Grain flaker - electric vs hand crank?

I have owned 2 flakers. A Komo Flocino and an All Steel Marga Molino, both manual. Didn’t like the KoMo, love the All Steel.

Manual Flakers are not difficult at all to turn. Nothing like a manual grain mill.

The Marcato Molino is also a great one, but the new models have aluminum rollers instead of steel. The Marga Molino are steel. And for that reason I chose it.

All of the above have adjustable rollers. I like that option, but rarely use it.

Another unit which is not adjustable is theKoMo Flicfloc. Some bakers say they like it.

Even though our FlicFloc has served us well and regularly for the few years since we bought it, I would not recommend it.  It’s a stylish and craftsmanlike wood design, solidly built, but has lost some of it ability to ‘grab’ grain fed to it. I never used to have to soak small grains before flaking them but now it won’t grab them unless they’re imbibed and then surface dried (I’d sift out the fines from flaked unimbibed grains before).  The rollers are difficult to clean— it doesn’t disassemble and it’s not adjustable. I did drive it off our KA’s pto when it grabbed grain efficiently enough to make that worthwhile. But no longer.  An electric flaker is only worth it if you routinely require high volume flaking or find hand cranking difficult or otherwise objectionable. Fwiw and in its defense, the FlicFloc is 1:1 geared and can be driven by your pinkie. Therefore easy to operate but slow to output product. Not like hand milling grain into flour with an 1970’s Corona mill (been there, done that, read:torture). 

Tom

I've used a KoMo FlocMan for a few years. You have to toss the idea of cost/benefit ratio out the window when it comes to any single-purpose machine or tool. If you want to make your own oatmeal, or flakes, it's truly a purpose built tool. The motor must come from some other device as I imagine production volume would be quite small. It's heavy, but should last decades. The distance between the cones that do the flaking is adjustable, yes I use that feature. No tools are required, you simply turn a knob. It's fairly easy to clean, but you will certainly want to keep it clean. I use a stiff tooth brush on the cones.
When starting out, you may have difficulty achieving the right moisture content in your groats. If too wet, the machine will clog and it's not fun at all. Once you learn to flake the grain when only slightly moist, it goes very quickly. If you want the freshest and most nutrient rich oatmeal there is, this is the way to go. Is there a price to pay for such determination? Yes there is. There is that saying that can't be ignored in this case: Take what you want - and pay for it!

It does a great job. The only thing I don't care for is the"futz factor" of having to clamp it to the counter whenever I want to use it. It's not a big deal really, but in practice I think I would use it more often if that extra time spent clamping/setting up was eliminated. I prefer to not flake more than a few days worth, and it's more than I want to mess with making breakfast most mornings.

Mary