Sciencemadness Discussion Board - How to grind hard stones like quartz and powder them cheaply

How to grind hard stones like quartz and powder them cheaply

khourygeo77 - 20-7-2019 at 01:22

Hello,

I was wondering if there would be a good and cheap way that makes the crushing and grinding of hard stones like those of quartz possible?

It looks like many use stone crusher to do this but this device is really expensive. So I was wondering if there is any cheap alternative? And also what are the general methods of powdering the stones after crushing them?

Thank you for your time

XeonTheMGPony - 20-7-2019 at 04:49

Ball mill,

Panache - 20-7-2019 at 20:54

I made this and use it often.
Basically it's the cylinder off a CO2 fire extinguisher. They are long cylindericsl and heavy walled. I cut out a hole slightly larger than the co2 cylinder diameter out of s9kg propane cylinder. The valve I removed from the co2 cylinder and just threaded on a t-style handle.
Rocks go in the propane cylinder and you bang away. If more power is required you can fill the co2 with water. I tape a garbage bag to the t handle that covers the propane cylinder to minimise dust.

unionised - 21-7-2019 at 04:16

I'd strongly suggest use of hearing protection.

Dr.Bob - 21-7-2019 at 14:09

Try dynamite. It works wonders. But for powdering rocks, it takes a pretty strong device, which is why they cost a lot.

khourygeo77 - 25-7-2019 at 10:25

Thanks for the responses.

I dont need to grind a lot, a pound would do.

Quote:

Panache says: I made this and use it often.
Basically it's the cylinder off a CO2 fire extinguisher. They are long cylindericsl and heavy walled. I cut out a hole slightly larger than the co2 cylinder diameter out of s9kg propane cylinder. The valve I removed from the co2 cylinder and just threaded on a t-style handle.
Rocks go in the propane cylinder and you bang away. If more power is required you can fill the co2 with water. I tape a garbage bag to the t handle that covers the propane cylinder to minimise dust.

Interesting. Completely new to me. I need to do some research about this because some equipment may not be readily available here then see if I can make it work...

RogueRose - 25-7-2019 at 12:03

Quote: Originally posted by Panache

I made this and use it often.
Basically it's the cylinder off a CO2 fire extinguisher. They are long cylindericsl and heavy walled. I cut out a hole slightly larger than the co2 cylinder diameter out of s9kg propane cylinder. The valve I removed from the co2 cylinder and just threaded on a t-style handle.
Rocks go in the propane cylinder and you bang away. If more power is required you can fill the co2 with water. I tape a garbage bag to the t handle that covers the propane cylinder to minimise dust.

I did a similar thing but instead I was crushing glass (boro) and I used a stainless steel 1cup measuring cup with a nice flat bottom with rounded edges - it was filled with moulten lead and I used a piece of 3/4 or 1" diameter & 3ft long rebar as the handle that is frozen in the solid lead. IDK how much it weighs, but it works well and will crush white quartz stone easily.

I can always add more weight over the handle and drop it down to the lead then use a screw to clamp it on.

If you look at old paper or grain mills that used hammer mills to raise the hammer and drop it. You can make a reciprocating drive with a motor that will lift and drop the hammer - you need to put the hammer on a "see-saw" like setup, and the reciprocating arm attaches to the opposite end of the hammer/pole - and it has a pivot in between which is determined by motor strength and reciprocating arm length.

Fantasma4500 - 26-8-2019 at 23:14

you havent specified approx mesh, but for making finer powder i have an idea of attaching a steel cylinder with bottom cap welded in, that would then be mounted in a lathe. then a steel rod with a pattern grinded into it would be mounted on the part that holds drillchuck usually, this can then be pressed into the container in the lathe while the lathe is turning with slow RPM, i suppose similar setup would work better with a milling machine

not too long back i was welding some rings onto basically steel slabs, they would be mounted on steel rods where they would then be spun at high RPM to beat waste wood into a fine pulp, unsure if the whole construction was a ball-mill kinda thing where it would then be carried up and over the spinning slabs, hundreds of steel slabs weighting 20kg each is maybe a bit too large scale for making a pound of quartz powder but the concept should be possible