Bender The Bubbler Build Thread

[BackInBlack]

Very nice, absolutely brilliant :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Milky]

Today was the day! Was at the hospital at 7am. Had the surgery already, in a sling with a pretty sore arm but gave been discharged on Endone so all good at the moment! Cheers to my excellent wife for taking care of me for the next 2 weeks whilst on sick leave!
And thanks to all here who have shown support. It us greatly appreciated :-)
I think I'll be trawling here pretty often over the next 2 weeks as there's not much else I can do!

[Brendan]

Good to hear all is well Milky.

That build is coming along well, I bet you can't wait to get back into it and get it done!

[Milky]

Good to hear all is well Milky.

That build is coming along well, I bet you can't wait to get back into it and get it done!

Thanks Brendan, I'm already missing working on it and distilling. Packed it all up. I'm on Endone so I'm pretty out of it only a couple of hours out if hospital at the moment. Thank god I didn't have to stay in overnight!

I think I'll be stocking up buying all the stuff like clamps etc I need to finish the build.

[Smbjk]

Glad to hear things are finally working out with your elbow ( correct me if I'm wrong ) good luck with the ordering and bring on bender :handgestures-thumbupleft: :D :D

[Milky]

10 data after surgery I had my 1st physio appointment today. Gee, it's going to be long road. I can't pick up anything heavier than 100gms, switch lights on or use my wrist/hand for anything for at least another 4weeks. Slowly but surely I'll get there! Doc said there was more pressure on the nerve than he originally diagnosed so they reckon st least a 6 month minimum rehab and even then will have to be careful of repetitive movements (which is all my job is!) so I'm looking forward to my recovery.

Thanks to everybody's inputs on threads that have kept me entertained over the last 10 days... Back to the workplace on office duties only for a month as of next Monday :-)

[Smbjk]

Thats great milky :handgestures-thumbupleft: good to hear some positive news. Rest up mare and get better :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Milky]

So I know it has been well over a year since I posted on this thread after my arm surgery but it is now time to fuck this chicken and get this Bubbler finished!!!

It was a long 18 months rehab with hours upon hours daily on physio to try and get my arm, grip and endurance back. It’s at 65% and will never get any better so it’s on with the build with the use of a butt load of anti inflammatory pills and pain killers!!

[Milky]

I already had my plates cut out ready for home made bubble caps. Due to limitations in my arm I have decided to go with perf plates. I drilled out all 4 plates using a 1.6mm cobalt drill and an air drill. Drilled 1 plate then stacked them all together and drilled them in the vice.

[Milky]

Used the turrent punch once again to pop out some holes. So easy with this machine! ¾” holes for the downcomers. Downcomers will sit 15mm above the plate and 80mm below the plate with an offset 1” cap at the bottom for vapour lock.

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Plates finished and deburred.

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[Zak Griffin]

:happy-partydance:

Good to see some action, milky :handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Milky]

Flanges the 3” sight glass using the same method as the 4” modules, on the jenny form roller.
Found it way harder to do this with a smaller pipe diameter. This activity alone put me off the tools for a day or two so I only made one. Flattened the flange on the marking our table after a press with the pan brake blade as shown previously in this thread.

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Just another couple of views of the 3" sightglass picece.

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I then marked out a fish eye development template on some thin alloy to put on this piece so it can fit neatly into the 4” copper module. Then scribed the line, cut the excess with tin snips and used the linishal belt to grind and tidy up to the edge of the scribed line.

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I left enough space so there would be no fouling on the 4” triclamp from the 3” triclamp. Here is a test fit. Pretty neat fit first go!

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I left enough space so there would be no fouling on the 4” triclamp from the 3” triclamp. Here is a test fit. Pretty neat fit first go!

[Milky]

I decided that TIG welding the sight glasses on was the way to go since I was a bit shit at soft solder. I had TIGed up my pot still heat for my Boilabeer 30Litre Boiler so tried it here.

Went well. Gee, the copper sucks up a lot of heat before it’ll flow! I just cut thin slivers of copper sheet to use as filler rod.

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[Milky]

Then I took a hole saw and a battery drill and went to town drilling the centre of the sight glass out.

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Used a 1” grinding attachment on a Dotco air grinder and cleaned up the inside of the hole.

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[Milky]

Finished product. 1 module, 3 to go!

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[Milky]

So that was last week. This week I got the RC cut out, cleaned and ready to TIG and the downcomers cut. Going to make my own 1" caps for the bottom of the down comers. I'll post more tomorrow.

Got a 4 month old little girl calling for cuddles so it's beer in hand and goodnight from Milky. Hope you all enjoyed the pictures. Plenty more to come.

[TheMechwarrior]

Looking good mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Zak Griffin]

Awesome stuff Milky, thanks for taking the time to take and share the pics.

[Whiskyaugogo]

Nice work mate :greetings-waveyellow:

[drinka]

Nice tig work mate :handgestures-thumbupleft: what amps were you running at?