Turning a shaftless pepper mill

[ozmandus]

Hey all,
Don't know if anyone turns pepper mills, but I do more of them than about anything else..
I had some of the shaft less crush grind mechanism that I've had a while... haven't done much with them because they can sometimes slip and not work right... figured out a way to make them work and did a little tutorial on my design... thought I might share with my down under friends... I lurk here and read a lot, but don't post much...

These are kinda fun to make... now I'm wishing I had a few more of the mechanisms..

[Mulgabill]

Thanks for posting this Chuck,
I will study it in depth at a later date, however at first glance it looks very interesting and opens up some alternative solutions. :2tsup:
By the way I like the lamination of the example shown.

[China]

ozmanddus, it is a interesting fix, I have tured at least 90 of these pepper mills and I have never seen a problem with them slipping

[colhu]

Hi Chuck

thanks for the interesting description and pictures. And well done on your presentation - I found it easy to follow, except I had to pull out the calculator to work out that 1 17/32" is just under 39mm.

I have done lots of pepper mills using the Danish shafted mill mechanisms but I haven't used the shaftless ones. I may be missing something, but what stops the top of the mill from pulling out of the body?

With your method, if it was important to retain the continuity of the grain, could you use a dummy shaft set into the top?

cheers, Colin

[ozmandus]

Hi Chuck

thanks for the interesting description and pictures. And well done on your presentation - I found it easy to follow, except I had to pull out the calculator to work out that 1 17/32" is just under 39mm.

I have done lots of pepper mills using the Danish shafted mill mechanisms but I haven't used the shaftless ones. I may be missing something, but what stops the top of the mill from pulling out of the body?

With your method, if it was important to retain the continuity of the grain, could you use a dummy shaft set into the top?

cheers, Colin

Sorry, I forgot about converting the inches to mm... the 1 17/32 is actually just an estimate... the hole the tenon needs to fit into is drilled with a 1 9/16 inch (40 mm). so the tenon needs to be just a hair smaller to turn properly.

On the dummy shaft.. yes, my idea is actually an adaptation of the dummy shaft idea that was posted by another turner on a local forum... I just think it's easier to make the cap/top one piece. On the laminates I used, the continuity of the grain isn't important...but on a highly figured blank, it might be a factor to consider.

[brendan stemp]

<style></style>Ozmandus, if you are making lots of crushgrind mills you definitely need one of these.

CWS Store - Woodcut Mill Drill | Carroll's Woodcraft Supplies (http://www.cws.au.com/shop/item/woodcut-mill-drill)

[Ozkaban]

Interesting tutorial. Will go though it later when I can concentrate (too much work going on!).

Is there much difference between the crush grind and shaft pepper mills (apart from the lack of shaft...)?

Cheers,
Dave

[brendan stemp]

Dave,
There are significant advantages to using the Crushgrind mechanisms.
1/ they are far easier to fit up than the alternatives.
2/ they are a significantly better mechanism than the alternative because they use ceramic for the grinding components. Because of this they guarantee the mechanism for 25 years but have tested it to the equivalent of 200 years of everyday use.

Down side to them is that you need up to 5 drill bits to drill the various holes. But if you get the the Woodcut MillDrill you will only need two extra drill bits.

[Ozkaban]

Thanks for the post Brendan.

The shaft ones I use do have ceramic cutting mechanism, but I guess there's always differences in quality to take into account. 5 different holes sounds like a pain though! Mind you, there are 3 for the normal ones.

Do the holes need to be exact, or is it the sort of thing that can be a mm or so off? Reason I ask is that I bought a box of forstner bits to play with and I like to blunt as many as possible before buying new bits :cool:

Cheers,
Dave

[brendan stemp]

Do the holes need to be exact, or is it the sort of thing that can be a mm or so off? Reason I ask is that I bought a box of forstner bits to play with and I like to blunt as many as possible before buying new bits :cool:

Cheers,
Dave

There is only one hole that needs to be accurate and that is the 38mm one. Unless you are doing the Crushgrind with the shaft in which case the 22mm hole that takes the plug for the shaft needs to be accurate. The rest can be adapted to other measurements easily. BTW you can sharpen your Forstner bits or have them sharpened; or do you just like the thrill of buying more equipment?

[Ozkaban]

There is only one hole that needs to be accurate and that is the 38mm one. Unless you are doing the Crushgrind with the shaft in which case the 22mm hole that takes the plug for the shaft needs to be accurate. The rest can be adapted to other measurements easily. BTW you can sharpen your Forstner bits or have them sharpened; or do you just like the thrill of buying more equipment?

Thanks Brendan, all makes sense. I'm happy to sharpen them, I just meant that I would rather use the ones I have than go and buy specific new sizes. Just said it in a dumb way :rolleyes: