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Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Sat Feb 16, 2019 8:51 pm
by RC Al
One observation - it's not just the face that needs to be flat, the clamp side needs to be pretty uniform to apply even pressure to the seal, consider using a drift to do it, you can control the angle much better than with a hammer face, a bolt or any type of rod could be used.

To free up a hand, use a ratchet strap or even bolt the whole section down with some threaded rod and a bit of wood
Be careful not to crush the pipe, especially if it's annealed

Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Sat Feb 16, 2019 9:41 pm
by woodduck
I have used the vice at times to flatten the flange. Seems to work ok.

Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 12:48 pm
by scottyd72
I finished off my easy flange by grinding it down with my angle grinder. Turned out ok.

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Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 12:50 pm
by scottyd72
In the third pic you can see a piece of 3" off cut that i cut and slid into the two flanges to trim the outside edge of the easy flange so it's aligned with the stainless one. It worked quite well.

Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 1:58 pm
by db1979
Looks like it'll work, but I reckon it could benefit from a sanding with about 240 grit to remove the rough marks left behind by the grinder disk. Put the sandpaper on a flat surface and run over it with the flange in figure 8 patterns to avoid high spots. The smoother and flatter it is, the less force needed to seal it up.

Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 3:28 pm
by scottyd72
db1979 wrote:Looks like it'll work, but I reckon it could benefit from a sanding with about 240 grit to remove the rough marks left behind by the grinder disk. Put the sandpaper on a flat surface and run over it with the flange in figure 8 patterns to avoid high spots. The smoother and flatter it is, the less force needed to seal it up.

Ah great idea I’m on it! :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 3:40 pm
by scythe
Work through the grits properly however, its actually faster than trying to jump straight to a grit that is too fine.
Grinders are about a week 40grit i think.

Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 5:33 pm
by scottyd72
scythe wrote:Work through the grits properly however, its actually faster than trying to jump straight to a grit that is too fine.
Grinders are about a week 40grit i think.

I just sanded it with 120, i've got 480 there as well so I'll use that next.

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Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 5:45 pm
by scottyd72
I've just sanded it with 480 and its as smooth as I'm going to get it, otherwise I'll probably go too far and wreck it lol

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Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Tue Apr 14, 2020 11:41 pm
by B-Man
Ok so just read every page in this thread, so just a recap

get a TS8000 to hard solder using some consolidated 5- 10% silver solder sticks from bunnings
- don't need to flux a hard solder

I read somewhere here you don't even have to flange the end of the pipe? so is this not needed?

Only use a thin amount of flux for soldering the flange on. bakers soldering flux is ok? ( I actually have some of that) but if a paste works better i might just buy some. i got a few joins to make. is there any special flux paste?

Don't flatten the flange for a 6" pipe before soldering. does this mean you do it after or just tighten the tri clamp down to flatten it?
flatten other sizes in a vice.

Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Wed Apr 15, 2020 7:16 am
by woodduck
You don't need a special torch for hard soldering the ring, a lpg torch will do it because its only very small.

No you don't have to flare the end of the pipe if you don't want to. You may choose to if your worried or think that particular joint needs some extra strength, eg boiler connection.

Bakers flux works fine. I just personally prefer the paste, it doesn't seem to burn as quick and doesn't run everywhere. The paste usually comes in a pack with the solder but can be bought separately. I think "Tradeflame" are the only ones making it now?

I found if I flatterned the flange first on 6" its too thin and doesn't pull up tight and seal so I soder the ring on first then flattern it. Take care not to damage it, you may need to re heat it to fix up cracked solder.

The vice is just another option for flattening instead of a hammer. Try both and see what works for you. Make sure you test your flanges before you do them all, you don't want a pile of flanges that aren't any good.

Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:12 pm
by scythe
There is a major lip thickness difference the lip of of a sub 5" Tri clover clamp and a 6" flange.
Often you need an extra layer of copper on top of the easy flange to make up the difference.

Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Wed Apr 15, 2020 10:16 pm
by RC Al
I've seen somewhere where you stuff a thick bit of copper wire inside the ring b4 soldering. Apparently makes it thick enough as the tube can't crush as far

Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:06 pm
by B-Man
Ok so i have made a few easy flanges... just 1 question is this how its meant to be?
I scribed the line at 6mm. The next one I done at 7mm and its closer to lining up with the outside edge of the squashed ring. Im thinking i might need to go 8 or even 9mm.
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Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 7:34 pm
by stillthinking
I found 8mm to work well on all my easy flanges when paired with 1/4 inch annealed pipe rings.

I’m using 5 Star silicone gaskets with the lips trimmed off each side and they hold a pressure test with the air compressor by sticking the dusting gun up the end and taping it in before pumping the whole still abd boiler up and spraying soapy water on the joints.

Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 8:29 pm
by RC Al
Its a little different per size (A-(B+2xwall thickness))/2. However at the end of the day, the OD Has to be very close to A or your clamp wont do up one way or the other

Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 11:18 pm
by B-Man
stillthinking wrote:I found 8mm to work well on all my easy flanges when paired with 1/4 inch annealed pipe rings.

I’m using 5 Star silicone gaskets with the lips trimmed off each side and they hold a pressure test with the air compressor by sticking the dusting gun up the end and taping it in before pumping the whole still and boiler up and spraying soapy water on the joints.


Cheers, have a few to do so figured id see what others were doing before I done them. Changing from 6 to 7mm was a decent difference. I figured 8 should be pretty good and 9 I might have to grind slightly. good to see my calcs line up with someone else's ;-)

Few things i have found
With the 4" pipe when you mark and cut the 1/4" annealed pipe coil to make the rings they were still a little big but the 2" ones was actually a mil or 2 small. ( I must of tightened the coil too tight before cutting) I have hard soldered them with a gap between them.. hopefully they work ok

Im glad I got the TS8000 bernzomatic torch as even that struggles a little to heat the rings for hard solder. Soft soldering them on works fine. My crappy basic tradeflame propane kit looks like it would struggle to soft solder 2" pipe let alone a 4" pipe.

I cant believe how strong the soft solder is.

This is how I got my flanges flat. Clamped some sand paper sheet to the nice flat bench and pushed it the length of the paper, Turned it and repeat.
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Re: How to.... easy, easy flange.

PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2020 6:44 pm
by Scubadriver
Glad I found this post again, reminded me how to make the flanges correctly