In this study, a 5 kg laboratory ball mill has been designed, constructed, and its performance analysed. This was achieved by using Bond’s equation to calculate the specific and shaft powers required to drive the mill at the specified capacity, and also to size the mill. After the fabrication of the ball mill, grinding test was conducted with the mill, using limestone as the feed material. This was followed by the particle size analysis of the ground product from the mill in order to determine the performance of the mill. The design results show that the minimum shaft power required to drive the ball mill is 0.2025 horsepower, the length of the mill at a fixed mill diameter of 210 mm is 373 mm, and the required shaft length and diameter are 712.2 mm and 30 mm respectively. The results of the particle size analysis, before and after the grinding test, show that the values of F50, F80, P50, and P80 of the limestone that was fed into the mill are 650 microns, 1950 microns, 47.5 microns and 85 microns respectively. The fabricated ball mill is efficient in its performance as the value of P80 of the products from the mill (85 microns) is less than P80 (100 microns) used in the design of the ball mill.
In this study, a 5 kg laboratory ball mill has been designed, constructed, and its performance analysed. This was achieved by using Bond’s equation to calculate the specific and shaft powers required to drive the mill at the specified capacity, and also to size the mill. After the fabrication of the ball mill, grinding test was conducted with the mill, using limestone as the feed material. This was followed by the particle size analysis of the ground product from the mill in order to determine the performance of the mill. The design results show that the minimum shaft power required to drive the ball mill is 0.2025 horsepower, the length of the mill at a fixed mill diameter of 210 mm is 373 mm, and the required shaft length and diameter are 712.2 mm and 30 mm respectively. The results of the particle size analysis, before and after the grinding test, show that the values of F50, F80, P50, and P80 of the limestone that was fed into the mill are 650 microns, 1950 microns, 47.5 microns and 85 microns respectively. The fabricated ball mill is efficient in its performance as the value of P80 of the products from the mill (85 microns) is less than P80 (100 microns) used in the design of the ball mill.