Yummys Boiler …. Lead Free Soft Soldered

[Yummyrum]

I’ve used standard Kegs on gas using just the Sankey 2” for over a decade now . But with the price of Gas going up and having Solar Panels on our new house , nosey neighbour's forcing me to run Gas in the shed I decided to go electric .

I decided I would upgrade to a 4” hole in the top .
Now the keg I have is a strange one but was popular here in Aussie years ago . It has a 3/4”
BSP thread in the top and some weird 2” bung hole in a gusseted area in the side .

I asked a Machine shop for a estimate and decided to have a go myself . Cutting out the 4” hole was worrying me .
I bought a metal drill bit from Bunnings but the recommended cutting speed was about 50rpm .I’ve read that Stainless can be worked but if the metal or the drill gets hot , you are stuffed .
Apparently the SS quickly work hardens which makes the drill unable to cut , it just gets hotter and ends in a stalemate .

So I figured if I ran water on the drill bit it would stop this happening . It worked a treat .
To centre the drill , I screwed a 3/4” brass plug into the top that had a hole drilled in it for the pilot drill .

The hardest part was keeping the drill running slow enough . After about 5 min , my Makita hand drill started smelling . So I put it aside and dragged out my old one . That also started to waft smoke . So I did what I should have done from the start and got out my electric drill
. Although it doesn’t run as slow , I dis short bursts and it got the job done .

IMG_0808.jpeg

IMG_0809.jpeg

IMG_0810.jpeg

I thought about getting it TIG welded and even though I have a welder that does Lift TIG , I decided that now was not the time to learn how to weld and I’d have a go at soft soldering the ferrule on .

To add strength I made a loop of copper and brazed the ends together .I tinned the area around the hole and soldered it . The wire worked well and made a nice fillet of solder . Molten solder likes to cling to surfaces via capillary action . If the wire was not there , the solder would run away . I also wanted more than just a butt joint .

IMG_0811.jpeg

IMG_0812.jpeg

IMG_0813.jpeg

IMG_0814.jpeg