Papercreters: [papercreters] Re: Baffling -was- Heat curing

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

[papercreters] Re: Baffling -was- Heat curing

Once again, Slurryman, you've come to the rescue! Do you wear a cape? I am referring to your comment to Ron about not having a baffle on the inside of the tow mixer tank. I was going to put one on each side of the tank, but had kinda forgotten about it til you mentioned it. My mix swirls fast and as a result I'm thinking takes longer to pulp the heavy cardboard that I'm using. I'm also going to make a 1/8" steel plate the diameter of the cutting blade and weld some vertical cutters that will come within a half inch of the main blade and bolt this to the bottom of my tank. I've noticed that the bottom of the tank is wearing smooth where the cardboard swirls around with the blade till it finally gets cut up. The tank bottom is not all that thick to begin with and if the vertical cutters don't work as planned, I can always cut them out and the bottom of the tank will still be protected. I'll let you know how it plays out.

The Outback Man

--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "slurryguy" <slurryguy@...> wrote:
>
> Ron:
>
> After reading your post, I went and looked through the photos section of your mixer again. I don't see a shot of your completed mixer. I also don't see a shot of any baffles inside your mixer.
>
> If your mixer has no baffles inside, the slurry will tend to swirl around the entire tank and not get chopped up as efficiently as it normally would. You want the blade to be slicing through the slurry, not spinning it around like a whirlpool.
>
> Some amount of vortex is good to help mix all the ingredients evenly, but too much swirl isn't a good thing. As with most things in life... it's all about balancing things.
>
> Baffles might be the answer for you. By installing some kind of boards or metal slats on the sides of the tank, you can prevent the entire batch of slurry from swirling around as much. This will help the blade chop up all the paper better.
>
> Also... baffles can help prevent the slurry from flying round too fast and slopping out the sides of the tank when it is being mixed.
>
> Food for thought.
>
>
> --- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, Ron Richter <ronerichter@> wrote:
> >
> > Donald,
> > You may be right about the particle size and strength. However, it is possible this is a detriment as maybe the cement can not get to all the fibers.
> >
> > My main objection is the added process and time you mentioned "If soaked thoroughly it pulps well in a McCain style tow mixer,just takes longer than newprint". I soaked that load 2 days before making it, and had to make an "extra round" with the tow mixer to get it pulped enough to put the cement in. When time is money and you are in a hurry to get 'er done this is an unnecessary process. Also, even with the cardboard fully soaked I had it wrap around the center of my towmixer axle and slowed me down in the truck. Even backing up occasionally to clear the blade did no good I had to physically rip some of it off by hand before it all pulped well.
> >
> > Makes me sick too, because there are pallets of cardboard free for the taking stacked right outside the grocery store, not the case with newsprint.
> >
> > Ron
> >
>