Home Distiller

Prolly gonna run the ovaltine wash to clean this up with. Kind of a shame as this thing tastes really good. Did not expect that at all.
The distillers yeast is slow but very nice influence.

For a neat appearance I would use the rigid 1/2" with a 90 degree adapter on each end with a stub of tube about 1" in each end. this would give a right angle entry into the main column.
Soft or annealed tubing would be harder to bend in a tight enough bend and would make the rig wider in appearance, I guess both will do the job, but for appearance I think the rigid would look better.


OD

olddog wrote:for appearance I think the rigid would look better.

Yeah, prolly so.

With the smaller tubing I would have made a little wood template to fashion identicle peices.

Wow, leave the nest unguarded for a couple days, and look what the kids are up to!

I are jealous! What a strike that was. Sweet mother lode of copper!!

Just pondering: if total height might be an issue, could you do a twin-tower, like OldDog builds? Might even be able to build it so that you can add or remove one of the towers(using a union, or a homemade double-flange, perhaps) and have some added versatility, where you could run with half the tower if a situation arises that would ask for it.

Barney Fife wrote:Just pondering: if total height might be an issue, could you do a twin-tower, like OldDog builds? Might even be able to build it so that you can add or remove one of the towers(using a union, or a homemade double-flange, perhaps) and have some added versatility, where you could run with half the tower if a situation arises that would ask for it.

Yep Barney, those thoughts are constantly in the back of my mind's eye.
In fact, i was going to use 2" for the inner column bit. But because I want to put this on top of the Humper Thumper (which has an 1-1/2" adapter) I changed the size to the 1-1/2".
Unions are a requisite connectors for my peices as they are rather stout.

Can the tri-clamps handle much torque?

I would like for all my peices to cross reference. It would hurt my feelings to not be able use anything already built. I have a hard enough time staring at my first condenser over on the bench top.

I would also like to mount this tower directly to my boiler just to see whats what.
Man, I got a lotta stuff to do and the list seems to be getting longer.

You're not alone, lol.

On my new twins I already make changes or improvements and still not even a cleaning run made.

My initial budget is passed by far; well, that's life.

LWTCS wrote:

Barney Fife wrote: Man, I got a lotta stuff to do and the list seems to be getting longer.

I think this build could be a nominee for the HD Still Builders Hall of Fame.

Hey OD
Thanks a heap for the the entire apperatus drawing.

I printed a version so that I could note all of my layout measurements.

When I start to prep for assembly, I'm sure that as I clean my copper up for soldering, I'll brain freeze and screw up on placement during the assembly.

Good to have a real set of plans for a change.

I'll be picking up some sheet copper tomorrow for the dividers and blockers.

A little more progress

Extension peices with the vent holes at the base.

Preping for battle

The liquid compartment/chamber floor,,,which is also the chamber divider(s) still has to get installed.

And the smaller "Blockers" have to be installed within the column.

I'll do that tomarrow as I have to rack the Ovaltine and cook down some panela today.

Today:

Making the column blockers.
Just traced a peice of 1-1/2" and cut with snips.

Taped a peice of sand paper to a peice of copper to bring the inside of the column down to virgin.

Hey it was all I had!

After soldering the blockers in place, I used a bulb seringe to fill with waterand check for leaks.

PITA.

These chamber floors have a turn down lip that will act as a trough to retain the solder in position as I melt and roll it into the joint.

And a view of the blocker installed.
Not much to see.

Pretty easy to install.

Cut my solder to the round shape of the chamber to rest within the trough I fashioned for the chamber floor.

Just bumped it with heat and droped right into the trough. Water tight!!! yeowza.

Tought to get a feel for what your looking at, but this is a completed stage/level.

Soldering down in that small space was not bad at all when employing the trough to catch the solder.

Believe it or not. The end cap (only got one done) gave me the hardest time.................So I showed it who was boss.

Damn right I did.
Pounded the end cap about an 1/8th low and filled the whole shootin match with solder.

Could'nt get it to seal round the coulmn.

But now,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,6 bucks worth of solder later,,,,,,,,,,,I win.

But I don't wanna hear no malarky bout ugly joints. I ain't olddog and that joint ain't leakin

Looking good, is that the final part of the assembly? can we look forward to some test results now


OD

Slow down man, your gonna make me burn my bits.

One more end cap.
Overflow protection.
Fill/Drain ports.

Start a big job tomarrow. Prolly gonna be a few days till I can finish it.

Had to work late.

Did not get much done.
The end caps are a bear to get to seal. Used a different approach for the bottom side.

Bottom pic shows the starting layout for the overflow pretection.

Hopefully I'll have time tomarrow to finish the overflow for all 3 stages

Very generous soldering there LW,

You know Larry, if this thing doesn't make good spirit, it may still work as a muffler for my old Ford pick-em-up truck,

S&S

seriously, though... I'm all excited to see how it works out...

Slow & Steady wrote:You know Larry, if this thing doesn't make good spirit, it may still work as a muffler for my old Ford pick-em-up truck,

S&S

seriously, though... I'm all excited to see how it works out...

your like the 4th person to have said that.

olddog wrote:Very generous soldering there LW,

Oh man, I had such a hard time. After watching a large percentage of my solder roll away from the joint and plop on the ground, I decided to take a page from one of the easy flange threads.

I cut a 1/4'tall peice of 2" copper tube to place around the 1-1/2". I then held the 2" down firmly with some needlenose pliers while I was able to better pile more solder around the joint.

This little trick did a really good job at keeping a much larger amount of solder directed to the joint.

I am reminded of rubberduck's funny thread,,,,,,,,,yet again.

I better learn to solder soon or Ima put myself in the poor house

If it were me, and I got a generous bead of silver such as your, I'd just tell-em that I decided to arc weld it with a silver rod... let them go home and try to figure that one out.

S&S

"The Triple Doubler"






Now to clean it.......Oyvay
Picture 3..........My dog is at the door making inquiries about her water dish.

Well... it doesn't look like a muffler any longer... more like a Photon-Arobeator!

S&S