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After reading tons of messages on various forums I decided a centrifuge would be ideal for my filtering/dewatering system. I read trade offs of the pump driven style (Dieselcraft) vs a "real" centrifuge based on components from the guys at Simple Centrifuge

After sitting the fence a bit and hearing that the turnkey system from simplecentrifuge was going to cost $2,200 I decided to jump in and build one myself. I stumbled across Leon Griffin at WVO Designs who shares an open-source design using the simple centrifuge bowl and a welded enclosure.

I decided to spin a version of his design and try to build one as cheaply as possible and more importantly require no welding.

What follows are some pictures and captions detailing my progress.

 

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The first parts are the most expensive part of the project (but worth it). bowl machined from a solid billet of aluminum and TranTorque keyless bushing. $500 from Simple Centrifuge

 

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I needed and enclosure big enough to house the bowl, mount a big-ish motor on the bottom, and allow me to mount structural legs on it. I found this baby at a local restaurant supply store for a mere 40 bucks. Its BIG and heavy walled. Perfect find!

 

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The bowl provided by simple centrifuge self drains when stopped (a real bonus) so you have to provide a splash wall to keep the slops from mixing with the clean oil.

I went the cheap route again and stole dog bowl for the purpose. FIVE BUCKS.

 

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The dogs were NOT terribly excited by the whole idea!

 

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Perfect fit (almost)

 

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OK, no welding but a few tools were used. Air grinder to cut off bottom of bowl.

 

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Nice straight cut for novice freehand.

 

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3450 rpm Baldor motor wired up and ready.

 

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Motor bolted up and splash ring dry fit. Buggered up the mounting hole at 8 o'clock. had to oval it out to get it to fit. Oh well, I'm not a machinist.

 

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

 

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Nice straight cut for novice freehand.

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

 

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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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Bottom side of enclosure showing drains and motor.

 

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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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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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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)

 

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

 

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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. :tard:

 

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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.