How to wind a perfect coil condenser.

[de`Canthas]

Lye, or sodium hydroxide, will severely corrode copper. You should use a copper-inhibited sodium hydroxide solution.

This is the same stuff I use to pump through my copper plate heat exchanger for my home-brewing.

[chris69ca]

Ok thought I would do a quick tutorial on how to wind coils. First you need a jig. Mine is pretty simple, a 1/2" black iron pipe run thru a couple 7/8th bearings bolted down to a table with a pillow block. There are three eye bolts installed near the end to ensure that the coil gets plenty of grip when turning.

how much 3/8 do you recommend using i couldn't find that part hear

[Austin Nichols]

how much 3/8 do you recommend using i couldn't find that part hear

Forget 3/8 dude, it will be too hard to wind being your first coil & 1/4 inch is more than enough to knock down anything you can throw at it in your two inch boka, and it WILL be a lot easier to wind than 3/8.

You will need about 3 meters of 1/4 inch to wind a double helix coil about 200mm long.

Cheers.

[Herrick Hubbard]

I just finished off my first coil using Dixie's method described here. Am very pleased with the effort.
Wasn't looking forward to soaking the unit and taking it to the carwash so I managed to deftly twist the coil in the opposite direction and with the help of a vise and some vise-grips - grab hold of the notebook inside and GENTLY pull the paper out. I didn't include any extra cardboard to enlarge the diameter of the coil so the paper more or less easily slipped out. Here's a pic of the result.
Thanks for the post Dix.
2 Notes: 1. I need to work on the bends at the top of the coil.
2. I'm not sure of the length - maybe it's too long? Input anyone....

coil_1.jpg (56.46 KiB) Viewed 4401 times

[tafinaf]

Lye, or sodium hydroxide, will severely corrode copper.

Will it? That's new to me. There are metals that will react with bases such as sodium hydroxide, but copper is definitely not one of them. You can get corrosion when your lye is contaminated with some oxidant, such as sodium carbonate. That will give you an oxides layer which can be removed by soaking in weak acid, such as vinegar.

[chris69ca]

well i was going to build a bok for my first build but picked up a pot still on the cheap now going to do a nixon stone so this is still very handy looks great to nice bends guys

[rad14701]

well i was going to build a bok for my first build but picked up a pot still on the cheap now going to do a nixon stone so this is still very handy looks great to nice bends guys

You're still better off building the Bokakob dual slant plate... With recent increases in copper prices the elimination of extra fittings is a major consideration...

[chris69ca]

i have about a meter and all sorts of odds and ends i actually dont need much else for a Nixon but might look at what elce it would cost me im taking my time at the moment just reading i have the pot still so that keeps me going in the meantime and im getting off the essences at the moment trying to do all my recipes from scratch with oak chips

[Grehund]

Thanks to Dixiedrifter's post, I too was able to wind my first coil without any kinks.

my first coil.

I was worried about how I'd go after reading some of the other newb's comments here, but it went ok. I think I may have left too much of a gap between my coils, but I'll test it out and see how she performs. Now I'm more confident, I think I could wind a much better one - if need be.

Thanks again to Dixie for this great guide.

[Bushman]

I thought I would revive this thread as I made a small discovery. I have used this method with a lot of success making both 1/4 and 3/8" coils. I have not been able to do it with the 10' - 1/4" copper from lowes without salt. Yesterday I rolled 2 coils from some 1/4" tubing that was marked fro refrigeration that I was able to get at a reasonable price. The first one I added salt as per the ones I have made in the past. The person I am making it for wanted it a bit longer than I usually do so I added 3 more raps. This has been a bugger to clean so I decided since it was a bit different copper that I would try without salt. It worked great, the reason the refrigeration copper is a bit softer and doesn't kink as easily as the other. Both turned out nice but the latter took a lot less work. The basic difference between them is that the one without salt does flatten a bit but not much and will not effect it's performance. The diameter difference between them the one with salt is 1-7/8" while the one without is 1-5/8". Hope this helps anyone about to attempt a double condenser coil.