Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

:text-+1: all I re used was the outside 2" tube on my pc..

As another option ,get two 2inch ferrules ,cut some 3mm stainless circles to just fit the inside diameter of the ferrule,get them TIGed flush with the front seal face of the ferrule,drill ya holes for tubes,then expand the 2inch pipe and braze the ferrules in place after fixing the water in and out fittings ,then braze the inner tubes in place.cheers hillzabilly :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Photos :text-+1:

Propane torch from bunnings will get an RC done with soft solder, just need to be patient. I soldered all 4 of my plates into a 500 mm piece of 4", then added reducer and flanges and later added sight glasses and a fill port. All on 1 skinny bottle of propane. No need for oxy. It does take time to heat up, and wind is a killer so wind breaks are important.

:text-+1: I've built all my stills with propane even my 6" no problems.

If it's just your easy flanges that are buggered you should be able to unsolder those and solder new ones on. Just make sure you thoroughly clean and re flux the entire face of your rc and put it flat on a clean hard surface like flat steel plate and the tubes shouldn't un solder. That way if the solder does melt it doesn't get dirty shit into it while it's liquid.

Cheers guys, I'm going to have a crack at it this weekend with a bit of luck, it is only the easy flanges that are no good, so hopefully they will de solder with some encouragement, then if not I'll try the dropsaw, failing that its rebuild time, bit of a bummer.

Going soft solder is tempting, I had wanted to keep it all silver solder but the heat required chews through a lot of oxygen, which of course is ten times the price of Mapp or propane !

Sorry didn't read the hard solder bit. Can't help there then sorry, not much experience with that stuff.

How bad is bad? They can't be sanded flat on a cement pavers?

Pics would help. Are the flanges mega bent? I dropped my rc/blockhead dented the flange in I pulled it out with pliers all good sealed up..

Yeah they were pretty bad.
I did try some precision drop saw removal of the flanges and well lets just say it is definitely scrap metal now.

No photo's sorry, I am worried you guys would hurt yourselves when you fall off your chair laughing !!

On the plus side I spent a lot of time today in the shed and made two more plates, cut 12 lengths of pipe and easy flanged a new piece of 4inch. All fitted together, except one flange is a little loose, will think about re doing it. No soldering done yet, need to plan that.

there's a thread for fuck ups

Go on... Post ya photos :teasing-neener:

:text-+1:
Don't stress Russ.. we've all had them, and probably will continue to.
Thats how we learn, by others mistakes... and a few of our own. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Hey guys, sorry but been a bit busy of late with all of the fun things that life seems to throw at you.

Anyway to the important stuff, that fuck up thread is awesome db! I will read a page or two a day until I get through it, some funny stuff for sure.

Dan that saying that you learn by your mistakes always makes me smile, I should be a genius by now!!!

So I have built RC#2 and while it took a bit to get it to seal I am happy to say it now holds water, well as much pressure as the blockhead will provide.

Now I need to get serious on cleaning the RC (didn't clean in case it needed more brazing) and also the top bend and PC. The 3" copper I have was lying outside for a 100 years so needs some love.

I plan to also water pressure test the PC side of things, I have a 3" S/S end cap to bung the bottom, then I will fill it with water through the blockhead. I really don't want to lose any of the good stuff to the atmosphere!

As always a progress pic.

Looks awesome :clap:

:text-+1: nice work Russ.

Coming along nicely mate!
That nice big opening on your boiler should make life easy getting your arm in there if need be. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers guys.

Yeah Dan the 6" ferrule/cap/clamp is awesome, although it cost a bit of time and money, I reckon it was worth it. Anything that makes life easier is worth it in my books. The seal must be OK there as well, as it has had over a metre of water head pressure sitting for a couple of weeks without leaking, the whole thing has been full of water for that time.

Russ wrote:Cheers guys.

Yeah Dan the 6" ferrule/cap/clamp is awesome, although it cost a bit of time and money, I reckon it was worth it. Anything that makes life easier is worth it in my books.

Next time round id go for 6" too. I thought 4" seemed big at the time. 8-}

So water tests are complete, I put a 3" cap on the bottom end of the PC and filled to the top of the blockhead with water, it leaked a little at first, so I mucked around a bit and now I am happy to say it is holding water, so the parrot is on and even fits.

I probably should do some more cleaning to make it look pretty but for now I will get some ingredients for a neutral wash and hopefully put it down tomorrow, then do the plumbing during the week and all things going well do the maiden run(S) next weekend.

:happy-partydance:

Great stuff mate, I'm sure she'll work a treat :handgestures-thumbupleft: