See Delta Separations CUP - #22 by cyclopath for comparison of g-force now that I’ve gotten my maths straight and have solid rotor diameters.
even at 9.5in, the Panda has the CUP 2.0 beat 2:1
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at a guess, the major difference would be price. I believe Northstar is using Bocks designs. You can get the Bocks in explosion proof versions (removing carbon tet?) if you look hard. Not sure if Northstar offers an Atex rated upgrade.
buying new also means you don’t have to deal with whatever the PO was running through it…
There are also a number of other vendors, but Bock was at it for so long I assume they pretty much figured it out 
How are you liking the Panda? Are you using bags inside or just putting the material in straight? How are adding/removing the material?
Im tempted to setup an array of Panda spinners but I have yet to find a bag that comes out as easy as it went in.
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So, i was using a 5 gal 45 micron bubble bag with a pound of kief in it, spun and wrapped tight. I put that into a 5 gal 25 micron bag, spun and wrapped and into the panda. I have ran 12 pounds successfully. I have now got 5 gal 220 micron wash bags from bubblebagdude.co. They fit into the panda pretty well. I’m gonna try and fill them up with trim and test run tomorrow to determine batch size.
That being said, the washing machine i got should spin at 200g with a 22 inch basket. So I’m gonna have more info on that too.
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Aight, I’ve done done initial testing.
I started by putting a little less than a pound in the 220 wash bag. Poured 2.5 gal over and let it sit for 10, then into the panda. Got back pretty much 2.5 gal. Bag went in and out without problems.
Filled 3 x 220 wash bags full. Roughly 1250 g in each. Needed 10 gal to submerge the 3 bags. Sat for 10 min, then each bag went into 25/45 micron bubble bag and into the washing machine. Spin cycle is 12 min, only hits 800 rpm the very last minute. Pumped 9.4 gal back into jugs. I then pulled out the first bag and shoved it in the panda. It fit surprisingly well. Ran without issues, but only got less than a cup of etho out. The problem came after, trying to get the bag out. It took 5-10 min. So next bag was divided into 2 wash bags and into the panda, no use of any 25 or 45 bag. This worked smoothly, still only got a cup or less out. Bags now came out easy.
So, in the end the material still kept a bit more than 0.5 gal with 4 kg trim. This was just my first test and i understand this isn’t much data, but this is what i got for now. Started with 10, got 9.4 back. Material is still damp coming out of the panda if excessive amounts of water leaf/garbage is in there. Most of the etho was reclaimed by 22 inch 800 rpm spin cycle in washing machine, 12 minutes long.
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Im getting about 9.8/10 gallons running the panda. I’ve given up in the hobart. It leaves about a gallon behind in 6lb of material. I’m using the 10 gallon 220 micron bubble bags to extract in. I do 5 gallons of etoh to 6lb of material and do 3-4 soaks depending on material. This leaves me with a 5gal bucket of solution that has 18-24lb of material ran through out.
The diameter of the panda is 9.5 inches but the opening on the top is avout 7.75 inches. It makes pulling bags out more difficult. I opted for 2 long cylindrical bags that fill the panda’s full diamater. After spinning, the material inside the bags decreased in volume and can be taken out easily.
Im planning on setting up a rack of Pandas and have them drain onto a gutter that leads to a 5gal bucket. Each Panda spins on a 5min cycle and can hold 4lb of material. This means I can do 100lb a day with just 2 of them.
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The gutter seems a tad bit elaborate. I just set out a 5 gal bucket in front of each one. Its a pain with how little volume you can put in a bag and get it in and out of the panda’s opening. One of my guys likes to throw the material straight in and shopvac it out. 
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I was doing that for a little while but filtering out the material was a hassle. Using 2 small bags has worked out really well for me. Removal doesnt take any longer than insertion now.
The gutter may be elaborate but I prefer systematic approaches. This way, no one can mess up!
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Yeah, i think some etho must be stuck in the washing machine. I was surprised how little came out of the panda after. Don’t know where the .4 went.
Btw, do you grind yours to get 4 lbs in there? I didn’t grind mine.
I am running trim with very few popcorn nugs in between. Haven’t needed to grind it to get it all to fit. Also, that 0.4 is most likely a combination of evaporation and whats left in the material.
Have you had any issues with degrading plastics? I’m hoping the tank and transfer line is made of stainless or another compatible plastic. Looking to use heptane denatured. Are you able to ID the type of plastics used of any?
I have not. I am also running heptane DN etoh. Haven’t had any issues and tests are coming back clean.
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Is it safe to use the pump provided with the washer? If not, what is the most cost-effective solution to a pump that is appropriate for the ethanol recovery? or a general plumbing solution for the ethanol recovery with the washer tek?
your endpoint is distillate yes?
Are you doing residual solvent testing on the crude?
Our current endpoint is tinctures or edibles. I’m driving my recovery still at only 90C, so I’d have to pull the heptane out separately in the rotovap (until I can upgrade the still to vac assist).
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Yeah, all into distillate. Haven’t had any residual solvents due to the nature of making distillate.
As always, end product dictates your route of action.
I’ve got several washing machines that have been in use over 12 months now and still pump great!
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I agree that the Hobart is not the best tool for the job, especially for the price.
I haven’t seen the Panda’s before but I hope they work like you say they do. I just ordered one up to try out. 98% return is great and they have a very compact footprint as well. 3200RPM is pretty quick for that little thing!
I use the 5 gallon, 220 micron, growsun bags from amazon. I usually fit about 3-4lbs of unmilled trim into each one.
I can fit 5 of those bags in one of my Pinnacle 100L vessels at a time.
The Hobart is my current bottleneck. I laugh at myself for buying that thing. I am hoping an array of 5 Panda’s can be setup until I can afford the Pinnacle centrifuge. Then I can setup a winch to just move the mesh baskets that come with the Pinnacle system right into the spinner. That will be a great day.
@Future How much weigh in damp, post-extraction material are you typically fitting in a washer at a time? Are you using mesh bags to hold the material?
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I recommend popping the top off the panda. There are like 3 screws on the side and one (which needs an hex key) on the handle. Makes it a little easier to fit bags inside.
I too feel like a fool for buying the Hobart. Oh well… some mistakes are expensive.
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You got pictures of the Hobart drive setup? If you’ve written it off already, then you’ve got little to loose by trying to over-drive it.
you could also use it for something different: fill it with silica, get it up to speed, then flow your crude in EtOH through the spinning filter bed…continuous flow style.
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Just got off the phone with North Star.
They have definitely seen a spike in inquiries.
Ballpark is $39k for the big one, $36k for the medium, and $31k for the “little” one (3x CUP 15). Lead times are going to be a little problematic, if you’re serious, I recommend getting in line now. They are a little wary about our industry, so feel free not to tell them what you’re up to, or use “hemp”
I did suggest they owe me a beer if you guys order a dozen of these things in the next couple of weeks.
Edit: engineer confirmed that North Star is what became of BOCK, so the used BOCKs you see out there are essentially the same critters. He also mentioned that their biggest client for these is the military, and that a 20year working lifespan is not unreasonable.
Edit: 
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