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Here’s mine using the thermal take fan from Amazon. Unfortunately, the throttle is no longer working and I can’t diagnose why. Oh well, time for a new build.
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The case is black walnut, with 1/4" oak plywood bottom & top panels.
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I put some holes in the bottom so the fan can move some air past the heat sink. Not necessary, but there's a fan there so why not?
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The magnetic link is so strong that throwing the stir bar is not a concern.
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The white piece of foam holds my selection of stir bars.
 
Nice setup! Mine is a bit less complicated and more seat of the pants. I used a new fan from MicroCenter and a plastic food storage container from Walmart. The fan is wire to a potentiometer from Radio Shack. I used a 12V transformer that I had laying around fitted to a plug from the Shack. I plan on redoing it with new controls to control the speed more accurately. The neodimium magnets are from Michael's and are epoxied to the hub of the fan.

Here is a quick pic of it in action stirring up some Wyeast American Ale II for some cider:

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Ok I love that plastic ware. We have them, no more digging for a frecking lid.
 
Here is my super cheap, basic stir plate. It gets the job done.

1. Get an old computer fan
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Wire it to a variable voltage adapter like this old one I had lying around:
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Get an old hard drive and pry it open to get the magnet:
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Magnet from HD IMG_0749.jpg

Glue magnet to the center of the fan:
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Put "risers" on the fan corners so that the vessel will be able to sit upon the fan without actually contacting the magnet:
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here is a different angle:
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Viola!
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Here is my super cheap, basic stir plate. It gets the job done.

1. Get an old computer fanView attachment 581701

Wire it to a variable voltage adapter like this old one I had lying around:
View attachment 581702

Get an old hard drive and pry it open to get the magnet: View attachment 581703
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Glue magnet to the center of the fan:
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Put "risers" on the fan corners so that the vessel will be able to sit upon the fan without actually contacting the magnet: View attachment 581706
here is a different angle: View attachment 581707
Viola!
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Where's the duct tape? Looks like it works just fine.
 
Was searching for a while, and found a dude on somethingawful that had a sweet design - he uploaded it to thingiverse if anyone is interested..

make (120mm w/ 5cm stirbar):
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Medium speed:
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Full Speed:
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I just finished this one. I'm quite happy with it. I couldn't find a wooden box so I just made one. Lights, switch and speed regulator came dirt cheap from China. I burned the pattern in and used some akryl varnish on the wood. Enjoy!
 

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I repurposed a bathroom exhaust fan and rheostat. Pry up a few tabs to free the blower assembly plate, flip it over so the blower is on top. Attach hard drive magnets. Wire the rheostat. Top it with a plate, a transparent plate helps line up the flask or flat bottom coffee carafe. It's all 110V, no tranformer needed. An earlier prototype is shown at the right.
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My son made this for me from a computer fan and spare adapter. I wanted a sturdy base, so there’s the plywood. He also made me an air circulator with a computer fan for my “Beverator” beer fridge, so now I don’t worry about cold (freezing) spots if I turn it way down. The cord I sent thin enough to close the door on.
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Highly engineered!
Small project motor, 1" neodymium magnet, 2x4, piece of fence board or something, old phone charger, and a breadboard... which I didn't need at all.

I was looking how you guys made them, and y'all used stuff around the house which is really cool. Brewing on a budget

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Beer is skunked by ultraviolet light, but it takes a combination of the hops, yeast, and barley all together to make that result. I cannot imagine yeast, by itself, is light sensitive in this regard.

just my $0.02 :)
 
Beer is skunked by ultraviolet light, but it takes a combination of the hops, yeast, and barley all together to make that result. I cannot imagine yeast, by itself, is light sensitive in this regard.

just my $0.02 :)

My understanding is that LEDs do not produce much ultraviolet light unless designed to do so. They typically drop off in the 450-485nm range.
 
Simple build using an old business card file box. Any box would do really. For folks that do not get all the soldering and electronics or don't want to mess with it this USB fan is a great option. Comes with a speed control and it is plug and play using any USB phone charger. Everything that I needed came with the fan with the exception of the box, the USB charger and the magnets which I still need to get. I guess unlike everyone else, I got rid of my old computers from the 90s so I don't have an old hard drive laying around. With tax I have $15 invested I this so far.

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Simple build using an old business card file box. Any box would do really. For folks that do not get all the soldering and electronics or don't want to mess with it this USB fan is a great option. Comes with a speed control and it is plug and play using any USB phone charger. Everything that I needed came with the fan with the exception of the box, the USB charger and the magnets which I still need to get. I guess unlike everyone else, I got rid of my old computers from the 90s so I don't have an old hard drive laying around. With tax I have $15 invested I this so far.

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Thanks for showing a close up of the fan. Thats pretty trick for those of us solder-challenged.
 
Electronics noob here.
My local RadioShack only has the 5k or 100k pots.
How would using a 5k or 100k be differ in this application?

Thanks for any help.
 
Assuming a not-atypical 12VDC PC fan draws 0.1 amps and has stall voltage of ~5V, the series resistor solution for that would be 35 ohms (and need to handle 1.4 watts!) Any higher resistance than that ~35 ohms would prevent the fan from even starting. So, very little of the travel of a 5K pot would be useful - and even less on the 100K pot. - even if you could find versions that can handle the wattage: most appropriate potentiometers will be "wire-wound".

Hence, you really need a much lower resistance potentiometer - with some beef - for this application. Ideally, a 50 ohm pot that can handle a minimum of 2 watts. The closest I can find quickly at a decent price on Amazon is 100 ohms at 5 watts. That would work fine - you'd have plenty of adjustability and won't smoke it in the first minute of operation :)

https://www.amazon.com/Valuepro-Potentiometer-Control-Electrical-Devices/dp/B00B889HIY
Cheers!
 
Simple build using an old business card file box. Any box would do really. For folks that do not get all the soldering and electronics or don't want to mess with it this USB fan is a great option. Comes with a speed control and it is plug and play using any USB phone charger. Everything that I needed came with the fan with the exception of the box, the USB charger and the magnets which I still need to get. I guess unlike everyone else, I got rid of my old computers from the 90s so I don't have an old hard drive laying around. With tax I have $15 invested I this so far.

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Super Strong Neodymium magents, get them on Amazon.​

 
My old stir plate was a little to small for my 5L flask. So, I had to break out the 3D printer yesterday and whip up something bigger. I reused the 120mm fan and adjustable power supply from my old unit. If I factor in the 3D printing plus the old parts cost me right around $20 bucks to make. I think it turned out pretty nice.
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I'm struggling with some of the electronics needed to build a stir plate using a 4 wire PWM computer fan.

When I connect a 12v power supply to the black (gnd) & yellow (+12v) wires on the fan, it spins fast. If I also connect the blue wire to gnd, the fan spins much slower. So as far as I can see, the fan is working properly.

But when I try to control the speed of the fan using this PWM speed controller (Low Voltage DC PWM Motor Speed Controller Module 1.8V 3V 5V 6V 12V 2A | eBay), nothing seems to work. Maybe I'm not wiring it correctly, but every combination of wiring that I can think of results in the fan stuttering slightly, but never spinning. Has anyone used a speed controller like this successfully?
 
Prato agitador feito de plafon de candeeiro antigo e pedaços de madeira
 

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when I try to control the speed of the fan using this PWM speed controller (Low Voltage DC PWM Motor Speed Controller Module 1.8V 3V 5V 6V 12V 2A | eBay), nothing seems to work.

I used one of those PWM modules on the first iteration of my stir plates. You have to stick it between say a 12VDC power supply output and the fan power & ground input leads, and it'll change the DC supply into a PWM voltage with the duty cycle controlled by the knob. And it may not work with an actual PWM fan...
 
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