How to solder fittings to pots or kegs

[muddog]

I brew beer, and there are some ideas that will work well with distilling as well. I have seen quite a few comments about leaks after soldering .Here is a simple tool from HBF that will solve that problem. Thank you, caligula for this : http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/4-87-keg-tool-402677/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
To do it right , you need to dimple whatever you are soldering the fitting to . You can then build up a shoulder of solder around your fitting.
You can see from mine, the pvc is mushroomed that is because I used it to dimple a keg. This design works well on stockpots , but for a keg, I would use something like a steel pipe nipple instead of the pvc.

[pounsfos]

thanks for sharing, what a great idea

[Stew8]

Thanks for sharing- may use this for a shotgun boiler idea I’m kicking around.

[rgreen2002]

Nice... I need to take a better read of the article but a lot of the pic posts are missing(damn external hostings!). I might be putting an element in a small copper pot I just picked up.

Does it work something like this: http://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/p ... d_tool.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[StillerBoy]

Here is the tool I made for dimple a half coupling to a keg for the element.. it also works well on a stockpot.. I use an electrician hole cutter to cut the hole, then dimple, then use the same tool for pressing the coupling in..

[zapata]

I have the brewhardware dimpling tool, and have used their self dimpling fittings. For one offs, the self dimpling fittings are pretty awesome.
I meant to take pictures last time I did some fittings, I'll have to look back and see if I have any I can share.

[rgreen2002]

So would this be effective when going up to 4 inch attachments? I need to place a 4" ferrule on a copper pot top. I also went to the "Soldering Stainless Steel" thread on Homebrewtalk and found a little more about the tool: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/thre ... 782/page-2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow It starts at thread #73

[Stew8]

Thanks RG
It’s a great link. I can’t wait to get home to try this out.

[rgreen2002]

OK...in my every growing quest to really understand this concept I found this:



A pretty sweet little trick if you ask me! Now....making it work for a 4 inch TC ferrule..... a little more difficult!

[zapata]

You can buy commercial dimple dies up to 4.5". Off road nuts use them fairly often to lighten roll bars and frames and what not. The big ones seem to be in true sizes, so should work for stainless tube with its true OD sizes, but not copper pipe with it's nominal OD. I have seen up to 2" pipe sized dies which would work for 2" copper.

I haven't seen anyone do one of the bigger ones by hand, but you can also get hydraulic presses for them, harbour freight sells one for punching holes for about $100 with a set of smaller hole punches, but it should work for the larger dies too.

Of course the dies are pretty pricey, but I found 3" dimple dies on eBay for $100, made to be hand cranked.

I've thought about these for sight glasses, but really wonder how well they would work on a radius as tight as a column. The small ones clearly work fine on the radius of a keg, but it seems to me for a column you would want the female die to be radiused to match. But I really don't know and its a fairly expensive experiment.

If somebody with fabricating experience could make a die that would punch and dimple a 2-3" hole in a 3-4" pipe I would think there would be a niche market in it. Even if it's just a one off tool, almost any column builder would probably pay to rent it by mail.

[rgreen2002]

Z,
I went looking for a 4 inch dimpler/punch never found one worthwhile(size or price, or something else always limited me). In the end, I rigged up my own solution that seems to have worked. I will be testing it over the weekend and if it loos good I will post my results. It goes off the idea of dimpling just using the ferrule on the softer copper lid for a "dimple".

You know, I never thought of "borrow by mail"... I could have used that plan a few times over the last few years while I was fabricatin'!