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Flanged-Float Upcurrent Churn: Flanges Drive the Cream Up the Sides, It Falls Down the Middle
Hoop

Created by

Hoop

7. October 2026GB
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Flanged-Float Upcurrent Churn: Flanges Drive the Cream Up the Sides, It Falls Down the Middle

Silas Hewit of Seneca Falls, New York, received US 17,790, dated 14 July 1857, for floats with a flange on each outward edge "set on an angle of about 70 degrees with the bottom of the churn," their tops curved inward, leaving "about one to two inches" by the shaft for the cream to fall through. This rung prints the floats, step and gears, builds the churn and makes butter.
Beginner
About 3 hours, plus printing

Instructions

1

Up the sides, down the middle

Loading Jupyter Notebook...
2

A loop up and down before it

Wade sends the cream up the sides and down a disk's aperture; Hewit up the floats and down by the shaft.
3

Read US 17,790

"The great advantage of the flanges consists in their forcing the cream continually in an upward current, and the angle of the floats at the top inclining inward the cream thus forced up is allowed to fall around the shaft downward through the center of the churn to the bottom of the tub, where it is again caught by the flanges and is again forced upward."
4

Print the parts

Print two floats (/uploads/blueprints/flanged-float-upcurrent-churn-float.stl), the step (/uploads/blueprints/flanged-float-upcurrent-churn-step.stl), the crown wheel (/uploads/blueprints/flanged-float-upcurrent-churn-crown-wheel.stl), the pinion (/uploads/blueprints/flanged-float-upcurrent-churn-pinion.stl) and the standard (/uploads/blueprints/flanged-float-upcurrent-churn-standard.stl). Print in PETG at 0.2 mm layers, 30 % infill, 4 walls; wash before first use.

Materials for this step:

PETG FilamentPETG Filament1 piece

Tools needed:

FDM 3D PrinterFDM 3D Printer
5

Shaft and floats

Drill two 8 mm holes through a 10 mm square hardwood shaft, 75 mm apart, and push 8 mm dowels through them as the arms. Glue a float onto each pair of arm ends, about 35 mm out from the shaft, pitched at 70 degrees to the bottom. Stand the shaft in the step in a tapered food-grade bucket.

Materials for this step:

Hardwood DowelsHardwood Dowels1 piece
Wood GlueWood Glue1 piece
20-Liter Bucket20-Liter Bucket1 piece

Tools needed:

Hand SawHand Saw
Cordless DrillCordless Drill
Drill Bit SetDrill Bit Set
6

Lid, gears and crank

Fix half the lid with a hole for the shaft, the pinion on its top and the standard with the crown wheel meshing it; screw a dowel handle into the wheel.

Materials for this step:

Mild Steel RodMild Steel Rod1 piece
Hardwood DowelsHardwood Dowels1 piece
#8 x 1" Wood Screw#8 x 1" Wood Screw1 piece

Tools needed:

Screwdriver SetScrewdriver Set
Cordless DrillCordless Drill
7

The build in 3D

FreeCAD model of this build: the bucket cut away to show the two flanged floats on their arms, pitched at 70 degrees, the gap by the shaft, and the crown wheel and pinion.
Design FileBLENDCC0 - Free
8

Churn

Let the heavy cream stand until it reaches about 15 °C, checked with the thermometer. Pour in 2 litres. Crank steadily so the cream rises at the sides and falls by the shaft; time until the butter comes. Pour off the buttermilk, add cold water, churn a little and pour off again until it runs clear; work in a pinch of salt and weigh the butter.
Step 8 - Image 1

Materials for this step:

Heavy CreamHeavy Cream2000 ml
Coarse Sea SaltCoarse Sea Salt1 piece
WaterWater1 piece

Tools needed:

Leave-In Probe ThermometerLeave-In Probe Thermometer
StopwatchStopwatch
Digital Kitchen ScaleDigital Kitchen Scale
Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl (Large)Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl (Large)
9

Troubleshooting

Flanged-float churn troubleshooting.

Flow

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10

History and honest limits

**Silas Hewit** of Seneca Falls, Seneca County, New York, US 17,790, 14 July 1857. He wrote that he had "found by experiment" these angles gave the most powerful agitation. He claimed the floats in combination with the flanges. A bucket and printed parts stand in for his tub. FDM prints hold food in their layer lines, so wash well and replace when worn.

Materials

9

Tools Required

9

Design Files

1

CC0 Public Domain

This blueprint is released under CC0. You are free to copy, modify, distribute, and use this work for any purpose, without asking permission.

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