish the storage is key.

I think you are correct. If this economic mess lasts as long as Great Depression I (and I think it will) very few people are going to be able to store enough food to last. The better approach is to figure out a way to fit into a more localized, near-subsistence economy.

 

[cheapseats]

Bottom, up.
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MindOfMo
How hard can it be to round up several hundred like-minded patriots to purposefully re-populate and re-direct towns that are dying on vine?
43 minutes ago from web

NOT to suggest I have such a following, rather, that I have driven around my country and have seen with mine own eyes signage sporting populations of under 150.
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MindOfMo
I cannot overemphasize the significance of Truth. Rational Me, Myself, I & Twitter Followers could alter the election-scape of ghost towns.
about 2 hours ago from web
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MindOfMo
If Rank & File continue to do nothing, it is NOT that nothing will happen. Do People even know what they want to happen? DEFINE OBJECTIVE.
about 2 hours ago from web
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MindOfMo
By FOLLY, I mean read or re-read Barbara Tuchman's THE MARCH OF FOLLY: FROM TROY TO VIET NAM. This Clusterfuck could feature in Part Deux.
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MindOfMo
It is beyond clear TO RATIONAL AND COMPETENT PEOPLE that investing further trust in this crop of Officials and Big Swinging Dicks is FOLLY.
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MindOfMo
Wise Counsel is a Concept entirely different from Government Officials.
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MindOfMo
STARTUP CITIES: better living through emotional and financial restraint, individual and collective productivity and rational peaceableness.
about 3 hours ago from web
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[talkingpointes]

Me, January.

I already live in phoenix,az! Awesome mill, that is pretty inspiring.

 

[cheapseats]

I already live in phoenix,az! Awesome mill, that is pretty inspiring.

That means I get the sofa, right?

 

[cheapseats]

I was planning on using the one engine to run both the mill and the press, but have decided to get another engine if possible so I can have more flexibility AND have a backup.

It is easy enough to deduce by the casualness with which virtual paupers now regularly propose to raise MILLIONS of dollars for political candidates -- who will go on to be hamstrung or corrupted like the legions of politicians who came and conquered or were conquered before them -- that Populist Pools of money might be better directed toward outfitting local communities with needed hardware.

 

[Acala]

Carob

I already live in phoenix,az! Awesome mill, that is pretty inspiring.

I may be bringing my mill to Phoenix. You have lots of carob trees up there and they produce LOTS of nutritious pods. In fact, the very next thing I will run through the mill is about 30 pounds of carob pods I harvested in Phoenix a few months ago. All you need to do is lay a tarp under the tree and start poking the clusters of pods with a stick. You can harvest 100 pounds in an hour from a big tree that has beed irrigated.

 

[Acala]

Hmmm

That mean I get the sofa, right?

You might want to see the sofa first.