i have searched, and can't find anything on this idea. forgive me if it has already been disscussed (and if it has, does anyone have the link?)
i have only opperated a LM, and i was wondering if anyone has tried, or has any opinions on running a shotgun deflag on a vm rig ?(operating it similar to a flute). i would assume that reflux/take off could be regulated by the deflag cooling instead of a branched take-off valve, enableing better control of heads/tails cuts in a similar fasion to a flute.
R&S
kinda like this rough sketch drawn with ms paint...
That would be a CM still with a LM added to it. Not a VM. You would be controlling the coolant not the vapor. Yes it has been done. Mile Hi stills sells them and a few others. I am in the process of building one myself. It will be a CM with LM and VM added at a latter time. Just do a search for or look for CM still.
I imagine you would be thinking of taking the heads off via the LM port. In which case you are missing the potential of the CM still. With the CM / VM / LM combination the idea is that the heads are removed ABOVE the VM port. This is to prevent contamination of your product.
There is a variant of the VM with a dephlegmator that uses two vapour ports. The product port is below the dephlegmator and the heads port is above it. You still need a valve though to close the lower port whilst you take off heads.
Just had another aha moment. Thank you Myles. That made perfect since to me. Duh! That's the 4th aha moment I have had in the last week. It's all really starting to sink in.
So if it was a CM VM combo. You would let it equalize and compress the heads. Slow the coolant flow and take off those heads that are at the top of the column via the CM take off. Crank the coolant back up and re equalize and then take off product with the VM.
thanks for clearing that up guys, i guess that would be a cm. when i think of cm, i always have pictured (in my head) cooling cross tubes in the column. the shot gun would be doing the same thing, just in a different direction(and giving better cooling control than a cross tube). with all the great info and multiple builds/designs it sure is easy to get a brain fart (i suffer the aha/duh moments regularly haha).
