Torsion Viscometer

Christmas 2022 I received a Voxlabe Aquila X2 3D printer from my family. One of my hobbies is making ceramic pottery for family and friends. Having a 3D printer means I can design my own tools to use with my Hobby ceramics. I've never done any 3D printing or using any CAD software in the past I have done many different printing processes. One area I specifically specialised in was ceramic silkscreen printing. This did give me an. advantage as in the past I was always using different types of machinery from hand printing machines to fully automated and there are settings on these machines were very similar to 3D printing.

You can buy ceramic glazes in powder form and in ready mixed brush on glaze

I wanted something where I could measure the viscosity using a laboratory instrument as with anything like this t.ype of equipment can be very expensive

I decided to use my 3D printer to make a fully working Torsional viscometer. The viscometer is very accurate and every part can be replaced and upgraded.

Parts not printed consist of :-

Purchased from eBay

1. Stainless steel shaft.

1. Perspex tube.

1. Flywheel Top stainless Stainless steel disc.

1. Sample cup small stainless steel disc.

1. Small disc in the base.

Thumb screws bolts. (Brass - stainless steel)

1. 30swg torsion viscometer wire (This has been made in house - wire ends are designed to be reused)

Printed parts:-

2. Support brackets ..................... (Hold the Perspex wire guard tube)

1. Scale gauge bracket ................ (Hold the printed vinyl scale)

1. Sample holder bracket ............. (Allows the sample to be held in position)

1. Sample stop .............................. (This stop allows you to set the sample bracket height)

1. Main base .................................. (The main base has 3 micro adjustable levelling)

1.wire holder .................................. (Special wire holder bracket with micro adjustment)

1.Adapter ring ................................ (This was added so you could use a commercial spring wire)

1.Sliding centring wire guard ........ (This allows you to slide section of the wire guard to assist in levelling)

1.Flywheel ...................................... (Customisable can add stainless steel weight discs, brass locking screw for securing bobs)

1.Flywheel locking mechanism ...... (Fully adjustable indicator pointer locking holder)

2.Accessory trays .......................... (designed to locate on the side of the main base to store any Allen keys and also bobs

1.Waterproof vinyl gauge............... (can also be used with removable logging dial)

I decided to build a 3D printed Torsion Viscometer to do some experiments with my hobby pottery glazes. I designed each part in Design Spark Mechanical CAD software . For the vertical frame. I used copper tubing as I had this lying around in a scrap bin. (This has been replaced with a stainless steel round bar held in place with two 3D printed brackets)

Features

Levelling:-

The instrument has 3 brass levelling adjusters (The printed base has double brass inserts holding each of the thumb brass micro levelling adjusters )

Wire adjustment zero calibrating:- (The top wire housing holder has an adjustment ring which you use to turn the flywheel pointer to calibrate to the zero mark on the scale. This is then locked in place with two thumb locking screws.

Cable guard Alignment viewer:- (This is located at the end of the Perspex wire guard the function is to allow you easy access to connect the wire to the flywheel and gives you a visual aid on aligning the instruments flywheel .When the instrument is level and the dial indicator is reading zero on the gauge you slide down the cover and lock in place with a thumb screws .

Sample Bob:- (Installing and changing the sample Bob is done by using a brass thumbscrew

Sample cup Holder:- The sample cup holder has been designed so the sample can be raised Vertical and locked into place with a thumbscrew .There is also an additional locking ring stop this is used so you can adjust the height of the sample cupholder this allows more flexibility when positioning your sample.

The base has micro levelling adjusters, full wire guard with an adjustment slide cover . The flywheel has being designed to allow additional weights. From a 1 mm thick to 3 mm thick stainless steel discs which are held in place by some tiny magnets mounted in the top part of the flywheel. The wire guard is made from Perspex tubing which helps with alignment. The spring wire is held in place and as full adjustment from the housing mechanism. I made this to be used in my hobby ceramics. The design could be greatly improved by using a brass bar instead of using copper tube. The unit uses different size bobs, these are made from brass and stainless steel. The spring wire has been custom made and can. be adapted to use different gauge wire used in this unit

The scale was created using Front Designer 3 then imported into CorelDRAW for more improvements.