Boka still slanted plates

[Datsun120Y]

Hi fellow distillers,

I'm in the process of building my first Boka still. The column will be "modular" in three pieces, namely the actual packed column, the slanted plates head and a condenser on top. This design makes it easy to clean and have different columns for different products.

I did the slanted plate part yesterday and to see how it will work, I tried it with water. The bottom plate with the reservoir looks like it's working fine, unless it completely floods and doesn't only flow through the tongue.

The top plate is more of a concern. The water flows down the plate, but I guess due to surface tension there are two things happening.
First, on the sides the water tends to form a river along the side wall, which won't be good for the reflux action.
Second, on the lip of the plate, the water tends to flow up the bottom of the plate and not just drip down onto the lower plate. This will most likely prevent a large percentage of condensed liquid to not hit the reservoir part.

Here are some test videos.
Top view with only bottom plate installed:

Top view with both plates:

Bottom view with both plates:

After shooting the last two videos, I don't worry so much anymore. It depends a lot on how much reflux is actually dripping down and most importantly, if the head is properly leveled, it works quite well!

Any suggestions and comments highly appreciated!

Cheers

[Yummyrum]

Looks good to me .
Yes you are right that surface tension does make a huge difference to how things flow .
Use Methylated spirits to do your tests if you don’t have any heads hanging around .

I nearly scrapped a design until I twigged.