Another Milking Unit

Put this together over the weekend, should be a bit different for next year, this can go one side of my display and Im going to change it so I have just the one water pump on the other side running the 2 coolers

Nice

So much of this milking stuff was discarded over the years, & many people on the rally field still regard it as not very good (just look at how cheap vacuum pumps are). But this is usually because they don't know how it all goes together.

I personally think we don't see enough milking/dairy equipment displays on the rally fields, at least not round here we don't. I like to see them, so good on you.

Maybe Ian & me should look out for some of this stuff for the boys to run off their Lister D??? I bet they'd love that.

I would like a milking outfit. We used to have the bits for one years ago.

Plenty of them around this area, got four different ones myself plus a garage full of memoribilia, paperwork etc! Usually a few sets at local rallies, in fact I have been asked to bring something different to some events as (A) it takes room up and they could get another smaller exhibit in and (B) they are oversubscribed with them. It also takes a lot of setting up which isn't fun when the rain is persisting down! There is plenty of the stuff around though as more and more farms are packing milking in and a lot of it is cheap or free.

Pete.

Nice set up Matt keep us posted on how it goes as it should look very good when finished. It might be of interest if you could list everything that's needed to make a display for anyone thinking of doing the same but being unsure what they need and don't need.
Matt I never knew you had a Lister diesel or is it not yours?

Stu.

nice set up Mr H,,
you come into some money feller....
still waiting for my mate to get back to me about his stuff he wants shot of..
keep up the nice exhibits.....who knows you mite even get in the stationary engine mag soon....lol
mike....

stationary stu wrote:Nice set up Matt keep us posted on how it goes as it should look very good when finished. It might be of interest if you could list everything that's needed to make a display for anyone thinking of doing the same but being unsure what they need and don't need.
Matt I never knew you had a Lister diesel or is it not yours?

Stu.

Yeah I have a dieseasal allrite, and a fine specimen she is too! I will do a quick rundown later of what is needed, in a hurry atm!

cant take it off your hands can i matt

matt

matt86 wrote:cant take it off your hands can i matt

matt

Nah she is here to stay Im afraid!

For now anyway! You should have had that nice little green gasgoignes pump I had that I sold, all up and percolating and only got a tenner for her

Matth92 wrote:

Nah she is here to stay Im afraid!

For now anyway! You should have had that nice little green gasgoignes pump I had that I sold, all up and percolating and only got a tenner for her

Why am I never around when deals like that are taking place
I will have my day, one day


Looking forward to what is involved in a milking display, you never see them at rallies round here so it would be something different.

Matth92 wrote:

matt86 wrote:cant take it off your hands can i matt

matt

Nah she is here to stay Im afraid!

For now anyway! You should have had that nice little green gasgoignes pump I had that I sold, all up and percolating and only got a tenner for her

Ah well my loss ... keep your eyes peeled for something simular matt.

matt

Right, to begin with you will need a Vacuum pump, I have the williams one above, and a 1950s Alfa Laval No9 which was my grandads, and was very rough when I recovered it, silencer, waste trap all rusted away, waste trap casting broken, and pump seized solid.






And after a young eager Bandit had sorted it all out and got his best dulux on it.....


must be a few years ago now!!


Anyway, you need some kind of framework for the vacuum to run through, the framework on the alfa laval is 3/4 BSP gas pipe, and is 1'' BSP on the Williams, the Alfa Laval has a little spigot coming out for a pipe to go on, while the pipe screws onto the pump on the Williams, the only bit I can see trouble getting is the joiner that connects the framework to the green elbow on the pump, which you can just see in the photo below on the right, but you could just use a BSP joining collar I suppose



Next thing you will need is a waste trap, this is in case the collection bucket overflows, so milk does not get into the pump, so the vacuum travels through the trap, back to the pump, the one on the Alfa is cast and was cracked, but the one on the Williams is cast aluminium, the Alfa waste trap lid also houses the safety valve, designed to release if the vacuum gets too high, the one on the Williams as you can see is just a weight, that the vacuum lifts up if it gets too high, which dumps the vacuum pressure, if you have a lathe etc, you could easily make one of them
there needs to be a seal between the waste trap jar and the lid, made of rubber, and the handle of the jar goes over the top of the lid, and clamps it on, can always bend the handle up or put a plastic grip on the handle to pull it down a bit tighter, like I have done on the williams


Next you will need a couple of fittings to house the tap and pressure gauge, they are a T piece with the threaded part coming out the side usually 3/8 BSP, ideally you will have two, one for a vacuum gauge (Which I dont have on either) and the proper vacuum tap in the other which the pipe for the bucket pushes on, you can then terminate the framework with a BSP bung. The Alfa Laval one has another leg coming down for support, the leg is sealed inside at the top so the vacuum cant draw in air, on this leg I now have an extantable foot that comes down to support it, I have now got rid of the Dulux, and it is now paired with my WX11, there is a thread tapped through the side of the support leg, which a bolt with a wingnut on goes through, so you can adjust it to the right height then lock it:



You then need a length of pipe to go from the tap to the bucket, it needs be thick walled rubber hose, otherwise the vacuum will suck it flat, and needs to be about 3ft long, to go to the outlet of the lid of the bucket, the lid also contains the Pulsator unit, which does not work on mine, and they rarely do! The idea is it makes the vacuum pulse, to roughly the same rhythm as the cows heartbeat to help old Buttercup relax You will then need another 2ft or so of hose to go from the bucket to the clusters, the little black box on the lid is the pulsator, and on the Alfa lid, the side with the little glass window is the inlet, I cannot remember how the pipework on the pulsator goes , but as mine doesnt work it doest really matter, do have a couple of spare Alfa Laval pulsators and spiders here btw....


You then need another foot or two of thick hose to the spider, which has 2 sets of 4 pipes coming out, the larger 4 pipes connect to the pipe that comes out of the top of each teat, and then the smaller 4 connect to the pipes coming out of the side of the teats, which I do not have a picture of atm!

You can always chuck a few other bits out in front of it as well, Like I have a Lister Cream seperator, Gascoigne milk recorder scales, milk bottles (full of course) a very tacky wooden souvenir milk gauge, where you move the cows tail to show how many pints you want, butter pats, vacuum clippers etc...

I would like to Add that the Framework on the Villiers Milking set is made to it can easily come off, the foot on the floor retracts, and the other end has a foot with 2 holes in, with studs with wingnuts, so It can be removed without using spanners or anything, its made to go together easily as it is my 'day show' engine and does not take as much packing up as the 2 pumps and coolers!

Will also say use PTFE on all the joints in the framework, and make the waste trap seal from thick sheet rubber, not O ring material, as it is difficult to get it lined up exactly right to seal!

As the pump is drawing in air, you get water collect in the waste trap so drain it when you remember!

The Alfa laval No9 pump must not have oil put in it, it has self lubricating graphite vanes, most other vac pumps do need oil though, that alfa laval one certainly needs that silencer too, sounds like a spitfire without it, operating speed for the No 9 should be 1450 RPM, the williams probably runs at about 250 off that poxy little pulley on the LD1, but should idealy run around 500 I think

These vacuum pumps load up an engine well, if you run it with the tap slightly closed so the whole system is under slight negative pressure, can get an engine that wont settle down like Petter M etc, to run quite nicely, certainly makes my WX burble!

May need a tensioner too to keep the belt tight, as there is a fair bit of resistance when it has a vaccum up

[quote="mike d"]nice set up Mr H,,
you come into some money feller....
still waiting for my mate to get back to me about his stuff he wants shot of..
keep up the nice exhibits.....who knows you mite even get in the stationary engine mag soon....lol
mike....[/quote

Dont remember you mentioning any stuff? Engines etc?

Just a few of my bits and bobs, some now sold on plus a few missing that I haven't 'snapped' yet!

Pete.

Very nice Pete!

Nice set ups

Could you not have it sucking something out of some fake teats?, like a rubber glove with little holes in some of the fingers? Or wouldn't that work?

Matt thanks very much for taking the time to explain it all, very interesting. You answered a few questions I had like what's the bucket on the top for .... overflow easy when you know LOL.

Very nice set up both Matt and Pete.

Stu.

Ianhw77k wrote:Nice set ups

Could you not have it sucking something out of some fake teats?, like a rubber glove with little holes in some of the fingers? Or wouldn't that work?

To get vacuum you either have to turn the tap off on the bucket or put blanks into the cups, otherwise you end up with an engine racing away and no pressure as it would all be open to atmosphere. I suppose something could be rigged up but I dont bother, we all know that milk comes from cows and goats etc. One rally did insist that I uncoupled the pipe from the stall tap anyway as they considered it 'dangerous' to have an operating bucket in front of the engine so it all looked a little strange that weekend! As I said earlier, I have been asked to bring something different to a couple of rallies as they had several milking sets already, I just took a JAP 2A and water pump instead. One rally the steward put me next to another similar outfit, I said to my 'neighbour' that it was strange us being put together and his reply was that "I am here every year, your not!" and that was the only conversation that we had for the two days. Takes all sorts.

Pete.

Foden wrote: One rally the steward put me next to another similar outfit, I said to my 'neighbour' that it was strange us being put together and his reply was that "I am here every year, your not!" and that was the only conversation that we had for the two days. Takes all sorts.

Pete.

Nice to feel wanted and welcomed to the show

Pete next they'll be saying we have too many water pumps bring something else You'll never win.

Stu.

Hope they don't tell me to bring something other than a genny, I haven't got anything else!

Cheers Pete, sorry to hear about your not so friendly neighbour at one of the rallies, people like that really get my back up

I would be so tempted to get a model of the arse end of a cow with a pink marigold sticking out from underneath and rig that up somehow Needless to say, I will be on the lookout for some milking equipment now. Reall shame that Nutgone and I had pretty much all the kit to do this when we were nippers but we didn't have a clue what to do with it and it has long since gone

Yes there are a few cows around, wooden and fibreglass seem favourite, with tubes running around them and coloured water etc but to me that gets a little gimmiky and is too much like hard work, plus the van is overfull now so I leave the cooler and pump at home nowadays apart from dairy shows. Only so much that you can get in a LDV 400 running at 3 tonnes plus!! I did used to put a teat cup by the fence so that folk could put their fingers in but the old Health and Safety soon knocked that into touch ha ha! Planning on getting a Crossley dairy set together in a year or two which will be a little different, I have the Crossley vacuum pump so just need a cheap 1040 to go with it plus a stock of Shredded Wheat. Showing shearing sets and a hacksaw next year I think, they take less room up.

Pete.

Foden wrote:Yes there are a few cows around, wooden and fibreglass seem favourite, with tubes running around them and coloured water etc but to me that gets a little gimmiky and is too much like hard work, plus the van is overfull now so I leave the cooler and pump at home nowadays apart from dairy shows. Only so much that you can get in a LDV 400 running at 3 tonnes plus!! I did used to put a teat cup by the fence so that folk could put their fingers in but the old Health and Safety soon knocked that into touch ha ha! Planning on getting a Crossley dairy set together in a year or two which will be a little different, I have the Crossley vacuum pump so just need a cheap 1040 to go with it plus a stock of Shredded Wheat. Showing shearing sets and a hacksaw next year I think, they take less room up.

Pete.

You must be stacking it wrong! my pilot has been up to the roof a few times, I remember when I went to Mosterton this year!
lee howl pump
H1 pump
Domestic pump
trickle cooler
churn cooler
milking bucket
cream seperator
trickle cooler resevoir and stand
large amounts of food and beer, and my clothing range
toolbox
Japy TY2 on trolley
Lister D on trolley and ruston PT on trolley

Sure Mike remembers it well!

If you were carting that lot in a Pilot then you were over the limit Matt, I have less than a ton of payload available running at 3.5 tonnes before I start loading it and myself, the missus and dog plus a tank of fuel will eat into that without any engine stuff and clothes and food. Plus how can you stack stuff safely without scratching paint, you can hardly pile engines and pumps on top of one another and Pilot floor space isnt that large. I weigh the van when loaded and make sure that I have a safety margin of at least a few hundredweight to keep VOSA happy.

Pete.