G'day from Darling Downs Qld

[Lowie]

Nice stuff mate, looks the goods!
Easy when you have all the right tools hey! I'm envious of your lathe, me I've got a little hobby lathe that's good for fuck all. One day I might grow up....

[lostmarbles]

Not much spare time this week so only got the 4" flanges pressed, all 14 of them, and made the 2" sight glass flange blanks. Hopefully get the RC and some perforated plates done over the weekend.

Should be fine if it is grade 304 or 316 (probably 316).
You can check by seeing if it is magnetic, 316 will not be, 304 will be slightly.

Thanks scythe, looks like it's 316. As long as it does the reflux thing I'll be happy, not looking forward to rolling it up though it's pretty tough. Should make a good gin basket for the blockhead too, should the need arise.
Thanks Copperhead & Lowie, it's just a farm workshop and I wouldn't exactly consider myself a master tradesman, probably have a red hot go trying though. Yes Lowie I feel your pain.
More Pics

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[lostmarbles]

More pics

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[lostmarbles]

Ok on with the sight glass flanges. I had some hollow bar with the same OD as a 2" ferrule so I bored it out to the OD of the 2" copper pipe and put a chamfer on the ID so it didn't cut the flange off when I hammered it over. Once the flange was hammered down flat then I pressed them with 35T just to make sure.

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There you go Zak is that enough pics. Makes it look like I've done lots anyway.

[Zak Griffin]

Love it mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

You'll only need the one seal between the glass and flange, not one outside the glass too. Maybe knock up some copper rings for the outside so you're not clamping directly onto glass.

[lostmarbles]

I am thinking of making a bolt together two peice flange instead of a tri clamp Zak.

[Bobsyauncle]

That press makes it look so easy! While I'm trying to figure out whether to stick them in the vice or hammer the easy flanges haha :angry-banghead:

[Zak Griffin]

Yeah nice, i like the bolted look :handgestures-thumbupleft:

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[bluc]

The pressed flange's look awesome. Any more info on how you made the die? :-B

[lostmarbles]

Bob as a suggestion, a piece of hardwood with a neat hole the same OD of the pipe then sliced lengthwise and bolt back together with some 10mm threaded rod so it holds the pipe nice & snug. Then you can clamp it down to a large immovable object. For 4" pipe you may need a piece of 8"x2" (stair tread) or 8"x3", if it's really good timber 6x2 might work.

My sight glasses probably won't be as flash as that pic Zak, I'll probably use some old pistons repurposed for the retainers.

The pressed flange's look awesome. Any more info on how you made the die? :-B

I made the die in the lathe mate, using some scrap pieces of hollow bar. Gave myself a quick refresher using google on how to make one, then tor into it. I had enough material for 3 attempts but fluked it on the first one, took about 2.5 hours to make and another 2 hours to find all the bits I needed. I had rolled the flanges on the sections using a jenny in a previous operation, so the flanges were already flat and a very consistent width but the pipe had necked in from the jenny operation. The die performs two functions, first is to remove the necking from the pipe and press the flange flat & square, second when the upper die half is added to press the profile in the flange at the same time adding some hardness to it. They still bend when you drop them, I also reproved that theory.
Here's a couple of pic of the die profile

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[lostmarbles]

And some more pics from yesterday evenings effort.

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I straightened out 3" copper for the bubble plates & RC, screw them all down to the bench, marked them out & now have 5 bubble plates full of holes & 3 broken 1.6mm drills.

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Got the RC assembled ready to weld too.

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And the bubble plates near ready to go into the lathe.
Just wondering if there is any advantage to not have the bubble plates welded into the bottom of the tee. I'm thinking weld them in. Any thoughts?

[scythe]

Yeah you could weld them (solder or braze) them in makes it less modular tho and harder to change the plates if you want to later.
Like if you want to use bubble caps instead of your current perforated plates.

[rumdidlydum]

Awsome build mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Great skills and gear to shape a masterpiece :D

[lostmarbles]

Well it looks like the bubble plate position decision has been made for me, I'm going to spot solder them in as they are a nice tight fit. The plate thickness is 1.6 mm, too thick to mount in the flange :angry-banghead: , not to mention a bitch to get perfectly flat. The plates would need to be 0.5mm or less thick, which is ok and would work fine except I don't have any, so I'll go with what I've got. Must have had a blonde moment when I measured that.
Thanks rumdiddlydum. I put a 180L TPW on today as well and it's bubbling away nicely. It's a bit big as I couldn't find any of my old 30L fermenters. Guess I have a timeline to work to now :whistle:
And a couple more pics

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[lostmarbles]

Hi folks,
Haven't had a chance to post anything up, but got the blockhead, RC & PC finished and all the bubble Tees done. Working on sight glass retainers. Still got to roll up the mesh for the packed section and finish the keg boiler.

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[lostmarbles]

And so it continues

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[lostmarbles]

Snuck out Good Friday while the Mrs wasn't looking to see if I could spin out sight glass retainers from old tractor engine pistons. Looks like it will work well.

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[Azza76]

You make it look easy mate we'll done

[lostmarbles]

Ok a quick update.
Got the sight glass windows finished and the bubble T's assembled.

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The stainless gauze for the packed section is turning out to be a real PITA, so I might have to rethink that.
I scored 60l of molasses a couple of days ago, so I've got 60l of McRum bubbling away now (just couldn't resist). The TPW is down to 1.000 SG so it'll be ready soon too.

[Lowie]

You're fair dinkum cruising mate. Looks great. I'm still fucking about with my hammered flanges trying to get the bastards to seal. :angry-banghead: