4" column build

[Navy vet]

Hello,
I'm almost finisher with my five plate reflux column. I have two questions, they say a picture is worth a thousand words but I have an IPad and can't figure out how to post a pic. I have several I would like to share with everyone.

I have made the perforated plates out of 12 gauge copper, 1/16 holes w/1/4" spacing, 1/4 20 SS rod down the middle. I used a 3/4 down comer into a 1 1/4 cap. What I did was make an upside down bubble cap as my down comer. Will it work? I staked the 3/4" hole in the plate so the bubble cap is a press fit incase i need to make a change or ajust the down comer height. I want to ajust the amount of plates on the five plate column so it's removable. If this passes muster I'm going to build a three plate bubble cap tree for rum.
I have enough 4" pipe left over to build an 8 plate attachment for vodka. I have a 15.5 gal keg and a 5500 watt element.
Do you think it can drive 12 plates?

[shenandoah]

NavyVet,

I'm researching flute builds and am curious, how many holes did your drill in your plates? Thanks.

Shenandoah

[Navy vet]

I have drilled 180 holes +or - a hole or two. If I put the 1 1/4 cap on the plate as well as the 3/4 hole for the down comer it would have taken up a lot of plate real estate and left me with 157, from other posts that seems to be quite enough. But I wanted more, that's why I built the bubble cap down comer. If you need to drill your plates, I used 1/4 graph paper and taped it to the plate. Lightly center punched the plate. My first plate I was kinda heavy on the center punching and put a nice curve in my plate, after I flattend it out and drilled it, I realized the diameter grew enough for me to have to chuck it back up in the lath and take off a few thousands.
Also I didn't have a drill press small enough to chuck up a 1/16 bit. Bought a small bench top from Harbor Freight $69.00 well worth it, made drilling all the holes fun. Also I used tapping fluid for lube. Only broke three cheap Lowes bits in 5 plates. Broke two on my last plate, guess I had enough fun and wanted to finish.

[Stainless dude]

Hello,
I'm almost finisher with my five plate reflux column. I have two questions, they say a picture is worth a thousand words but I have an IPad and can't figure out how to post a pic. I have several I would like to share with everyone.

I have made the perforated plates out of 12 gauge copper, 1/16 holes w/1/4" spacing, 1/4 20 SS rod down the middle. I used a 3/4 down comer into a 1 1/4 cap. What I did was make an upside down bubble cap as my down comer. Will it work? I staked the 3/4" hole in the plate so the bubble cap is a press fit incase i need to make a change or ajust the down comer height. I want to ajust the amount of plates on the five plate column so it's removable. If this passes muster I'm going to build a three plate bubble cap tree for rum.
I have enough 4" pipe left over to build an 8 plate attachment for vodka. I have a 15.5 gal keg and a 5500 watt element.
Do you think it can drive 12 plates?

Hi navy, I have not been able to upload from my ipad either, have to use a pc. Are all of your down comers like you described or just the bottom one? And how far above the plate below are they? Pics would be a great help.
SD

[Navy vet]

Hi Stainless Dude,

I have them on all plates, the 3/4 pipe sticks up above the plate 3/4". I drilled (4) 1/4"holes in the very end of the pipe and soldered that end into the 1 1/4 cap centered. I also cut 1/2"slots in the cap. I pressed the pipe through the bottom of plate with a tight fit and the cap is tight under the plate. I will dust off my PC tonight and try to figure how to put up pics.

[Navy vet]

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Trying to see if this works

[acfixer69]

Hello,
I'm almost finisher with my five plate reflux column. I have two questions, they say a picture is worth a thousand words but I have an IPad and can't figure out how to post a pic. I have several I would like to share with everyone.

I have made the perforated plates out of 12 gauge copper, 1/16 holes w/1/4" spacing, 1/4 20 SS rod down the middle. I used a 3/4 down comer into a 1 1/4 cap. What I did was make an upside down bubble cap as my down comer. Will it work? I staked the 3/4" hole in the plate so the bubble cap is a press fit incase i need to make a change or ajust the down comer height. I want to ajust the amount of plates on the five plate column so it's removable. If this passes muster I'm going to build a three plate bubble cap tree for rum.
I have enough 4" pipe left over to build an 8 plate attachment for vodka. I have a 15.5 gal keg and a 5500 watt element.
Do you think it can drive 12 plates?

What do you mean by this. I picture would help.

[Navy vet]

A few pictures of my progress

[acfixer69]

Nice pics your down comerer. It'll probable work maybe . A full cap with no slots a little lower aaaa alot lower would be a better choice.

Controller looks great I got one of them as a back up

AC

[Condensifier]

I think there will be some people scratching their heads on that upside down bubble cap downcomer and I don't know if it will work but you do good work and if it don't work you will end up with a nice working flute and I'm sure we all enjoy the copper porn. Thanks for sharing.

[Navy vet]

Working on the keg next, gonna tig all the fittings.

[Navy vet]

That's the reason I didn't solder them in. I can take them out and make standard down comers.
I figured if works for bubble cap plates, why not perforated plates. I would like get a sanity check on my thinking.

[acfixer69]

That's the reason I didn't solder them in. I can take them out and make standard down comers.
I figured if works for bubble cap plates, why not perforated plates. I would like get a sanity check on my thinking.

Just do it and tell us about hit went. I think some already no.

AC

[acfixer69]

Navy Vet
One more comment on your reflux condenser. The lips on the top of the tubes will holed a puddle of heads, hearts, and tails. Smearing will be hard to stop.

Air Force Vet AC

[Navy vet]

Well it's called a flute so I guess it should look like it belongs in an orchestra.

[Navy vet]

Navy Vet
One more comment on your reflux condenser. The lips on the top of the tubes will holed a puddle of heads, hearts, and tails. Smearing will be hard to stop.

Air Force Vet AC

Thanks for the tip! I'm gonna fix that.

[Navy vet]

That's the reason I didn't solder them in. I can take them out and make standard down comers.
I figured if works for bubble cap plates, why not perforated plates. I would like get a sanity check on my thinking.

Just do it and tell us about hit went. I think some already no.

AC

How will I know if it works? I'm sure my plates will equalize and bubble. What should I look for?
I'm brand new and haven't made a run yet.

[Stainless dude]

Nice work navy. The one thing that comes to mind about your down comers is whether the plate area below is affected by the liquid dropping on to the plate and affecting it's performance.??
Maybe that is not a concern though, still dragon down comer is similar I believe. thanks for the photos.
SD

[Navy vet]

Nice work navy. The one thing that comes to mind about your down comers is whether the plate area below is affected by the liquid dropping on to the plate and affecting it's performance.??
Maybe that is not a concern though, still dragon down comer is similar I believe. thanks for the photos.
SD

I figured I would lose that space anyway if I placed the 1 1/4 cap on the plate below. My hope is the up flow of vapors will pass threw the slots in the cap, perhaps even bubble keeping the cap full and preventing it from drying out. I filled the down comer w/acetone and noticed it stuck half way up my slots from maybe surface tension.
I think Still Dragon dash 2 has the down comer in the middle of the plate and dumps in the center of the site glass area.

[Navy vet]

I've read somewhere in the thousands of posts. It's important not to let the lower plate splash on the upper plate so I don't know what will happen if it dribbles down, will it break the separation.

[shenandoah]

Navy Vet,

Very nice! On your dephlegmator did you you stainless tri-clamp fittings? How did you attach them to the 4" pipe? soft solder? silver solder?

Looks very good, and close to how I want to build my flute.

Shenandoah

[mash rookie]

I've read somewhere in the thousands of posts. It's important not to let the lower plate splash on the upper plate so I don't know what will happen if it dribbles down, will it break the separation.

You have been doing your reading if you understand the concept of entrainment caused by plates being too close or incorrect vapor speeds.

I see two questions with your down comers. They will not work as an added bubble cap. The slots have a very small surface area that will limit liquid flow. It defeats the larger 3/4” tube. Height controls liquid level on the plate. After that you want distillate to flow unrestricted downward as to not dictate vapor speeds. If down comers are restricted, your plates will flood easily and limit through put, reducing distillation cycles.

Secondly, I am not sure if the height will disrupt flow patterns at the plate below or help it. It is certainly a subject that should be discussed. There is a lot going on there. Someone once posted a video of science guys testing different weir locations using die. The goal was to not disrupt the action on the plate allowing a cleaner fraction separation. It can certainly add to entrainment in kind of a reverse way.
I dont have an obvious answer. I do know that flutes are not real efficient at fraction seperation so entrtainment concerns should be looked at closely.
Nice build!
MR

[WIski]

MR wrote,

I do know that flutes are not real efficient at fraction seperation

MR,

Does this mean that flutes have a hard time separating the heads from the run and the result would be smearing into the hearts making it hard to get real smooth product? I haven’t seen this discussed before and if it has please point me there. Trying to avoid that BITE!!!!!

[Navy vet]

Navy Vet,

Very nice! On your dephlegmator did you you stainless tri-clamp fittings? How did you attach them to the 4" pipe? soft solder? silver solder?

Looks very good, and close to how I want to build my flute.

Shenandoah

Thanks! I made the flanges from #4 solid wire from Lowe's. I annealed and hammered it flat. You need to re anneal after each time you hammer on it as it hardens up. I used Sil- Fos 5 Silver solder, had to use my oxy/acetylene as it takes ALOT of heat. Regular solider would have been more then enough. On the end of my flute that attaches to my keg, I used a SS flange pressed into the pipe and Silver soliderd. I regret doing that. I couldn't get Sil-Fos5 or solider to wet and stick to the SS. Maybe if I used B-1 flux. I ended up having to buy some Braze 505 silver. $75.00 for three little sticks . It worked great but cost more then the flanges and pipe! Should have made a copper flange.
.

[Navy vet]

I've read somewhere in the thousands of posts. It's important not to let the lower plate splash on the upper plate so I don't know what will happen if it dribbles down, will it break the separation.

You have been doing your reading if you understand the concept of entrainment caused by plates being too close or incorrect vapor speeds.

I see two questions with your down comers. They will not work as an added bubble cap. The slots have a very small surface area that will limit liquid flow. It defeats the larger 3/4” tube. Height controls liquid level on the plate. After that you want distillate to flow unrestricted downward as to not dictate vapor speeds. If down comers are restricted, your plates will flood easily and limit through put, reducing distillation cycles.

Secondly, I am not sure if the height will disrupt flow patterns at the plate below or help it. It is certainly a subject that should be discussed. There is a lot going on there. Someone once posted a video of science guys testing different weir locations using die. The goal was to not disrupt the action on the plate allowing a cleaner fraction separation. It can certainly add to entrainment in kind of a reverse way.
I dont have an obvious answer. I do know that flutes are not real efficient at fraction seperation so entrtainment concerns should be looked at closely.
Nice build!
MR

Thanks MR,

I'm going to remove them and make a full down comers, they never gave me a good feeling. I will reuse them when I make my rum bubble cap plates. Glad I didn't solider them, perhaps deep down I knew it wasn't the right direction.

[Navy vet]

Well, here's the new down comers.




Also if fixed the top of the deflag.

Thanks again Acfixer69 for catching that.

[Navy vet]

The bottom cap of my product condenser is the ugliest part of my of my build. But it's my favorite part! I made it out of a piece of 2 1/2 L scrap I flattend out and hammered in a cap. Beats the cost of a 3" reducer.

[acfixer69]

Got to say it is looking very nice nothing ugly with that condenser. You are moving along and it won't be long and it will be producing some nice juice.

AC

[Navy vet]

Just need to wire it up and make some wash and well see how she does.

[mash rookie]

Your down comer height above the plate looks a little high. You only need 1/4"-3/8" to establish a minimum liquid bed. Once you see her in action you will understand. Plates will hold much more than that. I have learned that caps are not necessary at the bottom if tubes terminate below liquid level. I have been putting mine 1/8" off the plate recently with no caps.

It really is a pretty rig Navy vet. If you have seen any of my builds you know I like them shinny! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions you have not found answers for.
MR