My stir plate in progress,, Lopez style. *pics*

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fretsforlife

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I was sitting in my hotel room this weekend with nothing to do but browse HBT. I read the DYI Stir plate thread and decided to give it a go. Now I'm pretty far from home so I had to buy everything. Its almost done but I still have a couple questions.

I bought everything from the original list except the rocker switch. I dont think they sold that style anymore so I got a similar one.

Heres a pic after I mounted the switch and rheostat:
IMG_0819.jpg


Now I didn't think I'd be able to juice it up today because I had no spare phone charger, but then i got an idea,.. I asked the front desk if they had a box of chargers that people left behind. they had about 50 of them for me to chose from. I grabbed a BB charger and hooked it up.. Here's my first Q: the charger is only 5 volts. will this be sufficient of should I really find a 6v like Anthony used? It spins pretty fast and seems like it could work, but i haven't weighed it down with washers and magnets yet.

Both wires on the charger were black so it took some switching around to finally get it working!

IMG_0820.jpg


Believe it of not, the biggest fender washer Depot had was 1 1/2" . Again, a 2" is used. should I look for a bigger one elsewhere or can i use the one i have?

heres a pic of it all closed up. I know I mounted the switch upside down, Ill flip it around once I mount the magnet.

IMG_0821.jpg


So far, this thing is so silent, that i have to put my ear to it to hear the speed change when turning the rheostat. I know it doesn't run hot, but should I give it any ventilation?

Couple more Q's:

I don't have a spare hard drive to salvage. Is a rare earth magnet really necessary? why cant I just use any old magnet? If I do need one, are there any retail stores that sell them or do I have to order online? same thing with stir bars,. can these be made or do i have to order?

Special thanks to Anthony Lopez for posting the "how to" on this. It was really fun and super simple to make. :mug:
 
Mine is so different I can only say that it is not ventilated and I have never had heat build up problems.
Rare earth magnets are stronger for their weight and usually required. I have heard that some people have gotten it to spin just using the fan magnets.
Stir bar- buy a small one. Larger ones seem to get spun off with our homebrew stirplates. Stir bars are magnets and teflon coated, this helps prevent cross contamination as nothing will stick.
 
Yeah thats what i was thinking. I wouldn't think that it'd need much or any ventilation at all so ill skip that. I also read that the 1 3/8" stir bar is a decent size that doesn't get tossed around so much. Thanks!
 
I have played around with a number of different power supplies. It is really a matter of determining what works for you. I would suggest looking at K&J magnets. I put the link in the beginning of my stirplate thread a few weeks ago. The model I ended up using should be there as well. Nice job and thanks for the honorable mention!
 
Hey thanks! man I'll buy from K&J if I have to, but the thing that rips me is that the magnet is only $3.35 but they want $8 bucks to ship it. Im trying to keep cost down on this thing as much as possible. Are there no retail places like ACE or something where I can just walk in and buy one?
 
You're going to make the TSA's day when you roll up with that in your bag.

I just spent a good solid minute laughing at this, thanks! :D I actually drove up here in a POS bucket truck that doesn't go over 55mph when on an incline. Took me about 14 hours total. I will be flying back and forth though and actually never though about how they'd take seeing this. Im probably already on their watch list since a couple years ago, while going through the scanning area, my bag was seized and the feds came in to question me. Turns out, I forgot that my step father had put a large hunting knife that he didnt want anymore, in my bag. I just barely escaped a hefty fine.
 
I read up on Rare Earth Magnets and found out that they're also called Neodymium. I found these at ACE Hardware for under 5 bucks! They come in a 3 pack, are super light and are about as big as a nickel a piece. They are the strongest magnets i've ever seen. They also sell them in six packs @ a smaller size for the same price. No.07047

IMG_0822.jpg


I also picked up a 2" fender washer. Im am unsure of how I'll position the magnets, but am playing around with them until I glue it all down. I think putting them in a triangle like this will work best.

IMG_0823.jpg
 
not necessarily will the triangle work well... I found out the hard way, not w/ a triangle, but w/ putting them too close to the center, basically you need to line up the N and S poles of the magnet w/ the same ends on your stir bar.. if not the bar will just end up getting pushed to the side or locking in a weird position. You need to have them just two apart from one another, (or in my case 4, double stacked) to make it provide something the stir bar will attract to. Or so I've found... anyone seen different?
 
not necessarily will the triangle work well... I found out the hard way, not w/ a triangle, but w/ putting them too close to the center, basically you need to line up the N and S poles of the magnet w/ the same ends on your stir bar.. if not the bar will just end up getting pushed to the side or locking in a weird position. You need to have them just two apart from one another, (or in my case 4, double stacked) to make it provide something the stir bar will attract to. Or so I've found... anyone seen different?

Very interesting.. I'll definitely play around with the set-up once I get a stir bar (I'm also looking for a store where i can buy one from to avoid paying shipping that costs more than the bar itself).

I did however put a one inch screw over the triangle and it spun in place like mad, but who knows? I'm sure a stir bar would behave different given that its a magnet itself and not metal.
 
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