Mix It Up - Tobacco in a POT

[AmaxB]

To mix my tobacco blend I usually use a big tub, but have wanted a better way for a long time.
Been thinking about how to go about this for some time, have found another use for a ceiling fan.
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I've not yet put the mixing paddles inside, that will get done tomorrow. Am going to tell ya how this goes together in the next post. I need to size a few photos for it.
This blend mixer has 3 set speeds (ceiling fan YES!) but I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to my gadgets so I added a Dimmer Knob. It allows for a crawl speed
through the full range to super fast. Little over kill, Crawl to a fast crawl will be about as fast as I'll need it to go.

Yep I'm at it again.

 

[jekylnz]

Good idea there Brent. .I was thinking what gadget were you going to come out with next. . Lol

 

[DGBAMA]

Good to see you are back at it. Have missed your "tobacco Einstein" projects.

Watch the high speed.......may need to balance it. Lol.

 

[leverhead]

That's pretty cool! If you ever get into pyro, it can double as a star roller.

 

[DGBAMA]

That's pretty cool! If you ever get into pyro, it can double as a star roller.

Wish I had time to get back into pyro; wanted to learn stars but stopped after getting good bp rockets.

 

[leverhead]

Wish I had time to get back into pyro; wanted to learn stars but stopped after getting good bp rockets.

I still like rockets

 

[AmaxB]

Yah I know guys missed my whacky--ness!
I've checked in most every day just have not had much to say.
I'm going to get the mixing paddles in it than than toss a pound in there and stir it up (CAN'T WAIT)
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For this project (Tobacco Blender) for sake of a better name, you need a few tools.

Drill, better yet a Drill Press
Drill bits
Screw drivers
Adjustable square
Small Wire Nippers
Hack Saw
Nut Driver


You must also have basic skills with electricity for wiring the thing.

Materials:
Some chunks of 3/4 inch board
Wood Screws
1/4 20 bolts, nuts, washers
To fasten the pot to the motor I needed 8 5mm x 30mm bolts, washers, and 8 1 inch nylon spacers
Wire nuts
Masking Tape
Old Ceiling Fan
Old Pot with Lid
1 Door Hinge
16 to 20 inches of 1/16 x 3/4 inch Aluminum Angle (for mixing paddles)

To start remove the light housing if your fan has one, than remove the cover that the fan blades attach too.
With a pen and paper note what color wires go where. After doing this clip the wires. The cover on this side of the motor you may have to work a little to get it off.

The wires for light and fan run through the shaft that the fan motor rides on. You need to pull these wires from the fan side of the motor back through the shaft, so they are coming out the back side (the side that would be against the ceiling). I used a piece of thin stiff wire and bent a small hook on the end to snag the wires one at a time and pull them back through the shaft.
See this photo



Before fishing the wires through the shaft remove the Cotter Pin (shown in the photo below). When finished put it back and also put a piece of protective sleeve material over the wires ( the white sleeve shown in the photo below.



Cover the bottom of the pot with masking tape, than place the fan motor cover on the bottom of the pot and eye ball it for center. Next use the adjustable square measuring from the outside of the pot to the edge of the fan cover, working around the pot to get it centered. After it is centered tape it into place. This is important or your pot will wobble like hell if not centered. (see photo below). My fan cover has 8 threaded holes 5mm to attach the fan blades, I used these to locate and drill (with a smaller drill bit so you don't screw up the threads in the holes of the motor cover) holes in the bottom of the pot so I could fasten the pot to the motor. Drill the holes in the pot a little bigger than the bolts you need to use, mine were 5mm. After drilling the holes I put the cover back on the motor and using the Nylon spacers, 5mm x 30mm bolts, and washers I mounted the pot to the fan motor. (See photos below)
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Centering the Motor Cover
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After drilling holes the pot mounted to the fan motor
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I'll finish this tomorrow - Mounting on the boards....

 

[AmaxB]

I should note here that the bolts used to mount the pot to the motor should not be so long that the come into contact with the windings inside the motor. That would be an OOPS moment!
I used washers on my bolts inside the pot to get the bolts just right to screw into the motor cover.

 

[FmGrowit]

I can officially self diagnose myself with "mild" OCD.

 

[Brown Thumb]

When I do a 5 pounds at a time I just use my wife's clothes dryer.
Just don't forget to clean the filter when done and make shure she is not home.

 

[bonehead]

if i mixed enough tobacco at a time i would use a homemade grain malter. you can make them any size from a five gallon bucket to a 55 gallon plastic barrel. they turn slowly and you set them up with a motor and timer to automaticly turn your grains every so often for a short period of time. i found if you stagger the mixing paddles some near the ends of the bucket some in the middle the grains mix more eavenly.

 

[deluxestogie]

For mixing on a commercial scale, your machine looks perfect. I guess one would have to weigh the cost, permanent space requirement and construction time against tobacco volume and frequency of use. (I believe, for large batches, Cornell & Diehl uses a snow shovel with a giant pile of shredded tobacco on a canvas mat set on the floor. For smaller batches, they seem to use a pair of paddles within a 10 gallon, square tub, and hand mix it.)

For my pipe blending, which is sometimes done in batches that would tightly compress into a quart, I put the ingredients into a 1 gallon freezer Zip Lock. After sealing the zip most of the way, I inflate the bag, and quickly complete the closure. Holding the bag by diagonally opposite corners, I shake one corner, while holding the other corner steady. This method takes about 30 seconds. Afterwards, bag is emptied of air, then tightly compressed, rolled and sealed--to rest for at least a few days. For a larger batch, a 2 gallon bag (or larger) would work.

Materials: 1 gallon freezer Zip Lock bag

Bob

 

[AmaxB]

I know there are much simpler ways of doing this, but felt it would be a fun cool project.
This video mounting the tobacco pot.
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I made this gadget with the ability to move, the pot is not really round, the motor is not really balanced and so there must be movement or things would bind or break.

Had some fun in the next video

 

[AmaxB]

The best part of creating a thing is to see it work. The second best is what you learn from the experience.
I had some fun....
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I'm going to go on to improve on the idea, but will give it a bit of thought first.

 

[leverhead]

At some speed and up, the tobacco will just cling to the wall by centrifugal force. It needs to tumble off the upward moving wall and fall onto the rest of the pile below. If you make a clear lid, you'll be able to see what's the best speed. For just a guess, figuring that shredded tobacco won't fall very fast. 30 to 40 RPM for that diameter, might be close.

 

[AmaxB]

At some speed and up, the tobacco will just cling to the wall by centrifugal force. It needs to tumble off the upward moving wall and fall onto the rest of the pile below. If you make a clear lid, you'll be able to see what's the best speed. For just a guess, figuring that shredded tobacco won't fall very fast. 30 to 40 RPM for that diameter, might be close.

I could not agree with you more, I'm clearly spinning to fast. I'm thinking small gear motor the fan does not have enough torque to run low RPMs

 

[DGBAMA]

A simple belt, like a clothes dryer, belt around the pot and an improvised pulley on the end of the fan motor would give a big "gear reduction" effect on the cheap. Maybe cut the belt from an old tire tube.

 

[Chicken]

i like it, especially the rollers on the bottom to keep it all spinning evenlly,

but i gotta agree, i hthink it would be like the carnival ride, '' THE GRAVITRON'',,, and would just hold the bacca against the walls while it spun at such great speeds, and not do very much mixing at all.?

a gyrating,,, stopping, and reverse spin, with some paddles would do it better, than a clockwise spin,

...i just throw some handfulls, of about 5 different types of bacca, in a old deep cigar box i have and mix it up by hand,

... and it is messy, im usally cleaning up a mess, before it's all done!!!!!

 

[leverhead]

In the pyro hobby, ball mills are pretty common and simple to make http://www.brianredmond.net/mill.php. Yours wouldn't need to very robust, your total load would be small. Your motor/speed control would probably power it.

 

[bonehead]

amaxb this utube video bytlgrimmy titled (barley roller-for malting barley) should give you some ideas for a cheap tobacco mixer. i would put up a link but i don't know how. i know versions of them work. there are other designs on there also. good luck tom