After much encouragement from forum members on my intro post, I'm going to share my experiences building a Boka. Please note I'm a rank amateur but my post may help others who are contemplating a build but don't know where to start. I was certainly scratching my head a lot working out what to buy and where to source it.
Here are a sample of the many sites I visited.
http://learntomoonshine.com/how-to-buil ... structions
http://wiki.homedistiller.org/index.php ... w_To_Build
From my research I understood that a 2" Boka can produce twice as much product as a 1.5". I also soon found out that 2" in OZ is actually 50mm in a plumbing shop....sizes differ and Bunnings is bloody useless unless you want 1/2" or 3/4". :-| The optimum size of a packed column is between 120mm and 150mm. Copper packing is best but stainless steel scrubbers are good too, easy to buy and cheap. So I went stainless.
I bought a 2m length of 50mm copper from Samios here in Adelaide. Cost a little over $100. As soon as I had it in the car I found myself looking at it and touching it....there is something about copper :romance-kisscheek:
The first decision to make is how far down the plates need to be. This is dependent on how big your coil is. The top plate should be about 25mm below the bottom of the coil. Making the coil was the thing that worried me the most. My research showed all sorts of disaster stories and really ingenious ways of making the coil by filling it with salt (sometimes difficult to get out afterwards) or coil winding machines that just looked like a whole new hobby. To start with I bought some annealed 1/4 pipe. Bought from ebay http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/162038944411 ... .S1.R1.TR3 Aussie seller, fast service...very happy :handgestures-thumbupleft: