Posted 30 June 2012 - 05:19 PM
ceramic media?!!!!!, haven't you seen the "ball mill explosion" threads, id rather put my D@~k in a mouse trap, lead or brass for bp, milling efficiency will be a product of correct speed, correct media size for your jar size and how full you charge the jar its all there on the ball milling thread.
but realistically there's no quick fix these things are left to run for a few hours at least, i have a simple household timer on mine the sort of thing you'd have for switching on lights/lamps if you where away, that way i don't have to sit on the thing all the time and get constant results which is essential in my bp rocket propellants, i may need 3hour bp not 3 and 3/4 hour bp lol.
so to round up, this is my experience of the matter and ive been milling for five years now.
for small amounts( 100g) lots of people use rock tumblers, i myself used one for a year or so with 12.5mm round brass bar media in a one liter jar with good results.
next i decided to make myself a mill, luckily i found a pillar drill at a car boot and used the components of that, the motor was of a cheap chinese construction as the whole pillar drill would of been worth £60-70 new, it was rated at 300 watts, i found this struggled at bit and got hot with lead media, properly because in was a cheapo motor not enough to burst into flame though lol.
the motors your looking at are better quality and as with all "continuously rated" they have a cooling fan blade system built into the rear of the motor housing as these things are designed to run non stop.
sometimes if there's not much airflow around the motor people add computer cooling fans nearby.
the motor choice may be up to you and your media you'd get away with the smaller motor with brass media, but not lead, maybe you secretly want a 0.7 hp motor? its pretty powerful you can use them to run small lathes like the myford, one thing though if you did decide to build a bigger mill, and this usually happens 9 times out of ten, you've got the motor for it