Cream Separator demonstration - ideas please

DFZ

Member
On our farm we do a large Pumpkin Patch. We have a couple thousand people visit every year. We do a few demonstrations with old hand crank type farm equipment. We let the kids shell and grind corn and kids are amazed with the old machines. We also have a couple of old hand crank cream separators that I would love to use for a demonstration. Problem is, I don't want to fill them with milk and have to clean them every day or every few hours, not to mention we don't have a source for raw milk.

I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions of a material like oil/water that we could mix up, possibly color like milk, and pass through the separator. If we could mix it back together for the next batch of kids to crank it would be great. Has anybody ever seen a demonstration like this?

Thanks.
 
I don't know how you could make it work without using raw milk, because the separator uses a theory that the cream and milk are of different weights and thickness. Also the separator has to be turned at the right speed or it wont work right. I have had many hours of practice running one when I was a kid
 
Try running water through it at varying rates. I'm most familiar with an IH powerwashing separator and, IIRC, if you ran water through it some would come out each spout, but it flowed faster/overloaded the separator vs. whole milk.

On those, there was a float operated valve that could be disassembled for cleaning, and assembled "wrong". I am thinking if the float/inlet valve could be tweaked to flow water slowly, some would come out each spout, simulating skin and cream, if you can get it to work to that point you could then add white food coloring to the water to simulate whole milk.
 
Considering that the separator works on the principal that the cream is lighter than skim milk; so when you spin it the correct speed the milk gathers around the edge while the cream stays in the center.
And given the fact that oil and water will not mix and oil is lighter than water it just might work.
 
. If you ever had to crank one of those @$%$% things every day ,you would be happy to just let that thing stand there and look at it. We had a DeLavale ? spelling ? And if you had to take that #@$% thing apart and wash it and make sure you keep the cones in the correct order and crank it fast enough to keep the bell dinging . Then you would be glad to stand that thing in the corner and let Grandma keep her yarn and needles in it and grow a plant in the top of it. Then you might be able to enjoy that #%&%# thing. LOL
 
never know it may just work because it is centrifugal force and they are both a different wieghts. i remember cranking the cream separator , had to go around 60 rpm a minute. then we got an electric separator. used to feed the pigs skim milk with the chop. and mix with the grain for the young meat chickens. and we used to have those chickens boiled and made soup, then made a cream sauce and pour it over the chicken and with the fresh potatoes from garden and dill, ooh man that was good. the good times are really over!
 
Well I just happen to have something to remind you of the good old days,,, everyday.
a151973.jpg
 
Don't know if this would separate or not, but water soluble cutting oil, used in metal working machines, might work.

It even looks like milk when mixed, just have to be sure no one tries to drink it!

Problem is it is expensive, hard to find in a small container. A machine shop might sell or donate a small container.
 
I used to have to do it when I was little, actually thought it was kind of fun. I liked to take it apart and put it back together.
 
When home used a electric IH cream separator. Seemed like the electric motor on it was good size. Crank was there just in case. When switched over to selling milk mom was really happy. Everyday she would head out to the milk house to wash it. Seemed like it took a while. It separated the the dirt out also. Some part in it always had a heavy dirt ring on it.
 
When I was young I washed that miserable thing with all the cones and other parts, way to often, so I wouldn"t want to all day demoes and then clean it up again. I"d do a static display with an explanation, and be done with it. Tell them that the thickness of the cream depends on how you adjust the two outlets, relative to each other.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top