easy tri-clamp ferrule sight glasses

[condensificator]

so, i've tried a few different ways to make the sight glasses with tri-clamp ferrules...they have all worked well. this is the most recent, easiest, and does not require a lathe...so i thought i'd share.


i used plate glass from a picture frame, it's .084" thick, cut into discs with a 2-1/2" diamond hole saw.
two 2" ferrules (one standard, one short) and one clamp.
srcap wood to hot glue the glass on to for cutting, and a torch to melt the glue sticks (can't find the hot glue gun).


glass glued onto the wood. a finished/used glass is in the background with the pfte tape on it.


wet cutting.




the reason it needs to be glued onto the wood, is because if you don't, once the disc is freed from the rest, it will turn with the hole saw, and get scratched up. i tried a few without gluing, and they are all junk.


about 8-10 complete turns of pfte tape around the outside edge.




then gently push it towards the edges and make a nice open viewing area.


carefully line up the ferrule and glass sandwich.


'viola! the glass disc with the tape wrap next to the complete sight glass was taken off of a working still. you can kind of see the "grooves" in the pfte tape that were made by the seating of the ferrule to the glass. the ridges that normally hold the raised ring of the gasket, press down into the pfte tape nicely to make a solid seal.



fitting the long ferrule to the work piece will be just like any other type of sight glass arrangement. that pipe joining template that someone here provided comes in really handy: http://www.harderwoods.com/pipetemplate.php

the diamond hole saw can be bought from a couple different vendors on ebay for about $20...here's one: http://cgi.ebay.com/2-1-2-inch-Diamond- ... 41481f46e7" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow


a few people have asked me about this, so i hope it comes in handy. good luck!


edit: typo on thickness...thanks cob.

[Mr.Spooky]

thanks condensificator!
do you/would you tin these on the outside of the pipe, or would you inset into the copper?
thanks
spooky

[likkerluvver]

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best.

Nice work.

[condensificator]

thanks condensificator!
do you/would you tin these on the outside of the pipe, or would you inset into the copper?
thanks
spooky

i have done it both ways, but it's really up to whatever your particular set of skills and tools match up with better. the ferrule can be shaped to fit the pipe by itself, or do the fitting in copper, then use a short ferrule inset into it. i was only showing the glass/ferrule/clamp situation itself for now, but when i get to fitting them on my new project, i'll take some more pics.

[WalkingWolf]

Thanks for the build-along. Looks like something the average bloke could give a go.

[Bushman]

Nice detail description. Thanks for the info on the glass cutter. I've been looking for one in our local hardware stores with no luck

[Mud Mechanik]

Nice tutorial Condensificator, that would make a good addition to the flute building thread.

BTW, did you get the glasses yet?

[Samohon]

Thanks for the Pipe cutting software condenser, really handy piece of kit...

Nice sight glasses with them tri-clamp fittings, sure it will look great...

[Bushman]

Condensificator, just had a thought with cutting the glass. Instead of glueing it to the board have you ever tried double back tape I used to use it to hold down 1/8th inch plexiglass when cutting with a CNC wood router. I am not sure if it would handle the torq of a drill press but would be a lot less messy

[condensificator]

here's a way to do the fitting with a hole saw and drill press. these are for my 4" bubbler, so it's a 4-1/8" hole saw.



i cut each side most of the way through, then finished with a mini cut-off wheel. (this was so i could have enough meat to do the second cut. i am sure someone with better machining capabilities could figure out an easier and more accurate way)






should do the trick.




yeah MM, i got em...just haven't figured out what the hell to do with em yet! thanks man.

samo, someone else posted that, but i didn't dig back to find out who...whoever it was, thanks from both of us!

[condensificator]

Condensificator, just had a thought with cutting the glass. Instead of glueing it to the board have you ever tried double back tape I used to use it to hold down 1/8th inch plexiglass when cutting with a CNC wood router. I am not sure if it would handle the torq of a drill press but would be a lot less messy

yeah, that should work. i just used the hot glue, because we always have it around for crafting stuff. once the cuts are done, it's really easy to get the discs off of the wood.

[bgrizzle]

Condensificator... you are an alien from another planet. Their is no way that a human can make shit that nice with their hands!

[Bayou-Ruler]

Very Impressive. You could make kits an sell them on eBAY.

[cob]

nice job as always condensificator. there are 3 kinds of glass used for pictures the glass you used is standard glass, you can tell by the green edge. ultra clear has no color at the edge. non glare glass is only transparent enough to see through if it is in contact with something, so not suitable for sight glass. cob

[Bushman]

nice job as always condensificator. there are 3 kinds of glass used for pictures the glass you used is standard glass, you can tell by the green edge. ultra clear has no color at the edge. non glare glass is only transparent enough to see through if it is in contact with something, so not suitable for sight glass. cob

Do you have a recommendation for what glass to use and where to buy it:?: I often thought about things fogging up while running like a car with the different inside and outside temps!

[squidd]

I posted this link sometime back to help someone else.

Mods: maybe it will be easier for others to find if it has its own thread.

squidd

http://www.harderwoods.com/pipetemplate.php

[condensificator]

indeed! you should start a new thread for sure. it's a really handy tool...thanks again for sharing it with us...

[MuleKicker]

Ya know, a guy could make his own easy flanges to use for this procedure. a copper ring would be all you need on the outer edge to protect the glass from the clamp. it would be easier to solder to a copper collumnm..... at least for those of us that find stainless soldering to be a bitch

Do you have to tighten the clamp very carefully to keep the glass from breaking, or do the ferrules protect it well?

Cool design

[condensificator]

MK...yeah, you have to be careful when you tighten them down. you also have to redo the pfte if you take them apart..but no biggy.

as for making them with easy-flanges, it should work, but you'd have to lap them flat, really, really well...any inconsistency would break the glass. also, seems like to me, the groove where the gasket normally goes is an important part of how the glass/pfte/ferrule seat. BUT....someone should definitely try it and share results.

[cob]

nice job as always condensificator. there are 3 kinds of glass used for pictures the glass you used is standard glass, you can tell by the green edge. ultra clear has no color at the edge. non glare glass is only transparent enough to see through if it is in contact with something, so not suitable for sight glass. cob

Do you have a recommendation for what glass to use and where to buy it:?: I often thought about things fogging up while running like a car with the different inside and outside temps!

i haven't read of anyone complain about fogging site glasses. best place i know for picture glass .084 is the second hand stores. throw away the picture frame keep the glass. cob

[condensificator]

i haven't had any fogging issues with the picture glass, or the pyrex i that got from glassman. the hot, steamy, condensable vapors that we love are on the inside, where it's hot....the cold outside of the still doesn't get a chance to mess with any of it, so nothing sticks to the glass.

the thickness of the glass doesn't have to be exact, i just measured the pieces that i had. as long as it is roughly the same thickness as a regular tri-clamp gasket, it'll work. no rocket science here.

[MuleKicker]

but you'd have to lap them flat, really, really well

That makes real good sense.

[Husker]

Have you put these onto your pretty 4" copper tube yet? It would be nice to get a pic of the tubing with the attached windows (even if the whole still head is not done).

H.

[condensificator]

here ya go H...








i didn't have much time, but i knocked one out for ya. i felt like i was stealing the whole time since i have so much real-life sh*t backed up right now.....but it was fun. can't wait to find a big chunk of time so i can really get into my bubbler project.

[Mr.Spooky]

here's a way to do the fitting with a hole saw and drill press. these are for my 4" bubbler, so it's a 4-1/8" hole saw.



i cut each side most of the way through, then finished with a mini cut-off wheel. (this was so i could have enough meat to do the second cut. i am sure someone with better machining capabilities could figure out an easier and more accurate way)






should do the trick.




yeah MM, i got em...just haven't figured out what the hell to do with em yet! thanks man.

samo, someone else posted that, but i didn't dig back to find out who...whoever it was, thanks from both of us!

condensificator, when doing this cut with a 4 1/8" holesaw, about how high did you come up on the ferrell before you started your cut?
thanks
spooky

[condensificator]

i just eyeballed it with a ruler for the first one, then didn't move the vise. i measured one of the finished ones for you from the start of the flare of the ferrule, to the deepest part of the cut, was 1/2".

[Mr.Spooky]

thanks!
spooky

[absinthoman]

Impressive job man!! What did you use for soldering the ferrule on the copper pipe? What's your technique?

[condensificator]

Impressive job man!! What did you use for soldering the ferrule on the copper pipe? What's your technique?

thanks!

i used tons-o-flux (brazing paste type), 56% safe-silv solder, 90% of the heat on the copper, 10% on the SS only after the copper is up to solder flow temp.

[Bushman]

I am not trying to create a lot of work for myself especially with 8000 members. But just looking at this I had an idea for people having trouble with the layout. I use a software called Rhino that is a CAD solid modelling software. One of it's features is to do layouts from solids. I thought this might be great for making a traditional Kentucky moonshine still as I could layout the different parts for manufacturing. So why am I posting at this place I decided to take the sight glass and show a quick layout for cutting the various pipes. I will try to demonstrate step by step.

First step create a solid to size.

solid.jpg (2.96 KiB) Viewed 5749 times

For this render I used a 4" solid pipe and put a 2" through. Physically impossible to have two solids one through the other (beauty of software).

Next step was to split the two. I also separated them so you could see the split.

split.jpg (3.39 KiB) Viewed 5749 times

The next two steps I changed the material to black for rendering so you could see it better. The first is a roll-out of the 4" pipe. A person could print this on their printer and actually attach it to the pipe as a cut pattern . (note I scaled these down for display purposes so they are not to scale for this demonstration)!

pipe rolled.jpg (2.04 KiB) Viewed 5749 times

It will not allow me to attach the 4 piece for splitting so I will add another post with my finishing comments