First 2” shotgun

Anything cooling/condenser related.

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BoisBlancBoy
Distiller
Posts: 1165
Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2013 7:17 pm
Location: Tip of the Mitt

First 2” shotgun

Post by BoisBlancBoy »

I’ve wanted a shotgun condenser for awhile and when my Liebig developed a small PIA leak I decided just to give the shotgun a go especially since I had all the parts. I was also reconfiguring my column so it made sense.

I decided to make the vapor tubes 22” and the jacket 24”. This condenser is going to be used both on my column and in my pot/thumper combo.

First thing I did was cut 3 pieces of 2” pipe at 2.5” long. Which would serve as the end plates and internal baffles for the cooling tubes. Once cut to size I used a bandsaw and made a cut along the length of the pieces then flattened them. Then cut them in half. So I had 6 pieces roughly 2.5”x3” but only needed 5.

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Next I laid out the spacing for the tubes on the end plates. Which I decided I only needed 4- 1/2” ID tubes and didn’t want to try and squeeze five in being my first attempt. At 22” Long I didn’t feel that I needed 5 tubes anyway. I screwed all the plates together and pilot drilled them. When it came time to drill them for the vapor tubes I used a step bit and drilled to 5/8”. I then used a small file and opened the holes just a hair to allowed the tubes to slide through with just a little resistance.
Layout
Layout
Piloted
Piloted
Next I cut the 1/2” vapor tubes at 22”. Cleaned up the ends and the center area where the internal water baffles would go. I flared the ends on one side of the tubes thinking it would give me a little more surface area to solder to. In turn I wish I hadn’t flared them as it just made things harder, no real advantage like I was hoping.
Tubes
Tubes
Now I didn’t take any pictures of filing/grinding the plates into circles. That was a slow process but I used a bench grinder. The end plates for the tubes I took my more time making sure they fit tight. The 3 internal baffles i made a little smaller to help with sliding the entire tube system into the water jacket easier.
Tube unit 1
Tube unit 1
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User avatar
BoisBlancBoy
Distiller
Posts: 1165
Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2013 7:17 pm
Location: Tip of the Mitt

Re: First 2” shotgun

Post by BoisBlancBoy »

After fitting the end plates and baffles I soldered all them into place. Next I cut the 24” piece of 2” pipe for the water jacket. Installed a Tri Clamp ferrule on one end and drilled the holes for the water input/output, which I ended up taking off my Liebig and soldered in place.
Input/output
Input/output

Then soldered the vapor tube unit into the water jacket which went pretty smooth. Next was water testing it. Well, there we some leaks. 5 to be exact. All pretty small but just hard to get at to clean up and resolder. But I got it, cleaned up and ready for use!
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Done
Done
I hope this can help others with their builds! Any questions about it let me know, I’m happy to help.
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