Whenever a mill thread came up within the past couple of months I bragged about how well my Barley Crusher had done for me. Well, it was the kiss of death. I'm currently having feed issues with the mill. There is a little bit of a gap between the hopper and the rollers. This gap will get clogged and will mess up the feed. I'm having a hard time describing how the grin misfeeds. It won't stay on the right side of the hopper and will feed down past the wrong side of the second roller. When I stop the mill and I turn it upside down, I will end up clearing about a handful of grains (uncrushed) away from the second roller. After that, the mill continues to feed for a while. I've had to unclog the second roller maybe 2 to 3 times for an average batch. Any ideas on how to get this feed back on track? Edit: I've tried to reverse the drill that I use to maybe push the grains around and get the feed going again. This doesn't work.
My BC had developed a death rattle in its chest. Virtually on the verge of not working no'mo. Some BA-er said, "Flip the roller drum." And viola!...just like that...back to bidness. non-PRO Tip: Time to disassemble the base and clean thoroughly. Take extra care removing the soft Al screws so as not to booger-up the screwhead. Re-assemble...apply the recommended lubricant...and just that quick...and just that easy...you be back in the grist bidness.
I was a little nervous at first to take the crusher apart. I have used a tube of aquarium glue on the outside of the hopper to help hold the hopper above the rollers. It kept falling off, in spite of me tearing my knuckles up trying to over-tighten the nuts on the inside. I didn't want to have to reglue anything. I'll need to be ready to do this once I try to take the primary roller off. For today, I didn't touch that one. I got to the rollers from the bottom with no problems and second roller practically popped out after pulling the gap adjustment out. It was gunky and needed a scrubbing. Easy to clean and easy to lube. I used Lithium Grease and feel pretty comfy that this won't come in contact with the outside of the rollers. The second roller spins very easily and it should hold up for quite a while longer. Thanks for the advice guys. I also found out that the face screws with the self-locking washers help hold the gap adjustment in place. Loosen the screws and it's easy as pie to adjust the gap. Tighten them, and the gap won't budge. Very user friendly.
