My First Build

[danser75]

Well guys, I have received my plates finally (at the cost of an arm). They are 6x6 with 1x1 tabs on opposite corners. They are 316L SS.

So I went and bought the other stuff I needed.

Then I spent 1.5 hours cutting rubber mat. It was easy at first but after a while that job really sucks. But now I have 18 6x6 rubber gaskets, 1/2 inch wide. some aren't so perfect, but I did what I could.

This weekend I am going to use a friend of mines cnc machine to drill the cutting boards. I want them to come out right and don't feel like using the drill press for the 108 holes and trying to get them perfect.

I have some pics But they are over the limits of the forum. Sorry guys. The pics are about 100 kb each. I will take more later at lowered resolution if you want to see it. I know this is not a big amazing unit but I quite proud of it.

[lhazleton]

Good to see you're making progress!
For your endplates, why in Gods name do you need 108 holes? 54 bolts?
And yes, cutting the gaskets really does suck. Seems like you keep cutting and it never ends.
To post pictures, merely open them in "paint" or a similar program and reduce them to a size that is usable here. Photos are the most important of the build!

[madman]

Well guys, I have received my plates finally (at the cost of an arm). They are 6x6 with 1x1 tabs on opposite corners. They are 316L SS.

So I went and bought the other stuff I needed.

Then I spent 1.5 hours cutting rubber mat. It was easy at first but after a while that job really sucks. But now I have 18 6x6 rubber gaskets, 1/2 inch wide. some aren't so perfect, but I did what I could.

This weekend I am going to use a friend of mines cnc machine to drill the cutting boards. I want them to come out right and don't feel like using the drill press for the 108 holes and trying to get them perfect.

I have some pics But they are over the limits of the forum. Sorry guys. The pics are about 100 kb each. I will take more later at lowered resolution if you want to see it. I know this is not a big amazing unit but I quite proud of it.

108 holes??? If you are still going with 6 seperate reactors with 2 endplates that is 12. If you are porting on both sides 1 in and 1 out that is only 48 holes.

[danser75]

I was wrong about the hole count. Its actually going to be 120 holes in 9 plates. I am using 12 bolts per cell and then there will be 2 cells with a solid cutting board between them. So they will be back to back. The rest the holes are for the hose connections. I have decided to go ahead and build the multicell and see what happens. I am excited to play around and see what works best. Of coarse first I have to get the plates conditioned. Oh joy. Its like when I got a new r/c car at christmas but my parents didn't charge the battery. I want to play with it but its not ready yet.

But in the long run i know its for the best. Otherwise I wont produce nearly what I could.

Also I am wondering what happens if you go less than a half inch on the gaskets? I know they would have to be perfectly lined up, But could I go with say a 1/4 in.? Just curious.

[lhazleton]

First off, you mentioned cutting holes in the plates. You're planing on the bolts going through the plates? If it's not too late, change the design so that the endplates are 2" larger than the plates an put all of the bolts outside of the plates. This will help any leakage problem.
Also, you don't need cutting board in between the 2 cell stacks. Just use a solid (no holes at all) plate with positive connectors. For example, mine is set up (cutting board -NNNNNN+NNNNNN- cutting board).
If you go with less than half an inch gaskets, you'll be kicking yourself in the a$$ when you have to tear it all apart and cut all new ones.

[danser75]

I am cutting holes in the cutting boards. We need a technical name for them so we can avoid confusion and extra typing.

I would love to use the same plate in the middle between the cells, Except I ordered all but 2 SS plates with 2 holes each in the middle. I did that so that I can build both a normal dry cell and the multicell out of the same SS plates. I want to be able to play with and test their outputs and power usage.

And the cutting boards will be 8x8 but the SS plates are made with tabs which transfer power to the rest the SS plate and along the line those fall on is the line I am bolting with. The SS plates are square with a square in each opposite corner x2.

I am going to work on getting my pics scaled down so I will try to have pics up today so you can see it.

But keep in mind the setup I am using for the multicell is: (+,N/N,N) (N,N/N,N) (N,N/N,-) The neutrals with a slash between then are going to be back to back and bolted together through the cutting board to allow the power to transition from one to the next but not the electrolyte.

Then the normal cell for test will be +nnnnn-

[danser75]

Well I have gone 2 tanks of fuel in my car and come up with the beginning base line for my car with no modifications just a normal tune up.

beginning mileage was 140537
Gasoline added 12.657
Ending mileage 140850
MPG (this was all mainly highway driving around 65 mph) 24.6 mpg

gasoline added 13.761
ending mileage 141127
MPG (City mainly, errands and to and from work) 20.1

This is BEFORE the setup is added to my car. I have not yet cut the plastic plates. I did passivate the plates yesterday. I couldn't afford to have them media blasted. But I did use an extra coarse wire brush attachment for the drill on them. I know its about the same as sanding but I will media blast in the future just running tight on money.

I passivated my plates first by cleaning then with degreaser and then with 70% isopropal alcohol then put gloves on and used 1/4 inch bolts through the power tabs and after sliding each plate on I fed a nut between them to keep an even spacing between the plates. I used the oven to keep it between 150-160 f. in a 10% by weight citric acid/ water mix. I used the oven to heat it up and keep it heated. I got everything up to temp. then started the timer for 45 minutes. After that I took them out and rinsed with gloves on and disassembled the bolts and nuts separating them.

I listed the steps for passivation I used for both suggestions of another way to do it and to give others an idea of the processes.