8" plates

[30xs]

A scroll saw would make short work of the plate slots. Building the box like Fzb said would be a piece of cake. Pushing the envelope I think I would go for the gusto and do rectangle.

[shadylane]

Here's a couple of the caps that I'm going to braze together.

[shadylane]

Here's the finished caps after brazing.

[shadylane]

All the caps are made and the holes drilled in the plates for them.
I'm waiting until the downcomers are done and the hole cut for them before starting to solder everything together.

[shadylane]

Here's the cap dimensions.

[shadylane]

I made the downcomers out of 1" ID tubing, they haven't been cut to length yet.

[shadylane]

Here's the downcomer dimensions.

[shadylane]

Plates soldered together.

[shadylane]

Next on the list is to redo the TIG welds connecting the ferules to the copper.
I should have done that earlier but didn't get around to it.

[shadylane]

Finished re-welding the ferules and it looks like shit. But the welds are in the inside and no-one will see them.
One of the seals on the window is missing so I need to fix that and then I could put everything together and do a leak check.

[Copperhead road]

It’s looking killer Shady….

Can’t wait to see that behemoth running.

[googe]

Looking good shady, like the angle on the downcomers, any extra flow is a bonus.

[shadylane]

I capped off the bottom of the column and filled it with water to see if there's any leaks and there is.
So instead of fixing them, I decided to put it on the boiler and take a pic.
Maybe tommarrrow I get motivated and do some more work.

[Copperhead road]

I like the angle of your site glasses also like googe mentioned, much easier to see what’s happening on your plates.

You’re definitely innovating with leaps and bounds for Home hobby distillers…..

[Saltbush Bill]

I think it needs a couple more sections for experiments.
Otherwise it looks the bees knees.
That seats getting dusty, time for a ride.

[Yummyrum]

Actually , that boiler looks undersized now .

….wait

Just get on and run the damn thing

[BigSwede]

Shady, that is art. Leaks always seem to pop up in a big, complicated build. Hopefully it's just a gasket rather than a weld or solder joint.

Thank you for all the great details and pictures!

[shadylane]

Shady, that is art. Leaks always seem to pop up in a big, complicated build. Hopefully it's just a gasket rather than a weld or solder joint.

Zero leaks on the plate and triclamp seals.
It's a couple pin holes on the ferule to copper that's busting my balls. Once upon a time I could weld better.

[Copperhead road]

When it comes to stills I’m a buyer and not a builder, but what you have achieved shady is Mickey Mouse!

I love your work…… Mr Shady

[30xs]

I’d just smooth out a little of the the ugly that bothers you and just use some stay brite and Harris 8 to fill in the leaks. The structural shouldn’t be an issue with a mostly welded construction. Just my two cents.

I will say it is a thing of beauty as it sets. Top notch work as always.

[shadylane]

I'll get the job done, just not as good or fast as I once could.

The extra space between the plates is to limit entrainment. I almost used 12" because that was the size of the copper sheet.
But decided 9" would work as good and be less ugly. Plus I had a need for a couple 3" x 24" strips.

Most of the plate builds I've seen have only 4 - 6" of plate spacing, but I think there's an advantage to have extra distance to allow more time for droplets to fall back to the plate and not get carried up with vapor to the next plate.
Using a 4" glasser that had the plates on a tree, I did some experiments using different plate spacing and found more is better.