Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Howdy,

Have a couple for work hardening copper ideas

high speed wire brushing
Bead or non destructive blasting

Anyone have a low tech, low cost alternative as i need to re harden several plates

bt1

Does it apply only to plated stills or is there a more appropriate section this can go ?

8-}

Good question...

it's about plates made sense to me

bt1

I use sheet for other things too, not just bubble plates 8-}

:-p

Heat copper to cherry red then quench in vegetable oil or water.
Viola hard copper.
Or to go the other way and soften coppper Heat to cherry red and cool slowly =soft annealled copper...

When I heat it hot and stick it in water or let it air cool it seems much the same softness, maybe a bit softer air cooled :? . I have noticed in the past though, if I don't heat it very hot then give it a bath its quite hard.

Kiwi keg, that dosn't work for copper, it has no carbon.
You can heat and quench, or heat and air cool, you will end up with soft copper. If you let it air cool, most of the scale will flake off.

Bt, you might be able to roll it then send it back through the rolls to get it flat. It might grow a little one direction. The only real succesful way I know is working it, and its hard to work a flat sheet and keep it flat :doh: You could hammer work it, again it might grow.
Better off to go with hard drawn sheet, possibly.

Cheers EG,

only method that seems to be a solution is work hardening... rollers would be good... I'll have a looksee.

Yeh it started as hard drawn sheet but a few silver solders it's as limp as a rum drinker.

Reading suggests repeated wire brush impact may just work...we'll find out I guess.

cheers
bt1

peening is a method, hammering with the ball end so to speak. But it stuffs up any sizes.
Wire brushing and shot peening does the same thing (hardens it up again) but its only skin deep. Worth a try.
Soft copper is a bit like a whisky dick, pretty good comparison BT.

bt1 wrote:
it's as limp as a rum drinker. bt1

Not all rum drinkers are limp :obscene-birdiedoublered: :obscene-birdiedoublered: :obscene-birdiedoublered:

Rumdrinker wrote:

bt1 wrote:
it's as limp as a rum drinker. bt1

Not all rum drinkers are limp :obscene-birdiedoublered: :obscene-birdiedoublered: :obscene-birdiedoublered:

:text-+1: :text-imwithstupid:

As measured by a rum drinker no less...

you need a bourbon bloke to really have a true measure :))

bt1

I guess you've seen a Jamaican :think:

:teasing-tease:

It cold and ...DEEP

yep thought it was a pet python at first.

bt1

Rumdrinker wrote:

bt1 wrote:
it's as limp as a rum drinker. bt1

Not all rum drinkers are limp :obscene-birdiedoublered: :obscene-birdiedoublered: :obscene-birdiedoublered:

Hey, look dude, I didn't mean it that way!
Whiskey dick and rum flop are two compleatly different things. Sorry if I caused confusion and created dely.

Now, back to BT1's hardness problem... :teasing-tease:

Howdy,

Gave the existing plate a good 30 min session with a new brass wire wheel, not a lot of pressure just time really.

Seems to me it's ok, feels stronger on plate corners. If they don't torque up right I'm thinking to keep spacing right and get enough tension I'll use copper tube sleeves between plate...although was hoping not to add clutter as the minimalist look is part of the attraction in doing this in the first place.

bt1

yep sleeves should work but just wondering in an application like this where the plates is a structural item that it might pay to get out the old tap and die and thread the down comers ect. Using tread and holding nuts would avoid aneiling the plate altogether in fact the drilling should work harden them :handgestures-thumbupleft:

It'll take a lot more than a drill to harden sheet from what I've seen.

Wire brushing whilst slow seems to work. Oh for a blaster for soft beads!

using pre threaded 304 SS rod externally in any case.

bt1