Help me design an SPP autocut sensor please!

If it plugs in, post it here.

Moderator: Site Moderator

Post Reply
User avatar
BigSwede
Rumrunner
Posts: 674
Joined: Thu Feb 06, 2014 10:36 am

Help me design an SPP autocut sensor please!

Post by BigSwede »

From this thread: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 50&t=49704

I'd love some input on how to create a sensor that will automatically actuate a cutter for my SPP machine. I have DC input SSRs, two potent 120VAC solenoids to provide the muscle.

Basic option 1: SPP coil contacts a leaf spring, completes 12VDC circuit. SSR actuates, solenoid closes, cut. SPP falls, opens circuit which resets. Would a MOSFET or transistor or maybe added capacitance help with potential hysteresis or chattering?

Option 2: Photodiode, phototransistor. Again, hysteresis or chattering makes me nervous.

Hall effect wont work with stainless. An inductive proximity sensor?

I KNOW there are smart guys out there who could make short work of this. I understand schematics and general basic electronics. Thanks! :thumbup:
User avatar
Edwin Croissant
Swill Maker
Posts: 256
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 5:11 am
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Help me design an SPP autocut sensor please!

Post by Edwin Croissant »

  • A counter that gives a pulse after the desired amount of revolutions is reach.
  • If the winding speed is constant a simple timer will do the same.
I wouldn't try to measure anything at the business end of you machine. To much risk in clogging imho.

By the way, great machine you are building, I love it :thumbup:
"In all affairs, it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.”
Bertrand Russell
User avatar
skow69
Master of Distillation
Posts: 3230
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2011 3:03 am
Location: Cascadia

Re: Help me design an SPP autocut sensor please!

Post by skow69 »

How 'bout a timer? Make a 555 oscilator ckt and use a potentiometer for the resistors so it is easily adjustible.
Distilling at 110f and 75 torr.
I'm not an absinthe snob, I'm The Absinthe Nazi. "NO ABSINTHE FOR YOU!"
User avatar
skow69
Master of Distillation
Posts: 3230
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2011 3:03 am
Location: Cascadia

Re: Help me design an SPP autocut sensor please!

Post by skow69 »

Have you seen Dog's Master's solution?
the machine for SPP making (1).jpg
The wheel with magnet is belt-driven off of the drill motor which holds the mandril. There is a magnet glued to the backside of the wheel that actuates a magnetic switch once per revolution. You could do it with a microswitch and a cam (or a screw sticking out of the wheel). Clank...clank...clank.
Distilling at 110f and 75 torr.
I'm not an absinthe snob, I'm The Absinthe Nazi. "NO ABSINTHE FOR YOU!"
User avatar
BigSwede
Rumrunner
Posts: 674
Joined: Thu Feb 06, 2014 10:36 am

Re: Help me design an SPP autocut sensor please!

Post by BigSwede »

skow69 wrote:Have you seen Dog's Master's solution?
The wheel with magnet is belt-driven off of the drill motor which holds the mandril. There is a magnet glued to the backside of the wheel that actuates a magnetic switch once per revolution. You could do it with a microswitch and a cam (or a screw sticking out of the wheel). Clank...clank...clank.
Hey, that is clever as hell, would be easy. You could create a variable system by mounting different numbers of magnets on maybe 3 or 4 different radii, having a drive pulley with 3 or 4 sheaves. Move the belt between them, and also move the magnet so the hall is actuated in a variable number per rev of the big wheel. Kind of a vernier system.

Most of the SPP I've done is near 10 to 14 turns, so a little math would give the answer.

Skow, Edwin, I agree that a bit of Digital circuitry, or a timer, would be best and most accurate. What I'd ideally like to come up with is something anyone can make. But a mechanical wheel with a hall sensor is every bit as complex as a 555 circuit or similar.

Since this sort of thing is most likely run on a drill press, simply sticking a magnet on the drill chuck could also actuate a hall device, but there'd have to be supporting circuitry to execute a cut every X revolutions.

A gear to gear the magnet down? Lot to think about, I am 35 hours without sleep, plus a little liquor, my brain is not running well right now. :econfused:
Post Reply