I just spent all day trying to get the new epoxy resin rotor to work. It taught me how tricky the balance is on this size rotor. I used rotor#2 for the epoxy, and started with 2 holes drilled near the center. It was fine without VO in it, but once filled, it would vibrate too much. So I tried holes closer to the outside so it holds less VO. Still too much vibration when full. So I thought maybe I got too much epoxy on it, and sanded it down very smooth inside and out by spinning the rotor on the unit with the cover off, power on. Kind of like putting it on a lathe. Still no good. It may be because this rotor was from a juicer that was loose and banging around in a box with foam peanuts only about 1/3 full. The red plastic pusher was destroyed in shipping. At least the ebay seller refunded my money when I emailed him about it. The rotor didn't appear bent, but I tried bending it a little in every way I could think of with a big rubber headed hammer to make it balance, and that didn't work.

Next I will strip the paint from rotor#1, and epoxy resin it. This sure is a lot harder to get working than my Dieselcraft CF, which processed another 50 gallons today while I tried to get the juicer working.

I'm glad I read this last post. I was planning to epoxy my rotor tonight. I think that I'll wait until you get it to work.

Could you post a picture of the bottom of the rotor and the top of the motor drive? Possably fabricating a new rotor from scratch would allow better balance.

The bottom of the rotor is 3/32" thick flat sheet metal with a 9/16" hex opening in the center that fits over the motor shaft hex stud with threads on top. Then a knurled nut holds it and the shredder in place. You could machine a new rotor, although it would be tricky, and there is probably a limit to the weight of rotor the motor and bearings can handle.

I tried my newly sealed rotor today, and it works for balance but has a few tiny holes that leak, so it needs another coat. Its tricky to get all the hundreds of holes filled and still keep a thin layer of resin. Paint was much easier for this since its not clear like this resin so you can see any holes you missed.

Today I noticed a small amount of fine mist of VO coming from the outlet (looks like smoke but it lingers, and its not steam.) I think the shredder is causing that, as well as making some foam in the output from the amount of air it entrains. I may try to grind down the cutters on the shredder, equally to retain balance. It doesn't balance very well without the shredder in there so it must be a good part of the design.

Wrap the inside with cellophane shipping tape, then pack it with sand to back up the tape.

Fill the holes with a putty knife.

Let dry.

Once dry, sand the outside, then spread on another thin coat of epoxy.

After that dries, dump the sand and remove the tape.

Thinking about the shredder some more, I think it may be better as is. It probably throws the VO hard against the rotor and gets it up to the 3600rpms very quickly. Since I run it outside a little barely visible VO mist is OK. Its another aspect of this rig to do some testing to see whats best. I have 4 of them so I will destroy one shredder for science. I don't know if the entrained air is a problem.

Eureka! the epoxy resin does the trick. This is looking much more promising after several days of work and testing. I just ran 10 gallons through it bypassed off the pump while I ran the same VO through my Dieselcraft at 120-140F. This simple rig is removing almost as much goo (per hour) at a 5gph rate as the Dieselcraft is at a 60gph rate. This means its removing much finer in 1 pass, and I can tell that it is by feeling the grittiness of the goo between my fingers. I have developed a good feel for it after cleaning the rotor hundreds of times and feeling it as it removes to finer and finer levels.

I have learned some more tricks too. There is some magic in the density of the rubber feet on the unit, since it balances better when not bolted to the barrel (which compressed the rubber). The only drawback is I wonder if it gets off balance if it will go flying off the barrel. When its not attached, you may need to hold it while speeding up and slowing down to prevent it walking away.

The juicer on the right has a 1" taller motor, and has better balance. This better model also has a black 3 prong plug compared to the older one which has a gray 2 prong plug.

Here are pics of the latest rig:


In this pic you can see the goo has a pattern up towards the holes, it may be better to have more than 2 holes spread out around the rim. On the bottom is where I ran my finger through it to see how thick the goo was.


Maybe with more testing I can make it use a full rotor with no holes, this would retain more VO in the rotor for longer, but also be more dangerous!

The goo it removed from 5 gallons of VO in an hour:

I see from the latest pictures how the rotor is attached. I will try to find one of these juicers and machine a one piece rotor for it.

quote:

Originally posted by SunWizard:
....It was fine without VO in it, but once filled, it would vibrate too much. So...

Try throwing some BB's or ball bearings into it and see if they will move around and balance things out.

quote:

Originally posted by jeepin, moggin Jessup (coachgeo):

quote:

Originally posted by SunWizard:
....It was fine without VO in it, but once filled, it would vibrate too much. So...

Try throwing some BB's or ball bearings into it and see if they will move around and balance things out.

Its fixed, the solution was to not attach it at all. One of those non-intuitive fixes. Even pushing down lightly on it will make it vibrate madly. You have to make it perfectly level. I think its because of the gyroscopic forces, it wants its shaft to be perfectly vertical, and with the soft feet it can adjust to that point. If you tilt it beyond the point the feet can adjust for, it starts vibrating wildly.
bb's would quit moving as soon as any goo built up, and they would probably stir up the goo making it not collect.

Up to 4 of these will fit on top of 1 barrel, and they can all drip their output into the same funnel that I already have on my barrel. So I will probably rig a manifold with feed valves to run more than 1 juicerator at a time and really speed up my VO processing.

quote:

Originally posted by SunWizard:
...Its fixed, the solution was...

RV places sell a round level. RVers put them in their refridgerators to check how balanced the rig is. The RV fridges work better if their in balance.

Anyway.. get one of those and set it atop the the outershell. Can help you find the balance of the whole gizmo

Anyone make some juice before they ruined their Acme Juicerator? My friend has one and I brought 5 lbs of carrots and we made some killer carrot juice. We even measured the yield and got 62% juice by weight. He would not let me convert his Acme to a centrifuge so I'll have to get my own.

What do you think about cutting a rectangular strip of alum flashing to line the inside of the basket and epoxy just the seam and the top and bottom?

Just filling the holes with epoxy is probably easier. If you duct tape the inside to provide a backing and use a squeegee to apply JB Weld, it should be easy not to miss any holes.

Sunwizard, are the holes on the top of the basket the only place for the oil to exit? Did you also put holes on the bottom of the basket?

The epoxy resin is probably the best, since sealing the flashing would be a real pain (and the flex of running might break the seal.)

It wasn't hard to epoxy it without duct tape since the stuff is gooey thick. The only hard part was making sure I got all the holes filled for a waterproof seal. Duct tape or anything else in the inside might make a rough surface, and you want it smooth. It comes out smooth with no tape on the inside. You also want to coat the metal on the spaces between the holes on the inside. Using the yellow plastic scraper that is shown in the above pics with the goo on it was the best way to apply the epoxy. It worked much better than a paintbrush which I tried first.

Another nice thing with the epoxy is that if you make a mistake and don't get it smooth you can sand it smooth.

Holes in the rim is all. No holes in the bottom since I want the water and goo to stay in the rotor at shutdown.

quote:

Originally posted by SunWizard:
Eureka! the epoxy resin does the trick. This is looking much more promising after several days of work and testing.

Kudos again SunWizard.

quote:

In this pic you can see the goo has a pattern up towards the holes, it may be better to have more than 2 holes spread out around the rim.

I wonder from this pattern if you can determine the size and amount of particles that pass through? Now that you determined your vibration had to do with the mount, would it be a good idea to put the exit holes closer to the inside rim again?

Sam

quote:

Originally posted by Sam Crowe:
I wonder from this pattern if you can determine the size and amount of particles that pass through? Now that you determined your vibration had to do with the mount, would it be a good idea to put the exit holes closer to the inside rim again?

Sam

Correct, thats also why I said:

quote:

Originally posted by SunWizard:
Maybe with more testing I can make it use a full rotor with no holes, this would retain more VO in the rotor for longer, but also be more dangerous!

I have already tried another rotor with the holes about halfway up the rim (about 1/2" from the outside) and it worked fine. At shutdown I had to hold it since it wanted to walk to Wyoming. You can see on the one in the pic the holes are about 1/4" from the outside, and it still removed lots of goo.

quote:

The juicer on the right has a 1" taller motor, and has better balance. This better model also has a black 3 prong plug compared to the older one which has a gray 2 prong plug.

Wich model is better one?

Thanks

Sunwizard, is yours made by Acme or Waring (they bought Acme in 1989)?

If you are gonna machine rotors for it, can you try this idea I have? Instead of a cylinder shaped rotor with a flat bottom, how about a cone shaped botton and top so as to naturally force the heavier stuff to the perimeter?

quote:

Originally posted by Ron Schroeder:
I see from the latest pictures how the rotor is attached. I will try to find one of these juicers and machine a one piece rotor for it.

Sunwizard, did you use a clear epoxy? In your pics, I can see through the holes.

Any thoughts in making the Acme into a continuous centrifuge by adding some kind of ejector on the perimeter, duct it to a center shaft via a slip ring? The center shaft has a valve that you can open to eject the goo whenever it builds up to an amount which decreases CF efficiency.