Simple Centrifuge Home build

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I thought I would copy over my simple centrifuge thread from another forum because a lot of the names i see here dont appear over there. I thought it might be helpful. Here goes...

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. 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.



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 www.SimpleCentrifuge.com


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!



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.
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.


The dogs were NOT terribly excited by the whole idea! The dogs were NOT terribly excited by the whole idea!

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Perfect fit (almost)


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



Nice straight cut for novice freehand.

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3450 rpm Baldor motor wired up and ready.


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 machinist.


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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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.


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




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)


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

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.


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.

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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.

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'
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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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 )

[Clay]

Dude, clean up that garage before you trip on something and hurt yourself!

Nice writeup...i'll see about trying this sometime.

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A cluttered work area is a sign of a sane mind!

Actually, if i don't fill the garage up with MY crap, the wife and kids will do it.

Nothing worse than tripping over skateboards and flower pots when trying to get "man's work" done

[Clay]

A cluttered work area is a sign of a sane mind!

Actually, if i don't fill the garage up with MY crap, the wife and kids will do it.

Nothing worse than tripping over skateboards and flower pots when trying to get "man's work" done

Good points...lol