DIY Stir Plate

Short story: I made a stir plate.

Longer story:

Of course I needed a stir plate if I wanted to be an excellent homebrewer, or maybe it was just because someone gave me a 110v Hofmann Engr. fan. Of course I was going to make it myself, in the spirit of homebrewing, DIY all the way, or something. First, it was great I could just plug it into the wall. I needed an enclosure, I could have just bought one from RadioShack, but that would have been too easy. I started by trying to use some scrap polycarbonate to make a box. After a while of cutting, with much effort, I tried to drill some pilot holes. Wow, that was incredibly difficult and to be honest the box was wonky. The scrap was still scrap and I lost a few hours of time. Then I bought a project box. Then I returned the box project. Happenstance! is awesome.  It was perfect. I found a near empty First Aid kit. I then ordered some rare earth magnets from Hong Kong.  Then after a few trips to all the hardware stores near my house and buying and returning different fan controls I was set to go. I should mention that I found the bolts, washers, adhesive and the only rotary fan control (not just three speeds and the least expensive) at my local Do-It Best.


I then set everything into place and soldered it in and used some silicon on the nuts so they wouldn't move from all the vibrations. I plugged it in. I set it up wrong. Short Circuit. Working in old house, wire inside wall actually breaks. etc etc. Needless to say I fixed it and it now works.