Simple Centrifuge Home build

[FastCote]

here is the entire system and it goes like this.....



Compressor pumps air into the raw oil drum. This will pump cold thick oil. Heck, it will pump Jello if that's your thing.
Notice my home made pvc bung. Kinda cheesy and leaks a little. Going to need to find a nice oil-friendly epoxy to stop air leaks.

raw (cold) oil leaves drum via the clear braided hose headed for the heater stack (below)


Heat stack. Already talked about that.

Oil exits top, headed for centrifuge...


Black heater hose. Oil is good and HOT after passing by the immersion heater.


Now, takes a turn, goes through the flow control valve and headed for the feed tube.


Into the bowl and ready for a spin. Motor off in the pic.


Clean oil straight down into drum.


After spinning is done and motor shut off, junk oil goes into slop bucket.

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Last edited by FastCote : 07-18-2008 at 07:10 PM.

[FastCote]

Allright,

If all THAT wasn't nerdy enough for you, check THIS out.





For paranoia and geek-ness reasons I decided to hook up some wireless video monitoring so i could observe that action from anywhere in the house. (actually anywhere with internet as well )

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Last edited by FastCote : 07-18-2008 at 07:14 PM.

[vegginpsd]

Looks like it should work. Just be certain that the oil temp is at least 120* and you flow rate is about 8gpm. You will love it. Dont discard the oil that comes out of the inner wall. Simply let it settle a little bit, and remove all but the bottom inch and reprocess. I have had a simple centrifuge running since Randy and Mike introduced it a few years ago and love it. Remember 120* plus and 8 gpm. Very important!

TIP- go to a sport shop and buy a tube of bore grease for a muzzle loader. Put it on the shaft and in the bowl recess. It makes the bowl come off way easier!

[Logan]

Very cool set up. How well does it work?

[vegginpsd]

Originally Posted by Logan

Very cool set up. How well does it work?

I can only speak for the system I built and I would not have any other cleaning/dewatering system.

[bfloyd4445]

Whew! A real project and you used good quality components cept for the plastic barrel. When you turn that puppy on she is gonna vibrate off that barrel. You need to use a steel drum and solidly mount the centrifudge to the drum or just mount the centrafudge to the concret andpump the oil into the drum. I use lots of centrafudges for honey extraction and things gotta be perfectly balances or they walk.
Question, what is the purpose of slinging the oil against the sides of the pot at 3450 rpm anyway? How is that gonna separate anything out?

[FastCote]

Originally Posted by vegginpsd

... It makes the bowl come off way easier!

Bowl coming off NOT A PROBLEM. In fact, I had a near catastrophic "issue". I didn't tighten the trantorque nut down enough and it slipped allowing the bowl to slide down and jam against the inner splash wall. It seized the motor up (temporarily). The motor thermally shut down after struggling for who knows how long (I was mowing at the time). All is well now. I tightened it down a bunch and now have a couple dozen hours on it.

In any case, that is what prompted the video monitoring.

[FastCote]

Originally Posted by bfloyd4445

Whew! A real project and you used good quality components cept for the plastic barrel. When you turn that puppy on she is gonna vibrate off that barrel. You need to use a steel drum and solidly mount the centrifudge to the drum or just mount the centrafudge to the concret andpump the oil into the drum. I use lots of centrafudges for honey extraction and things gotta be perfectly balances or they walk.
Question, what is the purpose of slinging the oil against the sides of the pot at 3450 rpm anyway? How is that gonna separate anything out?

plastic drums are great. They don't react with the oil, don't rust, and are plenty sturdy. the top I put on it has a ring routed out that allows it to hold itself to the lip on the drum and three pockets in the top hold the centrifuge legs.

As for vibrations, this thing is smooth as butter. That's what the $500 bowl buys you: a perfectly balanced, concentric bowl. There are a few sweet spots as the bowl fills where you find some sympathetic vibrations but it levels out quickly.

The oil smacking the side of the pot is just a byproduct of it spilling over the top of the bowl. That is the point, the water and junk stay IN the bowl - They are heavier and are trapped inside the bowl. the good oil builds up a wall and climbs over the top. see video here: http://www.simplecentrifuge.com/video/how_it_works.wmv

[FastCote]

Originally Posted by Logan

Very cool set up. How well does it work?

It appears to be working great. I am not really sure how to interpret the oil that comes out short of sending it to Blackstone for analysis (which I might do).

I will post some before and after pics of some oil I spun.

[jblagg]

that pic of the trucka nd the boat looks weird is that i standard short bed? it looks really short. It might be the angle or something