Processor build step by step

This page is Work In Progress and therefore may not be complete.

There are a number of ways you can get hold of, or make a tank. This page describes how a tank can be made using a 44 gallon drum and a home made come.

Cone and Drum

Welding Considerations

Setting, Wire and Gas

Welding thin metal is much harder than welding thick chucks of framework. If you have limited experience welding thin steel (like the author) then practice of some offcuts and make sure you can get a smart weld. If it looks tidy and flat then it is far more likely to seal. If the welding isn't going well then there is something wrong, don't keep piling on the weld as it is very unlikely to seal. Try any of the following:

changing the power setting

Changing the feed rate

Make sure there is enough shield gas

Cleaning out the end of the gun

Changing the tip.

Check you are using an appropriate wire thickness.

Check you are using an appropriate shield gas.

The cone in this article was welded with 0.8mm wire and a CO[sup]5[/sup] shield gas. It was not easy! It was a miracle that it didn't leak. The better combination was 0.6mm wire and a proportion of argon gas. The author used 100% argon although other might recommend a mix. The exact gas is outside of the scope of this article.

Geometry

It was initially thought that a fillet weld was a good idea as in the illustration below. However advice from the forum and experience while tacking the cone to the drum both proved this was a bad idea.

A butt welded joint is neat if you can pull it off. It is a very difficult joint to get right as the two sheets of metal need to meet all the way along the joint with no significant gap. With a joint like this it is very easy to make holes. It is recommended that you don't do this unless you are experienced in welding.

A lap joint is by far the easiest joint to go with. The cone in the this article was attached to the barrel with a welded lap joint. It was easily done and sealed well (only 3 minor leaks). This joint is easily done as there is more material to disperse the heat (hence harder to make holes) and its much easier to get the two sheets close together with no gaps (just hammer then together).

• Welded joints
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  The Barrel when it was bought, the membrane was not in place, the clip was included but not photographed.

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  Cut the bottom off the barrel leaving a little of the curved edge intact. This will mean the cone needs less shaping (hammering) to fit the profile of the barrel.

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  Remove all of the paint from the area where welding will take place. It might be a good idea to remove paint from the inside surface too, as the gasses released from the burning paint can interfere with the welding.

Preparing the Barrel

Steel Barrels have either a solid top with a small cap or a fully removable lid with a band around the top to seal it. This depends on what the barrel was originally intended to do. Most liquids usually have a small cap with the clip top barrels typically used for powder products. Both are readily available. The barrel pictured here originally contained fruit juice but had a membrane inside so a "clip top" barrel was used. This barrel cost the author £10 and as a result of the membrane has no corrosion inside.

• 

  The Barrel when it was bought, the membrane was not in place, the clip was included but not photographed.

• 

  Cut the bottom off the barrel leaving a little of the curved edge intact. This will mean the cone needs less shaping (hammering) to fit the profile of the barrel.

• 

  Remove all of the paint from the area where welding will take place. It might be a good idea to remove paint from the inside surface too, as the gasses released from the burning paint can interfere with the welding.

Preparing the cone

This section is brief as there is a wiki page specifically for making a cone. If you are using this write-up and making your own processor tank you will need to visit the following page for the specifics on making a cone:

http://www.biopowered.co.uk/wiki/Cone_bottoms_for_tanks

It is worth considering these extra points in addition to the information found in the cone wiki page:

The barrel is made from 0.8mm sheet steel so it would be sensible to find some sheet of the same thickness for making the cone.

It might be worth adding a tab to the straight edge of the cone to help with welding it up.

There is no harm in making the cone bigger than it has to be and trimming it back later. In fact this is important to the welding method used in this write up.

Leave the hole in the middle of the cone smaller than you intend, until the cone is welded up. You might have the right size hole as per the calculations, but it is easy to make that hole the wrong the shape when you're bending the cone to shape and welding.

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  After much looking around for sheet steel it was decided the back of this cupboard was suitable so it was marked up and cut out.

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  The cone was welded on the inside and the outside to give a better chance of sealing.

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  Once the cone is welded up, cut the hole in the bottom of the cone to the right size. You can carefully use a hole saw or a dye grinder. Then weld the nipple in place. The size of the nipple depends on your choice of pump.

With a suitable size ball valve fitted you can mount the assembly in a vice, add water and check for leaks. You will need to check for leaks after attaching the cone to the barrel, however it is a good idea to check the cone at this point as it is much easier to repair when not attached to the barrel.

Welding a cone to a drum.

It is far easier to weld a lap joint than try to lay a fillet considering the gauge of the drum.

You will need 0.6mm wire and a proper shield gas that is suitable for shallow penatration, Co2 isn't really good enough.

Fit the cone on the drum and tack the lap joint every 6 inch, close down any gaps between the cone and drum wall, grind flush all tacks.

Lay the drum on its side and weld in a downward direction between the 10 and 20 past position. You'll have to get the weld speed, amps and wire feed just right so a bit of practice will be needed before you weld in anger.

Grind back flush the last 15-20mm of each section of weld and start the next section on top of it, when you get to the last run of weld grind both ends flush so you start and finish over the existing welds.

Paint ground off the cut edge

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