WTDist T500 Modification

[rumdidlydum]

Cut up a piece of 2' to make a type of conncetion to go on the end on my PC to connect my 2" to 1".
Made a leak. This was on the week end. Attempted to rectify this today and everytime i sealed a leak another one or 2 sprung up. Got there in the end, about 10 leaks later :angry-banghead:
Ive decided on a new way to attatch the 2" to 1" now ;-)

:laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:
I know the pain. Sam was on the money when he said if there was a leak start again.
Or you have more patience than an angel :laughing-rolling:

[WTDist]

Yes yes nest time i wont do this mistake, well i hope not :O)
Going to try brazing soon so next build ill braise as much as i can and solder rest. Might be easier since i over heat sometimes 8-}
Im going to braze as much as i can on the plates i make up too. rapidly running out of flux :roll:

Just the 2 flanges to solder on now and patch the 2 holes in the lower half of the T500, Just going to cut a piece of 2", cut down a side and slide it over and solder in place. hopefully no leaks. One is indented so il have to cut that out in order to keep the column round or else the plates wont slide in/out and seal right.

Man i hate working on a budget :angry-banghead:

[WTDist]

No brazing on my ring, worked out a treat. No flaring too. Bernzomatic on the copper ring and comweld 965 on the SS. Nice and slow, about 5 mins maybe. The other ring is a tad ugly on the bottom of my RC but its strong and works well, well i think :laughing-rolling:

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Quick sand, pretty flush, maybe could use a bit more

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Tried soldering over this part, had trouble so ill come back to that later. for now il just put 2 3/4" silicon seals over them with a piece of copper over that (there are 2 of these holes from the old T500 shit). I had to bend it back out as they were indented :-x

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Ill clamp them on with this. I will fix this problem properly at a much later date 8-} I hope it works, no reason it shouldn't as long as a seals there with pressure on it :think: Input on this much welcome :-D

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And after trying to remove the old stickers it ended up like this. Maybe ill call my new still Turbo :O) even though its only 2" :laughing-rolling:

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Guess its time for a big citric bath now :dance:
Now i just order my seals and tri clamp and im good to make vodka/neutral. Time to start on my removable plates. Hope im its not just wishful thinking :smile:

Oh and some stands for the weight for the weight :angry-banghead:

The excitement is building :D

[WTDist]

Ok so im after some advice here....

I cut a section of 2" pipe off at 20mm or so, then cut along its vertical until i could make it the same as the inside of the t500 2" diameter. its really snug at this time but fits which is what i want. held it to shape with a clamp and then soldered the top on. this is my really snug plate although i still need to shape the plate part itself as you can see in the pic (not round yet). I want it perfect, the plate and the 20mm 2" pip i made, tight but not to tight it gets stuck. I made a bubble cap out of 1" at ruffly 40 mm high and the riser will sit 10mm below this. i am however wondering how long to make my downcomer (i think thats what its called).

I originally thought of having a bath depth of 25mm like a lot of others with 4 of these plate sections.

What i know is ...
The T500 says it is 2000W boiler but darkmesh said he gets about 1850W when he checked it
Jontee has a 4 plate 4" glasser on the T500 and can max around 1L/h over the run including boil time i think, so actual output may be faster :think:

Im wondering what bath depth i should use :think: Does anyone have any recomendations?ill stick to 1" for the moment unless anyone has a better solution. Im all ears 8-}

Im hoping to also add a 800mm packed section above at a later date but this measurement is dependent on the power of the boiler and the weight on the lid which is also why i need to get the bath depths right first time. I also thought of making it 3" plates down the track to increase speed but yes only 2kw boiler so hopes and dreams at this point :))

any suggestions on bath depths vs power etc is very welcome :D

bits n pieces apart, not shaped yet

2015-08-19 11.42.54.jpg

mock up together, unsure on bath depth for max 2kw

2015-08-19 11.52.05.jpg

Cheers
WTD

[rumdidlydum]

Great work mate cant wait till you fire it up and let us know how it runs.
There are 2 types of turbo boiler that in know of the older ones were1800w and the later are 2000w.
25mm bath should work only one way to find out. If you can make the adjustable you can experiment. Or not
Keep up the good work :D

[WTDist]

Sorry guys, long post here :techie-typing: needed a few questions answered as im nearing the end and need to get it right first time :-D

So Ive made up 4 slide in plates but haven't got the down-comers or bubble caps on yet. I was looking over Zacs Agrajag to get some info and saw where he mentioned a 20mm bath depth ring from this part of his thread.

I was going to have them below but now i changed my mind after seeing this post, they were more stabilizers for me but now they are a bath depth thingy.
Im wondering how much liquid can fall through these gaps without the rings as i was going to have them below (hoping that rising vapor would minimize it), is it substantial?
My riser and downcomer are 1/2" and the single bubble cap is 1" with slots yet to be cut.

ring 2.png

ring1.png

My rings are made to fit in the top of the T500 column perfectly and when i say perfectly i mean tight as shit, need a hammer to tap them in gently. My problem is the T500 column isnt the same shape the whole way down and its not from me as ive always been careful with the T500, must have been warped from factory. Wankas.
Im thinking of sliding/tapping them in place (ill have spacers attached to keep them at about 150mm apart, but may change, open to suggestions :D ) and before i do this i was thinking of partially annealing the SS where they need to be situated and then once they are in maybe tapping the SS to close the gap up and then fit another (really tight) one of those clamps ive mentioned above for each plate to try minimize the gaps. They will be that tight than getting them out will most likely break them so they will be permanent so ill have to be on top of the cleaning ;-)
Does anyone think this is a good thing to do, anneal tap in and clamp tight?

My length of the side pipe now is going to be 17mm (size of my smallest piece) so im thinking about bath depths. Ive come up with 15mm, 2 mm shy of the 17 because i dont want it to steal too much power as im limited with that, or go down the side and not the downcomer leaving vapor rising through the downcomer
Does this sound right, keeping it 2mm under the side pipe or will this cause rising vapor on the side to increase?

A question for people running bath depths below 20mm. say 15mm. What ABV% do you get on a flavor run with 4 plates at 15mm? will i get close to 90% or less? Im not fussed on achieving 90% as it will be watered down to below 70% but i do want the separation of fractions to be at least decent without a power controller and not a crap product, ex. not like a single run pot run 8-}

Does anyone have any suggestions on slot size for my downcomers? im thinking hacksaw width of 1mm to 2mm and maybe 5mm high.


So to sum up...
*Does my anneal tap and clamp method sound plausible?
*Does a bath depth of 15mm, 2mm below the side pipe 17mm sound right or should it be the same (17mm) to try avoid rising vapor?
*Does anyone know what ABV 15/17mm bath depths can achieve? and being 2" would 15mm to 25mm even make a difference to ABV?
*Does a bubble plate slot of 1-2mm wide and 5mm high sound to much/little?
*And is 150mm spacing to much or little between plates? ...it is the max i can go and i actually would like to decreasing it a little

Sorry for the long post. Any help and advice is very appreciated

:text-thankyoublue:
WTD

[P3T3rPan]

Good luck annealing ss

[WTDist]

Yea did some researching on annealing SS and im not sure its a road i want to go down :think:

Anyway i built my parrot...

Haven't got a funnel on the collection end as im unsure if i want to mount it in a few weeks or keep it free standing, either way is still an option this way.
1/2" collection end into a tee on the base with 1" body. 1 1/2" reducer at top with 1/4" pipe leaving it. I checked and the 1/4" can handle quite a speed which is more than the T500 boiler can put out. Ill make it 1/2" when i get a 1/2" drill bit again or when i need more speed.
Couldn't get the 1" to push through the reducer so i cut it and the part you can see sprouting out at the top is a 40mm piece on its own, was meant to be one of my bubble caps. Could shave off 4mm or so off the top but im not worried at this time

Started sanding the 1/2" n body and gave up, couldn't be bothered at this time but its been in citric acid since last night.

Soft soldering is becoming much easier now :handgestures-thumbupleft: with the occasional ball rolling off. Really only need a tiny amount of solder 8-}

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Now just to finish my plates and wait for my clamp in the mail :D

[WTDist]

So the leaks fixed in the flanges. I soldered small bits of copper on those factory made holes in the T500 column. Tested, filled whole column with water and no leaks :D
I plan to cut the bottom of the column off and make another flange join basically like the T500 adapters. This is down the track though. Then ill make the bottom joiner on the lid soldered on so it never comes off and is sturdier plus seals better :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Im unsure if ill add an 800mm (or so) packed section above the plates when they are done or just make a 1.2m packed section (or something) and just swap this in when i need it for neutrals and swap back to the T500 column for plates. I just want to hit azeo so the packed section will be as long as needed for great vodka. i always strip for vodka too.

Weight wise... she is sturdy as is in the pic at the moment
Once water is flowing and packing is in and the vapor in the column etc it will be heavier but so far it looks good. :music-deathmetal:

vinegar run, sacrificial run tomorrow and then finally 6L @ 90% of WBABW waiting for me to distill and drink :dance:

anyway here she is, not cleaned up yet. Had more important things to do than polish her up n crap, damn im time poor :)). The T500 hoses will be hooked up to her and she still sits on the bench :))

still.jpg

Time to get crackin on my plates

Fucking Woo hoo :happy-partydance:

[Professor Green]

Looking good. Are you going to attach your cooling hoses with clamps?

Cheers,
Prof Green.

[WTDist]

Ill need some 1/2" to 1/4" reducers for the hoses still, might be able to source some at a air-con place as trade link doesn't stock such small reducers. then i will use clamps :handgestures-thumbupleft:
so at the moment ill use plumbers tape to seal them in and use some duck tape to hold them on 8-} they fit just inside the 1/2" tube.
Nothing fancy yet but i need to get my stripped WBABW through the still. Bottle shop grog is costing me too much and i cant wait anymore :))
If i hadn't bought from a bottle shop over the last 2 months or so i would have a keg and one 2400w element :angry-banghead:
Still my missus doesnt care about my hobby or that and would prefer the grog over a new boiler :-x

[Professor Green]

I know you're probably done with soldering but I would solder these these on then use any of the variety of hose connections available instead of clamps.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

[xcvator]

If you can flare the ends very slightly then push your hoses over that and hold them on with hose clamps you shouldn't have any problems , cheap and easy :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[WTDist]

Struggling to get full reflux on my sac run :angry-banghead:
If its a problem ill update my rc over time... bigger etc

Abv looks good at 22degrees.. i want to increase my packed section by atleast 80cm

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[WTDist]

1st jar is clean :wtf:

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[WalterWhite]

Must feel good having it up and running though mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Be pretty happy with 93% on your sac run as well

[WTDist]

so far with 14L of low wines. its going at 2L an hour with refux but holding at 93%. Normally the T500 did 90% or less and an output speed of 1L per hour (that i set). still seems fast but ill tinker a bit. Ill have to add another packed section to try and use up the extra power. maybe a 1.3m packed section or 1.5m (total) :think:
hopefully single pass will go slower for flavors. may increase my bath depth now :think:

[WTDist]

Tested speed with minimal water in pc and rc worked out to be 1L for 11 mins or 5.45L per hour. ABV went from 93 to 84/85%with product output temp about 21.5 degrees and slowly going back up to 88*. just under atm

[mark-gabb]

Looking good wt Any more results?

[WTDist]

Looking good wt Any more results?

finished on about 70% to 80%. kept chekin reflux. was near 70% and hit reflux for 5 mins and it went bak to maybe 85% or so. didnt run it to the end as i figure 5L of collected stuff was enough.

If i was to make the RC again it would be at least 130mm. Ill see what happens when i increase the packed section as i think im throwing to much power at it atm. im going to add another 80cm. i have 56cm atm so it will be about 135cm packed section. going to increase my bath depths too but i will have a small hole at the 15mm line