I've been on this forum for about 2 weeks now and I have yet to see anyone using a cell built like mine, so I figured it was time to throw it out there for comments/suggestions/etc. Here you go, tell me what you think.
Pics are not an option right this minute...my digicam has issues. I can try to explain my cell design but it's a little unorthodox. It uses 24 SS switch covers, cut in half long ways to make 48 plates that are approx. 5"x1.5" in size. The plates are arranged in two layers of 24. I've come to realize that I have far more surface area in this cell than I can effectively make use of....the plates will handle much more current than heat buildup will allow. You could probably use 12 covers (24 electrodes) and do just as well with a smaller cell. The plates are laid out in a radial pattern, which is probably a big surprise to some of you guys. There is a piece of 3/4" PVC for a support core run straight down the center, with the plates radiating out from it like spokes on a wheel. The plates lay with the long cut edge against the core. 3/4" PVC unions with slots in the ends hold the plates in place, the unions are secured to the core with regular PVC cement. Friction holds the plates in the slots during assembly, once the cell is in it's housing there is simply not enough clearance for them to fall out of place.
The top outer corners of the plates have 1/8" holes drilled in them, and short SS bolts and nuts are used to hold the supply wiring against the plates. The electrical configuration uses 3+, 3-, and 18n plates per layer. The config is essentially 6 +nnn- cells in parallel, per layer. Both sides of all the electrodes are productive surfaces (720 square inches in my 2-layer cell,) which is why I chose to try this layout, and the whole assembly slides into a 4" PVC tube 15" long with about 2" to spare. A single layer cell this style would be around 10" and provide 360sq.in. of productive surface area.
My electrolyte is NaOH (lye crystals) at about 7.5mL/gal.
Edit: To clarify on the electrical layout, the + and - plates are shared, so the layout is
+nnn-nnn+nnn-nnn+nnn-nnn+, with the first and last + being two sides of the same plate. It's hard to illustrate a circular layout in text format.