This is nothing less than the holy grail. It is a Bud/Simple Centrifuge style 8" diameter spinner with a 12V 6000rpm motor. The bowl is supported on a shaft with 2 R12 double-shielded ball bearings. The bottom of the shaft has a hole and a pin for the motor shaft. The motor is mounted inline with the shaft and has very little loads on it (no pulley, no weight from the apparatus on it) so it should last quite some time.. I made the bowl, the bearing holder and the shaft on my South-Bend 13" lathe. The bowl was really stretching my tooling capabilities (small boring bars and the 8" round block of aluminum was difficult, at best, to work around.. the machine has all the power it needs though ) so its not as perfect as I'd like but it will get the job done just fine.. The bowl is machined from 6061 Aluminum 8" billet that I had left over from the last centrifuge I made (a 4400rpm 110V pulley-driven unit), the bearing holder from sched. 80 pipe, and the shaft from 1" round hot roll. The inner and outer containers are made from cheapo crock-pots from wal mart (which were a nightmare to weld with my MIG.. TIG would have been nice, should have not been lazy and just used the oxy-acetylene torch). The other steel parts were made from 1/4" plate and some 3/8" and 1/2" pipe. The motor is weird.. it has a notch cut out of the shaft that a pin goes through... I got it from www.surplustraders.net. I don't have it fully hooked up quite yet (have to do some wiring and weld a couple nipples onto various tanks), However I have spun it up and run it for about 5minutes and it runs great! not even the slightest hint of vibration or bearings heating up or excessive load on the motor... Oil will be pumped with a 12V Facet pump out of the big heated dirty tank into the centrifuge at about 10-12gph and gravity-fed into the clean tank. At 6000rpm and ~12gph that oil will be CLEAN! Also pictured is the hand powered collection pump that I use to fill the dirty tank from a grease dumpster, cubie, or wherever else I can find unwanted oily hydrocarbons. This is my soon-to-be online self-contained veg refinery in the back of my 300TD. Enjoy!

P.S. I am toying around with making a "production model" that would be somewhat more refined than this one... same motor, same basic arrangement, however a 6" bowl instead of 8" (saves a huge amount of time and money in materials cost, still will clean the oil to an incredible degree at 6000rpm)... The 6" bowl will allow the unit to be significantly less bulky. I will also use better containers than the sh*tty walmart pots... possibly aluminum.. please let me know if there would be any interest in this, or some sort of DIY kit, or whatever... or just look at the pictures and enjoy

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Shaun,

centrifuge1.jpg (48 Kb, 563 downloads)

more pictures

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again

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and again

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and another

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Shaun,

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yet again

oops

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almost there!

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whew! finally! .... there has got to be a way to post more than one picture at once....

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Yea, I was thinking the same thing, not sure how others are doing it. I bet there is a post describing how to post multiple pics.

Nice, a D5 in your TDT! I would love one for mine. Hope your keeping the salt off her, a never ending battle in VT!

I'm in Bethel, let me know if you need any TDT parts, I still have an 85 parts car (burried till spring though)

Nice centrifuge set up!

You can create a photo album instead. Click on the "New" tab then click on "Photo Album".

Awesome Shaun thanks for the tip!

Gilead- I got my lathe from a guy named Joe in Bethel. He's a great guy if you ever need a QUALITY used machine he has everything from lathes to mills to drill presses to.. everything! The ESPAR is freakin' sweet! It gets the oil up to temp without even running the car... hardly uses any fuel at all... Can't wait to get the centrifuge plugged in so it can help me process the oil too!

You could also use the img tag like I did here.

quote:

P.S. I am toying around with making a "production model" that would be somewhat more refined than this one...

I know that since www.simplecentrifuge.com basically copied Buuuuuuds design, they likely can't be protected by a patent, but since they have made some sort of advancement over Buuuuuuds design by adding the "self draining" holes in the floor of the rotor they may have some sort of protection with that (only if actually patented and only if their patent withstands a stron court challenge regarding prior art).

Since Buuuuds design is quite simple, I don't think the simplecentrifuge guys can actually ptotect that design from "infringement". If a judge decides that the self draining feature on their rotor isn't patentable due to the similarity to continuous process CF designs currently used in industry, then they may have no protection at all. On the other hand, IF the simplecentrifuge guys did patent their modification of Buuuuds design AND IF a court challenge finds that they DO have secure title to prior art (valid patent), then they DO have the right to sue anyone who infringes.

It's something worth looking into BEFORE going into production. I'm not trying to discourage you, but I'd hate to see your efforts backfire and hurt you.

Good luck!

I have my doubts that thus thing is patent-able... And besides, my bowl "design" is different from the Bud/Simple Centrifuge design in that it doesn't have the flange around the top.. Its a moot point right now because Simple Centrifuge doesn't have their "production model" out yet. There are other significant differences between my machine and theirs, namely dedicated bearings and shaft, higher rotational speed (better cleaning), and 12 volt operation... And I bet I can sell mine way cheaper than they can .. beside, I'm not looking to compete with Simple Centrifuge... If I made and sold 2 or 3 units I'd be happy.. or if I sold none I'd be happy because I still have mine and thats what this project was all about.

I hope you are swamped with requests for CFs and get filthy rich. I was only trying to point out some legal issues, that's all.

All the best!

quote:

Posted 28 January 2008 03:30 PM Hide Post
I hope you are swamped with requests for CFs and get filthy rich. I was only trying to point out some legal issues, that's all.

All the best!

Haha I hope I don't get swamped with requests because that would mean a lot of unhappy people that wouldn't be getting centrifuges (although a few happy ones that might...)

so, does it work? have you run any batches yet?

I really seriously doubt that simple centrifuge could get any patents on their creation. It has to employ innovations not obvious to someone skilled in the art. There is nothing revolutionary about their centrifuge to someone in the centrifuge industry.

Have they applied for a patent yet? If nto they missed the boat since they have been in business for two years, and you only have one year to apply. I'm not sure if that one year is from the point where you finish the idea, go public with the idea, or market, or what, but I'd bet that whatever that milestone is, they have passed it.

You'd probably be surpriesd how hard it is to get a patent on stuff that isn't truly original. Gillette applied for something like 21 patents for its newest razor. They might get one. there is "innovative" stuff, but not stuff that is not obvious to someone skilled in the art. "So you added a 6th blade. Wow... And you think that this wasn't the obvious evolutionary step? Even after the fifth blade, which came after the fourth, which came after the third..."

If you have a good edit to an existing design it still has to be non-obvious. Even somthing simple may be counted as non-obvious if the idea was being prevented by adhering to some paradigm. I don't think that anything they have created fits into that though. Good product, but not patentable in my opinion.

So I don't think that there is any reason to worry about patent infringement. Just build what you like and sell it.

Basic centrifuge design that most basket styles are modeled after... I wouldn't worry too much about the patent...
~Colin