A few questions about copper

[Reiko1078]

Wanting to upgrade to a better piece of equipment.
My first question is where is the best place to acquire copper pipe? I've been to both of the local big box stores and the biggest diameter pipe I've found is 1inch. I'm guessing a plumbing supply place which I have found in the phone book. Being a young guy w no knowledge of plumbing I'm a little nervous to walk in and ask for large diameter copper piping without a legitamate reason. What excuses do yall use? "I'm going to be making a decorative fountain/sculpture and need large pipe".

Next question I'm tossing around diff options of what to buid and I would like to do something similar to the alembic style pot still heads. In order to construct something like this I would need flat pieces of copper. Has anyone taken 2 or 3 inch pipe cut it Down one side of it's length and then bent and hammered it flat? I think that would give me some nice 6 to 9 inch wide strips of nice gauge copper to work with.

Last question. Does the head/onion section of pot stil have to be cylindrical? Can it be square?

Thanks

[NcHooch]

If ya cant find it local, these folks have it all. http://www.gpfsupply.com
NChooch

[lacedspirits]

Menards has 10ft sticks of 2" DWV Copper tubing for under $80. Lowes has thicker gauged 2" tubing for around $150.

[still crazy]

Anything you need and can't get let me know I am in the supply shop about 3 times a week as my trade requires me to be there.
I also get volume discounts for the amount of $ I spend so if anyone needs anything I can usually pick it up cheaper , no questions asked.
As this is a hobby and winters coming keeping me in nights I can also fab just about anything you want. Challenge me.
Only drawback is in the shipping.

[Reiko1078]

Shipping lengths of copper tubing doesn't sound very economical to me. If my lowes doesn't have the two inch in stock dothey just order it? Any one ever heard of people flattening tube into plateand using it to make a gooseneck style head?

[olddog]

Any one ever heard of people flattening tube into plate

I often flatten 2"tubing to give me some plate copper, but a lot will depend on your skill level as to what you can do with it, and your soldering/ metalworking skills.


OD

[still crazy]

You can cut a vee shaped notch lengthwise in a 2" copper tube.
Then put some screw type pipe clamps on it and tighten to align the edges and solder it up.

[Reiko1078]

Im thinking about making a pyramid shaped flat sided cone if that makes sense. With maybe a copper float sphere on top and then another smaller cone coming off the sphere at a downward angle with an internal cooling coil inside with in/outputs coming through the wall of the smaller cone. Does this make sense? I'd love it if I could upload a sketch but I'm posting from a cellular device.

[myles]

Im thinking about making a pyramid shaped flat sided cone if that makes sense. With maybe a copper float sphere on top and then another smaller cone coming off the sphere at a downward angle with an internal cooling coil inside with in/outputs coming through the wall of the smaller cone. Does this make sense? I'd love it if I could upload a sketch but I'm posting from a cellular device.

Nice plan, and you can do it by cutting down the length ot the tube and opening it out into a sheet, I have done it myself. The only problem is the wall thickness, if you want sheet a bit thinner it might be cheaper just to order the sheet. You need to compare equivalent prices.

Why the flat sided cone? If you use the frustum calculator it is easy enough to build the big cone in sections with 2 or 3 seams so that each section will fit on your sheet. You don't need to build the cone in a single piece.

[Reiko1078]

awesome guys thanks for the ideas. myles is that pic from something you constructed? do you have a link to the specific thread ?

[myles]

Yes but unfortunately I rearanged the images in my photobucket and all the links got messed up.

Here you go its not a full set but it gives the idea..

[Reiko1078]

Wow that sure is nice. I was thinking I would just use a stainless pot as the boiler and attach the head to the lid.
-what gauge copper did you use?
-estimate of cost involved in that build?
-do you remove the pipe from the top In order to charge/empty the boiler?
-on a riveted seam do you also solder the edges of the sheet on the inside and out?

[myles]

Wow that sure is nice. I was thinking I would just use a stainless pot as the boiler and attach the head to the lid.
-what gauge copper did you use?
-estimate of cost involved in that build?
-do you remove the pipe from the top In order to charge/empty the boiler?
-on a riveted seam do you also solder the edges of the sheet on the inside and out?

You can do the copper to stainless soldering it is just a bit 'awkward' special solder and flux are needed but you can get good results



That copper still wasnt cheap but I wanted a specialised still for vapour infusion. It took me a few years to find that heavy copper pot for the base. The frustum was built in 1.2mm thick copper to match the pot (which is even heavier). The upper sections are in 0.9mm thick copper.

I dont have a photo of the finished item and it actualy has a deep water seal system like you get on an alembic still.



This section is actually the bit that sits inside the water seal.



The seams are soldered. I clean and flux them BEFORE rivetting. It is a bit messy but it works. I also solder over all the rivet heads on the inside of the still. Not pretty but very functional. The outside I try to keep nice and clean and polished.