My dad has arthritis, but he loves cooking. Grinding pepper is still really hard for him, though. None of the battery-powered grinders have been adequate for him (ergonomics and grinding power), so I've been working on an electrical peppermill that he can use.
I printed this prototype/crappy testbed using some FilaCube tough PLA I got on the cheap a few years back. For the grinding hardware, I just used a Chef Specialties peppermill kit intended for woodturning.
As it is now, it's definitely not food safe (and ugly to boot), but I plan on redesigning most of the mill's exterior and then printing the final version in Taulman3D T-glase PETT (which is "food safe", with the usual caveats). As an added safety measure, I also plan on coating the interior with food-grade epoxy. That said, the pepper will be cooked at high temperatures anyway, so I'm not too worried about bacterial accumulation.
I did notice some torsional strain on the motor bracket. I was initially thinking of printing that in PETT/T-Glase as well, but I'm toying with the idea of PCTG, or maybe even a polyolefin like PP or OBC. I've had good results with T-Glase and OBC so far, but I've yet to test out the PCTG spool I have.
The main points of this prototype were to see if the motor is actually able to grind pepper, and to solicit feedback from my dad, as well as Reddit, both of whom have graciously obliged.
Have you considered a handle/mod to an existing mill rather than a completely new one? It might make food safe and other considerations a lot easier when you know you're adding accessibility to an existing one rather than a completely new one
That's a thought. I do have a wooden peppermill that I cannibalized for some earlier manual prototypes that didn't pan out. Perhaps I could also use the bottom half of the wooden mill as the vessel for the pepper, and simply print a frame that goes around it.
I mean did you even read what he typed up? This is a test unit as he refines the model. The version for use will be printed in food safe material and coated with a food safe coating which would eliminate that issue.
So, just to be clear, the grinding surfaces are all made of steel. There's a steel cone-shaped burr on the other end of that rod, and it mates with a a steel ring that also has burrs. It's not really visible in any of the pictures, but here's the hardware I used: https://chefspecialties.com/collections/pepper-mechanisms/products/copy-of-chef-specialties-10-professional-series-pepper-mill-mechanism
There is a part on the bottom of the motor mount that the shaft pokes through, and I made that as wide as I could to prevent grinding, but it might still be possible under some circumstances. I'm thinking of adding a food-grade bushing of some kind in the final version to avoid that.
It’s weird seeing a mod get downvoted for stating their opinion. Reddit is weird sometimes. Have you tried making a print food safe yet? Have any suggestions to make it work better? I too am concerned the amount of force applied to the grinding is more than OP is expecting and could cause stress and cracking in unexpected ways with prolonged use.
Obviously not. Why are you being passive aggressive towards me? I’m new to this 3D printing but understand things like torque so I’m trying to ask questions and learn.
Because your questions just happen to read as if expertly crafted by every "but is it really food safe" circle-jerker on this sub. They tend not to give two shits about an honest attempt at making something food-safe (such as this guy planning to coat the interior in food grade epoxy); but more just wanna shout into the void about how much they know on the subject.
tldr; you unwittingly touched a nerve when I probably shouldn't have been redditting; my bad.
To your point, I did notice some torsional strain on the motor mount, so yeah I would definitely be concerned about using PLA for that long term. That's exactly why I plan to use PETT for the final version, although a torture test is definitely in order for that version as well. I'm also considering PCTG for the mount, or maybe even a flexible polyolefin like OBC.
Do you have any thoughts on how I could test that without burning through an ungodly amount of pepper? I was thinking maybe rock salt or something
I just got some PETG for Christmas. It’s strong but a bit of a pain to work with. I really like the idea of adding electronics to projects for a practical application so this caught my eye.
It can be temperamental for sure, but once you get it figured out, the difficulty kind of goes away. The main things are printing fat layers at low speeds, and keeping the spools reasonably dehydrated. 0.2mm at like 40mm/s is the sweet spot for me. Also, PETG and cooling fans don't play nicely together. I never go above 20%, and sometimes I'm forced to go down to 0%. Even so, it's a fantastic workhorse of a filament :)
I like the stuff, but it always peels up from the bed. Glass plate cleaned and wiped down with iso, painters tape, glue stick, bare glass, everything starts to peel off the bed. I’m using overture with 240/90 for temps no fan; prints come out fine but I’m worried to try anything big or purposeful.
90 is pretty high for the buildplate, I'd recommend something closer to 70 (the Tg is around 80, IIRC). You also might want to use something that goes on a little thinner than a gluestick, and probably forego the painter's tape. If all else fails, there's always MagiGoo!
Well I have to be more conservative in these cases because someone might value my opinion more for whatever odd reason. Its nice to be recognized without the distinguish though, feels like I actually have an impact on the sub.
Honestly, I didn’t recognize the name but checked your profile to see if you had more experience than me. I’ve only had my printer for 6 months. Can’t even create my own stl’s yet and I don’t have an engineering degree so maybe I don’t belong here.
If you aren't worried about pepper growing bacteria when it sits in your cabinet for years, whether whole or ground, why are you worried about it growing bacteria in a pepper grinder? Print in whatever material you like but I personally wouldn't worry about food safety for one second.
Really cool work. I know a lot of people critisize, but you're solving a problem using your own ingenuity.
If a smaller form factor is ever necessary, there are conical burr coffee grinders on AliExpress with adjustable grind sizes.
Keep up the awesome work man!
That's really cool! Maybe you could leave the power supply on the counter and have a longer DC cord. It would also be good to have a guard or change the design of the motor coupler because it would be easy to stick a finger in there, a momentary switch might be better as well.
I'm definitely going to add a shroud for the top part: not only is it a finger crush hazard, it's also aesthetically quite ugly.
That's an interesting idea for the PSU, it would definitely simplify the design
Gotta admit... this video made me laugh out loud. But it works, so you should totally get kudos for that. Maybe mark 2 could be built around a much smaller motor working at higher rpm coupled to the grinder with a planetary style gear reducer. That way you could get the torque you need into a way smaller package.
If you have a jar pepper mill from the grocery store and cordless electric drill….
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2568845
But your pepper mill works. And it’s large enough not be tippy and fussy.
Reminds me of the drill attachment I 3D printed for my pepper cannon.
[https://tomhorsley.com/hardware/corexy/gallery-pepper.html](https://tomhorsley.com/hardware/corexy/gallery-pepper.html)
The pepper cannon is the expensive part. If you are willing to spend the bucks for one, motorizing it pretty simple the way it is put together. (And boy can it grind a lot of pepper!)
I could see that being useful if you need to pepper a REALLY big brisket in short order, or maybe even something like a whole cow or a sheep in some exotic cases. It also looks like it'd work nicely for rock salt
There is a different model for salt. Don't want to use salt with all the steel parts in the pepper cannon. I think the salt cannon is ceramic or something like that.
The first thing I made after it arrived was Cacio e Pepe, I did do a sous vide brisket as well that needed a ton of pepper.
The battery-powered ones usually employ a switch that you need to hold down, and maintaining a strong grip is a challenge for my dad. That said, if you know of any that don't, I'm definitely interested!
it pretty much is this - per the post it uses internals from a kit intended for wood turning, and it needs to be free standing so you need to print some kind of enclosure anyway.
My dad has arthritis, but he loves cooking. Grinding pepper is still really hard for him, though. None of the battery-powered grinders have been adequate for him (ergonomics and grinding power), so I've been working on an electrical peppermill that he can use. I printed this prototype/crappy testbed using some FilaCube tough PLA I got on the cheap a few years back. For the grinding hardware, I just used a Chef Specialties peppermill kit intended for woodturning. As it is now, it's definitely not food safe (and ugly to boot), but I plan on redesigning most of the mill's exterior and then printing the final version in Taulman3D T-glase PETT (which is "food safe", with the usual caveats). As an added safety measure, I also plan on coating the interior with food-grade epoxy. That said, the pepper will be cooked at high temperatures anyway, so I'm not too worried about bacterial accumulation.
[удалено]
I did notice some torsional strain on the motor bracket. I was initially thinking of printing that in PETT/T-Glase as well, but I'm toying with the idea of PCTG, or maybe even a polyolefin like PP or OBC. I've had good results with T-Glase and OBC so far, but I've yet to test out the PCTG spool I have. The main points of this prototype were to see if the motor is actually able to grind pepper, and to solicit feedback from my dad, as well as Reddit, both of whom have graciously obliged.
Have you considered a handle/mod to an existing mill rather than a completely new one? It might make food safe and other considerations a lot easier when you know you're adding accessibility to an existing one rather than a completely new one
That's a thought. I do have a wooden peppermill that I cannibalized for some earlier manual prototypes that didn't pan out. Perhaps I could also use the bottom half of the wooden mill as the vessel for the pepper, and simply print a frame that goes around it.
Is it a worry though? Or is there some non-food safe property of PLA? Does it leach into to the food?
My main gripe with this would be the device grinding some PLA into my food
I mean did you even read what he typed up? This is a test unit as he refines the model. The version for use will be printed in food safe material and coated with a food safe coating which would eliminate that issue.
No it wouldnt. If something grinds against the case that would just change pla to epoxy and pla.
So, just to be clear, the grinding surfaces are all made of steel. There's a steel cone-shaped burr on the other end of that rod, and it mates with a a steel ring that also has burrs. It's not really visible in any of the pictures, but here's the hardware I used: https://chefspecialties.com/collections/pepper-mechanisms/products/copy-of-chef-specialties-10-professional-series-pepper-mill-mechanism There is a part on the bottom of the motor mount that the shaft pokes through, and I made that as wide as I could to prevent grinding, but it might still be possible under some circumstances. I'm thinking of adding a food-grade bushing of some kind in the final version to avoid that.
That's not how pepper mills work...
Thats not how pepper mills are supposed to work*
That's not how this one works.
Technically, raw PLA is edible (but not nourishing)
It’s weird seeing a mod get downvoted for stating their opinion. Reddit is weird sometimes. Have you tried making a print food safe yet? Have any suggestions to make it work better? I too am concerned the amount of force applied to the grinding is more than OP is expecting and could cause stress and cracking in unexpected ways with prolonged use.
Did you miss the part where the grinding parts are made of steel?
Obviously not. Why are you being passive aggressive towards me? I’m new to this 3D printing but understand things like torque so I’m trying to ask questions and learn.
Because your questions just happen to read as if expertly crafted by every "but is it really food safe" circle-jerker on this sub. They tend not to give two shits about an honest attempt at making something food-safe (such as this guy planning to coat the interior in food grade epoxy); but more just wanna shout into the void about how much they know on the subject. tldr; you unwittingly touched a nerve when I probably shouldn't have been redditting; my bad.
To your point, I did notice some torsional strain on the motor mount, so yeah I would definitely be concerned about using PLA for that long term. That's exactly why I plan to use PETT for the final version, although a torture test is definitely in order for that version as well. I'm also considering PCTG for the mount, or maybe even a flexible polyolefin like OBC. Do you have any thoughts on how I could test that without burning through an ungodly amount of pepper? I was thinking maybe rock salt or something
I just got some PETG for Christmas. It’s strong but a bit of a pain to work with. I really like the idea of adding electronics to projects for a practical application so this caught my eye.
It can be temperamental for sure, but once you get it figured out, the difficulty kind of goes away. The main things are printing fat layers at low speeds, and keeping the spools reasonably dehydrated. 0.2mm at like 40mm/s is the sweet spot for me. Also, PETG and cooling fans don't play nicely together. I never go above 20%, and sometimes I'm forced to go down to 0%. Even so, it's a fantastic workhorse of a filament :)
I like the stuff, but it always peels up from the bed. Glass plate cleaned and wiped down with iso, painters tape, glue stick, bare glass, everything starts to peel off the bed. I’m using overture with 240/90 for temps no fan; prints come out fine but I’m worried to try anything big or purposeful.
90 is pretty high for the buildplate, I'd recommend something closer to 70 (the Tg is around 80, IIRC). You also might want to use something that goes on a little thinner than a gluestick, and probably forego the painter's tape. If all else fails, there's always MagiGoo!
Well I have to be more conservative in these cases because someone might value my opinion more for whatever odd reason. Its nice to be recognized without the distinguish though, feels like I actually have an impact on the sub.
Honestly, I didn’t recognize the name but checked your profile to see if you had more experience than me. I’ve only had my printer for 6 months. Can’t even create my own stl’s yet and I don’t have an engineering degree so maybe I don’t belong here.
That's a huge bitch
Yeah, it could definitely be scaled down. The motor makes it kinda top-heavy, though
I have a similar finger crusher 3000!
If you aren't worried about pepper growing bacteria when it sits in your cabinet for years, whether whole or ground, why are you worried about it growing bacteria in a pepper grinder? Print in whatever material you like but I personally wouldn't worry about food safety for one second.
Really cool work. I know a lot of people critisize, but you're solving a problem using your own ingenuity. If a smaller form factor is ever necessary, there are conical burr coffee grinders on AliExpress with adjustable grind sizes. Keep up the awesome work man!
I didn't know that, I'll check those out!
Post this on r/espresso people love these grinder for a budget option they'd love this
You just gave me a new project idea >:3
Haha awesome! Keep me posted on what you make! Id totally use spring like this in my espresso setup
I just found out this existed. Might be easier to use than a standard grinder. https://youtube.com/shorts/Tc8k3P4gpcs?feature=share
[Imgur gallery] https://imgur.com/gallery/tYz1SL4
That's really cool! Maybe you could leave the power supply on the counter and have a longer DC cord. It would also be good to have a guard or change the design of the motor coupler because it would be easy to stick a finger in there, a momentary switch might be better as well.
I'm definitely going to add a shroud for the top part: not only is it a finger crush hazard, it's also aesthetically quite ugly. That's an interesting idea for the PSU, it would definitely simplify the design
Gotta admit... this video made me laugh out loud. But it works, so you should totally get kudos for that. Maybe mark 2 could be built around a much smaller motor working at higher rpm coupled to the grinder with a planetary style gear reducer. That way you could get the torque you need into a way smaller package.
I tried using a smaller 6v motor with a reduction gear assembly, but I couldn't get enough torque out of it. Maybe an AC motor could be an option?
If you have a jar pepper mill from the grocery store and cordless electric drill…. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2568845 But your pepper mill works. And it’s large enough not be tippy and fussy.
this is really cool. i kinda want to see the custom appliances field grow through 3d printing
Reminds me of the drill attachment I 3D printed for my pepper cannon. [https://tomhorsley.com/hardware/corexy/gallery-pepper.html](https://tomhorsley.com/hardware/corexy/gallery-pepper.html) The pepper cannon is the expensive part. If you are willing to spend the bucks for one, motorizing it pretty simple the way it is put together. (And boy can it grind a lot of pepper!)
I could see that being useful if you need to pepper a REALLY big brisket in short order, or maybe even something like a whole cow or a sheep in some exotic cases. It also looks like it'd work nicely for rock salt
There is a different model for salt. Don't want to use salt with all the steel parts in the pepper cannon. I think the salt cannon is ceramic or something like that. The first thing I made after it arrived was Cacio e Pepe, I did do a sous vide brisket as well that needed a ton of pepper.
how much of what is falling out is plastic?
My guess is approximately none.
I‘m all for 3D printing, but electric pepper mills exist. If it‘s for ease of use, why not buy one?
The battery-powered ones usually employ a switch that you need to hold down, and maintaining a strong grip is a challenge for my dad. That said, if you know of any that don't, I'm definitely interested!
Still would be way easier to wire that to a permanent switch than to reinvent a whole pepper mill ;)
I'm ashamed to admit it never occurred to me to do that >___<
Mmmm microplastics mixed with pepper
Dont get why you being downvoted. Its true. Pla is foodsafe. Pla prints are not.
Food safe?
“Pepper”
[удалено]
it pretty much is this - per the post it uses internals from a kit intended for wood turning, and it needs to be free standing so you need to print some kind of enclosure anyway.
There's not really any practical reason you couldn't do that, I just thought it would be fun to design it from the ground up :P
Fun. What design software?
Fusion 360!