The second wife build

[A&O]

Life’s been busy so haven’t had much time to build of late, but found some time today to chip away at some little jobs.

The scrappy hasn’t had much copper lately, but managed to pickup some 1/2” pipe pieces that I have cut the raggedy ends off and put them in some vinegar.

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While I was there, I spotted a big hunk of I beam waiting to go into the crusher, so taking a leaf out of Woodducks workshop kit, I stole his idea for an anvil & bought home a $2 chunk of steel. Hit it with the wire brush on the grinder and it’s come up Stirling.

I did my civic duty and picked uped from the middle of the road a trolley with the intention of returning it to the local supermarket, only to realise, mmm stainless steel legs and weather resistant wheels. The cogs started turning and I thought, well, there’s half of the legs & wheels for the boiler. Just need to wait for another trolley to loose it’s way to my garage.

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Started cleaning the outside & inside of the 1/2” pieces. I think I really like the look of the brushed effect on the copper. These are only the cooling tubes for the PC, but I’m thinking I might do the whole still like this then lacquer it. After 3 days sitting in vinegar I thought the inside of the pipes would clean up better than they have. They appear to be coated in good ol Aussie outback dust. I thought making a sandpaper holder with some dowel on the end of the drill would do the trick, but it’s only 400grit, not nearly coarse enough. Off the o the big green shed in the morning for some coarser paper. What do you guys use to clean small pipes up on the inside?

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As the scrappy hasn’t had any 1/4” I bit the bull it and went to Fleece. I asked what they carry in 1/4” annealed copper and he said the smallest length in store was 30m for $150. I said sorry I’ll give that a miss. His counterpart said they may have some per meter stuff left but it wasn’t showing on the system. He went to he a look and came back with a handful and said I could have it for $10. It looked like it would be enough but more importantly in my price range. Get it home and do a rough calculation and there’s about 6 meters so I might be just enough, but definitely enough to start making some easy flanges.

[woodduck]

Making some good progress there mate :handgestures-thumbupleft: I like the anvil too.

I use citric acid to clean my copper. You can buy it at the supermarket in a small pepper style container. I then chuck a bit of that in some water and it works a treat :handgestures-thumbupleft:

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[A&O]

Cheers Woodduck, we’ve got that in the pantry, so will give it a go.

So finished removing the paint from my 500mm section to be used for packing. Cleaned up the outside of all my PC pipes, just need to work out which ones to use.

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Tomorrow hopefully I’ll wind my 1/4” tube around some 4” to cut some rings to make easy flanges. May need to buy a gas torch & solder & flux then I’ll be able to get some finished parts completed.

[hillzabilly]

I use an old rifle cleaning kit I got from Ray's sports at the top of York st ta clean the inside of the 1/2inch and 3/4inch tube,got a few different size brass and copper brush's ta screw on the end,works well for me and still give them the occasional clean with them when they get a bit manky each year,Great Southern Agency used ta carry them as well down by Dylans cafe',but I am not sure ifn they are still around.cheers hillzabilly :handgestures-thumbupleft:PS with ya RC and PC I would solder a 1/2inch female threaded fitting directly to the condencers before ya solder all the insde tubes and end plates,then add a male threaded fitting onto your 1/2inch elbowed supply tubes ,this allows ya to change things later easily ,since they only carry coolant water brass is fine to.

[A&O]

Cheers Hillzabilly great info.

The wonderful thing about this site we can learn from the heart ache of others. I saw the trouble Woodduck had during the week and have the inlet/outlet as a top priority and that’s a great idea for the coolant attachment. It’ll make for a stronger joint as well I suspect.

[A&O]

Look what I got in the mail, another impulse purchase.

[hillzabilly]

That could hurt in the wrong spot,I would get a little practice on some scrap pieces befor you go to the proper jobs,and make sure the job is clamped or surported well with some scrap wood,copper can grab and damage easily,I have used my pop's old hand powered brace and bit (even with hole saws as well) as with electric drills can carry a lot of power and RPM wich can wreck thin copper very quicky if it snags or jams,patience and the go slow aproach will be rewarded and maybe a little CRC or cutting paste will also help.cheers hillzabilly ;-)

[db1979]

Yep, keep it cool, they heat up fast when cutting on the larger diameters and become blunt easily. They're easy to sharpen but even easier to keep cool.

[A&O]

Cheers fellas for the great tips. At this stage I wasn’t going to use this on on the copper, I bought this cause it was cheep, but am thinking it should be perfect for drilling my holes for the elements in the keg that will be nearer than a hole saw. An old uncle of mine building boats used to cut holes in stainless with the garden hose trickling water over the drill bit to keep everything cool. We’ll see. I’ve got a new tin of CRC anyway. ;-)

[db1979]

I used mine to cut the holes in the end plates for the RC and PC. Worked a treat. I had a cup of water and dipped the drill bit into it every now and then to keep it cool.

[Lowie]

CRC/RP7 is ok. If you've got an old oilcan lying around you could use that too - makes for a good cutting oil. Stay away from the water. You need to run these cutters relatively slowly or you will blunt it quickly, especially in stainless - take that from experience, these cheap Chinese tools are shit quality... :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[A&O]

Cheers gentlemen for the tips, taken all on board, but I’m bound to fuck something up, every thing is going to plan so far. Maybe it’s because I’m taking my time, heaven forbid.

I’m starting to move onto my RC soon, so slowly accruing parts. But I’ve started thinking of water flow through the RC. Please tell me if I’m overthinking things.

Does it matter if all the air is bled out of of the RC?

I see in the builds I’ve read this far, inlet at the bottom and outlet at the top. Should the water control valve go on the inlet or outlet? But nobody runs their pipes from above the RC to force the air to bleed out of the RC. It obviously doesn’t matter as I’ve seen builds that are more than 6 year old and there’s no issues with cooling the RC. Over time I see RC size reducing to aid in the responsiveness of output. But cooling lines appear to be connect & go. Coming from auto/truck/ag industries where cooling systems are beginning to get quite sophisticated and it’s essential to bleed out all the air, to prevent hotspots.

Anyway, progress of the last couple of days.

[woodduck]

Put the tap on either side, that's personal choice I guess there's theories both ways but put the inlet at the bottom so that the rc is always full of water. It won't need bleeding as I doubt any air will be left in there once the water starts to flow. Depending on how you run your still there will generally be bugger all flow anyway, they need less water than you might think.

Good luck with the rc mate, take your time and take care to get it right, rework on a shotty is a right pain in the rear :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[db1979]

There isn't much point in trying to get every little bit of air out of the RC because as soon as the water starts heating up it will degas and air will get trapped in the highest points. That's why we run inlet at the bottom and outlet at the top so we are always forcing air out. There will however always be some air that stubbornly stays put, especially at the low flow rates inside an RC once collection starts.

[Zak Griffin]

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Here's a close up of my RC plumbing. Water in at the bottom of PC, out of PC into an upside down tee. Back to reservoir out the top of the tee, or into the needle valve at the bottom of the RC.

[Lowie]

Don't over think the RC mate, it's not a high tech vehicle. If you're concerned about air (I'm not) run the RC fast at start up to flush the bubbles out. Re fucking up. I got taught in the early days of my apprenticeship, that if you don't fuck up you're not tying hard enough and you won't learn anything! have a crack, and if in doubt ask :handgestures-thumbupleft: Cheers.

[A&O]

So yesterday I got the hammers out to tap out the ends of my pipe for the easy flanges. 1st went ok, 2nd better then the 3rd I think I know what I’m doing. It’s amazing how forgiving copper is to work with. I used my ball pien hammer to start flaring the pipe then used a flat face to straighten the flared lip and finally a straight pien hammer to square the bend of the lip.

On the first, I worked out I needed to use a big t more muscle, just little taps weren’t doing much. But I worked out too much is not the answer either. Finding that middle ground of not belting shit out of the pipe but not treating it like a first date took a bit of time but as the confidence rose, no problem. My problem was I started really enjoying making noise I almost, no I did forget to pickup my daughter from school. That was a frosty ride home, lucky the wife is up in Perth at the moment, things could’ve been a tad worse. Amazing what a bit of chocolate and favourite take away can fix.

[A&O]

Thanks for the info and feedback gentlemen, very much appreciated.

[Zak Griffin]

Looking good mate!

[woodduck]

Nicely done, they look the goods :handgestures-thumbupleft: