w/Handbase and Flaker Mill

Works fine. Had a little getting the oats to feed but it does a good job. I need to use it more to become accustom to it and I think that will help.

I spent a LONG time deliberating about what parts of the Family Grain Mill line of products I should get. Obviously I chose this product: the hand crank, the grain mill, and the flaker. I couldn't be happier with my decision.The hand crank is very easy to use. For both the flaker and the grain mill, I can't imagine anyone having difficulty turning it. While it's not extremely fast, the entire process was much faster than I imagined. I managed to flake 3 cups of oat groats the other night in about 5 minutes. Sure, I was a little tired by the end, but it was from the turning motion, not the force required to turn it.As mentioned in other reviews online, the grain mill doesn't produce the finest flour. This doesn't bother me in the least, because it's plenty fine for anything I could imagine using it for (bread, cereal, etc.).The pieces are made of strong plastic, and appear quite durable -- a definite plus. Setup and take down are also very easy, as is cleaning the parts. You get the idea that a lot of thought went into planning this mill.The mill and flaker are both extremely quiet. I was upstairs a couple days ago when my wife was grinding some flour, and I could barely hear the machine at all. This is a huge improvement to our old electric mill, which would practically cause the house to shake.Finally, there is some internal satisfaction in creating your own flour, or eating your own oatmeal. As of now, I have no complaints, and would highly recommend the Family Grain Mill flaker, grain mill, and hand crank.

I debated for a while about buying this set for my Bosch mixer. Finally took the plunge. Why quibble, you ask? Because I did not want to process just oats in the flaker--I wanted to flake quinoa. I had read several places that quinoa would dribble through the flaker without being rolled. but the manual states that linseed and flaxseed roll just fine in the flaker. So I finally decided to give it a try and deal with the disappointment if it did not work. Glad I did try it-- it flaked the tiniest quinoa I could find beautifully (they were 1/2 the size or less of flaxseed). It feed smoothly and processed a 1/3 C of tiny quinoa in less than 2 minutes. Speed 2 caused more fracturing of the quinoa but speed 1 produced pretty and tiny rolled flakes they had up to 3 distinct roller lines impressed in each grain. On the flaker, nothing to set, simply attach turn on and add grain. so easy.I haven't had time to play with the grain mill yet, but I want to test it out with gluten free flour grain mixture. and I understand that it is not a fine first grind attachment. so I will look forward to updating my review when I have time to double grind a couple of grains that are GF.the only negative I can see so far, is the plastic housing, and auger.update:The grinder produces a very coarse gritty flour on the finest setting. not real useful for baking but as a pre-grind for my ancient Bosch stone grinder that can produce Pastry fine flour on a second pass, it will work wonders and keep the heat off of my stones.I still love the Flaker! bought 50 # of oats for my grandmother and and mixing the flaked oats with flaked quinoa and flaked flaxseed for myself. the taste is incredible and the ease... a breeze.

This grain mill and flaker is amazing! Only complaint is it seems that the turning handle insert is made of plastic and will eventually wear away.

This mill works great... I primarily use the flaker to make oatmeal. I can probably make a cup of rolled oats in 2-3 minutes. The entire hopper filled takes about 20 minutes to flake by hand. If you want oats that cook faster like quick oats, you can pulse the flakes in a food processor for about 5 seconds to make them smaller. I made the habit of filling the hopper completely and after processing (about 25 minutes) that was enough oatmeal for a family of four for about a week.For flour, however, it takes much longer and so I needed to speed things up.I noticed that the hand crank uses a hex-shaped fitting, and decided to see if I could speed things up with a drill (with a handle to keep from jerking) and a 10mm hex nut (H10). It fits perfectly fine and cranks fast, though I would recommend a drill that has variable speed. Mine has a bunch of torque and goes too fast. *** The manual says to NOT used any motor on the hand crank base *** If you decide to use a drill then be very careful and don't use it too long/hard otherwise you risk the plastic gearing on the wooden base will wear out or possibly melt. Mine seemed to have melt a bit (probably from processing flour for 10+ minutes), so it's a bit stiff to get the pieces on/off.The flour I had tried making ended up not coming out fine enough, even after two passes. Perhaps because I used the drill and it went too fast. It's best to run at setting 3 (on the dial) first pass then down to 2. I made pancakes and it still had a very gritty "cornmeal" type of texture.For serious long-term motorized use, I would recommend purchasing an adapter from the manufacturer's website. Just google "Family Grain Mill". They go for about $50 each and fit various equipment. I specifically have a spare KitchenAid mixer somewhere so I will attach it to that (the upper horizontal shaft).