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Inexpensive hammer mills

 
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I have been looking at “inexpensive” hammer mills (under $1000.00).  Has anyone used these?  How well do they perform.
 
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Is it possible?
 
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do you mean the kind for crushing rocks? besides finding a used one probably the cheapest you will find is on a web site like Alibaba
 
John F Dean
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For grain to make livestock feed. Here is one example
Filename: Safari-Oct-13-2021-at-9-56-PM-2.pdf
File size: 1 megabytes
 
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Just curious, would an electric roller mill do what you want to do?
 
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Hi John.

I have never used a hammer mill, but use a bunch of grist mills.  The first on is engine power and I have $175 into, The next one is hand powered and it was $35.  The third one is one I got in scrap over the summer.  It was all apart in the back of a scrap truck, and I found all of the parts.  It cleaned up and works well.  The fourth one is a big one I picked up at a flee market for $75 this summer.  I have many more.  

These are all adjustable to grind the feed or flour to your liking.  
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John F Dean
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Hi All,

I already have a manual grist mill and a Wonder Mill.   I am looking for something to attack something like a soy bean and break it up.
 
Christopher Shepherd
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I have found the bigger ones have gripper finger that crush the beans before they get to the flat styles grist work ok.  It has a 5 gallon hopper so it is big. We have an old line of soybeans that can be eaten raw.  Maybe our beans just are not as oily.  I just run a little corn through it when I'm done to clean out the oil.  That mill was made by ih.  It is buried in the barn at the moment.  It will actually grind corn cobs too.  
 
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In southern IL you should be able to find an old farm grinder mixer that is too small for modern ag but way bigger and stronger than the small modern ones.
 
John F Dean
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Hi R Scott,

Good point. I will start asking.  It is buried in the back of somebodies barn.  I just have to find that somebody.
 
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I know it has been a few years but did you ever manage to put together an affordable hammer mill John?

I'm reaching the point where it would be convenient to have a hammer mill but the prices for new are not in my wallet's interest.
 
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I read this as hammer drills.

I bought a really inexpesive for what it is demo hammer from here. I am impressed.

vevor.com

They seem to have a large variety of "commercial" spice grinders and other like items for what I would consider reasonable if you need one prices. I did not see a hammer mill but they might call it something else.

I never find the old stuff. I guess I just don't know enough folks with barns.
 
John F Dean
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Hi Timothy,

I never found one.  Presently, I have put my livestock care into a holding pattern.   I have all the labor I can handle without adding more.  I see me backing away from livestock over the next 3 years.  
 
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Somewhere in the recent-ish past, I had seen that someone used a garbage disposal as a hammer mill for cracking poultry feed.  I don't know how well it worked in the long run, but they reported being happy with it at the time.

It might have been in "Farm Show Magazine", but I have only the vaguest recollections - just stashed it away in the mental compost heap.  I don't remember if the correspondent had rigged up interchangeable screens to control the size of particles exiting the unit, and I don't remember just what they were grinding (though I wouldn't think oily seeds  or very fibrous materials would be a good match).  On the other hand, here's someone grinding up fruit with a garbage disposal, to feed the chickens, so maybe oily seeds wouldn't be a problem:

It looks like that model specified is about $170 US on Amazon.  I'm not sure that's cheaper than a used hammer mill from an estate sale - if you can find one, that is.
 
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