New Stripping/ reflux still

[beelah]

I have just completed my second build and I am very happy with the ease of construction and the function of this unit.

I based it on Rad 14701's appartment still, only I used 1 1/2 inch pipe rather than 11/4.

Here are some pcitures

That is the complete unit doing a cleaning/stripping run with some heads and tails from my last run after I did the plain water one the day before.

The next picture is one of the components

[0re0]

How did you attach sink drain to mixing bowl?
I still have not figured that out yet, and have not found any solid direction on doing so.

[rad14701]

How did you attach sink drain to mixing bowl?
I still have not figured that out yet, and have not found any solid direction on doing so.

The way I did it was to cut a hole in the bottom of the bowl and mounted the drain the same way you would in a stainless steel sink... I used the cardboard template that's the same size as the rubber gasket, but more accurate... I used the rubber gasket on mine, on the outside, with flour paste on the inside because I couldn't tighten it enough without due to a lack of threads... I could probably solder it together if I wasn't entertaining the idea of some day cannibalizing the parts...

Nice looking rig, beelah... The only thing I might have done differently if I was using 1.5" copper would be to use 1.5" x 1" reducers and a 1" throat... I can push hard enough to make mine flood if I'm not careful with my 3/4" throat...

[beelah]

So far I haven't run into that problem yet, but I will watch out for that.

I like the floating plate in the column as it seems to increase the amount of distilate.

What I notice is tha whenit gets up to temp, it starts to percolate and rattle in the column, so what I did was to cut back on the heat input un till I got a nice humming/gurling song going.

I also adjusted how much I was taking off so, I got a good balance going and I was getting about a pint of distilate out every 15 to 20 minutes.

I have only run one water run and one spirit run so far, so I will still be tinkering with it until I get it right.

I agree with one of your earlier posts in that the product coming off is pretty hot, and you had mentioned adding a cooling arm to take off tube.

Have you done that and do yo uhave any pictures you can post?

I do have to thank you for your design, as it is simple and very effective at doing the job, especialy if you are running smaller batches.

The next one I will take your advice and use large diameter for the throat.

Beelah

[rad14701]

That sound you were hearing in the bottom of your column was the precursor to flooding... It's like your final warning before it starts happening fast... Getting a good balance of heat, reflux, and take off takes some getting used to but once you get used to it everything becomes habit...

I have information and pictures of my take off liebig in the still link in my signature... About the simplest and cheapest way possible too add a liebig...