Simple Centrifuge Home build

[FastCote]

Here is the magic (I hope). I am going to use J.B. Weld for all bonded surfaces instead of welding.

[sevenmalards]

Originally Posted by FastCote

Nice straight cut for novice freehand.

YOUR DOG IS GOING TO BE PLENTY PISSED YOU CUT UP HIS/HER BOWL!

[FastCote]

All "Welded" up. It aint pretty but appears to be a strong enough bond.

The outer splash ring (dog bowl), inner splash ring (3/4 inch nipple to keep oil out of motor shaft) and two drains (clean oil on the outside, slop oil on inside) are all bonded.

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Last edited by FastCote : 07-18-2008 at 07:21 PM.

[FastCote]

Bottom side of enclosure showing drains and motor.

[FastCote]

Next come the legs. 1 1/4 galvanized pipe screwed into flanges bonded to pot bottom.



J.B. Weld again. They don't quite fit on the diameter of the pot, but I shudder to think what the cost of a pot even BIGGER than the one i bought would be.

**EDIT** - This part failed. The JB Weld eventually sheered off at the pipe flange to pot connection. I simply through bolted them back together and epoxied the inside to prevent leaks. Much better now.

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Last edited by FastCote : 01-19-2009 at 02:40 AM.

[FastCote]

Upright and basically ready to spin. I still need a cover and feed tube, but I have that all figured out.

The legs are just barely longer than the motor because I plan on mounting this right over the clean oil drum. I could easily change the pipe lengths for a taller floor standing system.

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Last edited by FastCote : 07-18-2008 at 07:22 PM.

[FastCote]

Lid aside, that basically does it for the centrifuge itself. It was pretty simple and, all things considered, not terribly expensive. ~$700 or there about for a rock solid 3450 rpm all metal centrifuge.

What follows is the rest of the filter "system" consisting of some novel ideas stolen from WVODesings.com and some experimenting from me.

I am going to pull raw oil from a 55 gall UNHEATED drum. Yes unheated. The oil will pickup heat along the way from a BIG A$$ immersion heater jammed in a heated standpipe arrangement. Here is the immersion heater:


This thing is GIANT. When i saw pictures on Leon's site I was thinking the kind of thing that goes in your hot water tank. WRONG. It is two feet long!!

It has a temperature probe and is thermostatically controllable from 60 to 200 degrees. (McMAster-Car - ~$180)

[FastCote]

The heater stack goes a little something like this. cold, raw oil in at bottom. Hot out the top. You'll see later.

[FastCote]

I needed to make a base for the centrifuge to sit on so i machined a piece of scrap wood to approximate the drum diameter and machine some pockets for the legs to sit in.



Gratuitous picture of last years project - a home made cnc machine. I guess you could skip this part if you don't have one in your garage.

[FastCote]

Centrifuge sitting pretty on top of clean oil drum.

These drums kinda rock by the way..

They are 55 gal plastic with a real nice sealing, locking removable lid. Perfect for dumping oil in and sealing out weather.

Just no bung unfortunately which bites because my pneumatic barrel pump will need a 2 inch bung.

The lid is on too, but you can not really see it. I machined a clear piece of acrylic (scrap from work) so that I would be able to peek in.
I also machined a prefect little grove exactly the diameter and thickness of the pot so it wont need any clamps or screws.