Design and Construction of Mussel Shell Fine Grinding Machine for Shell Clay Activity in Community Enterprise Production

Abstract

This research aimed to 1) design and construct a shell fine grinding machine for the Ban Nam- Chiew community tourism enterprise in Trat Province and 2) assess the machine's efficiency. The research methodology starts with the study on the shell from members of the Ban Nam-Chiew community tourism enterprise group by interviewing 3 specific sample groups. The interview topics include how to make the fine powders of mussel shells for shell clay activity, production volume, and community demand for shell grinding machines. Next, 50 g of bleached mussel shell grinding test via a mortar and repeated 5 times. Next, a prototype grinding machine was designed and built using the principles of anatomy and a gyratory crusher that uses conical grinding gears to adjust the size of the shell powder. The interview results showed that the community used stone mortars to grind shells into powder and sieve the shell powders through a 40 mash sieve, grinding ~50 grams each time. In addition, it was found that the community uses shell powder~ 1- 2 kilograms per month. Thus, there is a need for a shell fine grinding machine that is not expensive, easy to move, can be used by the elderly, safe, and easy to maintain. The efficiency test results regarding the percentage of ground shell weight of the mortar and shell fine grinding machine were 92. 63% and 95. 66% , respectively. The actual working efficiency of the human using a mortar and fine grinding machine grinding were 1.58 and 8.59 g/min, respectively. Moreover, the shell fine grinding machine that was built can work continuously with no sieving method, reducing the loss of shell powder and reducing the time spent preparing shell powder in the community. Therefore, it can be applied to crush shells for production at the community enterprise level.