Greetings and salutations...

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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby scythe » Mon Oct 05, 2015 1:29 pm

So with my trial ferrules left at work for the long weekend i looked around and realised that i still hadn't finished a few things.

For a little while I've been wondering if bakers flux will work soldering stainless to copper, everyone seems to say Comweld965 is the only one to use.
Seeing as bakers works so well for copper and i had some stainless to try it on i figured it couldn't hurt to give it a go.
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Seems to do the job, stays hot for a long time so you actually need to quench it if you need to reposition the work piece, the first go i had at it rolled off when i picked it up while still hot.
I will file the blob off another day to check on the bond strength.

After a bit of diddling around getting it as square by eye and pointing in the right direction i made the final join required to finish off my parrot.
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Now because I drilled the hole a bit high on my cone I had to fill the bottom of the parrot a bit with solder so that a minimal amount would sit in the top after I finished the run.
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While i was out in the shed i figured i might as well finish off my RC.
So after about 7mins of warming it up the solder started to want to flow so i made the first connection.
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I was going to stop there for the night with the RC and work on my parrot, and i started to but came to the conclusion that all the gas i had used to get it to working temp would be wasted so i stopped messing with the parrot and made the second connection.
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Its the top one in this photo and you can see i wasn't looking at the whole joint for about 2sec and it started to run away from me, but it will all clean up.
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So there you have it all i need to do now is commit to a method of flanging and attach them and the RC will be complete.
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby 1 2many » Mon Oct 05, 2015 4:17 pm

:text-coolphotos:

Great work mate she is coming along nicely. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby scythe » Tue Oct 27, 2015 10:47 am

So work has been fairly busy the last few weeks with not much time between jobs to work on my bits and pieces.
However i did have 20mins the other day so i quickly knocked up a 2" easy flange from a messed up 4" easy flange
I also took 10mins to knock up a mandrel for the 2 inch rings so that they have a really good chance of fitting snugly to the 2" pipe first go.
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The mandrel is a bit of 2" chrome shaft from the scrap bin which is actually 0.05mm under size to its a nice push on fit to the PC.
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby frednurk » Tue Oct 27, 2015 7:14 pm

Nice work... some quality copper work here. Really keen to watch this progress!
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby scythe » Sat Oct 31, 2015 2:59 pm

So i finally remembered to grab the 2" solder on ferrules i made the other day.
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I'm going to leave the sealing surface smooth for now and if it causes issues i will cut a groove into them, but I'm not totally sure on the style of seal yet if I'm going to go flat silicone or O-ring or tri-clover gasket.
I reckon either will do the trick.
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Here it is slipped onto the top end of my PC (still have the easy flange sitting on the other end while i decide)

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So yeah decisions to be made.
Easy flanges are easy, but the solder on ferrule will have a stronger bond... :think:
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby Shiftynev » Sat Oct 31, 2015 3:14 pm

Scythe, that's some very nice and clean work. Keep it up and won't be long before you're enjoying the benefits of your efforts.

Cheers
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby scythe » Sun Nov 08, 2015 12:07 pm

lol yes it will.
I still need to make:
the modules (make or buy tees),
sight glasses (how big do they really "need" to be?, do i even really "need" them at all?) and
plates (bubble caps or perf. plates).

I will look at buying a 4" tee soon as i have decided to go for a block head design rather than a curved over arching down to the PC.

I think the next thing I look to build, after i finish making flanges and keg bits) will be the blockhead to PC arm.
So then once my boiler is done I can at least run a 4" pot till my modules are done.

What is the consensus on spacing between column and PC?
If my memory of the mass reading i have done on this forum is correct it is less than 3 x column diameter between main column and PC, or does that not apply to bubblers?
300mm between main column seems a bit excessive, but then I guess I need to get clamps and insulation around it so i might run with 200mm.
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby scythe » Thu Apr 07, 2016 8:04 pm

So since my last post i have been flat out with work and foreigners for mates i have managed to squeeze in a little bit of time for my self.

Got an Element from 5star and after some very low quality 1"BSP sockets arrived from ebay I set about making my own.
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A bit of 1.5" stainless bar was found in the shorts rack and away I went.
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Better than a bought one.
The thread stops flush with the end of the elements thread.

I was thinking about element guarding after i finished the above and came up with my own take on it.
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That goes with these:
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But not before I do this
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and this
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I will drill and bolt the earth connection throught the underside of the element guard when it comes time to have the elements wired.

I had a little think about my bubble plates and how i will make the up-comers as well and came up with this
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They are slightly different from each other and i will trial them once i get it all up and running.
I may just end up soldering 1.5" copper tube to my plates instead.

You will notice that the cap in the last pic is quite dark.
I think I made the citric bath too strong.
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4 teaspoons in about 700mL of water and then left it in there for a few days.

I have a few more bits a pieces at work that i am playing around with as well.
But that is all for now.
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby bluc » Thu Apr 07, 2016 8:39 pm

Nice work :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby rumdidlydum » Thu Apr 07, 2016 9:19 pm

Great work mate. :text-coolphotos:
Nice work with the up combers too, cant wait to hear how they go. Did you use a milling machine to cut them like that?
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby scythe » Fri Apr 08, 2016 5:58 am

Yeah did the OD and ID on the lathe then typed up a small program to pocket out the top bits.
I got more than a few questions about what i was making while i was messing aroind with these (gearbox breather or pump strainer,what do you reckon it looks like).
Could simplify it a bit but it wouldnt look as cool, even tho it will be covered up i will know its there.
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby WTDist » Fri Apr 08, 2016 7:48 am

wow man, i forgot this was your build. nice clean work :handgestures-thumbupleft:

as for the citric bath, i have mine very strong with no ill effects although my RC kept going black once. dont know why. when i put multiple things in t he acid bath they would get clean but my RC, nope that went black. This is it here
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby scythe » Fri Apr 08, 2016 1:30 pm

Yeah i think i will add a few more table spoons, need a different container tho and the opening on my old coffee jar does not let a 2" easy flange through.
I think i have just the bucket.
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby WTDist » Fri Apr 08, 2016 1:55 pm

scythe wrote:Yeah i think i will add a few more table spoons, need a different container tho and the opening on my old coffee jar does not let a 2" easy flange through.
I think i have just the bucket.

i use a 60L storage tub, filled half way atm but usually 4/5 full. just throw bits in there when ive soldered em and get em out a few days later.
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby scythe » Sun Nov 13, 2016 4:32 pm

Update time:
So its been a while since last update and not a lot has progressed really.
But after being contacted by a member here to sort out a keg adaptor for them it has kicked my brain back into still making mode instead of just work mode.
To be fair though, being in still making mode is actually more beneficial to my work as it makes me push jobs through faster so that i can work on my own stuff.
So here is what i made for the member here:
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Now what this is, is a reducing bush of sorts to convert a U type keg connection down to a 1"BSPT fitting.
The fitting should finish fairly flush to the end of the adaptor so that there is no pooling when being used as a keg drain, and on the sample fitting i had in the workshop it did this nicely.

So after i had made that over a few days of spare moments in the workshop we had a large job come into the shop for our CNC mills.
Beauty i thought this will give me heaps of time to fiddle with still stuff.
BZZZT, WRONG!!
Silly me was able to reduce the cycle time down to under 8mins for one part and just over 4mins for the other, effectively meaning that i spent the whole day just changing material over in the machine vices.
So that ruined my day.
But the following day i got the 1st year apprentice involved in changing the parts and de-burring (he needs the practice anyway), which gave me a bit of time to think with my hands.
So i cut some short 108mm lengths of 2" copper pipe and split them down one side so that i could flatten them into my new bubble plates.
Probably should have taken photos of the steps just so that it gives you something to look at instead of a wall of text.
Next time maybe.
So with my cut and hand flattened pipe i wandered over to our bearing press to make it flat.
After it was nice and flat i played mock-ups with the 4" ferrule and 55mm bubble caps i purchased from 5star on special.
Once i had decided where i wanted everything i scribbed it into my copper "plate" and i came out like this:
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Ive gone over the scratches in MSpaint because the camera didnt really pick them up.
The measurements up to are for the Riser and Down Commer respectively.

My plan with the plates is to make them 106mm in diameter which is the measurement i got from the ID of the sealing groove on a 4" ferrule, so i wont need extra seals (in theory).
They should just sit nicely on the inside ledge of the ferrule, which means that will be using ferrules instead of easy flanges for my bubble modules at least.

Seeing as my boss is going on holidays soon i hope to be able to get a bit more done this week.

I might even take more photos this time.
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby rumdidlydum » Sun Nov 13, 2016 5:32 pm

Look forward to your progress mate. Build of the month hasn't been hit for a while, title is a bit of an incentive for you :-D
Just need plenty of pics :D and a smiko rig.
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby scythe » Sun Nov 13, 2016 5:45 pm

Dont hold me to it but i would like to have a working still by the end of the year, even if its just a 4" pot still.
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby bluc » Sun Nov 13, 2016 6:12 pm

Looking forward to more progress on your build. And to next year when i can get mine organised :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby scythe » Fri Nov 25, 2016 8:30 pm

So here we go again, this time with more pictures.

So we left off last time with me having marked out my plates.
This week i had ample time to fiddle while the CNCs did their thing with a longer cycle time.
So while the big one was busy i used our little CNC mill as a glorified drill press to drill out my plates to fit my 5star 2" bubble caps.

This is how i chose to hold my plates while i drilled the 46mm hole required, the red stuff is just some off cuts of polyurethane that we used on a big job a while ago and was just sitting on a shelf gathering dust, it did the job anyway.
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I like grinding up drills to cut copper like this as it does not make a lot of mess, and it pays to not to have to clean up a massive mess when you really should be focusing more on paying work.
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After drilling my big hole its time for a trial fit, a little bit of filling and deburring later and this happened:
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And then this:
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And would you believe it this:
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This is the clearance between the cap and what will be the inside of the ferrule.
There should be about 5mm clearance between the module wall and the cap when its all done and dusted.

Because it worked so well last time i did it again for my 3/4" holes for my down comers
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So easy to clean up all the swarf from this hole
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So with my holes drilled and it almost being knockoff time i decided it was time to cut out my first plate.
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Tin snips are great for not making a mess but knock the copper around a bit, but you should see the other guy...
and here he is, the rest of the plate
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and with 5mins to go a crooked plate just will not do, so over to the press and hey presto, its flat again, not that you can really tell from this pic.
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I've still got to cut out the other 2 plates and properly deburr all of them, i may even have a go at soldering in some down-comers this weekend if i get to it, but who knows at this stage.
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Re: Greetings and salutations...

Postby rumdidlydum » Fri Nov 25, 2016 8:35 pm

Awsome write up and detail mate. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
I wish I had the access to the tools you have :O)
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