Bryan's Bubbler Build

Perforated & bubble cap plated columns

Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby RuddyCrazy » Sat Jan 28, 2017 11:26 am

next joobie one.jpg
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby rumdidlydum » Sat Jan 28, 2017 12:17 pm

Looks great Brian.whats the first basket going to hold?
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby RuddyCrazy » Sat Jan 28, 2017 1:57 pm

Well getting with the build and just got the 4-2 reducer to solder in, had to cut a tad off the length of the 2" where that blue mark was as it was too long. Found out the hard way that the 4" tee mount had to be off to get the 2" pipe in. That was no worries as everything bar the 4-2 reducer is soft soldered with only the reducer hard soldered.

With the 4" from the bend I'm going to make it a 4" tri clamp connection as it will assist when cleaning, I do have to get back upto the scrap yard to get more 3 and 4 " and more 1/4" as I run out for doing easy flanges. As I made my blockhead 3" it's going to be a tad hard to get a 4" basket out so I'll make a new 4" to 3" blockhead to suit this arrangement. Also I will use the 500mm packed section to hold the basket and that will make the right height for the PC.

As far as the first run well it has to be Ouzo then I can compare it to the maceration ones I made.

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby RuddyCrazy » Fri Feb 10, 2017 1:40 pm

G'day Guy's,
Well today that 3" 90 degree copper bend showed up at work still in it's plastic package but he didn't have any 3" pipe onsite so I'm off to the bridge this arvo to get some more copper so I can get this latest installment finished.

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby Zak Griffin » Fri Feb 10, 2017 2:43 pm

Look forward to seeing it together!
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby RuddyCrazy » Fri Sep 29, 2017 6:39 pm

G'day Guy's,
Over the last few weeks as I aint done any distilling for awhile decided to do some maintenance on the still so put the 4" endcap on the top of the plate tree and filled it up with a citric acid bath to give it a cleanup and found a couple of leaks which did look to be coming from the seal area. So thought bugger it went and ordered 1/2 a dozen custom seals and 2 normal ones. Did a water test with the new seals and no water leaks :happy-partydance: :happy-partydance: :happy-partydance:

When I was the the hardware to get more chook food I asked for some 1/4" copper pipe and if they had any, they asked how much and said well 10 metres if you have it, came back with a small roll and it only measured a tad less than a meter. So grabbed and asked to get more in as I do want it. So got the easy flange made for the 4" bend and yea :happy-partydance: got the carter head mounted on the still. Now I do have the 500mm 4" packed section to use which will mean I need to put a 3" easy flange port about 400mm up which will mean making 2 more 3" easy flange ports for the bend I could use my 3" PC which brought in the problem I only have made one 3" to 1/2" reducer to go to the parrot.

So after thinking for the week and fixing the leaks in the thumper I do reckon the carter head does need a separate build then I don't need to breaks the still apart everytime I want to do a different run and I have a heap of copper here that needs some attention. Got enough 1/2" to make a mean crash cooler and a spare keg to make into a mashtun but looking at Busky's thread I may need to get another keg and get into this double boiler come still thang but do it on oil as my trials on oil burners are getting there. Then there that 250 litre cooper water heater sitting here saying boy you want copper to play with come and get me.

Now got myself a new welder, tig torch and bought an Argron bottle and first looked the CIG one for $300. Looked at the specs and cost for the tig torch and why he waiting for the info to download I went and looked at the other welders and found a Lincoln 130 amp welder and found the unimig torch did fit so bought that.I did notice the CIG one had a bigger spade connection at the start so sort of knew the other welder was the best buy. Got to use the welder this morning and found the best amp setting for using TC16's was 40 amps :scared-eek: Never before that low so is this baby brother showing up my old Lincoln welder that went out in great fashion.

I was welding up a new base mount for my 16HP Listeroid and heard a huge bang so looked up to see a metre long blue arcs shooting out so ran to turn off the genset. It blew the input section of the welder where in first input cap blew it's lid and the genset had nicw hole in the secondary windings.

Anyway as the weekend is upon us pic's will happen and the fun will start.

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby RuddyCrazy » Mon Oct 02, 2017 1:20 pm

G'day Guy's,

Well with all this talk about double boilers one just has to jump on the bandwagon eh :)) So now got a 50 litre keg with the hole cut out the top and it's former life was a mashtun the new life will be the lower boiler. I do have a donor keg so I'll cut the base off that then get it a snug fit in the hole of the other keg so I can tig weld it together.

Anyway with all this talk about the cool down time once the mash conversion is I decided to make a crash cooler out of 1/2" copper pipe so grabbed a roll and annealed it. I did find just putting a length of 3" pipe in the vice and I used the old cyclinder line off the Ronaldson Tippet engine. Just going short bends I got it down to around 8" and called it a night. Then got thinking if it needs to go thru a 6" hole to be effective better think again. :scared-eek: So annealing when needed got the inner pass down to 3" ID then went on the third coil on the outer part got that dreaded kink :angry-banghead: . So got the multi pliers out and squared up the kink and carried on. No amount of annealing would go right and doing the outer pass was painful to say the least. As I had already wound the coil in one direction I had to reverse it for the outer pass. x_x . Finally got it about 3/4er's done and decided best to leave it and come back later. Well coming back later did the trick and got the full roll wound. So woke up this morning thinking some of those coils are a ordinary and will it go thru a 6" hole :think: Looked around the shed so a suitable 6" guage to use and found an old rusted 6" OD coffee tin :happy-partydance: Just wound some annealed 1/4" around it and easy 6" gauge accomplished. Well that said gauge sailed over it with ease so on went the threaded 1/2" caps using soft solder. Now got it sitting in bath of citric acid to clean up and the test for output is full on so no kinks are stopping the flow. I can run a max of about 17 litres a minute thru it so it should cool the mash in short order. :music-deathmetal:

I hereby thus name this contraption Behemoth :)) :)) :))

the behemoth.jpg


Anyway as I do have few weeks to wait for the slow boat from China for that 6" ferrule, cap tri clamp and seal to get here and $79 delivered didn't hurt the wallet. As I have made 2 6-4" copper reducers in the past now got another one to make and I reckon 100mm high should be the go.

On the carter head side I have decided to use my 500mm packed section to have dual life and it's getting a 3" easy flange stuck on the side of it so it can be used for the carter head and by simply putting a blank in to seal it can still work as a packed section. With the easy flange I will tilt up up slightly so any product can drain. I have a new 3" bend so that needs to get some easy flanges so this morning got the first one made.

first easy flange.jpg


As I have spend the longweek in the shed and done no jobbies for SWMBO :violence-smack: got told no work no dinner so duly went and did the lawns. :romance-kisscheek: and later this arvo go and get a trailer load of rock from the front paddock for more pavers and rocks for the new wood shed I'm building out og local stone.

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby RuddyCrazy » Fri Oct 06, 2017 6:46 pm

Anyway scored a metre of new 3/4" pipe off the plumber at work today and I asked about 1/4" pipe but got told na don't use anything that small so he said just wait for the aircon guys to turn up as they will have it so should grab some soon. For a laugh I went into Fleece and asked $16 a metre :scared-eek:
So it looks like a new RC is on the cards for the carter head as when the picture started on building this carter head when I saw that 4" bend just sitting there off my original build I just have to make a new setup since I have enough copper( well nearly due to that 1/4"). I am thinking my thumper can be a part when using the carter head as the neutral can keep bubbling away and refining further so when changing out the botanicals.

Got an email saying the 6" triclamp set is on the way so now it's on the slow boat from China. Rather than make a 6-4" reducer Mac said he found one in the shed so I bought that and hope it lands on my door soonand started on the rebirth of that mashun by cutting the outer rim handles. Tomorrow I'll get that donor keg and cut the base off so I can mate with the former mashtun.


Anyway for the double boiler build I will make a new thread in the mashtun forum.

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby RuddyCrazy » Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:39 pm

G'day Guy's,
Well with end of the working week done decided to pour the last of that 9/10/16 CFW on oak and tested the abv 50% :scared-eek: so decided to fill the JD bottle and the rest went into another bottle and about 1/2 full so that one will be used as a test with future runs.

Anyway had a couple of hours in the shed tonight so decided on the carter head riser and basket so cut the riser to 450mm length and got a couple of 3" rings done for the 3". Now as the holesaw I had was 100mm and NOT 4" :angry-banghead: Anyway that 75mm holesaw is a purfect fit for the 3" pipe and the other 3" will sit in hole :laughing-rolling: so didn't worry about making the fit purfect. :happy-partydance:

Now the job of drilling a heap of holes for the plate at the base of the riser and the base of the basket and thought :think: about those carbide drills I got off fleabay yonks ago for drilling pcb's and the range is around 34-43 thou so finally got a job for that cnc I made years ago and try and teach my daughters how easy it is :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: .

Got an interesting email today about that shipment of the 6" stuff and found it arrived in this country on the 17/10 in Vic and it's going to take until the 25th for it to arrive in SA. :scared-eek: It aint the slow boat from China anymore it's the slow ride to Adelaide thats taking the time :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Now the Woodduck did that you tube clip on easy flanges I do them another way. First wrap the 1/4" pipe around the same diameter pipe then hold it together for the cutting mark, then bend the 1/4" so one can use a pipe cutter. Now I just anneal the pipe then as it isn't flat after bending it back into shape I just put it on the base then put a 5" steel block over it and give it a wack with the big rubber hammer a couple of times. This will flatten the pipe a tad but don't as it will be all the same then silver solder it up once lined up. File the silver joint until fully done then polish the rest of the 1/4" ring. Now we fit that over a donor peice of the same diameter and I just use a plexiglass offcut from a job i did, about 6" long a 1" wide and 3/4" thick. Using for all my work it has now hammered in a nice tapered edge so I go around the ring 3 times and every once in a while give the ring a turn as we don't want locking up on us do we. Then transfer it to the pipe to be soldered by tapping it on.

I don't bother peening over the edge as I do find the soft soldered joint is strong enough and none of my stuff has broken yet :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Make sure everything is clean and everything is square then get the paint brush going with the flux then give the piece a good warm up keeping away from the joint. After about a minute of heating but not hot enough for the solder to flow get the brush going again with a light coat of flux. Bring it up to heat then follow the flame around as the solder flows then I just go quickly around again to make the flow is complete and no gaps or dirty spots are found :angry-banghead: and if so pull the joint quickly so the dirty spot can be fixed.

Now making a easy flange coudn't be easier just form the 1/4" clean the pipe and flow the flux once all assembled and job done. If done right it won't break and it hasn'r done on me yet :laughing-rolling:

Cheers Bryan


I had this on the 4" Tee's and finally got the 4" plate tree water tested
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby RuddyCrazy » Sun Oct 22, 2017 3:05 pm

One step closer with the 3" bend finally done. Just need to make the riser and basket now and as I have a TPW ready to run next weekend after that I can pinch a few tri clamps off the still to get this carter head assembled.

3 inch bend.jpg


Cheers Bryan
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby Zak Griffin » Sun Oct 22, 2017 3:09 pm

Shiny!
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby EziTasting » Sun Oct 22, 2017 3:17 pm

Bryan1 wrote:One step closer with the 3" bend finally done. Just need to make the riser and basket now and as I have a TPW ready to run next weekend after that I can pinch a few tri clamps off the still to get this carter head assembled.

3 inch bend.jpg


Cheers Bryan


Did you us a muffler spreader to ‘spread’ the ends of the bend open and to fit the ferrules in? Looks fantastic!
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby RuddyCrazy » Sun Oct 22, 2017 3:25 pm

EziTasting wrote:
Bryan1 wrote:One step closer with the 3" bend finally done. Just need to make the riser and basket now and as I have a TPW ready to run next weekend after that I can pinch a few tri clamps off the still to get this carter head assembled.

3 inch bend.jpg


Cheers Bryan


Did you us a muffler spreader to ‘spread’ the ends of the bend open and to fit the ferrules in? Looks fantastic!


Na mate I scored that 3" bend off a plumber when I work at the hospital and he loved that bottle of gin I gave him. Also scored a heap of copper pipe which makes building this carter head possible.
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby RuddyCrazy » Sun Oct 22, 2017 6:02 pm

Got a bit more time in the shed this arvo so made the last of the 3" ferrules and this week I'll holesaw the 4" and get the ferrule soldered in. Decided to have play with the cnc so fired up the 32 bit computer running XP and made the drill file in autocad 06 and exported it as a dxf. Fired up Mach 3 and got into lazy cam where I imported the dxf and converted it to G-code. Only thing I do need to learn how to set the Z axis for drilling but loaded the file up anyway and got the cnc doing a trial run.

Once I can get the code right it will be the easiest way to drill a perf plate :happy-partydance: :happy-partydance: :happy-partydance:

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby db1979 » Sun Oct 22, 2017 6:32 pm

Sounds fantastic mate. I've contemplated making my own cnc before, where did you get the plans from and how difficult was it to make?

Being about to automate perf plate drilling is a big bonus :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby RuddyCrazy » Sun Oct 22, 2017 6:43 pm

G'day DB, I made this cnc years ago, used ball screws for all the axis and scrounged the stepper motors. The design is my own and having my own off grid machine shop does help.

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby scythe » Mon Oct 23, 2017 5:09 am

Pics of your CNC or its all just lies.
We have a retrofitted CNC at work that runs on Mach3, haven't used the lazyCAM side of it yet as we just G-Code it or use GobbsCAM that we have for our other machines.

Ignore all this if you already know it.

G87 (or does it use G79) will be your friend when drilling perf plates.
Or you could use G68 to pattern shift around the central axis.

I'm guessing you only have a single tool holder and not an ATC so setting the Z height is easy, either use a zero-set or if you dont have something like that then a piece of paper will do.
If using paper wet it so it sits flat on your job, start the spindle and jog the Z-axis close you the job (2mm off by eye).
Wind it closer manually till you are touching the paper, you are now about 0.1mm off the job.
Select the Z-axis read out measurement at the top of the screen, press 0 on the number pad and enter.
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby bluc » Mon Oct 23, 2017 9:46 am

:text-+1: would love to see pics of the cnc :D
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby RuddyCrazy » Sun Oct 29, 2017 3:46 pm

G'day guy's,
Well the tin and string slowly uploading 12 clips I made today doing a run.

The first one sets the tone so enjoy....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDjMDBa ... e=youtu.be


Cheers Bryan

P.S. also is some footage of the cnc just so you guy's do know it exists.....

Also only at 9% uploading the rest and hopefully they will play in turn but with you tube no-one knows
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Re: Bryan's Bubbler Build

Postby RuddyCrazy » Sun Oct 29, 2017 4:41 pm

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