Looking to build a 3 inch 5 Plate Still

[Toolman]

Cleaned all pieces for the site glass, nice tight fit for soldering.
Just need to do the easy flanges, solder them on and drill them out. Looking to use some solid 4 or 6 gauge wire, looked at Lowes and Home Depot with no luck, they stock it State Side but not here in the Great White North
Any Canuck know where to look for solid gauge wire ??

[Toolman]

Cant find any solid 6 gauge wire so I am going to make some washers and solder them on for flanges, I am using 2.5 inch for the tubes, they have been sanded already.
I drilled the disks, now I have to drill out the middle to make my washers

[Toolman]

Finished my site glass flanges today, I just screwed down the disk and lined up on the center holed and drilled.

[Toolman]

Used my sander to make them fit the tubes and are now ready to solder after I get another bottle of gas.

[Toolman]

Do I have to make 5 more for the outside of the glass? Or do I just wrap the glass with Teflon? How thick of glass do I have to order?

[Danespirit]

If you use triclamps, you would be fine just wrapping the glass in PFTE tape. (couple of times around should do)
Alternative to that would be PFTE gaskets, but they are very rigid and won't seal unless the surface is perfectly even.
I would certainly NOT recommend ordinary window glass. I would go for some borosilicate glass.
It's not so much a matter of temperature..rather a matter of temperature fluctuation.
When the column cools off, ordinary glass will break..borosilicate can withstand those fluctuations.
I don't know which dimentions they come in..i have seen 4, 5 and 8 mm discs. They all should be fine.
Edit: Tip...i would get the triclamps first and measure how much space there is for the glass..no fun in having to thick glass that don't fit.

[Kegg_jam]

I got one from McMaster-Carr. Kinda pricey but then I had some other stuff that I needed so It was convenient. They have all kinds of sizes. I ordered 3/16" and it seems maybe over kill. SD seems to be cheapest.

[Toolman]

Thanks, I have 1 of the tri-clamps. I will measure it. There is room for 2 more washers in the clamp, so I guess I need about 1/8" glass. I used 2.5 " tube because I thought a bigger window would look better. Would I need to order glass the same size as the outside of my flange then?? or slightly smaller like around 3"? I looked on a couple sites and they have 1.5", 2" or 3" glass. I would guess that is the size of pipe you used, no one has 2.5", I will have to see where I can source some glass or change my plans and go with 2 or 3".

[googe]

I'm not sure if you can get 2.5" glasses, never seen them!. if you can't, I'm sure a glass cutter could cut you some?. Mine are 3", 90.5mm od and 4mm thick.

[humbledore]

Looks like 3" would work from what I see on your ruler. It needs to rest on the flange, right?

[Danespirit]

Also you should bear in mind that triclamps are slightly concave, so don't let it fit to tight.
You are better off with a "loose" fit and then give it a couple of times more PFTE tape.
The tape will then form a concave V shape when the triclamp is tightened and get a firm grip, thus a perfect seal.
That way, there will be no stress on the glass.
Glass doesn't expand and retract like metal, but the tape levels out those minor differences.
Fit them "loose" and rethighten as the column gains temperature, if necessary.

[Toolman]

Soldered them up and put them on the column, guess I will have to go with them now........LOL I picked up the clamps , just need to find some glass

[Kegg_jam]

The 3" glass should work fine

[Hound Dog]

McMaster-Carr will have all the sizes and thicknesses you need for your glass.

[Toolman]

Thanks Hound Dog, I will look them up.

[Toolman]

No luck with McMaster-Carr , it doesn't appear they ship to Canada. Can I use the gaskets that came with the Tri-clamps ??

[Danespirit]

If the are somehow ridgid , they should be PTFE, and you can use them in your still.

[Toolman]

a couple of them seem ridged, most are like silicon

[Danespirit]

Well, if there ain't no datasheet on them, the more wobbly ones will more than likely be silicone.
As you can't be sure what material they are made of, you should swap them out for PTFE (really cheap on E bay).
You should pay attention to the right size ( 50,5 mm will fit a 1 1/2" ferrule etc.)
The silicone ones could be used for another purpose for example as a gasket for a flakestand (cooling reservoir?), but they don't belong anywhere in the productstream of the still.
Edit : I am impressed by your metalwork skills you have developed..keep on going and you will have a damned fine flute.

[Hound Dog]

Bummer on the Mcmaster-Carr not going north of the border .

[Toolman]

Thanks Danespirit,
I can hardly wait to start running this thing. I am hoping for a little more free time to work on it

[humbledore]

Wrap the silicon in PTFE tape, all the way around so there is no exposed silicon. Double wrap if necessary. Not perfect but I've done it. Does Granger deliver to CA?

[Toolman]

I have a small drill press and was trying to figure out how to hold the column, then I said screw it and grabbed my hand drill.
Worked like a charm and drilled it in about 5 minutes.
Now , I just have to touch up the inside

[Toolman]

Thought I would put the clamps on the column and see how they look.
I am glad I used the 2.5 inch for my site glasses, I like the way they look.

[Toolman]

Soldered up the flanges on the column and the 90's, just have to finish the shot gun and parrot
I am thinking of putting a flange between the 90's, so I can slope the shot gun......

[Toolman]

Do I really need a parrot?

[Hound Dog]

Nope..

[Toolman]

I am thinking about making port hole site glasses on my flute. Does anyone have a schematic with some dimensions I could use for reference.

[Dima]

Toolman - what did you end up doing for your glass ?
I tried mcmaster too and yeah, still won't ship to personal accounts across the border