Simple Centrifuge Home build

107628 Views 132 Replies 23 Participants Last post by john galt, May 7, 2013

FastCote

Discussion Starter · Jul 19, 2008 (Edited)

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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Nightcrawler

· #74 · Jan 19, 2009

:headbang1: Dude ! that was awesome. I've just joined the forum & I soon found your thread. I got totaly sucked in. I had to read the hole thing all 73 posts!
I'm in the proccess of building a filtering system, but I'm seriously concidering ditching the idea now. I have saved that website where you got the bowl from. Excuse my tiredness but i'm a little lost with how the motor is conected to the bowl. I have a 3.5hp motor & I was trying to think how I could conect the bowl to it. Anyhooo I'm guna have to go to bed. I'll check it all again tomorrow though. Today I should say.

Nightcrawler

· #76 · Jan 19, 2009

Hi, yea when I said bowl what I actually mean is the fuge. The bit that cost the money. I'm going to have another look at all this but what is the dog bowl bit for again? Have you got any video of this baby in action. So if I've got this right, the oil trickles in to the fuge bowl that is spinning, all the crud stays in there due to gravity. Then when the fuge bowl fills the oil pours out over the top of the fuge bowl & into the big cattering bowl. Then runs out of the hole as clean oil. Is that right? So whats the dog bowl for? I notice that the dog bowl seperated the two holes in the cattering bowl, but wont the oil be clean when it pours out over the top of the fuge bowl?
No doubt I'm missing something here.

Nightcrawler

· #78 · Jan 19, 2009

O I see, now I get the dog bowl. You didn't get your motor from Simple Centrifuge did you? So I could buy the fuge from those guys & hopefully use the motor I have. What hp is your motor? Mine is a 3.5hp

Nightcrawler

· #81 · Jan 31, 2009

Hey Fascote, what do you think about this?
OB-20 Bio Diesel / Veg Oil Centrifuge Filter Kit NEW on eBay, also, Other Business Industrial, Business, Office Industrial (end time 16-Feb-09 21:24:14 GMT)
It looks tiny what do you think?

Nightcrawler

· #87 · Mar 26, 2009

Hey Fastcote, Sorry I missed your post somehow. Thanks for that advice. I'm going to go with your idea. I'm not sure excactly how over here though. I do have an engineering buddy that could make the bowl I guess. I will have to go back through this thread to see what I need to get made. Unless I can buy from the states & get it posted, but that will probably be lots of$$$$$$$$$

Nightcrawler

· #89 · Mar 26, 2009

Yea but its very very expensive. I just found this:
Oilybits, OBX Series Spinning Bowl Centrifuge - Centrifuges - Oilybits.com - The U.K's Premier Refuelling & Bio Fuel Equipment Provider
What do you guys think? One bad thing is it takes 4 weeks once ordered.

Nightcrawler

· #91 · Mar 27, 2009

Sounds interesting. I emailed the place I posted the link above for today. They said it takes 4 weeks from order to get the centrifuge because they buy them to order from the states:doh: So I'm going to have a lookasee on us ebay & other sites now to see how much I could get one for & see what the shipping would be. Isn't your voltage different over there though?
I'm not sure if the motor would work here. We are 240 volts.

Nightcrawler

· #93 · Mar 29, 2009

:rockwoot:Hey what do you think of this:
Raw Power, WVO Centrifuge, Complete | WVO Designs
They ship to the uk too....:woot:

Nightcrawler

· #96 · Mar 30, 2009

Sounds cool. I think I'm going to buy one of these Raw power fuges from wvo designs. It looks like there website is down, but as soon as its working I'm going to be checking the final price with a heater, then probably buy one.

Nightcrawler

· #98 · Mar 31, 2009

Yea me too. I got a reply which has confussed me a little. I asked if the machine would work on uk 240 volts. This is the reply:

"The standard motor will work on 240V but the 50hz will make it run 20% slower. The three phase or high speed option comes with an inverter/VFD that will allow you to run up to 6000rpm and will work on your power.

Price is $995 for the base unit plus $300 for the upgrade motor and controller. Shipping is $100 and I will be able to ship next week."

So I'm now worried if the cheaper fuge is not going to be up to the job. If I have to upgrade to the better motor than the price will be $1295. I noticed tonight that DFA sell the "Simple Cenrifuge" for $1500 which looks like a better bowl. I'm not sure if thats a better machine or not. I'm not sure if I will be better off buying from them as it looks like I will be buying a Veggiestroke kit from them. I could really do with some advice on these fuges. Maybe I should save money on the fuge & buy just the bowl & make a system. arrrrrgggggggg ! I'm going to bed..

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Nightcrawler

· #101 · Apr 1, 2009

AFBLUE said:
I am sure they can send you the motor specs like the model # or shaft size and type and motor RPM. Then you can buy the centrifuge minus the motor and you can buy a 240/50 motor in the UK and probably save a few $100 especially because the motor is the heaviest part and going to cost the most to ship.

The one that DFA sells is from Simple Centrifuge ...putting a centrifuge in every garage!

Check out Graham Lamings Biodiesel site, he has alot of parts that are relevant to UK. Like I think your water heater elements have a thermostat attached. I would kill for one of those here in the states!!
Graham's biodiesel docs.

Yea I know what you mean. I actually remembered that I have a single phase motor & dug it out today. It's a50hz motor. I'm not sure if this would be any good for this application or not. I'm not sure if I could mount the fuge bowl to the motor shaft.

It looks bad but it's been stored since 95 it was hardly used.

Well I have been made a very good offer by Leon @ Wvo Design. He says he will not charge me postage if I send him a picture of his Raw Power machine next to my limo. www.gothiclimousines.co.uk

I'm hoping to buy a Veggiestroke kit, but they have not replyed to my email yet. As they sell the "Simple Centrifuge" I have asked them if they will do me a deal if I buy the Veg kit & a Fuge from them.
If money were not the issue which fuge do you guys think is the best?
The fuge from WVO Designs will include a heater with a thermostat & I believe that the Simple centrifuge does not come with a heater.

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Nightcrawler

· #102 · Apr 3, 2009

Anybody know if the motor above would be any good if I bought the bowl from Simple Centrifuge?

Nightcrawler

· #104 · Apr 3, 2009

Yea that was my main concern tring to fix the bowl to it. Thanks for you input dude. That has confirmed my thoughts. I'll forget this motor then. In your opinion which is the best fuge? Raw power from wvo designs or the simple centrifuge?
Which one do you have?

Nightcrawler

· #107 · Apr 11, 2009

I just found another place Absolute Centrifuge

Nightcrawler

· #113 · May 1, 2009

:thumb:Sexy.... How much are you selling these for? What spec is the motor? Would that motor work in the uk on 240 volts?

Nightcrawler

· #115 · May 19, 2009

Nightcrawler said:
:thumb:Sexy.... How much are you selling these for? What spec is the motor? Would that motor work in the uk on 240 volts?

Please can you answer dude?

Nightcrawler

· #117 · May 20, 2009

Will do. I'm going drag racing in the morning. Will pm you when I get back on Tuesday. Im a little confused on the price of the bowl $315 or $150 for a bigger one? Anyway talk next week.

Nightcrawler

· #124 · Oct 18, 2009

Hi Guys, I was going to start a new thread, but decided to post here.
I now have a WVO Designs Raw Power Centrifuge. I'm very impressed with the quality of it & Leon is a really nice helpfull guy.
I got it all set up late a couple of nights ago. I am using gravity to feed the fuge.
I have the heater with the system that bolts to the side of the fuge. I have a problem with condensation in the fuge & in the "clean" hose to the tank. I had the fuge running at 29.3 which is pretty much half way on the dial. The heater was on 100 then 80 then 70 & finaly 50. The heater was so hot you could not touch it. Is that right? My buddies kept laughing & saying "stop fecking touching it then". I was convinced the oil was far to hot. I had the flow quite slow. When I saw the amount of water inside the fuge & in the hose I shut it all down.
I pumped the oil up into the dirty oil container, then ran it through the fuge without settleing. I thought if there was any water in the oil the fuge would take it out. Is that right?
What temp do you guys run the heater at?
What speed do you run the fuge?
Im not sure what gallons or litres per hr I was running as I only tried it out for about 30mins alltogether.
Any help on this would be a big help. O yea another thing, When I took the lid off the fuge the water from condensation was dripping off the lid. There was no crap in the bowl.

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Nightcrawler

· #127 · Oct 25, 2009

wvo or wmo?

Nightcrawler

· #129 · Oct 27, 2009

Yea thats a good point. It is cold here now. I guess there must be more water in the oil than I thought. I will try a pan test later. I am making a vapor trap at the moment. I have run 40ltrs through the fuge with the heat turned up a bit more & the clean hose fastened to a funnel so that the steam does not go into the cuby just as a test. I am now letting the 40ltrs settle to see if there is any water in it. I'm also making the system so that I can drain off a bit of oil before I run it into the fuge.
On the DFA website before they changed it, they said you could run WVO,WMO,Karasene & other stuff that I can't remember.
I have discovered that its best not to talk about WMO on most of this forum as people don't fully understand it & it causes bad feeling between forum buddies. I don't want to upset anybody on here as I really enjoy taliking to everybody.

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