# Did magnetic stirrer help



## Pindyman (28/6/16)

Okay so after checking out a few threads on here I see that pc fans are used to make some did mixers....now I have a question...as an ex pc moder I have a few spare parts laying around such as pwm pc fans...some pc cases I can chop up and one or 2 psus and hard drives....

Ive been playin around with the idea of setting up the psu to power a pc fan controller that I inturn would connect the pc fan to which has the magnets attached...the question I have is has anyone tried this or is it better to get a dc motor and power supply...

The pc fan cpntoller would be the only item plugged into the psu really and inturn would provide power to the fan or fans depending kn how many I create....

Any feedback would be appreciated fellow vapers

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## SAVaper (28/6/16)

I am looking to build / buy one soon. I would go DC.


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## Pindyman (29/6/16)

SAVaper said:


> I am looking to build / buy one soon. I would go DC.


mind if I ask where you are looking at purchasing one sir....I saw on on beerkeg site for 960 but has anyone bought anything from them?


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## SAVaper (29/6/16)

Pindyman said:


> mind if I ask where you are looking at purchasing one sir....I saw on on beerkeg site for 960 but has anyone bought anything from them?




Hi,
Looks like I will have to build the fan base myself.
http://www.labequip.co.za/wmenu.php have them but like R3600
I will buy the magnetic stirrer bars from them for about R40 ea.

Have not seen the one from beerkeg. Can you place a link?

Thanks


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## stevie g (29/6/16)

I made on cheaply using a 12cm fan. The biggest problem I found with this motor type is low speed torque very weak. 

Aside from that it worked pretty well. 

These days I just steep for a week and leave out all the fancy equipment. 

It is a fun project nevertheless.

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## Pindyman (29/6/16)

Sprint said:


> I made on cheaply using a 12cm fan. The biggest problem I found with this motor type is low speed torque very weak.
> 
> Aside from that it worked pretty well.
> 
> ...


which fan did you use if I may ask...standard pc fan? and what was the rpm of the fan?

@SAVaper the link is http://www.thebeerkeg.co.za/catalog/fermentation-measurement/magnetic-stir-plate-fully-imported.html


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## stevie g (29/6/16)

It was a 120*120*35 PC fan RPM around 1800.

Problem was that it kept throwing the stirbar at high speeds so I had to feed it 10v to bring the speed down. 

I would highly recommend a potentiometer of some sort.


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## zadiac (29/6/16)

I'm ordering this







and then printing this






and will also get this

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## Ernest (29/6/16)

I built one from old PC parts when I just started DIY. It's basic but cost nothing and I only bought stirrer bars. This is what I used:

Old PSU for the case
HDD for the magnets
case fan with four colored LED's
headphone jack for power supply
on / off switch from PSU
Power supply with ajustable voltage


I took out all the stuff inside the PSU and made a hole in the top big enough for the fan, but so the screws can still catch.
I then drilled a small hole in the side for the headphone jack. This will be for the power supply.
I ripped out the magnets from the HDD and glued one of them on the fan. ( test positioning of the magnet so the stirrer bar does not jump, but spins smoothly.)
Solder the wires for the fan to the switch and headphone jack.
Screw the fan down making sure it does not catch the body of the PSU and the fan with magnet can spin freely.
Press the switch back into it's place on the PCU and glue the headphone jack in the hole drilled for it.
Stick the power supply jack into the headphone socket and adjust the voltage 3-12v according to the speed you need or thickness of your juice. 
Watch your juice spin with rainbow colors from the fan LED's, my favorite pass time.

I used a clear/blank CD for the flask to stand on, but it's not perfect. I found the metal body influences the magnetic force a bit and it would be better if the fan was mounted on top of the PSU rather than inside, with spacers to keep a clear perspex slab above the fan. Either way it works great and I've mixed 1.5 liters of juice with it already.

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## Pindyman (29/6/16)

Sprint said:


> It was a 120*120*35 PC fan RPM around 1800.
> 
> Problem was that it kept throwing the stirbar at high speeds so I had to feed it 10v to bring the speed down.
> 
> I would highly recommend a potentiometer of some sort.


Im thinking of either this http://www.communica.co.za/Catalog/Details/P0826887425 but not sure if it will work with a pc fan or perhaps using a pc fan controller, http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/pt-fn05/, adapted to work on a 12v power adaptor...alternatively just use a computer powersupply that I have at home,

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## Pindyman (29/6/16)

@zadiac where are you ordering that from

@Ernest have you got any pics...the headphone jack for power source sounds intresting since I have tons of electronics laying around at home as a remnant from my modding days


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## SAVaper (29/6/16)

zadiac said:


> I'm ordering this
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Where and for how much?

Thanks


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## zadiac (29/6/16)

Pindyman said:


> @zadiac where are you ordering that from
> 
> @Ernest have you got any pics...the headphone jack for power source sounds intresting since I have tons of electronics laying around at home as a remnant from my modding days





SAVaper said:


> Where and for how much?
> 
> Thanks



http://www.digitalhomebrew.com/diy-magnetic-stirplate-kit-v2

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1PC-5W-15W-...hash=item3f52ab64fc:m:mstsyvPRXe4_H5sOFU6hK2w

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## Ernest (29/6/16)

Pindyman said:


> @zadiac where are you ordering that from
> 
> @Ernest have you got any pics...the headphone jack for power source sounds intresting since I have tons of electronics laying around at home as a remnant from my modding days



Yes, but at home. Will add later. 
The headphone jack worked well firstly because the old pc had them and because I used an adjustable power supply with multiple jacks in various sizes.

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## kimbo (29/6/16)

I build one with old pc parts, its really helping alot

http://www.ecigssa.co.za/magnetic-stirrer-with-heat-diy.t21884/

Reactions: Like 2


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## Pindyman (29/6/16)

@zadiac if that heating mat is really R53 order one for me as well lol will eft cash to you


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## SAVaper (29/6/16)

Pindyman said:


> @zadiac if that heating mat is really R53 order one for me as well lol will eft cash to you



Let's do a group buy


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## Pindyman (29/6/16)

I'm Al for group buy lol 

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## Pindyman (1/7/16)

Morning gents

so I manage to find a tut on the exact stirrer I wanna make and it turns out that I have everything laying around except for a potentiometer....soooooo this is a plea for anyone that has an old fan speed controller laying around at home that they are not going to be using...


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## SAVaper (1/7/16)

Pindyman said:


> Morning gents
> 
> so I manage to find a tut on the exact stirrer I wanna make and it turns out that I have everything laying around except for a potentiometer....soooooo this is a plea for anyone that has an old fan speed controller laying around at home that they are not going to be using...




Talking about a fan speed controller, now that it is winter I noticed that one of the fan heaters is no longer heating. The fan is running and the heater is oscillating but no heat. It has two switches. One of those temp control knobs and one for fan speed.

Do you think any of them will work?


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## JW Flynn (1/7/16)

To be Honest, I also played around with this a while back, When I started out. It was more of a mission than anything else...

Sweet and short of it.... If you are going to attempt to mix anything higher VG than 70, you will not have success with a mag stirrer like the one you are trying to build.. The fluid is to thick and you end up having to heat the juice to try and mix it. and even then you can only do small amounts at a time... I ended up purchasing a blender that is dedicated to my juice making process... it works like a charm!!! 

You can try the mag stirrer and see how successful it is in your case, but I'm not recommending it to anyone soon...

Hope that helps, hehe

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## SAVaper (1/7/16)

JW Flynn said:


> To be Honest, I also played around with this a while back, When I started out. It was more of a mission than anything else...
> 
> Sweet and short of it.... If you are going to attempt to mix anything higher VG than 70, you will not have success with a mag stirrer like the one you are trying to build.. The fluid is to thick and you end up having to heat the juice to try and mix it. and even then you can only do small amounts at a time... I ended up purchasing a blender that is dedicated to my juice making process... it works like a charm!!!
> 
> ...



Did not think about that. Thanks for the input.


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## Pindyman (1/7/16)

JW Flynn said:


> To be Honest, I also played around with this a while back, When I started out. It was more of a mission than anything else...
> 
> Sweet and short of it.... If you are going to attempt to mix anything higher VG than 70, you will not have success with a mag stirrer like the one you are trying to build.. The fluid is to thick and you end up having to heat the juice to try and mix it. and even then you can only do small amounts at a time... I ended up purchasing a blender that is dedicated to my juice making process... it works like a charm!!!
> 
> ...


Thanks for the input....my mixes are only 70 vg so the mag stirrer will work well also....not planning on making bulk mixes max would probably 200ml at a time as I mix for myself not to sell...

The idea is the mag stirrer will be set too low and left for some time to allow molecules to bond effectively....a heating pad may be used to add some heat while stirrer is running...ps what fan did u use as the fans I have are kinda high spec and capable of running at 10 000 rpm

Will let u guys know how it turns out



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## Ernest (2/7/16)

JW Flynn said:


> To be Honest, I also played around with this a while back, When I started out. It was more of a mission than anything else...
> 
> Sweet and short of it.... If you are going to attempt to mix anything higher VG than 70, you will not have success with a mag stirrer like the one you are trying to build.. The fluid is to thick and you end up having to heat the juice to try and mix it. and even then you can only do small amounts at a time... I ended up purchasing a blender that is dedicated to my juice making process... it works like a charm!!!
> 
> ...




I only mix 70 Vg and high Vg juice, 100 ml at a time and never heat my juices. It works well at 12 volt with a smaller stirbar.

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## kimbo (2/7/16)

JW Flynn said:


> To be Honest, I also played around with this a while back, When I started out. It was more of a mission than anything else...
> 
> Sweet and short of it.... If you are going to attempt to mix anything higher VG than 70, you will not have success with a mag stirrer like the one you are trying to build.. The fluid is to thick and you end up having to heat the juice to try and mix it. and even then you can only do small amounts at a time... I ended up purchasing a blender that is dedicated to my juice making process... it works like a charm!!!
> 
> ...


Depend on the motor beneath the stirbar, mine is from a 120mm case fan and i mix 80/20 and it stirs even before the mix is on 30degrees

Reactions: Informative 1


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## JW Flynn (5/7/16)

kimbo said:


> Depend on the motor beneath the stirbar, mine is from a 120mm case fan and i mix 80/20 and it stirs even before the mix is on 30degrees


I had 3 different Case fans that I tried... No luck.

I then chopped up an old RC chopper and used the motor from that with a PWM regulator to adjust the speed. this worked a bit, but when I then started making batches of 300ml plus in a go (for one flavor) it no longer worked. not sufficiently anyway


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## kimbo (5/7/16)

JW Flynn said:


> I had 3 different Case fans that I tried... No luck.
> 
> I then chopped up an old RC chopper and used the motor from that with a PWM regulator to adjust the speed. this worked a bit, but when I then started making batches of 300ml plus in a go (for one flavor) it no longer worked. not sufficiently anyway


I have not mixed more than 100ml at a time and all was well for me

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## Spydro (1/8/16)

The route I took... let someone else make a magnetic stir plate for me. Ought to have it in about 10-14 days. Now to find a 4" X 6" (11mm X 15mm) USB/US AC heater pad for it that doesn't get over 40C-50C.

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## Bearshare (8/8/16)

Spydro said:


> The route I took... let someone else make a magnetic stir plate for me. Ought to have it in about 10-14 days. Now to find a 4" X 6" (11mm X 15mm) USB/US AC heater pad for it that doesn't get over 40C-50C.
> 
> View attachment 62443
> View attachment 62444
> View attachment 62445




what did it cost you bud


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## Spydro (8/8/16)

Bearshare said:


> what did it cost you bud



55USD shipped International.

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## Kungfubadge (21/8/16)

Hi all 
I have made a few of types of magnetic stirrers, added a few pics below.
I mix for the wife @Badgeress and myself ..... Well she creates the fluid I build the stuff 
The biggest prob we have found is mixing batches of 250ml or more the magnetic route just does not cut it as the stir bar gets thrown to one side. If the fluid is warm then it creates a great vortex but as the liquid cools the stir bars gets thrown again.
I added a Pot to help reduce the fan speed to give more control but to no avail, ideally you need to add a speed controller to really control the fan. The other issue I had was the balance of the fan which also added to the stir bar problem. 
I was also looking at changing to use a PC power supply so I could cook up different flavors all at the same time. Then to heat the fluid I was thinking of using a USB cup warmer again I could power it from a PC power supply.
In the end I went a totally different route using a geared DC RC motor at the top powered by a PC power supply added pic of this as well. It was a great project and kept me out of trouble for a few weeks still have 2 motors to add and some vent holes but that will have to wait as I have more important things to do next weekend like vapecon and playing with all the good stuff I get their

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## Bearshare (21/8/16)

What degrees are you heating at? 

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## Kungfubadge (21/8/16)

Bearshare said:


> What degrees are you heating at?
> 
> Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk


At the moment we are using a slow cooker, but once I have finished the new stir then 50 -60 degrees just enough to warm the fluid and no more. The USB cup warmer would have also got to about 50 ish depending one which one you get.


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## Kungfubadge (21/8/16)

Hi all 
On my travels in making a magnetic stirrer I came across this http://www.teklalabs.org/magnetic-stirrer/
Its a great design and walk through in making one.


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## Kungfubadge (21/8/16)

This look


zadiac said:


> I'm ordering this
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This looks great


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## Bearshare (21/8/16)

Kungfubadge said:


> At the moment we are using a slow cooker, but once I have finished the new stir then 50 -60 degrees just enough to warm the fluid and no more. The USB cup warmer would have also got to about 50 ish depending one which one you get.



thats high bro 35 degrees should be efficient

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## Kungfubadge (21/8/16)

Bearshare said:


> thats high bro 35 degrees should be efficient


Cool thanks for letting me know I will look into it, I will say it has not effected the brew yet they still taste great

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## Blu_Marlin (8/9/16)

My DIY mag stirrer took a slightly different route
It started off with this



And ended up with this



And the inbetween is something like this:
I found a rack of 24volt fans that we use to cool equipment housed in 19 inch racks. Salvaged one of the fans. The magnets, scavenged from the end caps of two LED torches that I got from FT a while back. The 1-30 volt variable PSU I built back in 2002 as part of a project and it still works beautifully. Downloaded the STL files for the base and fan mount from Thingverse. Modified the STL files it to fit the fan and magnets I had and printed it. Assembled and balanced the rotating components (almost like wheel balancing) and it now works perfectly. I just need to cover the fan and magnetic holder with some thin plexiglass. Although I still have to make a DIY recipe  I did use it to mix my 0mg and 3mg liquids to get to the 1.5mg that I vape on at the moment. This was my first try and I might give it another go and neaten up the build at a later stage if I feel like it.

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## Spydro (9/9/16)

I've had mine in hand long enough now to reply to the OP's question... did the magnetic stirrer help?

In the sense that it premixes the DIY thoroughly without adding excess oxidizing air into the mix, yes. 
In the sense that it ages the DIY faster than my UC, no, not even close (and the UC doesn't add excess air either).

I'll still play around with it, but I can produce far more liquid ready to vape in many different batches much faster in the UC, all at the same time together.

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## KZOR (9/9/16)

I have found that mixing for four hours cuts off a week of steep. Have to add that the mix is also heated to certain temperature beforehand.
I start stirring while heating with the hotplate till I see steam appear then I switch off the hotplate and stir a additional few hours.
Have not gone the ultrasonic route yet but this method is quick enough for me.
I mix 7 flavours and 6 of them is vape ready within 2 hours of making.

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## Rude Rudi (9/9/16)

KZOR said:


> I have found that mixing for four hours cuts off a week of steep. Have to add that the mix is also heated to certain temperature beforehand.
> I start stirring while heating with the hotplate till I see steam appear then I switch off the hotplate and stir a additional few hours.
> Have not gone the ultrasonic route yet but this method is quick enough for me.
> I mix 7 flavours and 6 of them is vape ready within 2 hours of making.
> View attachment 66954



Where did you get this bad boy? Cost?


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## SAVaper (9/9/16)

Ok so here is my experience....

Mixed some Grants Vanilla Custard. I would normally put this in the steeping cupboard for about 14 days.
I left it on the magnetic stirrer for around 48 hours straight and then in the cupboard for a day.
Came home Wednesday and my tank was empty. I had to run to my next commitment and I just grabbed something from the cupboard on my way out. Put it in the tank and vaped. Later I saw that it was the GVC. It was actually very nice. I would still leave it to steep for another 2 or 3 days just to smooth it out, but I was actually amazed by the vape especially because it is a custard.

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## Junior (13/11/16)

JW Flynn said:


> To be Honest, I also played around with this a while back, When I started out. It was more of a mission than anything else...
> 
> Sweet and short of it.... If you are going to attempt to mix anything higher VG than 70, you will not have success with a mag stirrer like the one you are trying to build.. The fluid is to thick and you end up having to heat the juice to try and mix it. and even then you can only do small amounts at a time... I ended up purchasing a blender that is dedicated to my juice making process... it works like a charm!!!
> 
> ...


I had the same problem! Very frustrating. Got a milk frother instead, barepy gets the job done (I mix max VG) im either gonna get a blender or a drill.

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