centrifuge.....

[scooter01922]

hmmm, brake rotor, hadn't thought of that. Found a site selling plans for 30$, with a claimed material cost of 50$ + your time machining and a motor. For a guy like me with machines and a bunch of motors kicking around it should be a sinch even without the plans. Blood....i think you may have oversimplified a simple concept. Could get ugly if something let go.

 

[Blood_of_Tyrants]

I'm not going to spin it so fast I have to worry about it exploding. I figure a washing machine motor will do nicely. My biggest worry is about making a huge mess.

 

[scooter01922]

Larger diameter, lower RPM. OK that would work, at least theoretically. I'm just not sure that cooking pans are held to any kind of spec to be spun at any speed. Sure it looks balanced but at a few K RPM full of oil and it might be a different story.

 

[area52]

There is another small centrifuge company:

http://www.dieselproducts.com/spinner/spinner.html

I believe they are changing their name over to Filterfuge? Here is a link that describes it and the dieselcraft centrifuge:

http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/159605551/m/7911094591/p/1

I got a quote for $185 plus shipping for the small one, add a pump and motor, water heater element and some piping and you are good to go.

Soon as I build my shop......

 

[m16ty]

There is another small centrifuge company:

http://www.dieselproducts.com/spinner/spinner.html

I believe they are changing their name over to Filterfuge? Here is a link that describes it and the dieselcraft centrifuge:

http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/159605551/m/7911094591/p/1

I got a quote for $185 plus shipping for the small one, add a pump and motor, water heater element and some piping and you are good to go.

Soon as I build my shop......

Looks like you don't need a motor to spin it. Only a pump. The oil pressure does the spinning as it is pumped through the unit.

 

[gimpyrobb]

He was probably talking about a motor for the oil pump.

 

[OPCOM]

I visited Alfa-Laval once to work on a videoconference system. I got a short tour of the shop. They get centrifuges in from fast food companies like mcdonalds that are 'broken'.. the centrifuges are used to clean the french fries oil for re0use. Alfa-Laval cleans out the thousands of maggots which have clogged the centrifuge, cleans them up, and ship them back. This is why I do not eat fries.

 

[area52]

Yea, motor for the oil pump, I found some combination ones at Grainger for like $300 and change. So maybe $600 total investment to get going.

 

[scooter01922]

eh, thanks but no thanks. Did a bit of googling and found more than enough pics, vids and measurements that i am entirely confident that i can whip one up in an afternoon, weedend at the most. When i get around to actually doing it i'll post up just how to go about getting it done cheaply.

 

[gimpyrobb]

eh, thanks but no thanks. Did a bit of googling and found more than enough pics, vids and measurements that i am entirely confident that i can whip one up in an afternoon, weedend at the most. When i get around to actually doing it i'll post up just how to go about getting it done cheaply.

Maybe you will not be out of work for long. Alot of guys will be interested in a more affordable option.

 

[ygmir]

I was thinking of making the bowl for spinning out of a polymer/epoxy resin or something similar.
You could still spin it on a lathe to final size, cast your own blank so as not to have to do so much machining, and, they'd be light.
Seems a lot of these materials have similar strength, etc, to aluminum, or maybe even better?

I'd think the washing machine idea would be a lot of work.....since, you have to capture the "solids" in a groove on the outside of the bowl, while, letting the cleaned oil go out and over the rim for collection. You also have to monitor the waste build up so it does't spill out.
And, you need high "G's", whether from large diameter and slower rpm's, but, balancing something that big can be a problem, or, smaller and higher rpm..........However you create the G forces, it'd be good to take into account saftey issues, as stated above.
I'd say copying some already in existence would save a lot of steps in engineering, maybe make some modifications and/or imporvements?
I'd like to collaborate with someone on this.
I have a lathe and mills, as well...........And I think I've found a local source for machinable plastic and resins.........

 

[cranetruck]

When one of you get one of these ready, please do a before and after oil analysis, I'd like to know whats left after "filtration". Particles, no matter how small will effect combustion and the residue that's left behind.
At a level of 1 micron you are down to bacterial size "particles".

 

[m16ty]

Yea, motor for the oil pump, I found some combination ones at Grainger for like $300 and change. So maybe $600 total investment to get going.

Look on ebay. I found a Procon pump off a carbonator for $30. I use it to pump water for my TIG welder. Don't know how it would work for oil though? I think it's just a gear or vane pump so it should work.

 

[m-35tom]

i think you all are missing something here.......... these oil powered centrifuges are used on most large trucks as oil filtering devices. go to your local scrap / junk yard and look for a used unit. it will be much larger than the small things sold on ebay and elsewhere, and very cheap. for an oil pump use a engine oil pump from somthing larger than a car, and mount it vertically so the pump is down in the oil and the motor is on top of the tank. a 1750 motor would drive the pump.

 

[Blood_of_Tyrants]

I am going to use either a high quality SS pan or a pressure cooker. I like the pressure cooker because the lid locks onto the pot and seals the edge.. I also have a 14" lathe where I can easily mount the lid to cut the hole perfectly concentric and put the hole in the exact center of the pan. If it works, I'll cut and sell them cheap if anyone wants one.

 

[scooter01922]

M35- I'm not trying for an oil powered centrifuge. I think that 90% of the posts in this thread are referring to a direct drive style cenrtifuge like those featured at simple centrifuge. Just google it and you will see what i mean. While the oil powered units look nice, they also look like a pain in the arse to clean if your filtering much more than a crankcase worth of oil.

 

[houdel]

Don't get lazy on this stuff though as you can make quite a kenetic bomb when this is spinning at 1800/3600RPM. A nice heavy containment housing would be recomended just in case.

IIRC, the commercial units run at 9000-10000 rpm

 

[ygmir]

Yeah, I think you're right Lee,
Simple Centrifuge is running much lower, though, I think 1700 rpm? not sure.
it's just a matter of
more rpm=higher "G's"= faster seperation, for a given diameter. Above a certain threshold, of course.
The way I see it, is, Simple Centrifuge has a good design, and plan. It spins, you feed liquid in at a certain rate, it spins out 'clean' fluid. You shut down from time to time to check the "goo", and, clean it out. I don't think it's a fill, spin, clean, re-fill thing. I like the idea of it feeding all the time. They claim quite a few gallons per day.
Maybe I miss read it, though.

I like BoT's pressure cooker idea....you do need a lid for running......and, an aluminum pressure cooker pot would make a nice vessel, drill a hole in the bottom for the clean product, then, all you have to make is the spinning bowl part........

 

[m16ty]

i think you all are missing something here.......... these oil powered centrifuges are used on most large trucks as oil filtering devices. go to your local scrap / junk yard and look for a used unit. it will be much larger than the small things sold on ebay and elsewhere, and very cheap. for an oil pump use a engine oil pump from somthing larger than a car, and mount it vertically so the pump is down in the oil and the motor is on top of the tank. a 1750 motor would drive the pump.

Is that what a Lubrifiner(sp?) filter is that is mounted on trucks?

 

[scooter01922]

I'm not sure if they make a centrifuge. They do make a lot of regular oil filters.