Problems with old stirplate

[Varroa]

Hey Guys, I recently got an old Fischer Scientific stir plate from a
buddy. We did a yeast started on the weekend and by day two I noticed
the yeast was VERY warm (38c according to my infrared thermometer).
The heat was coming from the stirplate (it is a non-heated model) so I
am assuming it is just the motor producing the heat. I was thinking of
taking the casing apart and drilling some venting hole it in it to
allow the heat to escape, what do you think?

The model I have looks identical to this one:

 

[Varroa]

Well, I just did another starter on this and even with 2 fans blowing on the flask and some insulation between the flask and the stir plate (reflective bubble wrap) the temp still rose to 25c (room temp is 19c). I think I am going to gut it, replace the motor with a computer fan (reusing the magnets) and use a 12 volt wall plug to power it, what do you think?

I also have a analog fan controller that I will use to replace the current speed knob.

 

[ThreeDogsNE]

I have a lab stir plate that was heating my starter. I first tried putting a piece of marble tile (which I had laying around) on top of it, which helped. Then I used a disposable aluminum pan on top of that as a heat sink. That worked better. I ended up pulling out the tile and just keeping the aluminum pan. The pan is just one of those roughly 9 x 13 inch pans that caterers use. It keeps things pretty cool.

Unless you're attached to that case, you could probably sell the thing on ebay and get enough to cover a prebuilt stirrer, or the parts for a few.