FLUTE TALK

[prdbrissy]

In this pic with it assembled are those two cooling lines coming out of the deldhlegmater going straight into the product condenser? If so what is the tri clamp at the top of the condenser for? Or are they just braces that are not connected to both?
Can we get a look at that cool looking condenser output reducer thingy? That looks really sharp. Nice copper smithing!!!

Thanks for asking PP. You have given me the opportunity to show off the only 2 shiny bits I have.

This is what it's supposed to look like in use


And a couple of close up of the product condenser spout
It's a 3-2 reducer with the 2" bit cut off. The dome is hand made from sheet and the spout is a piece of 3/4 tube split on an angle and rejoined to a taper.




This is a rear view showing the water works. The 3/4 is only support, all the 1/2 is water.


Regards

[olddog]

Ya had me fooled for a while with all the extra plumbing.


OD

[prdbrissy]

Ya had me fooled for a while with all the extra plumbing.


OD

I like to be different and complicate things

Regards

[exon]

These hillbilly flute designs are intricate to construct for any craftsman.

It really only amounts to soldering joints together one at a time, look at it that way and it aint hard.


OD

True enough, OD. What one man can do, another should be capable of.
That's how I have always viewed plumbing a home, once I developed an overall plan how I would efficiently configure the basic routing...
Take 'em one at a time.

Hillbilly flutes obviously require extraordinary skill where there are so many joints within a very small package, as you well know.
The mechanical aspects to overcome are in the mass of different diameters, many requiring attention at the same time.

Accomplishment of such a hobby project takes a mechanic to the skill level of a craftsman truly deserving the rewards of the fruits of his labor.
exon

[exon]

@prdbrissy

Very nice product condenser cone you fabricated !
Congrats on the artistic work.

The durn H2o lines look serviceable for a nuke reactor!
exon

[WalkingWolf]

I like to be different and complicate things

It's about making it your own -- nice looking work and a piece you will enjoy forever.

That's nice fabrication on the product spout -- definitely not an off-the-shelf piece

[prdbrissy]

I like to be different and complicate things

It's about making it your own -- nice looking work and a piece you will enjoy forever.

That's nice fabrication on the product spout -- definitely not an off-the-shelf piece

I have always enjoyed building things. I am retired and have time to contemplate stuff. If it takes longer to build or is more complicated then the satisfaction hit goes up if it all works out well. If it does not then you have another go. At he end of the day when you are sitting around enjoying a drink with your mate, you have a story to tell and maybe a photo in your wallet to shown off. This is a fantastic hobby.
Regards

[LWTCS]

Yes really nice work. I would love to have something that sexy and suitablely sized to come off the top of my outfit.

[Prairiepiss]

I like to be different and complicate things

It's about making it your own -- nice looking work and a piece you will enjoy forever.

That's nice fabrication on the product spout -- definitely not an off-the-shelf piece

I have always enjoyed building things. I am retired and have time to contemplate stuff. If it takes longer to build or is more complicated then the satisfaction hit goes up if it all works out well. If it does not then you have another go. At he end of the day when you are sitting around enjoying a drink with your mate, you have a story to tell and maybe a photo in your wallet to shown off. This is a fantastic hobby.
Regards

I do like it Prdbrissy. That is some fine fabricating.

Now I'm gona ask How What umm ahh?? The copper flange??? That is nifty!!!

[prdbrissy]

Now I'm gona ask How What umm ahh?? The copper flange??? That is nifty!!!

PP the copper flanges are hand made. They started life as 1/2 copper bar annealed and wrapped around a bar to form a ring and the ends silver soldered together. The flange was then turned on a lathe and solders to the 3" tube or reducer.

I gotta say I am flattered by the interest in my work.

Regards

[lordmango]

Quick Question: Does it matter if a flute is made out of Copper or Stainless Steel?

EDIT: I feel like making a flute myself some time this summer. Though first of all, I think I should learn how the flute exactly works. Anyone care to show a drawing that explains pretty much everything?

[Mr.Spooky]

someone please explain to me...... i was looking at most of the flute/plated columns and noticed that the product condensor was so long (mine is about 15")..... what i was wandering was,,, sence a shotgun deflag is about 4"x6" or so,, and can achieve 100% reflux,,, why couldent you use the exact same shotgun condensor as a product condensor.
spooky

[Mr.Spooky]

Quick Question: Does it matter if a flute is made out of Copper or Stainless Steel?

EDIT: I feel like making a flute myself some time this summer. Though first of all, I think I should learn how the flute exactly works. Anyone care to show a drawing that explains pretty much everything?

as with any still,, no it does not matter,, though (I),, and alot others would sudgest puting copper in the vapor path.
and as far as explaining how everything works,,,,,, this thread has about 84 pages of good starting material.
spooky

[olddog]

, why couldent you use the exact same shotgun condensor as a product condensor.

Why not, when I was first developing the Flute build, I was using my leibig from my potstill to test the column, it worked great but it was not very tidy, so I built the Graham condenser purely to keep things looking tidy. You can use any type of condenser as long as it knocks down the vapor.



OD

[Mr.Spooky]

cool,,, thanks OD!!!!
soooo ,,, doesanyonehaveabout12"of4"theywannacomeoffof ??????? ill make 2 shotgun condensors the exact same size and see if it works.
spooky

[olddog]

Spooky What happened to that condenser you made with all of that great looking machine finish



OD

[Mr.Spooky]

i still have it, i was just gonna try to make a shotgun deflag condensor and then have a same size product condensor that connected via 2" triclamp.
oh,,, BTW, i think that i got a low spot in the coil on that grahm.... it surges
spooky

[lordmango]

Quick question: Is it possible to make a flute of 2 inch copper tubing instead of 4? And what would the outtake most likely be if it's possible?
I kinda want to make a flute myself, but around here it's pretty hard to get hold of 4 inch tubing.

[Kiwi-lembic]

I kinda want to make a flute myself, but around here it's pretty hard to get hold of 4 inch tubing.

going through my stainless pile ..i found all different size stainless chimney flues the other day ..they made them in quite a few dimensions around the 8 - 4" ,some of them have substantial enough wall thickness and with the nickel content in stainless makes them quite hard ...just food for thought ..may help may not KIwi-L

[Thorn_veritas]

Od has said before he has trialed this in 2". Your output would be alot less but quicker than most other 2". Hard time doin sight glasses. I was gunna do it in 2 1/2 " but decided against it. and I wou dmt bother.with the exremest of a graham liebigs work that what these flutes started with.

All in all yes it can be done. But I personally think it would be to much hassle in 2". But its up to you to do it and report findings to the board.

[lordmango]

All in all yes it can be done. But I personally think it would be to much hassle in 2".

Well, when you put it that way... I don't think I'll do it. I already have a VM that's being welded for me right at this moment, so I do have a still to use. I just wanted to maybe try out making a Flute for 2 reasons:
#1: It's a damn good looking still.
#2: It would be nice to try making a still that needs quite alot work and I could also learn how to solder better at the same time.

All in all, I just wanted to try it out, but if it really doesn't work as well with a 2 inch one compared to a 4 inch one, I think I'll scrap my whole project and just stick to the VM I'm getting. Might end up experimenting on something else later on.
LordMango

[Austin Nichols]

Od has said before he has trialed this in 2". Your output would be alot less but quicker than most other 2". Hard time doin sight glasses. I was gunna do it in 2 1/2 " but decided against it. and I wou dmt bother.with the exremest of a graham liebigs work that what these flutes started with.

All in all yes it can be done. But I personally think it would be to much hassle in 2". But its up to you to do it and report findings to the board.

I disagree!

I reckon a 2" flute would kick ass, not as fast as 4" but then you'd be a fool to think it would be........... no reason why it cant be scaled down some more and still be very effective.

[Kiwi-lembic]

Found this in A VM-ARC search yesterday ..couldnt read what it was saying it looks as though they were using it as a centering column

[LWTCS]

I thought Rockchucker did a 2" version already. Not to mention the Evil Twins been done for a good long while

And another member (can't remember his handle) did that tall,,,,,maybe a 10 plater a while back too.

[lordmango]

Is it important for everything to be in copper or SS or can it be mixed? I'm thinking of most likely using SS-plates since it's alot easier to come across.
And is there any specific thickness it has to be? Was tinking of maybe using 0,7mm plates since I already have quite alot of that already.

[kenfyoozed]

i would think it would be better for the plates to be copper as you need some copper IN the vapor path, Copper AROUND the vapor path may not cut it.

[DOLIKEADRINK]

G'day, First of sorry no pic's I wanted to get this right the first time without being side tracked
Well this how the MMF 10 plater performed, you make your own decision on it. The wash was my first ever Bird Watchers it finished at .900, I let it clear for a about 3 days before I racked it off 30lts into my boiler carefully. I have a cheap 3 ring gas burner, I ran it on flat out for 80mins all plates were stacked (the lower one's were flooded) I could hear the rivets in my lower valve plate dancing away, I dropped the heat down to the middle burner and ran that wide open for the total run (which is exactly where I use to run my 2" Pot Still) The temp was 78.1 at the top of the column and approx 10deg hotter at the top of the 4th plate, During warm up it wasn't always like this, early on when the burner was on flat out the temp at the top of the 4th plate was 20-30 deg above the top temp, When I dropped it down to the middle burner all ten plates leveled out the same, I was now ready to off my fores, I cracked the valves very slowly, I took 300ml of fores, I re-stacked the column for another 15mins then cracked the valves very slowly again and started to take off some spirit.
I dropped my temp gauge into my parrot that olddog made for me (one of his new design) it worked like a treat no surging at all, The temp was 24.7 dropped in my alcometer 95% straight away Holey snapping duck shit batman far out During the run I saw 96% it actually floated between 95% and 96% throughout the whole run. The total time was 80min warm up and 105mins to take off the hearts 2.2ltrs, Things started to slow down the plates started to fall, So I re-stacked the column again for 15min, Cracked the valves and I was straight into tails, I took approx 150ml of tails, I let it sit overnight and rechecked it the next morning 2.2ltrs of 95% (alc temp was 22.6), When I diluted it down to 40% I ended up with just over 5ltrs . Well what do you think One thing to remember is that I am a bit of a dumb ass and have only been distilling for 7 months and the only still I have ever seen was my old Pot Still.
Thanks Mike great job

Cheers: Dolikeadrink

[Austin Nichols]

DLAD,

I take it you were running a neutral, and wonder what your thoughts are on it's flavor?

[DOLIKEADRINK]

DLAD,

I take it you were running a neutral Bird Watchers thats correct, and wonder what your thoughts are on it's flavor?What flavor

Not real sure on the flavor, Wouldn't mind hanging a Gin basket in the Vapor stream and putting a little flavor in it I think.

Regards: Dolikeadrink

[likkerluvver]

Yes, I too wonder how "neutral" your neutral was.

But, more important to me would be how flavourful the final product is when compared to a single or double run on a simple potstill.

I'd be very happy with flavour carry-over from a grain-based neutral. But, is there much flavour loss on a pseudo-Scotch or an UJSSM.

One thing's certain. - There's no arguing with both the beauty and speed of distillation of these rigs. Not to mention the craftsmanship that goes into them.