Corning Machine
This page gives some general info on my corning machine project. I'm not going to give any details since
I got the plans from
Passfire.com and Kyle deserves the recognition for them. If you'd like to make this great time saving machine, I highly recommend joining.
The function of corning is to break up pucks of pressed black powder into individual grains for use as break or lift powder. This machine automates the process so I no longer have to spend hours pounding the pucks by hand. (If you are corning by hand, NEVER use a metal tool, only wood so there are no sparks).
This is a picture of my motor shaft. I'm only including it because of the story behind it. I bought
it for $5.00 on ebay. The seller took over a month to ship it to me, and when he finally did, it had a 5/8 inch shaft instead of ½ inch. I already had the pulleys and couldn't find replacements that would allow the machine to rotate at the proper speed, so with a bastard file and in essence a 1725rpm lathe, I filed it down appropriately. Not bad for my first efforts at milling metal.
There are several options for the corning chamber, but the best, in my opinion, is a piece of large diameter PVC pipe. Though not easy (or cheap) to find, a fellow pyro was able to locate a 12 inch coupler for me (thanks, Joe). The ½ inch thick walls should hold up well to the corning action and the diameter is large enough to allow the pool balls to pick up sufficent speed when falling.
Here you can see the screen which allows the properly sized grains to drop out. I used ½ inch plywood for the screen holders instead of the ¼ inch that Kyle shows, since the PVC walls are ½ inch. You can also see the lifting bar, pool balls, and the nicely laminated insides of the end closures.
So here's the machine with the drum removed which allows you to see the alignment casters. There's not a lot left to say, so go sign up at Passfire.com to get the full plans, then you can start making some high quality black powder.
