curtis97322

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On deck : Not enough. Probably a brown, a pale and an apple creation of some sort

In fermenters: Always changing and I'm too lazy to update

silverbrewer

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Thanks for all the positive comments, and please check out the posts on this subject that I put in the "equipment and sanitation" section by mistake. There are details there of a pump made by Jonathon in Australia, but he did his on a computer and an automated mill, because he is clever, and a lucky son of a .......

I will see how high it pumps in a few days when I have done a proper job of the drive system. (I want to pin the spider to the shaft with a removable pin)

The tube internal diameter is 1/2" and it is getting squeezed against a wall that has a 6 5/8" radius (160 mm) Slower tests got a minimum reliable flow of 0.39 USGPM (1.5 litres per min). The 120 rpm test that got the 4.0 USGPM flow rate and also the slow test, were run with the pump sucking the water out of a container that had a water level that was 17" below the table.

OK, the point is taken that the pump is a bit big, but there are so many options open as you decide how big to make it.

Smaller tube, multiple tubes (either doing separate pumping tasks or pumping in unison) and varying rpm (probably with an upper limit of 150 rpm at a guess) give a multitude of choices.

The important things are that the rotating spider with the wheels must be exactly in the centre of the wall, there must be at least two wheels squeezing the pipe at any time, and the wheels must squeeze the pipe so it is completely shut when it is pinched. The wall does not have to be a complete circle, in fact, if you put wheels on a Caterpillar style track instead of a rotating set of arms, the pipe could be straight!! but I will leave it to someone else to engineer that version...

The flow is determined by how big the pipe is and the surface speed of the wheels.

I will post more pictures as the construction should be obvious once you have seen an exploded view of the thing, and as details are going to vary depending on how wide your wheels are, what pipe you use, and what materials you have. This can all be done by hand with a decent pillar drill, and some carefull sanding, like mine, but if you can use a three axis automated mill, things will be a cinch.

All my "plates" are held together by 4 steel pins, or dowels at the moment, and I will drill and tap the ends of these so they act as a dowel to locate things and also clamp the thing together! At the moment it is held together by luck, and the odd clamp.

My gut feeling is that I am going to make two pumps a bit smaller than this one, using 1/2" tube as my main pump (and it's backup) and a pair of much smaller ones, each with twin tubes to perform the sparge pumping, (plus backup) These will all sit on the same shaft and I will engage a pin into whichever pump or pumps that I wish to use.

Pictures to follow in a few days.

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BrewBeemer

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This is a great project, keep us posted as the generally used pump is the March pump that i'm not impressed with. With all the lost prime problems members have and the amount money they are asking for them and needing two I have never purchased a March over the years just borrowed. The results alone had made up my mind years ago and saved my money instead.
hey keep posting your progress, i'll check your other postings in the other section of the forum, thanks.
Carl.

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"Islander".....=o&o>.....

jcdillin

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I love it, I don't care if it's the size of 4 march pumps. After banging my head against the wall with priming issues I would love to have a pump that just works. This is for sure a step in the right direction.

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Hang Glider

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Sweeeet -
this baby is self priming?
awesome!

BrewBeemer

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Just adding up the price of two March pumps plus the priming problems i'm glad to read about them over the past year as I have not made the step yet to buy another pump as I have a old shaft drive stainless steel pump with a packing gland still in use. It has a drop every 4-5 minutes, enough to lube the square rope graphite seal material. Just turn the packing flange ring a bit tighter when required. This a borrowed pump off a lab friend that I can not get ownership of but keep trying.

I picked up a curbside tennis ball pitcher a trash item, in it was a Von Weise Gear Comany motor. It's complete with the 1/30 hp 90 VDC with the speed control, takes 120 VAC to run it. The motor draws .48 amp, 18 to 114 RPM's output. A free item just need to build a pump. If too weak the Von Weise company must have larger more powerful motors with speed controls if needed on the net. Just and idea for a 90 volt DC motor with a speed control. It may also end up just as the HLT stir motor turning a 9" bronze racing prop at a low speed as the pitch is 10 1/2", cupped and mean looking from the 50's outboard racing era.
I was thinking about the spare parallel gearmotor 120 VAC with 60 RPM's fixed speed motor that draws 1.48 amps with a 1/2" output shaft if it could be used as a pump drive but then I must have a bypass valve to control the fluid flow or a voltage control on the motor like a light dimmer as it might cause overheating problems doing this? I'm just working with what is in storage pile of the pack rat in me.

With aluminum stock, time on the lathe a twin pump with flanged ball bearings, spacers machined a single motor drive twin pump could be born. Use steel alignment pins then bore both tubing channels together. Assemble with Dutz fasteners for quick servicing or tube changing if needed.
For over a $300 investment for two March pumps this also has me thinking for over a year hence why I haven't become another victim of more problems on brew day fighting the March pumps. My friend has and now has it mounted on a camera ball that locks in any position. What a PITA I don't need for my $300 plus spent dollars.

As silverbrewer stated, the concentric item is an issue that must be correct with these pumps and if it were my pumps a couple spare tubings would be all that's needed should a tubing failure happen on brew day. A quick fix with it and more on.
I vote this thread as a sticky. With the vast spread of background of brewers there should be more replies on this topic. I'm flat on my back or house limited at the most so standing at the lathe and Bridgeport is out of the question for me. Come on others and chime in on this one.

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jcdillin

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Agreed it should be sticky and it also should be combined with the other thread.

I think we should try to get a set of cad files together so anyone can build their own.

As soon as I can get something drawn up in cad I will be cutting mine out on the cnc, I am going to be redoing my stand and kicking the march pump to the curb if I can get one of these pumps working good.

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WortMonger

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Subscribed! Wish we could find already built items to combine for completion. Simple CAD drawing would be a great help though for from scratch construction. I will be watching this thread!

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silverbrewer

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We also need to get a good idea of the maximum flow rate we require and also the flow rates required for each process. I am only just starting to build my new brewery, so cannot comment. USGPM seems way too much to me.

If doing RIMS as per the "Brew Magic" video, what flow rate is employed there? It is very small, and might require a smaller pump, as will sparging. Could someone post flow rates for these processes and any others so I can start on pump size decisions. Remembering that two pumps (read two tubes in a single pump housing) will be needed for sparging and that they can be run in unison to get double the flow rate for other processes.

We must also be cautious as we have no idea how long the tube will hold out and how soft it gets when hot, so don't chuck out the March pumps quite yet.....

I'm going to be busy with chores for a week or two, but my next phases of this project will be to sort out more pics so you all have a clear idea of what I did, then get the drive coupling better engineered, which I have virtually done now anyway. Then with that sorted, I will see how high it will pump (several feet is my guess) I will then rig it up and do some 24/7 testing to see how the tube holds out.

Bear in mind that this is only a quick wooden mock up, and that this thing is best made with really good bearings, nice hard smooth wheels and perfectly concentric parts, so it will be best done on cad driven machines, in nylon with ball race bearings......but at this experimental stage we can ease up a bit on all that per-nicety stuff.

Give me suitable flow rates guys.....

The current project getting done at work is a home made "Blichman" false bottom.....punched out my first practice hole today!

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silverbrewer

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Another successfully test.....

At 105 RPM and using the centre of the pump as a datum, it sucked the water up out of a bucket 4 foot below itself and then pumped it another 10 foot straight up a bit of 1/2" stainless pipe..............so that's "beerthirsty's question answered ....14 ft .......

I did not even try to measure the flow as it is near dark now, but off the top of my head I would say it was hardly any slower than before...this baby really works...

The limits are going to be how powerful the motor is and at what pressure the silicone tube explodes..

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Blessed are the "cracked", for it is they who let in the light.