I have been putting off making a good charcoal grinder for a long time, as I did not have a way to weld the heavy steel parts used on a Gilmore rotary grinder. I tried a lot of other ideas, and I had no luck. With a new welder, I was finally able to give it a go, and it works great! Here is a quick video
I am going to eventually mount it up higher with an angled hardware cloth chute to sort out the fines. It runs on a 1/2 hp motor that only draws about 130 watts when unloaded -didnt check it while it was grinding, but it should run on my charcoal generator without any trouble.
Here are some other posts with videos of similar grinders:
Anyone that I missed who has a video of a grinder in action, please post it here!
Nice. To sift out the fines, use a rotating trummel or cast the charcoal onto the upper end of a screen tilted at a 45 degree angle. The dust will fall through and the engine char will not. Better yet, mount the grinder above an inclined screen and do it all in one operation.
Gary in PA
Andy, I TIG welded some RR spike pieces to a 3" pipe, and then used RR spikes for the teeth of the comb.! Here is a photo of Gary’s set-up, I believe. Gilmore_grinder|175x275
Looking at the second photo (the one I built), I would guess 1/8" on either side of the tooth for clearance?
Mine is hand cranked, and is located near the path from the house to the shop. I hold my breath, crank for a minute or so, and continue on to where I was going.
