Simple Centrifuge Home build

[FastCote]

Originally Posted by rdc

FastCote -
Do you happen to have the dimensions on the bowl? I expect the critical
dimensions are the inside diameter, the delta between inside diameter
and the opening at the top of the bowl, and of course the center hole.
$500 is too steep for me - but I might be able to have one fabricated
locally for less.

Russ,

I will give it a shot. Let me know if I miss something.


Bottom view (~8 inches OD)


Top view (~9 inches OD) ruler not quite on centerline.

The dimensions you care about:
bowl opening: 5.5 inches
bowl ID: 7.5 inches
shaft opening: 1 inch

The trantorque bushing used to secure this is very nice. Inner bushing compresses motor shaft (5/8 shaft) and when you turn the nut, the inner bushing press the outer bushing out toward the bowl (1 inch bore). It is very precisely concentric. see picture from packaging below for details:



For those of you that haven't seen one of these things, here are a couple of pics of it taken apart and then assembled:




no poking fun at what is left of my index finger (cut off with table saw and re-assembled by the junior intern at local ER)



Hope this helps,

Ben

[rdc]

Thanks! There are some things I didn't ask. The opening of the bowl -
is it a smaller diameter than the inner diameter of the bowl? I read in
the description of operation that there is a wall of oil inside the bowl
during operation. Is the wall stopped at the top of the bowl by a
smaller diameter opening, and a small stream overflows the lip?
Also, what is the height of the bowl?

Thanks again.

[FastCote]

This may help:


That lip you are seeing is about an inch. Inner diameter is 7.5 inches, bowl opening is 5.5.

I am not near the bowl at the moment, so I will have to owe you the height, but lets say roughly 2 1/2 to 3 inches.

All told, that is a pretty gigantic amount of volume for crud to collect in. Vastly bigger the the pump driven spinners (dieselcraft). I have run a 55 gallon drum through and no where near filled it. A couple people reported being able to run a whole 250 gallon tote through in one shot.

Disregard the shaft mount in the picture. that was the "old" style of mounting. In fact, I think that was two revisions ago.

p.s. simplecentrifuge is selling that bowl for HALF OFF. couldn't reseist passing their cheesy joke along.

[rdc]

Well dang! Ya didn't have to cut your bowl in half for me!



Thanks. That helps immensely.

[FastCote]

Originally Posted by rdc

Thanks! There are some things I didn't ask. The opening of the bowl -
is it a smaller diameter than the inner diameter of the bowl? I read in
the description of operation that there is a wall of oil inside the bowl
during operation. Is the wall stopped at the top of the bowl by a
smaller diameter opening, and a small stream overflows the lip?
Also, what is the height of the bowl?

Thanks again.

RDC,

In the interest of completeness, The inside height of the bowl is right at 2 inches even.

[rdc]

Originally Posted by FastCote

RDC,

In the interest of completeness, The inside height of the bowl is right at 2 inches even.

Gotcha! Thanks again!

[FastCote]

Clay, Thanks for getting this thread sticky-ed. These last two pics are for you:


LOTS of oil and a small bottle of lubricant. Sorry its not a BUD, Clay. Hope it's not to high-brow a brew.


Machine is ON! That's a full bottle sitting on top while the centrifuge spins at 3450 rpm. Not enough vibration to even make it foam over. Hope that satisfies the earlier posters claims that it would shake violently and fly across the garage.

[CHenry]

Sweet!!!!!

[ridiculously_necessary]

very nice! you have convinced me that i can build my own centrifuge! i didnt want to purchase the one at $2200, and the other home build fuge setups require far more tools than i have and not enough information. this is very thorough

temp aside, is the flow rate with this set up that important? i mean it cant possibly hurt to slow to 2 or 3 gpm right? i certianly wouldnt go any faster than the 8 youve expirimented with.

[FastCote]

Originally Posted by ridiculously_necessary

very nice! you have convinced me that i can build my own centrifuge! i didnt want to purchase the one at $2200, and the other home build fuge setups require far more tools than i have and not enough information. this is very thorough

temp aside, is the flow rate with this set up that important? i mean it cant possibly hurt to slow to 2 or 3 gpm right? i certianly wouldnt go any faster than the 8 youve expirimented with.

Slower = better in general, both in the amount of heat the oil picks up from the heat stack and in the amount of time the hot oil sits in the bowl.

I have some difficulty throttling it down too low as my cheap ball valve eventually blocks the oil, then the heater gets the oil so hot that the water vaporizes, causing the oil to spit and splutter.