PID to monitor oil temp and keep it at a temp?

C

chaoticmachinery

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May 12, 2016
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Anyone have a solution for using a PID to monitor oil temp and keep it at a temp?

I've seen a post on using a PID setup to turn on/off a rod heater. I was hoping someone would post some details on what they are using.

Thanks,
CM
 
chaoticmachinery said:
Anyone have a solution for using a PID to monitor oil temp and keep it at a temp?

I've seen a post on using a PID setup to turn on/off a rod heater. I was hoping someone would post some details on what they are using.

Thanks,
CM
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You can do that , but you will need heater and cooler for oil .Easy to heat oil and to keep on that temperature with PID but when you HT knives oil will getting hotter and hotter so you will need to cool it down if you want oil to be on set temperature , so I give up of that idea
 
Mainly I was just looking to get the oil heated up to temp. I am using a hot plate with an ammo can. However, I want I have a metal tube that I want to move to. I can't really put the tube on the hot plate. So I was looking at putting in a rod heater into the tube to heat it up.

When I am using hot plate with my ammo can, I have to watch it closely to make sure I don't go over my target temp for the oil.

Just looking to automate it bit, so I can set it and not have to watch it as closely.
 
If you search "temperature controller" on amazon, you will find a lot ready-to use PIDs with a thermocouple and a power outlet that you can plug the rod heater into. Inkbird is one of the popular brands. Just make sure you pick one that has the required amperage for your heater.
 
I built a quench tank with a PID controller that turns a water heater element on and off in the bottom of my tank. Like you said, it really only needs to get it to a minimum temp before I start quenching and heating the oil up with blades (at which point the element turns off since I'm above set point). I've thought about adding an oil cooler to cool the oil as well, but I don't quench enough blades to really see that being practical.

Hubert has the exact suggestion I was about to give you: a plug in temp controller that will cycle you hot plate on and off as needed. Just make sure you keep the thermocouple secured so the temperature doesn't take off on you, and like Hubert said, make sure the current draw doesn't exceed the capacity of your controller.
 
I have always thought that a big hot water urn with temperature adjustment was the most obvious solution for a quench tank. It even has a spout to pour off hot oil so you can replace it with cool oil to bring it down to the desired temperature for large batches of blades.
 
what prevents a more complex setup where the oil temperature is moderated by running it through a coil in a separate water tank? or a two step setup where the top part of the quench is done in one tank such that the heating is less of a problem and finished in another quickly? Just posing a question as a hobbyist - I've gone to finishing the tail of the quench in water so that the quench tank takes the brunt of temp increases, but doesn't affect the tail of the finish since that's done in a bucket of water (which could be anything if a bucket of water is too harsh or creates warp problems).
 
I'll have to look for the old photos, but my temp-controlled setup was a 10-gallon electric water heater with side ports, a 12V fuel pump, a transmission cooling radiator, a 12V car radiator fan, and a thermostat switch for the oil line. Whole thing cost me maybe $100.
No PID.
The water heater was set at 120F. The thermostat was set at 130F. It turned on the pump and the fan. The oil was drawn from the bottom port and returned to the top port. A copper 90° fitting directed the oil along the side of the tank to create a continuous vortex when the pump was running. The top of the tank was cut out to make it a quench tank. The top of the shell was kept as the lid. It kept the oil +/- 5° during multiple quenches.
 
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