KITCHEN STIRRING CRANE

Greetings to all,

I am a foodie and love hot soups, gravy, custard and more, but for that either my wife or I am spending a lot of time stirring or whisking for hours. I wanted to take it as a challenge, to make a cost effective design, which is scalable, not mounted above the vessel or taking huge floor / kitchen platform space and does not require us to handle it or supervise. So I have designed and printed a concept, which works great, it gives a motion like with a Spirograph. The design has many components and would require a large printer (12 inch x 12 inch x 12 inch print capacity). The design is only for stirring, mixing or whisking liquids like soups, gravy, custard and not for really thick fluid or solids (if you want to use for it, you will require to make the design stronger and have a heavy motor) I am using two geared motors. Gear ratio of 15:1 for whisk and gear ratio of 100:1 for mechanism, both are rated 6 - 12 V. AC to DC adapter, connecting pin, wire, Switches and potentiometer (variable resister rheostat) to connect and control motor (refer attached pictures). A spring which I got from old broken umbrella and a bearing from figit spinner is also used. I am not sure if you can get the parts (motor, switches, others) just like I have used, so for that you have to customize this design. Note: It is essential to have some weight on the machine base, like I have glass of water (have a bigger and heavier glass). The height adjustment should be done on the vertical links, the 3D printed screw on the base is for minor adjustment (0 to 1 inch). Use a light weight whisk. Please refer attached 3D assembly STL file, feel free to contact me if you need help.

Gear ratio of 15:1 for whisk and gear ratio of 100:1 for mechanism, both are rated 6 - 12 V. AC to DC adapter 12 V, connecting pin, wire, 2 Switches and 2 potentiometer (variable resister rheostat) to connect and control motor (refer attached pictures). A spring which I got from old broken umbrella and a bearing from figit spinner is also used.

I am using two geared motors. Gear ratio of 15:1 for whisk and gear ratio of 100:1 for mechanism, both are rated 6 - 12 V. AC to DC adapter 12 V, connecting pin, wire, 2 Switches and 2 potentiometer (variable resister rheostat) to connect and control motor (refer attached pictures). A spring which I got from old broken umbrella and a bearing from figit spinner is also used. I am not sure if you can get the parts (motor, switches, others) just like I have used, so for that you have to customize this design.

The design has many components and would require a large printer (12 inch x 12 inch x 12 inch print capacity). The design is only for stirring, mixing or whisking liquids like soups, gravy, custard and not for really thick fluid or solids (if you want to use for it, you will require to make the design stronger and have a heavy motor)

I have used PLA, but ABS is better.0.1 to 0.2 mm layer height. All parts 100% infill (solid) especially gear parts, exception the long links and whisk motor mount should be 1 to 2 mm shell thickness and 20% infill, to keep it as light as possible.

First do the wiring, for wiring connections, see the picture attached. Then do assembly of the gear mechanism, and run it, finally assemble all the parts as shown in the 3D assembly file.

Note: It is essential to have some weight on the machine base, like I have glass of water (have a bigger and heavier glass). The height adjustment should be done on the vertical links, the 3D printed screw on the base is for minor adjustment (0 to 1 inch). Use a light weight whisk.

Test your wiring before you do final assembly, see your motors are running and you are able to control the speed.

The designed model gives a motion like with a Spirograph. (refer attached sketch)

As mentioned earlier, please use a light whisk and a counter weight behind.

To set it up so that it works for the vessel you are going to use

1) set up the height, use links and black pins to do major height change, for fine height adjustment use the black knob at the base, the small screw / bolt in the front of the base is just to maintain distance from vessel, so that you avoid bringing too close to vessel

2) set up the range of motion, with the assembly as shown in the 3D model, you will get maximum range, at this point run the machine and see what is the maximum diameter range (you might get different result if you have scaled the model or the links), this will provide you idea of where you have to place this machine on your counter / platform. Now remove the two black pins on both sides at the junction of the arm and skip a hole on the links as shown in the sketch.