Orbital table DIY build

Still in the planing stages. So far i have some 5/8" ball transfers i picked up for 16$, a ball bearing for the drive input, a comp fan for cooling, a 6A car charger to power the unit, and this drawing. I need to source a used wiper motor or a cheap new one then go buy some 1/2 MDF.

The reasons for the orbital shaker are; I can do multiple starters for split batches using different yeasts, and this should hopefully be strong enough to do 1-2 gal batches for high pitch rates.

Interesting idea. Subscribed.

that would be sick. how are you planning on doing the container holders?

interesting idea

Interesting, but wouldn't it be cheaper to just build 2-3 stirplates? They are like $10 to make and are pretty quiet. Do you know how much noise that shake table is going to make? I'm curious to see how it ends up working.

We've got one at work for testing milk fat content and its loud. I'd say it runs at about 1000 rpm though. I doubt you would need that type of agitation. I'll see if I can get a photo of it for you.

Im thinking to shoot for about 100-200 RPM. A stir plate is more than $10, heck you can spend $10 on just the bar almost. This project will prolly end up around $40-80, and i will never worry about dumping my stir bar when pitching. And again, i can do 1-2 gal batches for high pitch rate or large brews.

Tinga said:

that would be sick. how are you planning on doing the container holders?

Click to expand...

I will make a piece of 1x1 wood trim around the edges and source some sort of rubber or non slip material to increase grip onto the vessels. Hopefully i can source a motor mon-tues, build on weds so i can make a starter in time for next sat-sun.

autozone no bueno. I was hoping to find a nice cheap motor with a warranty.. just in case . Turns out every single one they had in stock is just the motor with no arm. Ill be heading to the JY tomorrow.

A couple issues I can think you may have. The rollers right on the MDF will wear out the "wood" pretty quick. You need some time of hard surface in there, like metal. The other issue may be running the wiper motor directly off of the battery charger. You may need a battery in there for things to startup and run properly. You should probably use a power supply instead of a charger.
This would also work good for mixing drinks, paint cans, all kinds of stuff!

Zombie thread!

Did you ever build this?

I'm interested too!

No i didnt, so far i have 4 rollers sitting on my workbench. I got held up acquiring a drive motor.

I found your plans, modified them a bit, and came up with this:



Since the video, I've added some diagonal braces for support. I still have some prettying up to do and some spill-proofing.

The ball transfers were just too loud, so I decided to hang the deck from cables.

I used a wiper motor from a '93 Explorer and a PC PSU from an old Dell we had around.

It can be done. :rockin:

Shakybones said:

I found your plans, modified them a bit, and came up with this:

Since the video, I've added some diagonal braces for support. I still have some prettying up to do and some spill-proofing.

The ball transfers were just too loud, so I decided to hang the deck from cables.

I used a wiper motor from a '93 Explorer and a PC PSU from an old Dell we had around.

It can be done. :rockin:

Click to expand...

You can put your fermenter on that and keep the yeast in suspension.

"Ball transfers"..........Got a pic of what you tried to use?

Stealthcruiser said:

"Ball transfers"..........Got a pic of what you tried to use?

Click to expand...

https://www.google.com/search?q=ball+transfer&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

Thanks!

Im glad someone was more motivated than me. I drifted away from fancy yeast since i bought a full box of US-05. Nice thinking on the string!