Double Walled Gooseneck Potstill

[violentblue]

Having some fun with the cone program posted by stillvodka.

so went back to scratch on my potstill plans, and redid it, also solved the issue of how to build the onion.
boiler will be done in stainless, gooseneck in copper, and thumper in stainless again.

just a quick rendering of the design.

[rezaxis]

Can I ask how you are going to make (or buy?) the elbows?

[violentblue]

the design is based on Pint-O-Shines design, with some modifications.

bottom half of the pot will be steam jacketed, inlet and outlet will be side by side with a barrier between forcing the steam to travel 360 degrees around the pot before hitting the condensate trap.

the whole unit will sit on a stand rasing it about 24" off the floor, making the entire unit rise to a height of 7 feet to the highest point. boiler capacity is 30 gallons. bottom is slightly conical for better drainage and will recieve a bung for a 1" valve.

I'm going to have all the stainless pieces cut on a waterjet or cnc plasma cutter, originally planned to wels it myself with my MIG welder, but I'm going to have to either take some lessons on TIG welding or let someone in on my hobby. just so the joints are sealed tight and pretty.

elbows will be either stainless or copper, depending on what I can find, I have found nice tight radius manderls in stainless at the local scrap yard, I will take 2 of them and weld together toget the 45 degree angle. they're from the dairy industry I believe, otherwise I'll order some stainless mandrel bends from the muffler shop. below is a pic of the still I built for my stepdad, the elbow on it is one of the stainless ones I got at the scrappy, got two 2" bends just like that on the shelf in my garage, but I'd like to do it in 2 1/2" for the main column and 2" off the thumper.

If I can find them I'd look for a 2 1/2" copper return (180 U bend) and fabricate the flanges from bronze and solder them together.

[myles]

Check out the copper guttering / rainwater harvesting websites. They make all sort of swan necks and various degree bends in both 3" and 4" copper tube. I am seriously considering starting my next still with a 4" copper column.

[violentblue]

thats a great piece of advice. I've checked out gutter companies in the past for other such supplies, I'll have to see if I can find some nice bends.

[myles]

I realy like that idea in your design. An onion going into a 6" to 4" taper, with a 4" bend then a 4" to 2" taper to the thumper. 2" column on the thumper going to a 2" to 3/4" taper feeding your condenser.

That would be a seriously good looking setup. Now where can I get a 100 litre drum to feed it with?

Best start saving up for the next build

EDIT: Bronze? How about a lost wax casting to make your bend? It takes a bit of work but you CAN do it yourself. Or perhaps you know some artistic type with the gear to do it for you. I was looking at a bell recently but it was just too heavy to be a realistic option.

[violentblue]

thanks myles
the "onion" goes from 6" to 10 1/2" back to 6"
the "column" is 20" long and reduces from 6" to 2 1/2" (may do 3" if I can find the parts)

I wouldn't make the entire part from bronze but copper soldered to bronze flanges.
bronze is easy enough for me to come by and is easy enough to turn on my lathe.

Not sure if bronze contains lead or not but I'd rather stick with copper and stainless in the vapor path.
casting would be straight forward enough, and I have access to most of the equipment, I may look into the possibility of copper casting for the 135 degree bends and flanges.

its easy enough to find scrap copper, not sure how easy it is to cast.

[myles]

As an alternative to a tapered copper column up to the first bend, I have been considering graduated copper ball floats. You can get these from stock from 2" diameter up to 14" diameter.

[violentblue]

As an alternative to a tapered copper column up to the first bend, I have been considering graduated copper ball floats. You can get these from stock from 2" diameter up to 14" diameter.

true but it seems like an expensive way to do it. might look nice though.

[violentblue]

discovered a nice source for tri clover fittings all the way up to 6" (possibly bigger)

so I'm going to make this unit modular.

[goose eye]

how much reflux you exspectin. is there a reason why botom aint flat

so im tole

[myles]

discovered a nice source for tri clover fittings all the way up to 6" (possibly bigger)

so I'm going to make this unit modular.

My PM's won't leave my outbox for some reason. can you post a link to your source for fittings?

I want to have 2 x 8" diameter stainless plates made up. One with a 4" (or 6" even ) coupling in the centre, the other with 2 x 2" couplings. I would like to rivet and solder them onto copper tanks. Big one for my pot and double one for a thumper(one of the 2" couplings to connect to the diffuser and the other for the output).

That way if I ever upgrade to a bigger rig I can de-solder and de-rivet and transfer them to bigger tanks.

[rad14701]

My PM's won't leave my outbox for some reason.

This particular forum software keeps outgoing PM's in your outbox so you have the ability to edit them right up until the moment when the recipient logs in and reads them.. Your outbox isn't broken...

[myles]

Oh thanks rad that explains it.

[eternalfrost]

they have 90 and 45 SS Tri-clamp elbow at mcmaster

[violentblue]

how much reflux you exspectin. is there a reason why botom aint flat

so im tole

cause there'll be a 1" pipefitting for a drain.

[goose eye]

it dont take but a wee litle bit of pitch to get it gone an you can do that with your blocks an the doublein keg you just build a pitch in it but then again i rekon we all got our druthers an reasons for em.

so im tole

[myles]

it dont take but a wee litle bit of pitch to get it gone an you can do that with your blocks an the doublein keg you just build a pitch in it but then again i rekon we all got our druthers an reasons for em.

so im tole

Sorry goose eye, but that went straight over my head. someone please translate. I will learn the various dialects eventually.

[Dnderhead]

Pitch, slope, slant the bottom toward the drain, can be with what it is setting on "blocks?" or be built into the bottom of still.

[violentblue]

intention is to buid in a set of " legs" to raise the whole assembly up high enough to allow a drain valve.

I'm also thinking I might recycle my copper Pint-O-Still as a thumper. get some copper in the vapor path, so I can choose if I want to build the gooseneck out of copper or stainless. copper would be more desirable, but stainless would be easy to fabricate.