I used the thread here called cheap and easy stirplate. I followed the tutorial exactly but for some reason I can't get things right for the stir bar to spin in my container. If I just sit the stir bar on top of the plate and turn it on, it will spin. I can't figure what i amdoing wrong. The bar just seems to rattle in the flask. Can someone give me some help?
The bottom of your vessel might not be flat enough. You might try starting the thing out slowly, then increasing the speed. Sometimes the bar will spin so fast, it will fly off. That's more of a problem of balance than anything though.
I'd check out the vessel and see if it's flat. Maybe try another one.
I tried a couple different containers before I found one with a perfectly flat bottom. Once I got that set up it works great but I do have to slowly ramp up the speed of the stirbar or it will fly off the axis.
Proximity of the stir bar to the magnets and length of the stir bar will have a large effect on a home-made stir plate. If you use a smaller stir bar, it will spin easier. If the stir bar is too long, it won't spin. If your magnets are weak, you need to get the stir bar pretty close to the magnets.
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you really just gotta play around with the distance your stir bar is from the magnet and where on the fan the magnet is.
Also mess around with the speed of when you first turn it on. I built one from that thread for myself and it kicks the bar unless I start at full speed.
Then I built one for a friend and it kicks the bar unless you start it at the slowest speed. (more common from what I have read)
Thanks for the replies. I did try several containers thinking the same thing about the flat bottom. I have several different sizes of stir bar as well. The thread here only showed using on of the hard drive magnets, should I try both? I made sure I started at the slowest setting but no joy.
I put my stirbar in a cereal bowl and manually raised or lowered the bowl over the striplate untill I got action I liked. I still couldn't get it to spin though. Then I added two of the dip tube o-rings to my homemade stirbar and off she went.
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Help with my stir plate
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