Figure 1
Figure 1
This drill powered stirrer stand can be used to stir water in most containers which have a capacity between 1 and 128 liters or quarts.
| 5 - 1 ¼ inch PVC elbows | $1.09 | $4.36 |
| 2 - 1 ¼ inch PVC tees | $1.19 | $3.57 |
| 1 - 1 ¼ by 10 foot PVC pipe | $3.29 | $3.29 |
| 2 - 4 inch diameter hose clamps | $1.09 | $2.18 |
| 1 Hyde (43460) plastic paint mixer | $2.69 | $2.69 |
| 1 can of PVC cement | $2.29 | $2.29 |
| Total | $18.38 |
3 - 8.625" pieces
1 - 19" piece
2 - 20" pieces
About 35 inches of pipe will remain. This remaining piece will be the upright.
Cut one of the PVC tees in half length wise so that it looks like the piece on the left end of the assembly illustrated in Figure 2 below:
Figure 2
The tee on the right end of this assembly will need to be reamed out along its long axis so that it will slide with slight friction over the longest piece of PVC pipe. A view into this reamed tee is shown in Figure 3 below:
Figure 3
Drill a 5/16 inch bolt hole through the reamed tee in line perpendicular to the bar of the tee and in line with the center of the third leg of the tee as illustrated in Figure 4 below:
Figure 4
Pre-assemble the movable drill holder arm so that it looks like Figure 2 above--without gluing it. If everything fits together right you can glue and assemble the drill holder arm. Apply the solvent glue evenly to all surfaces which will be glued together. This would be the outside of each end of one of the 8 5/8 (8.625) inch pipe pieces and to the inside of the middle leg of each tee. Assemble these three pieces so that both tee cross bars will lay flat on a table when the glue hardens as shown in Figure 2.
Now it is time to complete the frame and upright. Take the remaining tee and insert the two remaining 8 5/8 (8.625) inch pipe pieces into each end of the cross bar. If they fit they can be glued in at this time.
The longest piece of pipe will serve as the upright. This pipe should have one row of holes drilled in it every two inches of its length. These holes allow the drill holder arm to be fixed in place as it is adjusted up and down on the upright pipe. These holes should be drilled with a 3/16 inch bit and tapped with a 1/4 inch tap.
When the holes are finished, the upright should be glued into the remaining third leg of the tee that was just assembled. When this upright assembly is laying flat the threaded holes should point straight up. Do not glue this to the drill holder arm.
Take the two 20 inch sections of PVC pipe and glue a PVC elbow on each end so that the remaining open ends of the elbows are both pointing in the same direction. It will help to do this on a flat table (with newspapers to protect the surface of the table) so that you can make sure that both elbows lay down flat.
Lay your upright assembly with the threaded holes pointing down. About 20 inches from and parallel to the cross bar of the upright assembly tee lay the remaining 19 inch section of PVC pipe. Lay both 20 inch sections (with elbows) so that they complete a rectangle with the 19 inch pipe and the upright tee.
Pre-assemble these pieces without glue so that you know that everything will fit together right. When assembled the upright should be vertical and should be at a right angle to the surface of the assembly table. Since the glue will set up quite rapidly you will only get one chance to fit these final parts together before the glue sets and everything must go together just right. It would not hurt to have someone help you hold the upright perpendicular to the table while you are gluing the remaining pieces together.
After final glue assembly it is time to place the drill holder arm down on the upright and adjust it so that it is four to six inches above the top of whatever container you will use. Once this arm is where you want it, insert a 1/4 inch bolt through the hole in the tee and screw it into one of the threaded holes in the upright.
Insert the stirring paddle into a variable speed drill and attach the drill to the tee that you cut in half on the drill support arm using two 4 inch hose clamps. Refer to Figure 1.
If you wish to make the upright shorter in order to store it more compactly you can still use this stand with large containers by setting it on top of the container and adjusting the drill holder arm down as low as it will go. See Figure 5 below:
Figure 5
You can use a third hose clamp to compress the trigger
on the drill if it does not have other provisions to adjust speed. The
drill speed should be fairly slow to keep the paddle from whipping about.
