First homemade bag of pellets to test out :-)

[Cedarjunki]

Fingers crossed. Gotta go clean the stove and dump them in later today and see how they burn.

 

[Golfeur]

very long pellets

 

[Cedarjunki]

very long pellets

Yea about 1 1/2"+-
I have burnt equal to and longer ones. I Plan on looking to see if i can adjust the cut off..

 

[Husky]

okay, the big question. How did you make them??

 

[Cedarjunki]

okay, the big question. How did you make them??

With a small wood pellet mill.

 

[UpStateNY]

Does your mom know about this?

 

[Cedarjunki]

Does your mom know about this?

Nope. Please dont tell

 

[Wilbur Feral]

Well, cool - and good luck.

How are you getting the moisture content down (i.e., drying them)?

 

[Dr.Faustus]

have you figured out how much it costs you to produce a ton?

 

[Cedarjunki]

Well, cool - and good luck.

How are you getting the moisture content down (i.e., drying them)?

I still need to get a few things. A moisture meter is on the list.
But i intend on just using drying racks mainly just to allow them to cool. I do not think i will have too much moisture content to deal with. If anything i will need to add a little.
I need a hammer mill as well but they were out of stock when i ordered the pellet mill.

I only just ran the mill to condition the die. But i ran a bag of sawdust i had from my chopsaw and tablesaw just to test it and play. I will say this, it took roughly 45 gallons of sawdust to make 43# of pellets. (Not a loose filled bag of sawdust either)
It took about 1 hour with them just spread out on the floor to cool down to room temp and harden.

It is a messy job..

have you figured out how much it costs you to produce a ton?

Just as much as my time is worth.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

They look awesome. Shiny outside and very dense. I cant wait to hear how they work out.

What power source are you using for the mill?

I see Frontier makes a smaller size hammer mill/feed grinder. Is that too big for what you are doing? It would take a larger hp tractor. But if you were closer to me, I'd donate the tractor.

I'm really looking forward to your report. Thanks.

 

[Cedarjunki]

They look awesome. Shiny outside and very dense. I cant wait to hear how they work out.

What power source are you using for the mill?

I see Frontier makes a smaller size hammer mill/feed grinder. Is that too big for what you are doing? It would take a larger hp tractor. But if you were closer to me, I'd donate the tractor.

I'm really looking forward to your report. Thanks.

I am powering it with 3 phase 480 volt. Running a 10 hp motor.
The mill is rated at 265-440 lb/hr. Its actually the smallest die driven mill they had available. Running pure sawdust the output will be on the lower end of the scale. It didnt seem to take very long at all to run that 43 lbs. But like i said i wont really know much until i have everything together and setup so i can actually run it for a few hours. I know it was pumping the pellets out fairly fast compared to what i was expecting. The small hammer mill i am looking at is rated for 330-770 lb/hr. Again just the smallest unit they have. My material is peelings, and shavings from white cedar and white pine from products i produce in my shop.

I burnt the pellets over nite and they seem to burn pretty nice. Very very light fine ash. Shut the stove off when i left an hour ago since it was 81 degrees inside.

Pulling the mill apart now to adjust/modify the cut off length.

Its going to be a fun project. Not something i suggest for 99% of the people who burn pellets. But im a diy'er and dont mind a little work or getting my hands dirty.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

I am powering it with 3 phase 480 volt. Running a 10 hp motor.
The mill is rated at 265-440 lb/hr. Its actually the smallest die driven mill they had available. Running pure sawdust the output will be on the lower end of the scale. It didnt seem to take very long at all to run that 43 lbs. But like i said i wont really know much until i have everything together and setup so i can actually run it for a few hours. I know it was pumping the pellets out fairly fast compared to what i was expecting. The small hammer mill i am looking at is rated for 330-770 lb/hr. Again just the smallest unit they have. My material is peelings, and shavings from white cedar and white pine from products i produce in my shop.

I burnt the pellets over nite and they seem to burn pretty nice. Very very light fine ash. Shut the stove off when i left an hour ago since it was 81 degrees inside.

Pulling the mill apart now to adjust/modify the cut off length.

Its going to be a fun project. Not something i suggest for 99% of the people who burn pellets. But im a diy'er and dont mind a little work or getting my hands dirty.

Thank you for the reply and information. I would really like to follow your progress and listen to any info you would share. I dont do facebook or any of that kind of social. Do you have a youtube channel? Or are you considering making progress threads from time to time here?

Did I miss a thread about the brand and model etc. of your mill?

Thanks.

 

[Cedarjunki]

Thank you for the reply and information. I would really like to follow your progress and listen to any info you would share. I dont do facebook or any of that kind of social. Do you have a youtube channel? Or are you considering making progress threads from time to time here?

Did I miss a thread about the brand and model etc. of your mill?

Thanks.

Im not a you tuber.. sorry. I didnt even bother taking any pics during the test. I will post on here on occasion. It may be another month or more before i get a hammer mill. But i am considering hitting up one of the sawmills we deal with to get some material to play with.

As for make and model.. well its chinese. Id have to dig around to find the actual brand. I purchased from a somewhat local store that sells the chinese mills.

 

[Peterfield]

Well, cool - and good luck.

How are you getting the moisture content down (i.e., drying them)?

The pellet mill I visited measure the moisture (forget how) and they add super dry sawdust to the recipe to bring the moisture down to the desired level.

 

[Cedarjunki]

The pellet mill I visited measure the moisture (forget how) and they add super dry sawdust to the recipe to bring the moisture down to the desired level.

When you try and compare the working of a small machine to an actuall plant mill its 2 diff worlds. Completely diff machines. And a totally diff process all together.
Keeping it simple is what matters. Adding moisture is easy. I do not need to pass any tests other than the fact of wether they burn to my satisfaction or not.

The pic of those pellets up top were ran with zero moisture added. That sawdust has been sitting beneath my machines for a couple months and then just vaccumed up 2 weeks ago. I bet it was pretty damn dry. Im not planning on doing anything technical at all. And by the small trial run i made, even tho they are much longer than i like. They burnt pretty darn good. The remainder of them will be getting burnt later today and tonight as its a bit too warm right now with this beautiful weather.

I have my old stove i kept for testing purposes so its as simple as setting it outside the shop and plugging it in when ever i wish or need to test some over the summer.

 

[Cedarjunki]

Here is shot of the burn pot after about 14 hours or so running on low. And a shot of the ash itself

 

[womaus]

Does your mom know about this?

Yep...just pee'd my pants on this one. Excellent reply.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

Here is shot of the burn pot after about 14 hours or so running on low. And a shot of the ash itself

For the first pellets off the mill, that looks great IMO. Same color ash as the doug fir I run. You'll probably find a sweet spot somewhere with moisture and wood combo to reduce the amount of ash as time rolls on.

 

[Lake Girl]

What kind of price tag on the mill?

 

[Cedarjunki]

What kind of price tag on the mill?

Purchased without a motor as i had one sitting here. About $3,200 to the door.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

Just for fun Cederjunki, is there any sort of estimated tonnage life to the die and press parts?

I see that cedar in general is only about 2/3rds the density per foot of doug fir. So maybe that would account for some of the higher ash content on this maiden run? I'm really excited about this. I think it's so cool to find people willing to dive into things like this and learn as they go.

 

[Cedarjunki]

Just for fun Cederjunki, is there any sort of estimated tonnage life to the die and press parts?

I see that cedar in general is only about 2/3rds the density per foot of doug fir. So maybe that would account for some of the higher ash content on this maiden run? I'm really excited about this. I think it's so cool to find people willing to dive into things like this and learn as they go.

Just from the reading and digging i have done..and what i have been told by diff sales reps. Anywhere between 800-1500 hours. I guess it all depends on the material being processed. Hardwoods will kill it faster where it may exceed 2000 + hours with leaves. But one stone or a small piece of metal can kill it in just a matter of minutes.

 

[Babaganoosh]

The only place I burn pellets is in my smoker, but I love what you are doing. Awesome work.

 

[Cedarjunki]

The biggest reason i am doing this is simply because when the subject is brought up on this site, way too many people here instantly throw the idea under the bus. I am one of those guys who need to learn the hard way.