I'll save the stir plate money for ingredients
I built both my stir plates for maybe a $5 investment because I didn't have any power switches sitting around. I had everything else, so it was simple.
Old hard drive for magnets, computer fan, cigar box, old Nokia power adapter.
yeah, but back when I was paid by the hour I was worth ~ 70-80 bucks an hour, so 5 bucks in parts plus ~1-2 hours and we're talking serious money.