i have been lurking for a long time .
Over the years I read a lot and just thought about what I read.
So heres a long winded story about how the pix below came into being.
If you don't have much time just check out the pix I know I gab too much.
My interest in stills goes back to junior high where I researched them in the library.
On paper I drew up a classic pot still with thumper but had no idea how to build it.
I still have that drawing all these years later.
Did all the shop classes in high school and in college I ended up with a studio art degree in jewelery .
I had a professor there that went to cranbrook and he was an excellent teacher for metal smithing amoungst other things.
I learned a bit there graduated with big plans but in the real world I quickly discovered that art doesn't pay.
So instead I've made my living many ways including general contracting.
About a year ago I was at a swap meet and saw a four copper sheets for sale.
The copper 8'x 12” 22 gauge and was probably intended for some sort of siding detail as it had a full fold and a 90 degree bend on each long side.
I needed some copper for making returns on some 4x4 posts in a flat roof project so I asked how much.
He wanted 200 bux which not knowing copper prices I thought was high.
I only needed about 2 sections and wasn't wanting to pay that much but I made an offer anyway.
We dickered a bit and I finally said forget it and started leaving.
I had pointed out how late in the day it was and I guess he heard me.
He called me back and I got all the copper for 50 bux.
My cusion made a building a still joke but I did buy it for the returns.
Built the returns and I was ight I had twice as much as I needed.
With two sections left over I wondered if I could build a still and did some more reading.
I confused myself with cone math,circunference of circles angles degrees and even bought a book or two. After a week or so I decided I had enough material to build a small still maybe 5 gallons with what I had on hand.
So I am currently building a pot still .
I had to put a lot of seams because 12 inch x 8 foot material really doesn't like being made into a five gallon pot.
I had a design from one of the books but was boring with straight walls
I decided a classic design with joined cones would be better .
More math, more thinking but in the end I figured it out.
So I'm using a pretty basic design but i'm adding some condensing mods which may or may not be wise.
Mostly in a longer column a different way to mount the top and a modified take on a libieg condensor because I can more than any good reason.
Heres some pix so far , with the pot and it's parts . a good deal of the stuff i'm on this doing comes from my silver/copper smith education.plus I am a fair to middling plumber so that helps a bit too.I'll try to explain what i'm doing or did if i'm not clear ask and I can explain deeper if someone is interested in more info.
The seams,
i used a seam folder it's a little over 100 years old but still works fine.they were primararly used for building stuff often they can still be found in places where people still build duct work for construction.
- seam folder about 30 inches long
This wouldn't allow a simple cut curve unless I wanted something only about one gallon in size.
it would be harder but ultimately cheaper in copper material costs to use seams.
By making several cone shapes and joining them together I could use the maximum amount of sheet with minimal waste.
So my first job was to do the math and figure out what I could build with available materials.
That's a long and dull subject that i'll skip unless somebody absolutely needs to know and asks for the info.
Long story short I decided i'd have enough material to build a still boiler abut 12” high 16” on the top and 12” on the bottom. I'd need to make sections and fold join them together.
I decided to add rivets just because I could (to me they look cool) plus it would make mock up of parts way easier and let me braze everything together in a final step.
It's been my experience when building stuff to break the build into disipline sections .
So my first task was to get the copper in workable form.
I heated the copper to a dull red with a straight acetalene torch.
After dipping in a solution of ½ cheap vinigar ½ plain water (old school metal pickle solution) I washed off the loose scale and went to my next step which was flattening the sheets.
Many metal smith would cry foul at my not removing all the fire scale by leaving in my rough pickle but i've found it makes little difference when you do multiple reheats.
I carefully unfolded the big fold and flattened the minor fold. I didn't go for perfectly flat i'm about utility on this build.
I then re-annealed the copper by heating to dull red and tossing it into the pickle.
A quick note here about annealing in case you don't know.
Annealing is the process where you heat a non ferrous metal to a dull red. By heating it to temp you get the work hardened bits to return to a dead soft condition. This is very useful when you want to shape metal.work hardening happens when you work metal-banging it with hammers ,folding it or manipulating the shape. As it gets work hardened the metal gets stretched and brittle on a molecular level. Think ovals ,by heating it up the metal returns to its natural molecular shape ,think round, and is soft again.
Anyway after annealing I marked the first lines checked my math and cut out my first parts.
On each build section I did all the cuts first, file tight second ,join and rivit third, trap hammer fold last .
then hold till everything is ready for final assembly.
The first thing I made was the head no particular reason why.
didn't take pix either.
The planned dimension was 6”bottom 8” top with a 12” height.
This had nothing to do with any kind of distilling math it's just what my material allowed.
I had to make two sections joined in the middle with a fold seam to make what I wanted.
I preshaped the curve using a old piece of diesel exhaust pipe as a former.
heres a pix of my "mandrel"
- this is a diesel truck exhaust pipe i had.when you building big stuff you use whatever you can as a mandrel!!
After the curves were pretty close I clamped the two together and started setting rivits.
I went with two per seam top and bottom, four rivits two seams, to hold the parts together.
i then hammer trapped the folds together which basically means I carefully hit them with a flat faced hammer pinching them together tightly.
I followed this with rivits evenly spaced on the fold.
In theory this should produce a water tight seam but i'll be brazing them all 100% sealed in the final phase.
I repeated this operation series on the other parts the difference being their basic shape.
I obseesed about the main boiler bottom numbers for almost a day as material was gonna be close.
Funnily , I realized the numbers 16x12x12 were the same as the head except doubled.i simply used the same pattern but made four sections instead of two, sometimes I feel like if I could just think clearly like once in a while Before I waste a day obsessing, life would be easy!
Anyway heres some pix so far.
- cape and pot layout on the copper
- checking main pot cuts and folds
- curving pot section on old e-pipe
I've read about condensors vapor flow/velocity and heat exchange with great interest.
My take away seems to be if you opt for a big square inch flow say two inches you need to deal with too much vapor velocity through the two inch area..
I read slowing the flow was best accomplished by either crimping the interior pipe or breaking it into smaller parts while cooling .
The complicated labor cost of the main pipe material for a shot gun condensor concerned me and I though about plumbing options to accomplish the same thing.
So I 'm going with a standard libig condensor (¾” outer/1/2” inner pipe)but x 4 to get the 2” vapor flow while using fairly easy to optain parts.
I'm using 1/2” x3/4”x3/4” for connections which i'll braze together to combine the pairs together then cut 1/2” opening to allow water flow.
I'll post pix soonish.
