For those building stir plates

I just finished my third and easiest build of a stir plate. I am following these directions.https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-stirplate-cheap-easy-build-86252/

what made this one easier is that I could not find a bit small enough to take the hard drive apart so I had to literally pry and bust em open. WALMART has this little kit that has exactly what you need to just disassemble the hard drive right down to taking the magnets out. I know every dribve is different but so far I have taken apart 4-5 of them and every one has the same size star bit that I could NOT find. Anyway the kit is less than 7 bucks.

ALSO when removing the magnet from the bracket, THEY WILL BREAK very easily. PATIENCE is key. If you do break em don't get too panicky they will still work.

Another tip when trying to position the magnets...move the flask around some and see if that doesn't solve the wobble or throwing the bar problem. my flask must not be perfectly flat because I can go from wobbling in the dead center to a perfectly quiet spin toward the side a little bit.

I've seen where someone attached velcro to the fan and velcro to the back of a magnet. The velcro held the magnet in place, but yet allowed it to be repositioned until a sweet spot could be found.

Homercidal said:

I've seen where someone attached velcro to the fan and velcro to the back of a magnet. The velcro held the magnet in place, but yet allowed it to be repositioned until a sweet spot could be found.

Click to expand...

just glue a washer to the fan ( make sure it is centered) once you stick the hard drive magnet to that it will NOT move from spinning but can be slid around until the right position is found. You can then run glue along the edges or not. As I said it isn't moving on its own.

OHIOSTEVE said:

just glue a washer to the fan ( make sure it is centered) once you stick the hard drive magnet to that it will NOT move from spinning but can be slid around until the right position is found. You can then run glue along the edges or not. As I said it isn't moving on its own.

Click to expand...

Beg to differ, I had a hard drive magnet slowly creep out of position after several days of continuous use. No problems after repositioning and gluing.

camiller said:

Beg to differ, I had a hard drive magnet slowly creep out of position after several days of continuous use. No problems after repositioning and gluing.

Click to expand...

good to know. I just finished my fourth build ( I get obsessed with stuff..may be a little OCD lol) and havent had one move yet. However a dab or two of epoxy is cheap insurance. Thanks.

I've got plans to build a few more for people. Just need to get time to sit down and do it.

I saw a "professional" stirplate at a hoembrew expo and they used a short piece of 2" plastic pipe to raise the round magnets above the fan. Supposed to help keep the magnets away from the fan I guess, although I've noticed a problem with mine being right on the fan.

They cut a small round spot on the edge of the pipe 180 degrees on each side and epoxied the magnets in there. Strange. Hard to describe.