Cheap centrifuge for veg oil dewatering/filtering

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Cheap centrifuge for veg oil dewatering/filtering; Fruit juicer, lots of pics.
Topic Started: Tue Sep 9, 2008 9:29 pm (178 Views)
kentronix	Tue Sep 9, 2008 9:29 pm Post #1
Admin Posts: 19,799 Group: Admin Member #147 Joined: January 20, 2006 Colour / Year / Engine Black / 1989 / 3.0 6cyl auto	A few days ago I had the idea of using a cheapo fruit juicing machine as a centrifuge for processing veg oil. I was going to wait until I completed it but its looking like its going to work so here goes. The concept is that if you spin the oil up in a centrifuge it will have the same effect as settling for several days. Oil is added into the spinning bowl. The bowl fills up and as long as you feed the oil in slowly and at a constant speed it should just tip the clean oil over the inner lip of the bowl and pout into the clean container. Look at the almost finished but broken pic to see what I mean (last pic). Or a vid explaining the concept ( http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=SxIr4NFl3fs ) Juicers work in a very different way so some modification is needed. My first unit was Ł4.99 from ebay, local pickup under a mile away. Its a great unit but the bowl is a bit small and when I picked it up its brand new and came with a Ł5 book. Seems a shame to hack it up for tests so I gave it away after checking it worked how I thought it would. As you can see in the pic below its pretty simple. Fruit comes in and is mushed up by the inner sharp bladey bit of the bowl. It then makes its way to the edge, and up the angled sides. Due to the high speed all the juice is centrifuged out and through the metal mesh on the way. When it gets to the top it overflows into the mush container. Next unit was bought because of its size and the powerfull looking motor. Ł13 this time. The main unit consits of a chunky high speed motor, I am dead happy with how hardcore this seems so far. Sitting on top of this is basically a far larger version of what I found in the other unit. A 20 minute wander round a pound shop found me the perfect solution. Epoxy resin and a perfect fitting flowerpot base. I was looking for a tupperware lid to use but this thing fitted perfectly. As you can see, a perfect fit. As we dont want the oil (or water) to leak out the metal mesh I have covered it as evenly as I could with epoxy resin. Then the lid is glued on. And finally I cut it out to have a large enough inner diameter to be able to clean it out after use..... D'OH !!!! Damn, broken. Never mind, 50p and a trip to the cheapo shop again tomorrow. In the meantime I have cut down the fruit input chute so it doesnt foul the new lid to the basket. If this actually works I will probably get a proper bowl machined up to fit, hence the solutions all bieng from a pound shop to be continued !!! Edited by kentronix, Tue Sep 9, 2008 9:31 pm.



toff190	Tue Sep 9, 2008 9:38 pm Post #2
190 Mob Member and a Wise Guy. Posts: 4,506 Group: Members Member #2,544 Joined: April 18, 2008	Looks a bit small it will take you forever



kentronix	Tue Sep 9, 2008 9:47 pm Post #3
Admin Posts: 19,799 Group: Admin Member #147 Joined: January 20, 2006 Colour / Year / Engine Black / 1989 / 3.0 6cyl auto	Remember its a continuous process, I slowly feed the oil in the top and it drips out the bottom. I reckon 20 minutes per 10 litres ? Although thats a total guess really. Its mainly for dewatering on the move as at home I can just leave it a week instead. The bowl on the new one is 8 inches in diameter at its widest part, its a bit hard to see the scale in he pic. If it works I will get some big badass bowl made up somewhere. No pound shop involved there



Ukmerctechie	Tue Sep 9, 2008 9:55 pm Post #4
No Longer active on forum Posts: 2,815 Group: Members Member #454 Joined: August 12, 2006	Kenny the mad scientist LOL



kentronix	Tue Sep 9, 2008 9:59 pm Post #5
Admin Posts: 19,799 Group: Admin Member #147 Joined: January 20, 2006 Colour / Year / Engine Black / 1989 / 3.0 6cyl auto	tester Tue Sep 9, 2008 9:56 pm test did we pass ?



marcus.hopkins	Tue Sep 9, 2008 10:02 pm Post #6
Administrator Posts: 2,796 Group: Admin Member #76 Joined: November 23, 2005	LOL yes we did



kentronix	Tue Sep 9, 2008 10:03 pm Post #7
Admin Posts: 19,799 Group: Admin Member #147 Joined: January 20, 2006 Colour / Year / Engine Black / 1989 / 3.0 6cyl auto	thank god, once again I forgot to revise Edited by kentronix, Tue Sep 9, 2008 10:04 pm.



toff190	Tue Sep 9, 2008 10:05 pm Post #8
190 Mob Member and a Wise Guy. Posts: 4,506 Group: Members Member #2,544 Joined: April 18, 2008	kentronix Tue Sep 9, 2008 9:47 pm . If it works I will get some big badass bowl made up somewhere. No pound shop involved there



kentronix	Tue Sep 9, 2008 10:07 pm Post #9
Admin Posts: 19,799 Group: Admin Member #147 Joined: January 20, 2006 Colour / Year / Engine Black / 1989 / 3.0 6cyl auto	toff190 Tue Sep 9, 2008 10:05 pm kentronix Tue Sep 9, 2008 9:47 pm . If it works I will get some big badass bowl made up somewhere. No pound shop involved there



kentronix	Thu Sep 11, 2008 12:03 am Post #10
Admin Posts: 19,799 Group: Admin Member #147 Joined: January 20, 2006 Colour / Year / Engine Black / 1989 / 3.0 6cyl auto	Tests are going well. I have now fitted a new lid/rim/plant-pot. Its raised the centre of gravity away from its mounting point so the clip on/off system was unclipping itself ... AT SPEED !! So I have glued it on. It will be a bit more of a pain to clean but if this works I will probably get a new bowl made up anyway. I have run some high speed tests with a small amount of fluid and its water tight and contained nicely in the bowl, obviously it all spins up to the inside edge when running and the epoxy resin is holding. After seeing the carnage this thing can produce at speed (3600rpm) I am unwilling to run it full speed with more fluid in it until I am confident its balanced a bit better, so until I do I cant be sure the entire concept will actually work at any usable input speed. The shaft itself seems slightly bent so I will probably balance it by adding weights. If anyone has any ideas for something I can use to replace the entire basket let me know, it need to be this shape :- __ __ \| \| ------------ And about 7 inches in diameter. Preferably not made of metal as it encourages veg oil oxidisation.



nickaliath	Sun Sep 14, 2008 6:53 pm Post #11
Bodywork Specialist Posts: 1,056 Group: Members Member #148 Joined: January 23, 2006	cant beat petrolium jelly



kentronix	Thu Sep 25, 2008 4:40 pm Post #12
Admin Posts: 19,799 Group: Admin Member #147 Joined: January 20, 2006 Colour / Year / Engine Black / 1989 / 3.0 6cyl auto	Quick update, the slight inbalance is far more significant when filled with heavy oil. I span it up and it shook so much the basket hit the insides of the unit. The unit and motor is great but I need to get a perfectly weighted basket made up somewhere. I wish I still worked in the engineering dept, I could just turn myself one ! Mind you, it would mean I am still actually working at that place which would suck bug time. So this project is still going on but will be put on hold for a bit.



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