I haven't seen this used here before and thought you all would find it interesting. And maybe use it for your builds. I apologize if it has been covered somewhere else within HD. I was unable to find it.
I wanted a better way to solder a 1/2" copper pipe to the side of my Cooling jacket for my CM build. I didn't like the idea of just drilling a hole in the side of my 3" pipe and soldering the pipe in. Something about it just didn't seem sturdy enough to me. So I thought about it and decided I wanted something like a solder cup that you find on all sweat fittings. I needed to make some sort of tool. I came up with a plan to take a 5/8" OD 3/8" ID 1" long spacer a grind a tapered point on one end. I would then drill a 3/8" hole in the side of the 3" pipe. Using a 3/8" hardened bolt I would pull the spacer through the 3/8" hole in the side of the 3" pipe. But I needed something to pull against that wouldn't damage the 3" pipe. I found another spacer that is 1" OD and 3/4" ID 1" long. I ground one side of this spacer to fit the contoured side of the 3" pipe. So now I just place the small tapered spacer on the 3/8" x 2 1/2" bolt feed the bolt through the inside of the 3" pipe and out the 3/8" hole. On the outside of the 3" pipe I place the 1" spacer contoured side towards the 3" pipe followed by a washer and a nut. Tighten the nut on the out side and pull the small spacer out into the bigger spacer. The small spacer makes the inside of the cup and the bigger spacer keeps it from splitting and forms the outside of the cup. And there you have it a 1/2" copper pipe sweat fitting where ever you want to put it on a larger pipe. After clean up with a die grinder I got approximately a 3/16" flat solder mating surface. If you want to make the connection even stronger you can flare the 1/2" pipe a little and feed it through from the inside. There will be a small flare on the inside from the spacer being pulled through the wall of the pipe. so the flares would create more solder contact and leave a flush connection on the inside.
Let me know what you think??? Yes I took a bunch of pics so let me get them loaded before you hammer me.
One last Pic. This one has a short piece of 1/2 in place. Its a nice tight fit. And it holds it steady a lot better then if it were just placed in a drilled hole.
So there you have it.
And one last thing. I did not anneal the area around it before i did it. It would have probably went smoother if I had. And my 2" test subject worked a lot smoother being thinner walled. But the 3" worked out fine. Mite need to make the ID of the bigger spacer a little bigger for 4"? Oh and this was 3" L type copper pipe.
Nice work. Not sure if it was necessary though. Maybe I am just lazy. Hard solder, silver solder is really strong. you could never break it off even if it was just butted and brazed. silver solder does usually take a oxy -acetylene torch. Mapp gas for your propane torch will get hot enough to do the job but doesn't work as well. Make sure you get a good brazing/ hard solder flux.
It is amazing how soft copper will get when annealed.
Nice Job
surface area is the only real way to ensure you got a solid joint, this looks like a great way to be sure it won't come apart when it gets bumped.
mash rookie wrote:Nice work. Not sure if it was necessary though. Maybe I am just lazy. Hard solder, silver solder is really strong. you could never break it off even if it was just butted and brazed. silver solder does usually take a oxy -acetylene torch. Mapp gas for your propane torch will get hot enough to do the job but doesn't work as well. Make sure you get a good brazing/ hard solder flux.
It is amazing how soft copper will get when annealed.
I'm just having a problem with the price of hard solder. My budget is very minimal. I was just looking for alternate building methods for the budget impaired!!!
how did you roll the ends of the pipe like that? I am making a 3" column with small dephlagamater in the top right now. I would love to have the top rolled like that to slip my 2" vapor tube inside. Then the cooling jacket on the out side.
very nice work.
KS
I'm glad you asked KS. Give me a day or two to get the pics together and I will post it up. I didn't take pics of the process. Like a dumby. So I will get the tools out that I used and mock it up. So I can take some and post them.
Nice work PrairiePiss -- while maybe not for everybody, I think the hands-on type that enjoy a twist will get good use out of this. I know I intend to use it. Look foward to seeing your handiwork when you show us the rig your working on.
Thanks WalkingWolf. I thought others mite actually use this idea. That's Why I posted it separate from the rest of my build. So feel free to try it. I would love to see someone else use the PP connection. And there is a link a few posts up to that build thread.
Yes on one. Kinda. Tore it down and redid it from ground up. Converted from 883 to 1200 along with a few other mods. The other one my buddy has done over and over again before my wife bought it.
So I will get the tools out that I used and mock it up. So I can take some and post them.
