Show us your DIY stir plate!

[brew2enjoy]

Here is my lego stirplate

That is so awesome! I still say the reason I am an engineer is because of legos. That was my favorite toy as a kid.

 

[fatherbigfoot]

Here is my lego stirplate

Kind of awesome

 

[barrooze]

Here is my lego stirplate

I love it!!!

 

[poislb]

Heres mine in action. Time to build another...

 

[mxstar21]

Awesome! Great idea too. Now I have a use for my Acid Blondie Belicoso box!

 

[andyherrick]

Nothing fancy but the usual computer fan and magnets along with parts from radio shack. My jug has to be off center to get a full vortex. Could be my 9 V power supply. Not enough juice.

Nice looking plates everyone. Very creative.

View attachment 85328

 

[JeffersonJ]

This may seem like a dumb question... has anyone ever tried using a casing that is itself a ferrous (magnetic) material? My mind can't quite parse out whether it would interfere with the attraction between the stir bar and magnets.

The reason I ask is that I have a fried guitar pedal that would make a perfect casing. I'd rather figure out the casing before sourcing the other materials. To be specific, I have one of these:

 

[gondzur]

Looks like aluminum to me.

 

[mxstar21]

Here's mine! Super easy to make!

 

[JeffersonJ]

Looks like aluminum to me.

It's not. It's definitely some variety of stainless steel.

 

[demons210]

This may seem like a dumb question... has anyone ever tried using a casing that is itself a ferrous (magnetic) material? My mind can't quite parse out whether it would interfere with the attraction between the stir bar and magnets.

The reason I ask is that I have a fried guitar pedal that would make a perfect casing. I'd rather figure out the casing before sourcing the other materials. To be specific, I have one of these:

Mine is made out of a medal box as well and I ended up just cutting out a hole where the magnets spin at because I couldn't find magnets strong enough to go threw the medal and turn the stir bar. You can always try using it and if it doesn't work use a whole saw and cut a circle hole in the top.

 

[CapnBry]

Got around to building my stir plate. A standard LM317 build with an on/off switch.








There's an 80mm computer fan which as a piece of 1" schedule 40 PVC hotglued to it with some rare earth magnets on it. I've dremeled out some holes (melted out, really) for the magnets using a cutting wheel and then secured the first magnet with hot glue. The rest stay by themselves. The speed is controlled by an LM317 with a 330 ohm resistor going from OUT to ADJ and a 10k ohm audio taper potentiometer with on/off switch. I can control power on/off and get anywhere from around 3V to 11.5V out to the fan. The power connector is a standard kobiconn 2.1mm barrel jack from Mouser, but the rest of the parts are from Radio Shack. The box is a 6x4x2 project box from Radio Shack as well.

One problem I ran into was putting too many magnets on the fan. With 4 magnets the 1" stir bar would not spin at all. I think the friction of the bar pulled so hard against the device would just prevent the fan from spinning at all. 3 works great, doesn't throw the bar at even the highest speed, and is silent at low speed with a dimple being pulled into the starter.

 

[ddahl84]

Not a whole lot to it but it sure looks nice.

 

[Hang Glider]

yes..., yes it does !

 

[scottsr123]

Just finished mine yesterday...

Bare bones - 93mm fan, couple of rare earth magnets, rheostat, 5v cell phone charger.

 

[nextgenxx]

The enjoyment of homebrewing!!

 

[bwirthlin]

I just finished mine, I'm excited to give it ago with my next brew.

 

[mpride1911]

$1.99 box from Goodwill.
Master switch left over from some idea I had for my boat.
$0.99 12V power supply from Goodwill
Pot bought off Amazon = too much after shipping and handling, but at the time it was the only way I could buy one.
$8 (?) for a 10 pack of rare-earth magnets from Amazon and a fan from a computer I don't use anymore.

 

[Vesku]

I used this circuit for the control: http://www.sentex.ca/~mec1995/circ/lantern.htm

Although I replaced the power stage with a single FET to make it more efficient and simpler.

5000mL Erlenmeyer.

 

[ISUBrew79]

Pretty standard design.

 

[cobalt60]

Quick project but I love how it turned out! I used a spare case fan and 12v wall wart I had lying around, and built a LM317 adjustable voltage regulator to control it. Built the whole thing into a cigar case picked up from Stanley Pappas, a great local cigar shop here in Denver.

It'll hold a 1" stir rod up to about 80% power, haven't tried anything larger. Looking forward to making a starter tomorrow for a dunkel, my first true lager!

 

[DenverUSMC]

I just tossed a nail into the flask for the photo, the stir bar creates a great vortex when used.

 

[NewBrewB]

I just tossed a nail into the flask for the photo, the stir bar creates a great vortex when used.

Nice first post! Freaky faucet handles. Haha

 

[DenverUSMC]

Nice first post! Freaky faucet handles. Haha

Those handles were a present from SWMBO She encouraged the dual tap system so I could serve a lager on one side and that dark hoppy stuff on the other

 

[abarker8541]

Love the tap handles!! I have the baseball style m67 fragmentation grenade and the older pineapple style!!

 

[mpride1911]

I have the 20mm Vulcan round tap handle right now and the 40mm MK19 round in the cupboard. I forgot the name of the maker but he sells on Amazon and I think Etsy as well.

But we digress.

 

[TrickyMike]

Kind of plain jane, but it works pretty well. I have a 2L Flask on order.

I used a 110V fan and a plug-in dimmer. I have a really good electronics store locally and the staff are guys that generally know their stuff. One of the guys I've had help me before recommended that I use a 110V fan and a dimmer so I didn't have to worry about losing torque at the lower speeds. Of course, it's high voltage, so you have to be a bit more careful. Seems to work pretty well. Spins a 2-inch bar really well. I have 2 neodymium magnets hot glued to the fan with opposite poles facing up. I have to admit, though, I expected a lot more torque with the 110V fan.

Here's the inline dimmer (don't buy it here... I paid less than half):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004GIDW70/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B009GKUPDC&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1S0SF3YDXJTFZY3WASHR

I just pulled the guts out and mounted them in the case.

Pay no attention to those loose screws:

 

[DenverUSMC]

Nice job, that has a really clean look to it.

 

[Huaco]

I just tossed a nail into the flask for the photo, the stir bar creates a great vortex when used.

So... This picture begs the question... Do you have to pull the pin in order to pull a pint?

 

[rjthomas21]

Can anybody provide some guidance (or links) as to how I should splice the wires from the fan to the potentiometer and wall charger? Never done electrical work before so it is all new to me.

Thanks