Pellet mill attachment

[Kendrick]

I was wondering if any one had messed with a pellet mill.
I found 1 at Portable mill

Im half way tempted to get one soon but would love to hear from some one that has one.

 

[billbill1]

I am very interested in this as well, I have no input though.

 

[shvl73]

How will you grind the wood fiber to feed it? I've looked at them a bit but, they seem pricey for what they are.

 

[Reg]

I was (still AM) under the impression that the energy required for drying is HUGE, much greater than that needed for compression/extrusion.
Almost cheaper to buy (& RUN) a kiln to dry green wood for burning.
(-:

 

[shvl73]

Drying is another issue for sure. I imagine you can build racks with a sreen base and polycarb panel top that you could air dry outside. hard to do in any large quantity though, which I think you need to produce, to offset the cost of the pellet mill & hammer mill. Still, its interesting.

 

[MikeD74T]

Farm Show magazine had reader feedbacks a coulpe of issues ago. Some were making satisfactory pellets but said the variables to make quality pellets are difficult to overcome, pellet density being the most difficult to attain. Nobody was making for other than their own use. It seemed that the best pellets were being made from straw/grasses. MikeD74T

 

[charlz]

Around here you can get large loads of sawdust from places processing wood fairly cheap....likely dry enough or close to it. Not sure how consistent the grind is on it though.

Anybody else notice the price difference between the one that comes with a diesel engine and the PTO version is only $100?

$4,000 is about 3 years worth of pellets for me.... little too steep for something that may not work out.


Hmmmm, I just looked on Ebay and noticed these same machines are going for less than 1/2 the price on the PelletPro site. The auction also notes you might need to add binding agent.

 

[tommu56]

A friend of mine use to work in a feed mill making rabbit pellets and the, like they use to steam the feed before they ran it through the mill to stay in pellet form and then dry it. I asked him about it he said that you would have to have some moisture to get the legin (sp) in the wood to act like glue to get the pellet to stick together. then it would have to be dried.

tommu

 

[charlz]

A friend of mine use to work in a feed mill making rabbit pellets and the, like they use to steam the feed before they ran it through the mill to stay in pellet form and then dry it. I asked him about it he said that you would have to have some moisture to get the legin (sp) in the wood to act like glue to get the pellet to stick together. then it would have to be dried.

tommu

It could certainly get pricey if you needed to build a whole plant to handle wetting, drying, cooling, screening, bagging or bulk storage etc. Due to the likelyhood of way too much moisture in the winter months this is probably something you need to do in the summer and then store until the winter months... can't just make'em as you need'em in the winter.

I wonder how long you get on the dies before they need to be replaced.

 

[Kendrick]

Best source for pellets is switch grass/hay field i was planning on using somthing like soy beans for a binding agent. I also have a maple house and all the sawdust from there I was hoping to include. look to waste first then to raw. making pellets from wood wouldent be a effective solution even the current stock is all sawdust like byproducts from lumber mills.

I am getting a pellet stove that can burn pretty much any thing that is dry and goes through the auger.

Shelburne Farms Tests Grass Pellet Heat

 

[Bill Barrett]

I had looked into it last year, even the big boys were having trouble with grasses. I know a guy that has a mill he's working on, 150 hp to make any volume of pellets so a 15 hp can't make much. I looked at the web site if I'm looking at it right that 15 hp engine is only worth 100 bucks? Or is the PTO stuff that expensive?
I also have been looking in to wood chip gasification. I have to chip anyway so it's not a big deal, but doesn稚 look economical to me on a small scale. Your going to spend more in diesel to run the equipment than if you just heat with LP, Nat., oil, etc. Electric motor now would be more efficient.

 

[shvl73]

I looked at the web site if I'm looking at it right that 15 hp engine is only worth 100 bucks? Or is the PTO stuff that expensive?

From I've been told, the pto unit is adapted from the standard mill and needs the gears changed to run at 540rpm. If it were done stateside, it would be a little more costly. Might also be, just a whole lot more profit in that unit.

 

[charlz]

From I've been told, the pto unit is adapted from the standard mill and needs the gears changed to run at 540rpm. If it were done stateside, it would be a little more costly. Might also be, just a whole lot more profit in that unit.

The pic of that PTO unit does not show a gear box... looks like it goes straight in. Maybe they change some internal gears? Adapting the shaft might be a bit tricky depending on what it looks like on the pellet mill side. If you look at the one on eBay it lists the prices for the different models. The one with an engine is $560 more than the one without. The one without is just the straight mill, no pto shaft, adapters etc.

How good are Chinese diesel engines?

Apparently if you are using softwood a binding agent should not be needed. Might be needed if using hardwoods. I was wondering this morning if you could use the glycerin byproduct of biodiesel as a binding agent. Lo and behold someone has or has applied for a patent on it. Still not clear if it would be a good idea though, might not be that clean burning.

I'm definitely curious enough to run some numbers but the guy that normally advertises sawdust doesn't have an ad running this week.

 

[shvl73]

The pic of that PTO unit does not show a gear box... looks like it goes straight in. Maybe they change some internal gears?

I think so, though not sure. I was told that it was done by a pellet Pro dealer.

 

[JerryG]

You can get this kind of mill very cheap used at farm equipment dealers a lot of times. It might be something to look into.
hammer mill

 

[dangerdoc]

I was wondering if any one had messed with a pellet mill.
I found 1 at Portable mill

Im half way tempted to get one soon but would love to hear from some one that has one.

If you are using sawdust, you will need to buy a dryer. The sawdust has a very high moisture content and will not dry adequately in a pile.

If you are not using sawdust, you will need a hammer mill. before going to the dryer.

Hay would not need a dryer but you will need a hammer mill.

The pellet machine will go through dies quickly, you need to make sure that you will be able to replace them and get other parts.

After you make the pellets, you will need to cool and dry them before storing them.

Depending on your souce material, you will need to experiment to see if you need a binder.

 

[charlz]

You can get this kind of mill very cheap used at farm equipment dealers a lot of times. It might be something to look into.
hammer mill

The mill you see on these pellet press sites looks exactly like the old farm hammer mills to me. You see them sitting in fence rows here and there rusting away.

 

[Kendrick]

looks like Ill have to pester the farm to see what they are using and what binders they use.

 

[JerryG]

The mill you see on these pellet press sites looks exactly like the old farm hammer mills to me. You see them sitting in fence rows here and there rusting away.

That's exactly what I thought when I pulled up that site above.

 

[charlz]

The pellet machine will go through dies quickly, you need to make sure that you will be able to replace them and get other parts.

How long is 'quickly' do you think? every ton of product? every 10 tons? Certainly a cost factor to be added in. I noticed both places have the dies advertised so I assumed you would likely need a spare set on hand.