Home Distiller

I kind of learnt to solder today. Made a pot head for my keg. Be glad i dont have a working camera at the moment its UG-ly Might borrow one and get photos up tomorrow.
After annealing one of my 2"to 1.5" adapters to death (i can only find/afford 1.5 pip ATM) i ended up casting all my molten blobs of solder insitu between the pipe and the stainless flange - only took me two goes to get it right.

I then squared the end of my lyne arm and a piece of thickwall 15mm which i cut an inverted 't' into the end of and opened up.
slotted the 15mm inside the lynearm after fluxing it and crimped the copper to keep it in place then got it soldered just before i ran out.

Took me that long to figure out that i need to be reallllly careful with the heat (MAPP gas is probably a bit over the top for lead free plumbers solder that melts at 400c !)

Got to wait till the day after tomorrow to get some normal gas and more solder - my father-in-law helped me come up with a plan to flare and then shrink fit the other adapter i had so hopefully i will also have a working Bok head sometime soon- once i have some tubing capable of making a coil for 1.5" . . . Tried it with some 1/4 inch today and will definitely have to add fine sillica sand to my list of things to buy
I'll probably use it to make a worm for the pot head, perhaps coupled with low flow leibig.

I know what that's like. Drawing on my experience at learning on the job, a Dremel rotary tool can really do some magic on sloppy looking solder joints. Good luck.

heartcut wrote:I know what that's like. Drawing on my experience at learning on the job, a Dremel rotary tool can really do some magic on sloppy looking solder joints. Good luck.

Yep - use gave my dremmel a work out on the inside of the pipe - solder choked up the stone pretty quick though!

I love mapp gas for soft solder. After switching to mapp when I replumbed my whole house. I ran out in the middle of fitting a bathroom. So I grabbed a bottle of propane I had for camping. Ugh I couldn't get nothing done with it. So I went and bought 2 bottles of mapp. LOL have never looked back.

And I wana see pics.

Prairiepiss wrote:I love mapp gas for soft solder. After switching to mapp when I replumbed my whole house. I ran out in the middle of fitting a bathroom. So I grabbed a bottle of propane I had for camping. Ugh I couldn't get nothing done with it. So I went and bought 2 bottles of mapp. LOL have never looked back.

And I wana see pics.

OK
Whole unit in the man cave/brewhouse/library - usually distill (with my bought jobby) in the laundry Final attachment 1.5" collum (its all i can get atm) into a stainless v-band ferrule Better than this (though dear father in law helped me not F*** up the next one i tryed like this - i will use it for my bok) Home made lyne arm reducer My Brewing gizmo kit box i made to stop me eating hydrometers Cheers for the heads up on the MAPP vs Propane - i was starting to get a feel for it towards the end - had arrived at many of the conclusions that were in the solder tutorial that i read AFTER the event

I plan to wack a leibig (probably in ugly plastic down pipe initially) over the outside of the thinner arm as my condenser and use this head as a balls to the wall stripper.
Larry and a few others are helping me to try and get my head around a safe electrical solution for heating. I dont want gas. Ever.

what type of solder paste did you use? soldering with mapp gas is usually pretty easy as the mapp gas has the heat you need and it burns even cleaner then propane,,,,, i like that crimped pipe soldered onto the smaller one. it actually looks kinda cool shaped like that,,, its a airfoil,,,,,,

itchy wrote:what type of solder paste did you use? soldering with mapp gas is usually pretty easy as the mapp gas has the heat you need and it burns even cleaner then propane,,,,, i like that crimped pipe soldered onto the smaller one. it actually looks kinda cool shaped like that,,, its a airfoil,,,,,,

Cheers itchy, i used the propitiatory soldering flux that came with the solder - contains hydrochloric acid and zinc oxide i believe, not sure what else . . .

Thanks for the kind words - i do feel that they crimp and solder is in keeping with the shining kind of heritage

Soldering can, like rolling a coil, have a steep learning curve but if everything is cleaned and fluxed wel,l you should get a good seal everytime...

Tip: I use my +95% abv foreshots to clean the joints after rubbing with steel wool, this gets rid of any oils/carbon that may have been transferred by handling/cleaning...
After the high proof alcohol has cleaned and evaporated from the copper, the only thing touching it should be a flux brush, never use your finger...

It just gets better with practice... Hope it helps...

Yes I find your little still to be quite attractive in its own little weird way. Keep at it its looking good.

frozenthunderbolt;
I feel your pain with the soldering. I have most of the parts for my BOKA/VM project. Just trying to get into a silversolder mode. I have done plenty of lead solder over the years. Always wanted to do the silversolder, and it sounds like the best approach for a still.
Good luck with your endevor.
I really like Samohon's idea of using the foreshots for cleaning fluid.
Hope to be posting latering this evening under the topic "Starting my BOKA/VM Project." Also hoping to get some pics.

HH2

Samohon wrote:Soldering can, like rolling a coil, have a steep learning curve but if everything is cleaned and fluxed wel,l you should get a good seal everytime...

Tip: I use my +95% abv foreshots to clean the joints after rubbing with steel wool, this gets rid of any oils/carbon that may have been transferred by handling/cleaning...
After the high proof alcohol has cleaned and evaporated from the copper, the only thing touching it should be a flux brush, never use your finger...

It just gets better with practice... Hope it helps...

+1.

I use emery paper for joint prep. I apply flux with the filler I'm going to use, if I'm not using a brush.

Its usually the female part that gives the problems. No wise cracks here...ok??