Atta chakkis or flour mills are of different types and sizes. If you want to know the consolidated information on various types of atta chakki (flour mill), this article is for you.
Humans have been using atta chakki for thousands of years, and till today it is one of the greatest inventions of mankind.
The basic principle of getting atta (flour) from grains hasn’t changed much; however, as the modern era has evolved over time, technological advancement helped us get better and automated methods to get wheat flour or atta.
Today, many types of atta chakkis are available in the market, and I will discuss their major types in this article.
Types of atta chakki (flour mill)
So you might have questions like, how many types of atta chakki are there?
According to the usage, you can categorize atta chakkis into two types. Size is not the main classification factor because even domestic atta chakkis are made in different sizes.
The classification of atta chakki is mainly based on usages.
Type 1: Domestic atta chakki
Type 2: Commercial atta chakki
Let us understand each type in detail.
Types Of Atta Chakki For Domestic Use
Manual or hand operate atta chakki
This type of atta chakki is the basic atta chakki, and our ancestors have used it for centuries. Today, you can also see such atta chakkis in rural areas.
Hand-operated atta chakkis are made of stones, and the grain gets crushed and ground due to the rotating motion of one stone.
It takes much time to get the final product, the atta, flour, or grain powder.
But this is the best way to retain the nutritious value of the grains, and the atta made by this type of atta chakkis is considered the best atta for health.
And, to your surprise, even today, traditional stone chakki is available online if you want to experience the hand-operated stone base atta chakki to make healthy flour.
Automatic atta chakki
As technology has emerged from time to time, the comfort and convenience of end-users have become the main focus area for domestic atta chakki manufacturers.
Automatic atta chakki for domestic use are selling like hotcakes because many features attract customers. Some of the features of automatic domestic atta chakki are,
- Easy to operate & user friendly
- Less maintenance compared to atta chakki with stone
- Low power consumption
- Improved safety
- Ease of cleaning
- Compact & attractive design
- Lightweight
- Affordable budget
- Easily available online
If you are wondering, which type of atta chakki is best for domestic purpose, I highly recommend you go with the automatic atta chakki.
Read my article on the 10 best automatic atta chakki for home if you are planning to buy atta chakki.
Automatic atta chakki is also available in two segments.
Standard atta chakki – without auto clean feature
Auto clean atta chakki
Standard atta chakki does not come with an in-built vacuum cleaner, whereas auto clean atta chakki comes with a vacuum cleaner to clean the atta chakki after every use.
Additional features are included in different models and brands besides the cleaning aspect.
However, most people think that auto clean and power clean are the feature but in reality, they are two different things. Learn more about the auto clean and power clean features in my post on what is auto clean atta chakki and choose the right atta chakki for you.
For example, if I talk about Natraj’s latest atta chakki models, they come with an LED light that is fixed just below the top compartment of the atta chakki.
This LED will help you to see or clean the atta chakki in low light conditions. This is an additional feature. LED light does not improve the quality of the flour or atta but adds value to overall user satisfaction.
The LED has an interlock with the door so that it will remain OFF when it is closed, and as soon as you open the door, it will be ON. Sometimes the manual ON-OFF switch is also provided in a few brands.
Domestic atta chakki based on the cabinet material
You can also categorize types of atta chakki based on the cabinet material. Who doesn’t want an elegant and colorful atta chakki that serves the primary purpose of getting healthy flour at home and makes the kitchen more classy?
There are mainly two materials used for most of the domestic atta chakkis.
Stainless steel and MDF.
Stainless steel atta chakki
The stainless steel body is excellent for all weather conditions and comparatively sturdy but doesn’t look nice for home.
Because you will not get any color on stainless steel, and that is why stainless steel chakkis are comparatively less popular than MDF cabinet atta chakki.
MDF cabinet atta chakki
What is MDF?
MDF stands for medium-density fibreboard. MDF is made from resin and wood fibres. MDF is a composite material that can easily sustain stability in all weather conditions.
Below is the real picture of the MDF cabinet.
Important: I am talking about only quality and genuine cabinet material that is stainless steel and MDF only. You can also get cheap atta chakkis that look exactly like MDF cabinets, but in reality, the cabinet of cheap atta chakki is made from plywood or bhusa (wood husk or chaff).
Whenever you buy a domestic atta chakki with a nonmetallic cabinet, ensure that the cabinet is made of high-quality MDF, not plywood.
Mounting position types
Most domestic atta chakki are vertically mounted due to space saving and optimum utilization.
Horizontally mounted atta chakki are mainly produced for commercial use and always have higher capacity and weight.
Horizontal-mounted flour mill or atta chakki requires more space than the same output of vertically mounted atta chakkis.
Hence, for domestic purposes, you will find vertically mounted atta chakki only.
Capacity wise classifications
Domestic atta chakki comes with different power ratings and hopper capacities.
Power rating means the power of an electrical motor in horsepower (hp) or kilowatt (kW). The higher the rating of motors, the higher the grinding capacity, but the higher the price.
Hopper means the fillable area of whole grains. It ultimately depends upon the size of the hopper and motor capacity.
Some atta chakkis have a small hopper with a capacity of a few grams of grains, and some atta chakkis have a 4 to 6 kg capacity.
Capacity also includes the final output/hour. So more output will save you time and energy and ultimately save you money. But quality is super important, and you can’t ignore quality over quantity.
Grinding mechanism-wise categorization of domestic atta chakki
There are mainly two types of grinding mechanisms for any domestic atta chakki.
Atta chakkis with stone
Stoneless atta chakkis
Atta chakkis with stone
Such atta chakkis are beneficial for higher output and low friction to the grains, but at the same time, they are noisy and demand higher maintenance, which is not easy.
Also, cleaning is a concern for atta chakki with stone because you need to clean the stones for residues frequently.
Stoneless domestic atta chakki
If I talk about the advantages of stoneless domestic atta chakkis, they have significantly fewer maintenance requirements.
You can easily clean it with or without any specific tools or cleaning apparatus like a vacuum cleaner or hand air blower.
Stone-less atta chakkis are more affordable than atta chakkis with stone.
They are lightweight, compact, and portable.
The cutter blades’ life is several years unless they are of low quality. There is some advancement in the material of the grinding chamber and its blades, like ABFM material, that is suitable for the healthiest home flour.
There is one more type of atta chakki is available in the market and that is 2 in 1 atta chakki. 2 in 1 atta chakkis can grind grains and spices easily and quite popular also.
Overall, stoneless atta chakkis are best suitable for home and are widely popular.
Types Of Atta Chakki For Commercial Use
Commercial atta chakki is for producing flour at a larger volume; therefore, the look is not a preferred parameter when choosing the best commercial atta chakki or flour mills.
Mainly, according to the desired output/hour, commercial atta chakkis are designed.
Now let me briefly summarize the types of commercial atta chakkis available in the market.
Commercial flour mills or commercial atta chakkis are also known as pulverizers.
Note:Â Commercial atta chakkis do not come with a manual operation because they are not meant for domestic use. So all the commercial atta chakki types discussed in this article will be automatic or semi-automatic. Also, all the commercial atta chakkis are electrically operated.
Commercial atta chakki with stone
Commercial flour mill with stone is highly popular and the most preferred choice for business owners. Pulverizer machines with stones have higher output with the best quality.
Usually, the stone is an emery stone with a coarse surface to provide a gap for crushing and cutting whole grains.
Stoneless commercial atta chakki or stoneless commercial flour mill
As we have already discussed in domestic stoneless atta chakki, the same principle applies to commercial atta chakki.
The design is quite different from the domestic atta chakkis, but the primary mechanism will be the same.
Stoneless commercial atta chakkis will also have cutter blades to get the flour out of whole wheat or grains.
Commercial flour mill based on the grinding stage
Commercial atta chakkis come in two variants. Standard commercial atta chakkis are single-stage grinders, whereas double-stage pulverizers or atta chakkis are also popular.
The fundamental difference between single-stage and double-stage atta chakkis is the output and energy consumption.
The output of double-stage flour mills will be higher than that of single-stage flour mills.
Body material of commercial atta chakkis
In domestic atta chakki, two primary cabinet materials are used: MDF and stainless steel.
However, for commercial atta chakki, a single metal is not viable for making the complete body because they have to be of a robust and stable structure.
Even if you find stainless steel body, a base frame will be made of heavier metal for stability during operation.
You can have stainless steel body or cast iron or mild steel combination body. Metallurgy is an important part of manufacturing commercial atta chakki.
The lightweight material is not preferred in heavy-size commercial atta chakkis that may cause unbalance during operation and damage the machine like pully damage, bearing failure, etc.
Commercial atta chakki or commercial flour mills are designed according to the customer’s needs, and every manufacturer has many design variants.
Commercial atta chakkis capacity wise
There are plenty of variations available if we talk about the production capacity. It is always better to understand the market demand at your location before choosing the production capacity.
Usually, 10HP to 200HP commercial flour mills are available in the market.
You can also get a customized design according to your requirement.
FAQs:
Which type of atta chakkis best for home?
Stoneless atta chakkis are the best choice for home use due to low maintenance, many features, and affordable cost to get healthy homemade pure atta.
Wrap up:
I hope now you have a fair idea of different types of atta chakki for domestic and commercial applications.
Choosing the right atta chakki for the right purpose is crucial to get value for money. Always understand your requirement first and choose the best atta chakki for your home or business.
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