Steampunk 2

[dogbreath vodka]

Couldn't wait for the weekend.
4ltrs vinegar and 4ltrs water

Fired her up and.... one leak.
Now that's not too bad.
Will add an extra gasket to that section and we'll give it another go.

vinegar run 1.JPG

Soft soldered a second copper ring to the top.
It made it a sort of blued colour... I like it now.
Might stick with it for awhile.

vinegar run 2.JPG

Have shut it down and will give it another run tomorrow night.
Then Saturday a cleaning run. :D

It's all happening now fellas :dance: :dance:

DBV

[Sam.]

Looking real good mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Do love the finish you put on it :clap:

[MacStill]

You're going to love the output speed of that thing, you'll rip through a keg of wash in under 2 hours :laughing-rolling:

[dogbreath vodka]

Thanks Guys

I've already "T"ed the Missus up about a bigger boiler.... :shifty: :shifty: :shifty:

Steady, steady catchy monkey :twisted:

DBV

[Smbjk]

Bloody brilliant mate bloody brilliant. Yet again you have produced a beautiful still. Well done dbv you must have a grin ear to ear :D :D :D :D :D :D :D . Geeze that boiler looks tiny :laughing-rolling:

[dogbreath vodka]

Is that an inline thumper you got it sitting on ? :))

mate you need a bigger boiler for that.

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D Geeze that boiler looks tiny :laughing-rolling:

OK, OK ...... I get it ..... the bloody boiler is tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo small. :teasing-neener: :D :D


Hang in there guys it will change.... later.

But for now I thought I'd show my new improved cooling system, state of the art it is.
Using a Holden radiator and a $20 house fan behind it.

DSCN3969 (Copy).JPG

Yeah... jealous aren't you!! :laughing-rolling:

Thinking of taking out a Copyright. :teasing-neener:

DBV

[dogbreath vodka]

Did the cleaning run and sacrificial run last night.
Mostly good, only had three of the five plates working properly.
Will have a go at a proper run today and work out what the issue is.

The vinegar run came out a lovely shade of blue. :roll:
The next run using a wash was good as well.

DSCN3978 (Copy).JPG

This is with only three plates working. :twisted:

DSCN3974 (Copy).JPG

DSCN3980 (Copy).JPG

DSCN3981 (Copy).JPG

And this is why you do the sacrificial run. :puke-huge:

DBV

[Aussiedownunder01]

That green stuff looks good 8-}

[dogbreath vodka]

That green stuff looks good 8-}

Yeah..... absinthe anyone? :laughing-rolling:

Hate to think what was in that jar. :puke-huge:

Just fired the boiler up with 50ltrs for it's first real run :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Time to get busy. :twisted: :twisted:

DBV

[dogbreath vodka]

Well it's been over 9 months since I spat the dummy and shelved SP2

I built it too quickly and it didn't sit straight in several places.... so I lost my rag and just put it aside... literally shelved it.

Got the bug to start building something and decided it was time to revisit my mistakes. :roll:

The easy flanges didn't mate up properly they were off to one side in several of the flanges.
This is the worst one.

DSCN5233 (Copy).JPG

So with a little patience I realised that the flange was too thick in places up against the tube.
By hammering and grinding that, as well as some of the thickness of the outer edge, the tubes lined up perfectly.

DSCN5232 (Copy).JPG

So I've been busy tweeking the flanges :silent: :twisted:

Added to that the flanges on the modules were not sealing as easily as I wanted.
The inside edge being turned left very little for the seal to mate up against.
So I made inner rings and soldered them into one of the modules.
Of course that made them too thick for the downcomer ~x( ~x( ~x(
So I had to cut out sections for the downcomer to fit into.

DSCN5220 (Copy).JPG

I then realised that instead of hard soldering the brass sight glass ring on the copper tube.... I had soft soldered it.
:angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:

So I thought.... what if I just ran the hard solder over the soft?
The two alloyed together and formed a hard solder of sorts.
Finally a win. :handgestures-thumbupleft: 8-} 8-}

DSCN5222 (Copy).JPG

It's been cleaned up ....still need a few adjustments but am much happier with this module now.

DSCN5224 (Copy).JPG

DBV

[dogbreath vodka]

When I built the boiler I didn't realise how well the sight glass would fit it's housing.
It's so tight that the only way I can get it out is by pushing it from the inside....
Defeating the purpose of a sight glass and fill port.
I'd have to remove the column to fill the boiler. :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:

Boiler first run.JPG

Soooooo
I decided to make a fill port on the spacer I use between the boiler and the first module.
This needed to be small enough to fit into the spacer and not hinder the tri-clamps from tightening up properly.

So a 3" bend was used.

DSCN5229 (Copy).JPG

I have yet to make the end cap and clean up the hard solder overfill.

Just another day in paradise.... :roll:
Wouldn't have been a problem if I'd have taken a bit more time and had done it properly the first time. :violence-smack: :violence-smack:

Live and learn................. I hope. :D

DBV

[Sam.]

When I built the boiler I didn't realise how well the sight glass would fit it's housing.
It's so tight that the only way I can get it out is by pushing it from the inside....
Defeating the purpose of a sight glass and fill port.
I'd have to remove the column to fill the boiler. :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:
DBV

You can't pry it out with something non-metallic? :wtf:

[dogbreath vodka]

So I thought.... what if I just ran the hard solder over the soft?
The two alloyed together and formed a hard solder of sorts.
Finally a win. :handgestures-thumbupleft: 8-} 8-}
DBV

I have done this also, and was surprised at the good result I achieved.

Glad to see I'm not the only one thinking this way. :handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Yeah.... I just need to drop into bunnings and pick up a die grinder to clean up the inside of the copper module, where there is excess hard solder..
Not real easy to get to that with a grinder. :D :D

DBV

[dogbreath vodka]

When I built the boiler I didn't realise how well the sight glass would fit it's housing.
It's so tight that the only way I can get it out is by pushing it from the inside....
Defeating the purpose of a sight glass and fill port.
I'd have to remove the column to fill the boiler. :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:
DBV

You can't pry it out with something non-metallic? :wtf:

I had thought of it Sam, but it would give me the Jimmy Brits if I had to do that every time I wanted to fill the boiler.
Much easier to open a filler port on the side.
Building it isn't easier though. :-D :-D

DBV

[Zak Griffin]

What about a suction cup?

Love your work DBV :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[1 2many]

When I built the boiler I didn't realise how well the sight glass would fit it's housing.
It's so tight that the only way I can get it out is by pushing it from the inside....
Defeating the purpose of a sight glass and fill port.
I'd have to remove the column to fill the boiler. :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:
DBV

You can't pry it out with something non-metallic? :wtf:

I had thought of it Sam, but it would give me the Jimmy Brits if I had to do that every time I wanted to fill the boiler.
Much easier to open a filler port on the side.
Building it isn't easier though. :-D :-D

DBV

Have you tried a suction cup? the lever flip jobbies on ebay that are for windscreen mounts work real good for lifting the glass out, I was fumbling around a bit until I got the suction cup. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[dogbreath vodka]

No guys I haven't tried using a suction cup..... might see if I can get one.

So now.. if that works.... what is the 3" filler port for? :think: :think: :think:


DBV

[dogbreath vodka]

What size suction cup are you blokes using?

DBV

[dogbreath vodka]

Thanks BJ
Just ordered and paid for one...... estimated delivery date... 20th........ October. :laughing-rolling: 8-}

Oh well what can you expect for under $4?
How the hell they do that including free postage I'll never know.

DBV

[7evan]

What size suction cup are you blokes using?

DBV

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=6237&p=105090&hilit=suction#p105090

These are great. I got two in case one broke.