The Country Living Grain Mill 
Motorizing Your Country Living Grain Mill

Caution: 

Full Liability And Responsibility For Complying To All Federal, State and Local Safety Standards Is Assumed By Any Person Or Persons Who Modify Or Motorize The Country Living Mill In Any Way.

Motorized mills should be operated by adults only. The below schematics are merely suggestions that may help you achieve a lower R.P.M. for cooler grinding if you choose not to grind by hand.

Note: All belts and pulleys not driven by hand should be enclosed.

Motorizing your Country Living Mill invalidates the warranty. However, correctly done, a motorized Country Living Mill should still last for many years under normal use before the bearings or burrs wear out. (And both are replaceable.)

120 is the absolute maximum RPM for the Country Living Grain Mill.  Through long experience, we have discovered that our mill performs optimally at revolutions of not more than 60 per minute.

Note: All motorized belts and pulleys must be enclosed to prevent serious injury.

We personally recommend that you grind the flour slower and cooler, and have shown you, with the schematics and formula above, how to do this.

Motorizing with a 1150 RPM motor

A. Always remove handle when motorizing your mill.

B. The Country Living Mill

C. Size A or 4L V-belt 1/2" wide X 5/16" thick. Belts and pulleys should be enclosed for safety reasons.

D. The Motor. Must be a 1150 RPM slow turning motor. If you get slots in the motor mounts, this will make it a lot easier to get the correct tension on the belt during installation.

E. Motor Pulley: 1-1/2" diameter.

F. Slidable mounting block for setting the belt tension. You can skip this if you got a motor with slots in the mounts.


Note: All motorized belts and pulleys must be enclosed to prevent serious injury.

Robert Dee's Mill Motorization GuideLines:

One Country Living Mill owner, Robert Dee, put together a motorized mill and kindly shared his photos and technical specifications with us.

He purchased the motor from a surplus center.  The 2 Horse Power motor was originally used for a tread mill, and has a soft start- which means it takes about five-seconds time for the motor to build up to full speed. 

This motor is rated at 1,800 rpm (Revolutions per Minute), which would turn the Country Living Mill far faster than we recommend- in fact, it just might send your grain mill into orbit.

Robert solved this problem by gearing the speed down with an intermediate 6" pulley linked with a 1 3/4" pulley that ties to the 12" flywheel of the grain mill.

Not satisfied with off the shelf parts, Robert re-machined one pulley he purchased so that it was very concentric, within .002 inches, and then made his own pulleys for the motor and idler shaft! The total drive ratio is about 27-1/2 to 1.

Though the mill has a variable speed adjustment, Robert runs the mill at about 60 rpm, which he feels is the highest speed he can use without overheating the grain.

There's a reason Robert has put together one of the most impressive home-built motorization kits ever -- Robert is no amateur.  For years he has designed  embedded microcontroller circuits and has several medical instrument patents to his name.

Note: All motorized belts and pulleys must be enclosed to prevent serious injury.