Ball Mill & Aluminum Powder for Thermite

This is the DIY ball mill I built for free for making aluminum powder in bulk for various thermite reactions, as well as flash powder (hopefully) in the future.

Check out the in-depth blog post here: http://sciencewithscreens.blogspot.co...

This ball mill uses entirely recycled parts - a motor from a dryer, pulley wheels from food jars, a belt from a scanner, a roller from a printer, scrap wood, and castor wheels from a rear projection TV.

The mill jar is filled half full with steel balls from a magnetic toy set and then is filled with aluminum shreds, until the partially milled flakes fill all the spaces between the balls.

It is noisy but works well. This design took over a year to complete, so if you get discouraged because your projects aren't going well, don't give up! I have tested the aluminum from this ball mill and it works for thermite (beautifully), so hard work pays off!