Stir Plate how to with lots of pics

[regaltabs]

Hi, I have been waiting to knock up my stir plate since I got Yeast by Chris White with Jamil Zainasheff for Christmas. I am planing to get a few different strains going to build up a bank and extend my brewing knowledge.

Sorry if this is a bit picture heavy but I am sure it will help.

First the kit list and where I got it. All prices include P&P

HORNBY R912 POWER UNIT 220 - 240V OUTPUT14.2V. eBay £5.20
Pack of 5 Neodymium disc magnets 20mm diameter x 3mm eBay £4.20
Computer CPU PC Cooling Fan 120*120*25mm eBay £1.65
Large Project Box Enclosure Type Z1-P 197 x 188 x 70 mm eBay £7.35
6 x SELF ADHESIVE METAL FLAT STRIPS eBay £2.69
Magnetic stirring bar eBay £4.40
Genuine Ford Rubber Anti-Slip Mat For Your Dashboard Size Approx 22cm X 18cm eBay £1.50
500ml Conical flask eBay £6.99
1ltr Conical flask eBay £7.79
2ltr Conical flask eBay £15.00
Wilkos Bolts M4 x 50mm 3 packs(needed the nuts) £4.47

Total cost including flasks(expensive parts) £61.24 without flasks £31.46

The kit

First I ground down the moulding parts on the box and found the centre. I marked this and found the centre of the fan. I lined up the fan and drew around it and marked the holes before drilling them.

Next the fan. I cut 3cm off one of the metal strips then peeled the back off and stuck it to the centre of the fan.

Then added the magnets.

I wired the fan to the train controller (I removed the yellow wire and wired the red to the red and the black to the red and white wire) Once done I tested the motor and played about with the magnet position (it will not spin if the magnets are too close together).

I put the bolts on and used the extra nuts to give the fan and magnets space to spin.

Once all 4 bolts where added I put the fan in and added the last nut to secure it in position.

I cut a grove out of one of the side panels to pass the wire through.

I then put the base on and the feet and screwed it down.

Placed the rubber slip mat on the top and I was done

500ml conical flask in place.

Test shots of 500ml flask and 2ltr flask

I hope this helps someone to build there own stir plate :thumb:

 

[RokDok]

Well done looks very nice,

A project for me in the not too distant future

RD

 

[regaltabs]

Thanks RokDok

Anyone found this useful yet? Seems to have had a lot of views but only one comment. :sulk:

 

[joe1002]

Looks. Great build :thumb:
I want to make one soon and will definitely be referring to this, thanks :

 

[regaltabs]

Cheers joey, very easy to build so don't hold back :thumb:

 

[AndyBWood]

This looks great !

Just ordering the parts; can you let me know what size stir-bar you are using ?

Cheers and thanks for posting :thumb:

A

 

[regaltabs]

This looks great !

Just ordering the parts; can you let me know what size stir-bar you are using ?

Cheers and thanks for posting :thumb:

A

Hi Andy,

It's 2.5cm stir bar or 1inch in old terms.

Thanks for the comment :

 

[Cyclops]

you may find that the magnets start to effect the fan after a while, i had to space mine away from the fan and it is spot on now :)

 

[Underground]

you may find that the magnets start to effect the fan after a while, i had to space mine away from the fan and it is spot on now :)

Brilliant tutorial, I read it ages ago and have been accumulating the bits... put it together today - the metal strip, or other means of spacing the magnets 'outside' the fan axle is essential since when they are too close together, as has been mentioned, the fan just won't spin of its own accord...

I didn't manage to find a trainset controller for anything like a cheap price, so I found an 'LED controller' or similar on dealextreme - 4 quid delivered, it has an inline socket on the input end, and a variable resistor or similar, the power out end i just cut off, stripped the wires and twisted onto the fan wires as per the tutorial... Added a 12V 2A power supply off an old external hard drive (which luckily will plug into the LED controllers input socket but that's pure coincidence) and it spins away quite happily. Unfortunately the fan I got makes quite a loud 'whine / beep' noise when throttled down and it only disappears at full speed (a bit like the whine from a cordless drill when you half squeeze the trigger).

Bang on, thank you. Trip to the hardware shop for set screws tomorrow and I'm done!

 

[morethanworts]

Lovely 'How To'. Many thanks indeed. Here's some pics!

I got a 1" triangular bar going and it makes a whirlpool easily in my 2L flask.

I decided to screw the Hornby controller to the unit, along with the small connection strip, to tidy things up and stop the wires buckling. Got the Hornby box for 99p plus £3 something postage :

Only two settings on the Hornby box do anything on mine. Is this usual? I imagine three are in opposite phase, but I don't know why setting III on the same side doesn't work the fan :wha:

Anyway, I and II do the job. Looking forward to getting some yeast in there.

 

[pittsy]

To adjust the speed you only need a potentiometer , something like this http://www.maplin.co.uk/standard-potentiometers-2205

 

[morethanworts]

Do you think it's necessary to control the speed like that, or is it OK without? Mine's only had water in it so far.

 

[pittsy]

if it spins without flying off it should be fine , i did notice a slight difference in performance from water to wort but not much .

 

[Vinnyc]

Hi guys any links or ideas of where to get the magnets and stir bar. All I keep finding are American sites damm google

 

[PD]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/50mm-x-9mm-WH ... 4d13798ae9

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-Strong-Neo ... 25833d6200


good ol e bay

 

[Vinnyc]

Thanks very much

 

[morethanworts]

Keep those small, powerful, magnets away from any kids, by the way. I nearly gave my spares to my young son to play with, but read some stuff about a (rare) incident where two of them made their way down into a child's bowel and pulled together around a twist in the bowel, killing the poor child.

 

[Vinnyc]

Best keep them away from the foster kids then

 

[amusedparrot]

Hey regaltabs,

Just wanted to say thanks for the great build guide. I put almost all of this together last night. I had an old router adapter kicking around (12v) so I used that for the power and I had a 120mm fan too so no need to buy that, bought all the rest of the bits though and it was really easy to build.

I tried it out with some water last night and I was impressed with the stirring. It wasn't built in time for my first brew but I can use it for #2 onwards. I have ordered a switch and potentiometer that I will add to the box instead of turning it off an on at the wall.

Links to parts I bought for the stir plate:
http://ebay.eu/196Flyv - Non Slip Mat
http://ebay.eu/196Foub - Project Box
http://ebay.eu/16a2kdT - M4 Nuts
http://ebay.eu/19MB7cl - M4 Bolts

http://ebay.eu/17tpib4 - Magnets
http://ebay.eu/1by0thw - Magnetic Strips

http://ebay.eu/15HtJBJ - Conical Flask
http://ebay.eu/16a1Btl - Stir Bar

Cheers again,

amusedparrot

 

[kev]

Daft question, but I assume the magnets stick to the metal bar by magnetism only?

Do you not need to reverse the magnetic poles to get a really strong pull....which obviously you can't do if the magnets are stuck to the same piece of metal??

Am I thinking it through too much?!

I've already built one and successfully used it for a few years and remember reading about having the poles opposite which is what I did and it worked a treat.

K