Homemade Stir plate

[Varnish]

A lot of the American kids use these, so I thought I'd make one.
I actually used to use them all the time at work, and knowing that I'd like to make one myself I "acquired a magnetic stirbar".

It's just your bog standard computer fan with hard drive magnet glued to the top design.
It's spaced from the top with M6 Nuts.

My liberated stirbar. It's only small, that's a 10 pence piece sat next to it.

It works surprisingly well for something I made!
The speed is controlled using a variable voltage transformer, and a Fan Mate2 from Maplin.

I'll be using it to make a yeast starter.

 

[A T]

Nice work, well done

 

[prolix]

been after making one for a while now, love the tub idea, nice and simple. :party: :thumb:

Does your seven blade fan wobble with the magnets not balanced? :wha:

 

[Varnish]

It does wobble, not a lot.......
I centred the magnet as well as I could.

It's not too bad. But less than ideal.
For my purposes it's fine.

 

[highwayman]

Great that I want to make one! I am going to pm you to discuss it further:thumb:

 

[prolix]

thanks for that.

I have all parts lying around... well did have, can't find the 120mm fan. Bought a stir bar a while back then got side tracked.

 

[evanvine]

Varnish
You mention using a hard drive magnet, does this mean you used only one magnet and was this mounted centrally over the axis of the fan?
A pic or sketch of the top of your fan would be very helpful!
Sorry to be a pain in the ****.

 

[commsbiff]

:lol: - I've read this post a few times, and only just realised that the whole DJ isn't spinning

 

[Vossy1]

:rofl:
Tidy work Varnish :clap:
Could make for a nice 'How To' :hmm:

 

[commsbiff]

Do you reckon that this could have a dual purpose? Would 5 mins on one of these be enough to degas a wine? :hmm:

 

[corby_brewer]

Do you reckon that this could have a dual purpose? Would 5 mins on one of these be enough to degas a wine? :hmm:

I was thinking the same thing, where i work fans are easy to come by, in fact ive got about 120 of the buggers next to my desk.

 

[Varnish]

I've got this spinning my yeast starter.
I can do a how to later this week if you like.


However, if Highwayman has a camera and would be willing to do a how to, I think his stir plate will be a much nicer example than mine.

 

[corby_brewer]

I can do a how to later this week if you like.

:thumb:

 

[Vossy1]

I can do a how to later this week if you like.

That would be great Varnish, I'll send you a pm shortly :thumb:

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Barnsley Brewer has now joined the "National Stir Plate Owners Society".

I love building hombrew gadgets, might never use it but I've enjoyed scrounging the bits and building it..
It cost around a tenner!! :thumb:

John

 

[Vossy1]

Nice one John :thumb:
Fancy posting the parts up, I fancy making one of these

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Nice one John :thumb:
Fancy posting the parts up, I fancy making one of these

Will do V :thumb:

Most of the stuff was from pixmania, the power supply is 12v from an old fibre optic xmas tree I was throwing out, I made use of the female connector that was on the tree so I could plug the male in.
The magnet was from a computer hard drive, the fan was from the comp power supply, the posts that support the fan is 4mm threaded bar from B&Q that cost £1.50 per metre, I used this so I could easily adjust the height!
The 2p is glued to the fan as central as possible, it's the new type that are steel and not copper..... I did this so I could move the magnet to get better centralisation on the blades :ugeek:

I'll post some more pics and all the things I bought, cost no more than a tenner :whistle:
Check this site out V
http://www.wortomatic.com/articles/Buil ... Suspension

John

 

[evanvine]

The 2p is glued to the fan as central as possible, it's the new type that are steel and not copper..... I did this so I could move the magnet to get better centralisation on the blades

True genius, thanks BB :thumb:

 

[llannige]

Great stuff BB.Must get round to making one myself.

Looking forward to the parts list and pics.(can turn my hand to most things,but when it comes to sparky stuff I'm sadly lacking in that dept.)

:

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

I built mine with info and where to buy the parts from Highwayman ..thx HWM :thumb:

I got the box from an electrical wholesaler newey and eyre size 15cm x 11cm that cost £3.00
Switch http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/1382687 ... ed-ro.html £1.79
Speed control http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/r/25-ohm-rheostat £2.25
Control knob you can buy from Pixmania or ebay for a £1.00
4mm threaded bar from B&Q £1.50 mtr
Fan and magnet from an old computer, easy to remove!
Stirring bars can also be purchased on ebay for about £3.00

You can also buy an enclosure form Pixmania
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/r/proje ... ure-8x6x3- £4.49

I drilled, tapped and super glued the threaded bar into the base