Saturday, August 26
Processor nearing completion
I spent the last two days doing some serious wrenching and fabrication on the processor, including building the supports, most of the plumbing, and planning for substantial additions to the base Appleseed processor (more on this later). After two long days, seriously sore muscles, and several cuts and trips to Home Depot, the processor is nearly ready to launch. I also acquired 210 pounds of virgin vegetable oil at GFS for $.40 per pound, which I think is about $2.40 per gallon. That will be my first batch, so I can both measure the oil going in with accuracy, and also will remove any issues of titration. Add to that the 74 gallons of filtered oil in my driveway, and I have enough fuel to get through the next 3 months.
But, back to fabrication. I had to work through several challenges, not a few of which were caused by some errors in assembly -- including two valves I put on, only to realize afterwards that operating the valve would obscure a fitting that I planned to fill with a pipe within the hour. Oops! I decided to put the processor and two wash tanks on the same platform, but picked up a second pump at Harbor Freight so that I can filter my oil to 5 microns without introducing glycerin back into the equation.
Now for the extras that are adding to the fabrication:
>> Making an attractive layout that I can show to the press, schools, whatever
>> Processor and oil tanks mounted on narrow pallets (skids) that fit alongside my garage
>> Mounting the skids on heavy-duty wheels so they can be moved and re-arranged
>> Securing the processor components to keep them sealed and safe, while still moveable
>> Fabrication of a 4 foot wrench, enabling me to add bottom drains and stand pipes to (free) closed-head plastic drums
>> Control panel with sealed weatherproof switches and grounding
>> Painting for weatherproofing of the iron fittings and drums
>> Changing appleseed design to use 1" pipe and valves to maximize throughput, and use cheap valves
This last is the most significant change, since it means that the parts list that is provided with Girl Mark's Biodiesel manual is invalid. You wouldn't think that it would be that big an impact, but it was huge... I had to make 3 trips to Home Depot in the past 3 days, and the last two were to pickup fittings I hadn't anticipated.
I'm pretty excited about the 4 foot wrench that I finally figured out how to fabricate, namely because it should let me readily add fittings to the bottom of closed-head plastic drums I get free from carwashes. If it works, it will means that I can make tanks for oil settling and dewatering, washing, settling, and storage, for about $2 per drum. OK, the wrench cost me $28 in components to fabricate, but that's pretty cheap once spread across dozens of drums.
It still has some rough edges, and I'm having difficulty keeping the fitting from falling out of the wrench when I insert it into the drum, so it's far from complete. However, I did install two fittings tonight with it. The first was a failure, due to
glue issues that messed up the male fitting that I'd screwed into the hole from the bottom, but should still provide a bottom drain. The standpipe I installed looks solid, and I'll see tomorrow if they hold water. Once I confirm that it works, I'll post pictures and details on this blog.
But, back to fabrication. I had to work through several challenges, not a few of which were caused by some errors in assembly -- including two valves I put on, only to realize afterwards that operating the valve would obscure a fitting that I planned to fill with a pipe within the hour. Oops! I decided to put the processor and two wash tanks on the same platform, but picked up a second pump at Harbor Freight so that I can filter my oil to 5 microns without introducing glycerin back into the equation.
Now for the extras that are adding to the fabrication:
>> Making an attractive layout that I can show to the press, schools, whatever
>> Processor and oil tanks mounted on narrow pallets (skids) that fit alongside my garage
>> Mounting the skids on heavy-duty wheels so they can be moved and re-arranged
>> Securing the processor components to keep them sealed and safe, while still moveable
>> Fabrication of a 4 foot wrench, enabling me to add bottom drains and stand pipes to (free) closed-head plastic drums
>> Control panel with sealed weatherproof switches and grounding
>> Painting for weatherproofing of the iron fittings and drums
>> Changing appleseed design to use 1" pipe and valves to maximize throughput, and use cheap valves
This last is the most significant change, since it means that the parts list that is provided with Girl Mark's Biodiesel manual is invalid. You wouldn't think that it would be that big an impact, but it was huge... I had to make 3 trips to Home Depot in the past 3 days, and the last two were to pickup fittings I hadn't anticipated.
I'm pretty excited about the 4 foot wrench that I finally figured out how to fabricate, namely because it should let me readily add fittings to the bottom of closed-head plastic drums I get free from carwashes. If it works, it will means that I can make tanks for oil settling and dewatering, washing, settling, and storage, for about $2 per drum. OK, the wrench cost me $28 in components to fabricate, but that's pretty cheap once spread across dozens of drums.
It still has some rough edges, and I'm having difficulty keeping the fitting from falling out of the wrench when I insert it into the drum, so it's far from complete. However, I did install two fittings tonight with it. The first was a failure, due to
glue issues that messed up the male fitting that I'd screwed into the hole from the bottom, but should still provide a bottom drain. The standpipe I installed looks solid, and I'll see tomorrow if they hold water. Once I confirm that it works, I'll post pictures and details on this blog.
