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New to distillation, or simply new to the HD forums.
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Refluxed
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Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2017 4:58 am

Hi

Post by Refluxed »

Hi

New to distilling, got some questions, but it has been days since I posted my first one, and it still hasn't shown up.

The board isn't that dead, so why no post appearing?

Being a newcomer, I can't even use messaging to ask a moderator what's going on.

Not that it matters, I found the answer I was looking for (but not on this site, or any distillation site for that matter), but I would still like to know what hoops I have to jump through to actually ask a question.

I hope my question is not held up because I was asking about pressure sensors. I understand many here take a dismal view to automation, but it also means they bury their heads in the sand regarding important safety redundancies.

So about me - interested purely in neutral spirit, and building a fractionating still for producing it. I have lathe/mill/press, and mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering education
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Bushman
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Location: Pacific Northwest

Re: Hi

Post by Bushman »

Welcome to the forum, to answer your question I am guessing you have a PM waiting to be read. If you asked a question in another thread area for your first post it was probably disapproved as we require all new members before allowing to post in other areas to first do an introduction in the Welcome Center.
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DBCFlash
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Re: Hi

Post by DBCFlash »

Just a nice quick introduction and a promise to do some research on safety and basic procedures is all you really need to become indoctrinated. It's true that some seem to be against automation, but once you really understand the principles of proper distilling, many of those logical processes become less appropriate for automatic production.
That being said, innovation and "out of the box" problem solving do have a place here, just so long as they don't compromise the safety basics.
Some men you jest cain't reach...
Refluxed
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Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2017 4:58 am

Re: Hi

Post by Refluxed »

Thanks for the clarifications

I don't have any PM's, so no idea what happened to my initial question. It was in the "Related Electric Accessories" forum

Defining automation, and its limits, is interesting. A still with multiple theoretical plates could be viewed as automating the process of multiple runs through a pot still. Using sensors is not just for automating production - but also safety, and data acquisition. A control sensor can detect, log, and respond to a change in conditions, much faster and with greater sensitivity than we can. For example, I doubt many will be removing any overcurrent safety switches between the mains power and their boiler :)

I'd love to build a bubble plate still, just because they look cool, but I don't know what the advantages/disadvantages are vs. a packed column for (small volume production of) neutral alcohol (one of the questions I need to ask) - If I did, ideally each plate would have sensors.

Cheers
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