Frequently Asked Questions

Powder King® has been producing their own design of Pulverizers for over 5 years.  In that short period of time they have firmly taken the lead in the design and capability of Pulverizing Machinery.  With machines installed and producing consistent product worldwide, Powder King's reputation for quality and dependability has grown even faster than their customer base - word is spreading that the Powder King Pulverizer is the new standard in the industry.

Why buy a Powder King® Pulverizer?

Experience, Integrity, Dependability, and Consistency.  The Powder King machines are manufactured in the modern facility in Anthem, AZ, where they maintain total control over the integrity and quality of each machine.  The Powder King machines are backed by a professional, well-trained Engineering and Service group.  Machines are operating worldwide, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

What makes the Direct Drive Mill design so special?

In the on-going quest for improvements in operation and reductions in maintenance time and expense, the Direct Drive mill was born.  Removing the very heavy shaft and bearing housings, belts, pulleys and associated hardware resulted in a simpler, yet far less cumbersome drive assembly.   Maintenance is reduced significantly; saving time, energy and money by not having additional spare parts to stock.  Having the rotating-disk flywheel mounted directly to the motor shaft eliminates side-load on the bearings and dramatically extends the life of the bearings.  All available horsepower is applied to the disk because none is lost in the inefficient belt and pulley assembly.

Doesn't the belt/pulley drive provide safety for the motor?

No.  The mill motor is protected by sophisticated electronics on both the belt/pulley and Direct Drive systems.  A design that depends on the drive belts as a motor safety consists of flawed engineering.

Is there an advantage to having the 20" disks?

The 20" disks were a fortunate offshoot of the Direct Drive Mill design.  One of the main considerations in mill design is the tip-speed of the disk.  The belt and pulley system, though inefficient, allowed the disk drive speed to be increased by adjusting the pulley ratios; this allowed the smaller diameter disk.  With the efficient, direct-coupled mill design, the disk diameter was increased to maintain the desired tip speed.  We call this a fortunate offshoot because the 20" diameter disk has approximately 30% more grinding area than the smaller diameter disks.  More grinding area means more even grinding and less wear on the disks - dramatically decreasing the sharpening frequency.  While some disks need sharpened every million pounds of material ground, the Powder King 20" disks with 30% more grinding area and the exclusive Diamond Coat can run 3,000,000 pounds before needing sharpened.

Powder King's Disk Design doesn't include mounting holes, why not?

Powder King's exclusive disk design utilizes an inner and outer clamp segments to accurately position and firmly hold the grinding disk in place - negating the need for additional holes in the disk. There are a number of advantages to this design. The clamping force with this design is spread over a very large area (the whole outer circumference of the disk and the outer circumference of the inner clamp).  Less stress on the disk means far less likelihood  of breakdown.  Competitive technology holds the disks in place with 4 to 6 bolts, all of the stresses are concentrated in these 4-6 areas and may create situations where cracking (or worse) occurs.  If the flywheel and the disk are not perfectly honed, stresses can be created simply by tightening the bolts.  If a bolt-on disk shatters, there is nothing to hold it in place and the disk remnants are free to fly.  The Powder King design traps even a cracked disk and holds it within the clamps.

Is adaptive control necessary or just some kind of gimmick?

Adaptive Control senses changes in pulverizing parameters and makes modifications in the process to compensate.  The Powder King Adaptive Control monitors many aspects of the machine and process including mill-motor amperage, pellet feed-rate and mill temperature to name a few.   Preprogrammed limits are continuously compared to actual ambient conditions and if a situation is detected that can interfere with consistent, even grinding, the machine will adapt the process automatically to overcome the discrepancy.  For example, if the mill amperage begins to rise toward a predetermined maximum setpoint due to any reason, the machine senses this increase and automatically makes adjustments to keep the machine within limits.  This is one of the major reasons that the Powder King machine does not need constant human intervention.

What's with the Unique Powder King® Mill Cooling System and how can it help me produce more quality product?

The Unique Powder King Mill Cooling System is a simple, yet revolutionary means to adjust the cooling air supplied to the mills.  Most other mills have latent holes in the underside of the mills that provide the majority of the cooling air.  These holes are a fixed size and provide a constant supply of air.  The Patented Mill Cooling System by Powder King provides a means of adjusting the air supply to the mills.  The ability to adjust the air has proven to be a great asset for maintaining high capacity grinding even when the ambient plant temperature increases dramatically.

I buy my raw material already pulverized.  Why should I take on an additional headache and responsibility?

Mainly for the money savings.  Our example of $145,000 savings for the first 3,000,000 pounds of in-house ground powder is money in your pocket after the machine is paid down.  But don't forget consistent quality, just in time inventory and the advantage of reusing your own scrap.

Don't I need a resident polymer engineer on-board to grind in-house?

No, it takes about the same skill-set and knowledge base to operate a pulverizer as it does a contemporary rotomolding machine.  This applies to maintaining the machine as well.  Powder King will provide additional training for your operators.

How accurate are the published rates of operation for your different models?

Very accurate.  Grinding rates are based upon ambient conditions, the material properties, raw material pellet size, finished size (mesh) requirements and disk condition (another reason the Powder King disk size and coating are extremely important).