Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Perforated & bubble cap plated columns

Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby hjubm2 » Tue Mar 01, 2022 5:14 pm

Well I think it's about time to put up a thread on my (very) slow glasser build. Following in the footsteps of bt1 & similar members it's going to use 2mm plates with 1.5mm holes as opposed to bubble caps. So far I have 4 plates cut out & I'm debating whether to cut out other couple to make it 6 plates or leave it as 4.

Most of the parts will be carried over from the current potstill & ill most likely just attach it to the top of my 4" current onion head, make a 4" to 2" adaptor & use the current PC etc to save on work.

So time for some pictures...

Heres the plates, just need to solder in the downcomers

Image

Image

& todays progress, cutting out the end plates for the RC. They still need a bit of clean up work

Image

Image

Just need to work out if I soft solder or silver solder the parts. I have the tools to do both ways but very little experience with both...
hjubm2
 
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby RuddyCrazy » Tue Mar 01, 2022 5:24 pm

What I did with my RC I made was hard solder in the inner tubes and finish them off ie: sanding to a smoother finish and just below the easy flange. Then just soft soldered on the easy flange.

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby hjubm2 » Tue Mar 01, 2022 5:34 pm

RuddyCrazy wrote:What I did with my RC I made was hard solder in the inner tubes and finish them off ie: sanding to a smoother finish and just below the easy flange. Then just soft soldered on the easy flange.

Cheers Bryan


That's exactly how I was thinking of doing it, figured it would be easier to do it that way without unsoldering the inner tubes when doing the plates. See how it goes when I get a chance to give it a try.

Is it worth putting a middle plate in a RC? I've tried to keep it fairly short to get a quicker response when changing water pressure but I have seen other RC's with a middle plate to help woth water flow. Thoughts?
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby RC Al » Tue Mar 01, 2022 6:00 pm

Yep, add that plate with a 35% open area gap for water flow, on paper that one plate is worth 40% more efficiency for the condenser.

Have you worked out your open/flow area?

A bit of a dead zone around the downcomer will help it work a bit better, looks a little ugly, but solder up a ring or two of holes around it, the bubbles go straight down the tube vs exploding and travelling upwards.
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby hjubm2 » Tue Mar 01, 2022 6:15 pm

Thanks RC Al,

Good to know it would be worth the extra effort. Nah I haven't done any calculations, just going by what others have done/what looks right.

Ah I hadn't even thought about that with the bubbles around the downcomer but makes perfect sense. Most of the ones I've seen have had the holes all the way to the down comer so of course I copied that design. I might have to change the CAD file for the next cpuple plates to follow your thinking & solder in a few holes as you mentioned. Any idea how much dead area is optimal without losing out in other areas?

Thanks
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equipment: 130L Jacketed Boiler w 4" Pot Still, 4" Glass Bubbler

Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby RC Al » Tue Mar 01, 2022 7:55 pm

Sorry, can't quantify that one im afraid. More is good, but you dont want to get your open hole area to go much below 8% of the plates total area.

Unfortunately most design papers that get published are aimed at 6" plus (often much larger), so at our size we have to rely on rough rules of thumb.
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby hjubm2 » Fri Mar 04, 2022 7:23 pm

RC Al wrote:Yep, add that plate with a 35% open area gap for water flow, on paper that one plate is worth 40% more efficiency for the condenser.


Just did a calculation of the open area on my middle plate design, its only 15.6% of the end plates total area so it looks like I'll be redesigning it before cutting them out. Plate design is currently the same as the end plate one but with a straight edge part way across instead of being the whole plate.
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby hjubm2 » Thu Mar 10, 2022 8:08 pm

Well long weekend this weekend so think it's about time I finish off the glasser parts. Got all the parts cut out for the RC, just need to solder it all together. Then solder the downcomers onto the plates & solder on the 4" connectors to the top & bottom of the glass sections to be able to connect it to the other parts. Hopefully should be sorted within a day if my soldering holds out. Will then be making more plates for it & a packed section once it's up & running... see how we go.

Then the fun will begin with trying to learn how to run a bubbler on a jacketed boiler. Could get interesting...
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby hjubm2 » Mon Mar 14, 2022 3:53 pm

Well didn't get anywhere near as much time as I was hoping for to spend on making parts. Apart from making a mess all i got sdone was the tubes soldered into the middle plate, flange soldered & the water fittings soldered onto the copper pipes ready to solder onto the RC... guess it's better then no progress at all...

Image
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby hjubm2 » Tue Mar 15, 2022 5:36 pm

I've been thinking about the best way to assemble the RC & it got me wondering if there is any reason to solder the middle plate to the outside shell of the RC. It's only used as a baffle and I've soldered all the vapour tubes into the middle plate so what are peoples thoughts? Does it need to be soldered around the perimeter to the outsode shell or is it alright just being soldered in place to the tubes? It's a hell of a lot less work if it doesn't need to be soldered...

Cheers guys
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby RC Al » Tue Mar 15, 2022 11:14 pm

A close fit should be fine
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby bluc » Wed Mar 16, 2022 7:36 am

:text-+1: close fit will slow flow enough..
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby hjubm2 » Sat Mar 26, 2022 2:09 pm

Thanks guys, tried to make the fit as tight as possible so hopefully it works.

Next question, I'm designing the end plate for the packed section atm (thought I'd already done it but apprently now...) and was wondering if there is an optimal hole size/amount of holes for it? My plan currently is to make it 3mm holes with roughly 3mm spacing between holes & fill the whole plate but not sure if thats the ideal way/design?

Same goes for the gin caddy. Looking to keep it simple atm until i get around to building a carter head so it will be a bit of 4" pipe with a ferrule on each end & a plate with holes in it for the vapour to bubble up through. Any advice on hole size & amount? Was thinking I'll just use the same plate design as I'm doing for the packed section.

Thanks guys
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby bluc » Sat Mar 26, 2022 2:40 pm

I think i did 8mm holes as many as I could fit.
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby hjubm2 » Sat Mar 26, 2022 2:50 pm

Thanks Bluc, i might go with larger holes then. I was only going with 3mm because I'm too lazy to change the endmill atm haha
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby bluc » Sat Mar 26, 2022 3:04 pm

I didnt want it forming a bath and affecting drainage. Seems to work fine all way up to 3600w. I use more like 2000w on neutral spirit run though..
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby hjubm2 » Sat Mar 26, 2022 3:09 pm

Good to know the reasoning. I might have to try something around the same size then since I'm using it with the jacketed boiler which isn't as responsive as a standard boiler due to the indirect heating. I can see it doing what you mentioned you wanted to stop from happening... I might just have to try a size & see how it goes... thanks again Bluc
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby hjubm2 » Sun Mar 27, 2022 7:44 pm

Big thanks to Bryan again for helping out with getting the RC finished & water tight. Just a bit of tidying up & it will be ready to go, I'll post pics when all done.

Now just the flanges for the plates & the packed section to build/solder & will be good to finally run the bubbler... hopefully not long now until the fun begins...
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby RuddyCrazy » Sun Mar 27, 2022 8:02 pm

Yep it was a pleasure to help out and teach you the correct way to soft solder :handgestures-thumbupleft: and man it did take a bit of cleanup of the hard solder on the internal pipe tree and a hard word was given to sizing hole on the cnc NOT to make them exact size :scared-eek: but cut them 0.5mm bigger to allow for an easy fit.

Gotta say using a lpg/oxy today for doing the soldering was way better than using mapp gas so a E sized oxy bottle is on the cards very soon and mate if you need a hand finishing the rest off just sing out as a hand with my boiler build will go a long way with 2 on the job :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Hjubm2's Glasser Build

Postby hjubm2 » Sun Mar 27, 2022 8:07 pm

Hey the holes weren't the exact size, they were 0.1mm oversized haha but your right a bit bigger would have made the whole process a hole lot smoother.

If you were a bit closer I'd be there no problem... bloody fuel prices atm! But I'll see how I go, might have to organise a time with you soon to try and help you out a bit, even the score up a bit...
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