# Building machine milker questions



## Caprice_Acres

With the dairy herd freshening possibly 4 does this year, I finally am slowly going to accumulate parts for a DIY milker. My dad does most of the milking so I'd like to do 2 goats at a time, and it's gotta be easy for him.

My dad mentioned a venturi vacuum generator, which depending on type could either produce high volume or high capacity vacuum. He used to work at a company that made filters for medical fields, and he used them all the time... I think he wants to give that a try, and if that doesn't work... we can always buy a regular ole vacuum pump. 

I literally just bought a belly milker pail with a lid off of ebay - the inside and outside look to be in very good condition. Here it is (Not sure if the link will work because I just bought it) http://www.ebay.com/itm/261357866218?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

I have two old pulsators a friend gave me when she bought new property. I also have another lid *somewhere*, lol. The pulsators are dirty and probably pretty grimed up. I have no way of testing them.  Will have to evaluate the lid gasket when it arrives... I'm going to look for the other lid and see what that needs.

I was planning on building a milking unit somewhat like my good friend Kristie's (http://www.landofhavilahfarm.com/homemade-milk-machine.htm). I also like this DIY instructions: http://www.freewebs.com/cottoneyeddoes/buildingyourownmilker.htm

So now, my questions:

1. How best to clean? How to store the setup so it's sanitary/clean for next milking? I'm wondering how one goes about cleaning those longer milk lines... just sucking through after milking?

2. HAS anybody thought of the venturi vacuum generators for milking? Any reason they couldn't be used? They can be regulated, run off of a compressor, are inexpensive, and if a pulsator just works off of a vacuum... there's no reason it shouldn't work unless we're not thinking of something. 

3. How is this going to complicate my DHIR participation? Any tricks/tips? I was thinking adding like a sump 'tank' (rather like Kristie's setup with a glass jar) on test days so that all the milk from one doe goes into the sump, the other does' milk goes into the milk can. The glass jar would be inline between doe and the bucket... still working on the logistics.  Since I'll be doing those myself, I suppose I could always hand milk on those days, lol. Heckuva lot cheaper than an inline meter!

4. Where can I send surge pulsators to get cleaned/checked/rebuilt? I have two that sat for goodness knows how long. I don't know what I'm doing to repair it myself. Nor do I have a way of checking it to see if is repaired or not.  Google searches are only showing DIY repair kits... maybe I'm not searching for the right thing. 

5. Claw or no? Inflation/milk line preference?

6. Can I put an in-line filter or is that too demanding on the vacuum source?

7. What specs should we be looking at for a regular old vacuum pump if the venturi vacuum source isn't a go?

Thanks!


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## doublebowgoats

I don't know much about the machines, but for the milk lines, make sure you get silicone. They are so worth the price. Because they don't absorb anything, you can just run warm soapy water through, then plain water and they are clean. Unfortunately, I don't have a milk room so all my stuff is done in my family's kitchen. I wash every thing and hang the hoses off the cabinet door handles and the bucket get put upside down on a dish rack. Sits in the kitchen until the next milking time.


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## Caprice_Acres

Silicone - good to know.


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## swgoats

I modified my milker so that the milk goes into half gallon jars with Henry Milker type lids. I've got a thread about this somewhere on here. So I wash everything in my barn at a utility sink and just carry the jars of milk in. The only part that I really have to worry about staying really clean are the milk lines. I didn't have luck with the old pulsators. I bought a new digital and feel it was worth the money. I don't have a claw, just shut offs in the milk line and air lines.


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## Caprice_Acres

Good to know about the pulsator - what kind did you end up getting? I see people talking about Interpuls a lot. Parts dept has one for 80 somethin - this whole setup is already getting quite expensive... LOL.


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## swgoats

I got the Interplus. 80 something is a good price. I think I paid more to Hamby. I think it was about $500 said and done, but that's much cheaper than ready built. We are having trouble with the vacuum pump we bought now. It was brand new too. Hoping my husband gets it fixed before kidding starts.


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## Goat Town

Dona,

What you have is a model C Surge belly milker without a pulsator. The pulsators you mention must be model C to work with the lid unless you convert to Interpulse. Parts Dept sells a belly milker conversion kit for around $225.00 which would set this machine up to milk two at a time, but as others have said get the silcon upgrades.

There are ways to bench test pulsators (I'm assuming they're Surge). They are pretty easy to clean and rebuild too. I can send you instructions.

I don't recognize the vacuum pump you're describing, but that doesn't mean it won't work. In general you need a pump capable of delivering at least 6 cfm of airflow at 12 in. / hg vacuum to run a bucket milker milking two goats at once. I prefer to use to use pumps delivering 8 cfm or better because there are usually vacuum leaks at claws and vacuum regulators.


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## Caprice_Acres

Goat Town said:


> Dona,
> 
> What you have is a model C Surge belly milker without a pulsator. The pulsators you mention must be model C to work with the lid unless you convert to Interpulse. Parts Dept sells a belly milker conversion kit for around $225.00 which would set this machine up to milk two at a time, but as others have said get the silcon upgrades.
> 
> There are ways to bench test pulsators (I'm assuming they're Surge). They are pretty easy to clean and rebuild too. I can send you instructions.
> 
> I don't recognize the vacuum pump you're describing, but that doesn't mean it won't work. In general you need a pump capable of delivering at least 6 cfm of airflow at 12 in. / hg vacuum to run a bucket milker milking two goats at once. I prefer to use to use pumps delivering 8 cfm or better because there are usually vacuum leaks at claws and vacuum regulators.


Thank you! Good info. My dad worked with the venturi vac generators for a long time. I'll see what he says about that.

I'd love instructions for cleaning/rebuild pulsators. I put the pulsators on the surge lid and they fit right on, so I assume that means they are the correct ones? One is weird - round, with two vac tube exits on the BACK side and 4 on the front... When you take off the metal top there is a plastic dome. I should take a pic. The other is more a classic pulsator with a flip top and the two alternator thingies inside.


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## Caprice_Acres

Another question - I was thinking of using air and milk Ys to milk up to 4 goats at a time on this setup. Actually I think we'd probably max out at 3 goats at a time for most of the time. I've got the order made up for this setup, but currently only enough stuff for 2 goats at a time. 

I'd like to funnel all the milk from one goat into ONE line into the bucket, and if I have to have a shut off on the 4th tine on the lid then that's fine. For 2 goats, I can loop the hose around. I don't like the setup whwere there's two lines per goat, one for each teat. The reason I'd like to do this is so I can do the 'sump' buckets during DHIR so that everybody's milk is separate and weighable/sampleable. Seems too complicated to have two incoming lines on the sump buckets and its just more for my dad to clean. 

Is there a certain number of animals that the pulsators can handle? Does the vacuum level change with the number of animals on the string?


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## Goat Town

There are some things to consider before setting up the bucket tgo milk four at a time. First the milk lines for the Surge bucket are 3/8 in. inside diameter, not the 5/8 in. or 7/8 in inside diameters on other style lids. I'd be worried that such small lines would not be able to carry the volume of milk from a single doe. At any rate you'd need to use a vented claw to make sure milk flows down the line.

Secondly you'd need to make sure your vacuum pump is of suffient size to handle the increased demand and you'd definately want to use a balance tank. I'd worry that 6 cfm of air won't be enough to run four sets of inflations. The balance tank would guard against lose of vacuum if one set of inflations drops off or one or more is idle, i.e., not milking a goat.

The third consideration would be would the efficiency gained by milking four at once offset the additional amount of time needed to clean all those extra milk lines and claws?


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