Shotgun Condenser Update

[Scribbler]

Greetings All... Just thought I would send in an update on my build and tell you a few things that I have learned!

My first attempt at a shotgun condenser was aborted because of my materials choice. I had been using some brass fittings for my coolant housing. I was unable to find any lead testing kits locally, and at first I was goin ahead with this anyway: I figured that the vapour would never be in contact with the brass so it should not matter. I eventually felt uneasy about this, so I scrapped the design. I then started a new one.

my second attempt was 36 lengths of 1/4 copper tube at 1 foot long. the build went well at the beginning, but terrible at the end. When I began to solder the unit I learned a valuable lesson: with all the intricate pieces, the large adapters and fittings need to be soldered first! I had soldered all of my tubes, and then went to put on a screw type copper adapter, but it was so thick that the heat required loosened off all my tubes! arg!

so on my third attempt, I plan to tin all of my tubes in advance and pre tin the spacer plate. I also purchased a tube flaring tool, so I will pre-flare each tube on one end, then insert the tubes through the various spacers (I have 10 spacers over the length of the condenser to make sure that the water flows in a zig zag path through the condenser). once all the pieces are together I will flare the other end of the tubes and then solder it together. sperately I will solder the screw connector to the end cap and then attach it to the condenser unit.

I will post pictures by the weekend...

JMK