Those who hang a single bucket and boil on their kitchen stove are welcome. All maple is good maple.

The code that actually runs the system is less than half of the total code. There is a LOT of communication involved. I have a pair of 9" tablets above my desk in my office so that I can monitor and control the machine room.

I plan to separate the control of the machine from the HMI and communication functions. The MEGA2560 will continue to run the machine but the HMI and communication functions will be taken over by the ESP32.

The lexan ends just kind of thud when you hit them. The wouldn’t make a very good addition to a drum kit.

I’m happy to answer any questions.

When we first moved to our property and built our (strawbale) house my wife decided that she would tap the few maple trees near the house to try to make maple syrup. She and the kids hung half a dozen buckets on spiles. They were right in our back yard so it was easy to collect them every day. In subsequent years we increased the number of trees we tapped until collecting small buckets on foot was impractical. I switched to using spigots and hoses to 5 gallon buckets. That reduced the number of trips necessary to collect the sap. As our hobby expanded I was making four or five trips in twice a day carrying two 5 gallon buckets. Our property is on the floodplain of the local river and is covered in up to a foot and a half of water in the spring. I would inevitably end up tripping and falling into the water at least two or three times a season. A fwe years ago I decided to automate the collecting using a vacuum system. Commercial systems are extremely expsneive so I decided to build it myself. The first releaser was built with a piece of 3" ABS and some parts I ordered on Ebay and sat on top of the IBC. This machine is the second releaser I’ve built. I plan to build another making some adjustments to the design of this one to make it more efficient and easier to clean.

This machine is part of the machine room. The machine room pulls the maple sap from the trees into an IBC which I use for main storage then runs it through an RO system to reduce the amount of water in the sap and to concentrate the sugar. When the sap comes out of the tree it is around 2 to 3 percent sugar. Maple syrup is 66% sugar. The sugar is increased byh boiling. Large producers use oil or gas fired boilers. We use a wood fired boiler. The RO raises the sugar level to around 10% sugar which means that 70% of the work of getting from 3 percent to 66% is already done.

Yup. Exactly. It releases about 30 litres of sap at a time.

It’s like an airlock. The whole system is under vacuum. The vacuum sucks the sap in from the trees and it fills the top chamber. When the top chamber is full valves change that isolates the vacuum pump and releases vacuum in the upper chamber by letting air in. That forces a check valve in the tubing from the trees closed so the tubing stays under vacuum. Then, the weight of the sap pushes another check valve open and lets the sap run into the lower chamber. When the sap has all run out of the upper chamber the valves reset and it starts sucking sap in from the trees again while a pump pumps the sap from the lower chamber into a IBC.

I love the DIN stuff.

The vacuum releaser is like an airlock. I draw the hole system down to a moderate vacuum which pulls the sap in from the trees. Once the upper tank is full I have to get the sap out somehow. If I just open a valve the vacuum will suck air in but the sap won’t run out. The vacuum releaser closes a valve to the vacuum pump and opens a valve to the air. That releases the vacuum. When the air rushes it it closes a check valve that keeps all the tubing in the woods under vacuum then the weight of the sap pushes another check valve open and the sap runs into the lower tank. When the sap has all run out the valves reverse, a vacuum is drawn in the top chamber, and the sap starts coming in from the trees again.

The idea is to get the sap out of the vacuum without letting all the vacuum all the way out to the trees go. It takes a while to get the whole system back down to vacuum so I preserve as much of it as I can.

I don’t hate AI. I hate that every company is trying to force me to use AI in products where I don’t want or need AI. I want an, “I don’t want AI” option that turns it off, removes it, and doesn’t reinstall it every time there is an update.

McMaster Carr is not inexpensive, that’s sure, but they have everything I need and normally deliver the next day if I order before 4 PM. I don’t normally buy from them but there are times where the length of time that it takes me to source something and have it delievered is outweighed by the convenience of just ordering something and having it delievered to my door the next day.

There’s a hydraulic place in Smiths Falls. I’m actually on the McMaster Carr website right now making up an order. I might order from Granger instead because they always throw an Atomic Fireball into the box.

Wait until you see the home made controller that runs the whole system.

They’re added in post to help people who might not know what they’re looking for.

Well, I’m pleased to have you experience it vicariously through me. Please feel free to ask any questions that might come up.

I hope you’re not too disappointed. I created this community so that I could share all the things that I do and build to make maple syrup and so that other hobbyist and artisan maple syrup makers could share their stuff.

As built that one drove me crazy. The slot was not alligned with the center of the straight coupler. I cut it off and welded it in the correct position. I would really like the slot to be narrower so that it catches the small couplers like the flat hooks better andI would like them a few millimeters longer and with a bit more of a bend in it. It’s an easy fix but it’s one of those things that I just never seem to get around to.

It works really well as it is but it would be that much better with a bit of modification.

Yes. No tape means that the line is as put to bed with the taps capped and the lines full of isopropyl alcohol. Orange is the color my son puts on the loops once he has been through with the chainsaw if there is something that needs my attention. As I work my way through the system once I have the lines tightened and any repairs made I put green tape on the loop. I start at the far end of the system and work my way forward. When I go back out I start at the first line that doesn’t have green tape and continue to work my way in. When I start testing I will start at the far end and once I have each line free of leaks and rinsed with hydrogen peroxide I remove the green tape. Any fittings that need attention or and points where there is a leak in the line gets orange tape if I don’t repair it immediately or if someone other than me finds the problem. When everything is ready to run there will be no tape anywhere on the system.

Once the run is finished I go back out, pull the taps, and run in isopropyl alcohol. I put a green flag on the last line that I worked on, moving it forward as I go. When I hit the sugar shack the lines are free of flags and put to bed for the year.

Tumblr has entered the chat.

His crazy evil sister is not going to be happy.

January 6 ended with a single bullet.