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I am planing on building a 4 plate 4 inch flute. I will be making both sieve plate and bubble caps, four of each to compare results individually and mixed. the sieve plates will be 100 holes at 3/32 and the bubble caps I am still deciding on 1/2" with 3/4" caps or 3/8" with 1/2" caps both will have 1/2" down comers unless somebody can convince me otherwise, the plates will be 5" apart. The sight glasses will be 1.5", two for each plate opposite of each other. The dephlag is 5" long with 1/2" through tubes. The shotgun will be 2" with 9 3/8" tubes. Cooling water is going to be off city water with valves on the output like an air handler/ vav/ fan coil ect. I will be making the 4x2 reducer out of some 4" left over. this is what I have done so far also here is some stuff I got from still dragon.

nice i think these thing are cool. im going to wait before i start one, i am good at soldering and everything but i think these disigns would make me want to throw it in the pond during the build. could i ask how much u got in it now for all the clamps. and a total at the end.

Well the 4" and 2" was free and so were the kegs, but with the clamps, ferrule, 1.5" and 1/2" pipe as well as fittings and with elements and half couplings to buy I believe the end cost will be around 300

was gonna have pics this morn but I messed up two plates and cut my finger so I called it off for the night and drank.

didnt get much done but here are some pics. The holes line up perfectly the camera is at a funny angle.

Got a couple more things done today.

very impressive

thanks man. I am trying to do this thing right so I dont have to do it again.(which I know I will make more)

pfshine wrote: I am trying to do this thing right so I dont have to do it again.

sounds like someone has been reading my build thread lol... hey wait was that a burn???

Interesting. Why do you have sight glasses on opposite sides of each plate? Are you going to have a lot of company to watch you distil and need more seating space? Back lighting? Slide show? Peep show? You have a bunch of holes to keep from leaking.

Are you going to shape your 1-1/5” with easy flanges than solder on to your four inch? You may do great but it is typically easier to shape and solder them on before drilling through with a whole saw.

I use trap adapters and even than they are a bitch to get everything to seal. I look forward to watching your build. Everybody has a different take on things and different skills to bring to bear.
Keep her shinny!


edit to add, your not the first to cut a finger. Get to work damn it. there is blue tape on the bench.

no not a burn at all, I really like your build Its just I am nit picky as all **** when it comes to what I build. and I dont wanna have to take a single jack to something and beat it to death. I have already ruined 4 plates and found out that when you get angry and throw them across the garage they fly and embed themselves into your garage door like frisbees of death.

pfshine wrote: when you get angry and throw them across the garage they fly and embed themselves into your garage door like frisbees of death.

i think i almost peed myself that shit is funny

as for the glasses a mistake is what made me go for two 1.5". I was gonna do 1 sight glass each of two inch so I orderd what I thought was 10 2 inch tri clamps, they came and were 1.5 inch so I thought and decided I wanted a backlight/ see straight through. I am not to worried about leaks. I am going to make an easy flange with grounding wire and braze it on then cut a fish mouth as close as I can then solder to the column.

Man, just saw your frisbee's of death I stuffed the first set of 6 I made, drilled the holes too big
stuffed 4 more making the next set of 6, filed them too small to fit the column
You'll get there & learn some new swear words along the way

Thanks MR-E, I made 4 more last night and I am gonna drill them tonight after work or make my flanges.

The end of a belt sander works well for shaping sight glass flanges to fit pipe.

I have been using a flapper wheel and the results are good but I think your right on with the belt sander with a real fine grit. I have made a few flanges for the sight glasses and dephlag using #6 grounding wire and I like it so far except that it when flattened it is a little too big for the 1.5 inch triclamps but the ever handy flapper wheel is here to save the day. I am going to solder up the dephlag tonight wish me luck.

When working on a large piece like a dephlag it is important to have enough heat. I use an oxy torch. Set up a tray of water that your dephlag will sit in with just the immediate work area above water. Rotate or flip as you proceed. That will allow you to solder without overheating joints that are already done or building too much heat in the entire unit and loosing your seal.
Good luck!

thats a great idea I was gonna use a wet rag but that sounds better. I only have a map gass torch with a 32 tip that I use to solder and braze, but I think I can get my hands on a pony rig somewhere around here if you think it is needed.

so I had to work late and have to get up early so no soldering tonight but I was looking at my plate design and thought why do I need to make space for a downcomer. why cant the downcomer end at the bottom of the plate? What difference does it make goin that far down other than take up space?

The tube needs to come down to the plate below to create a vapor lock. Liquid comes down, vapor does not go up. In OD's original design, he used pipe caps for them to terminate in. On mine, I stop them 1/8” above the plate at a spot with no holes. Liquid level on the plate prevents vapor passing.

I know it needs a trap but what I am saying is the trap weir would be around 3/4" below the plate so I have more room on the plate below for another bubble cap

Interesting idea. No, There is no reason that you cant hang the down comer higher if you build a trap on it to maintain liquid level on your plate above. If you are going to do that you may also consider how to evenly return the distillate to the plate below as to not disturb its action too much. Will this affect plate spacing and interaction? Possibly cause entrainment? Entrainment is when distillate from the lower plate splashes on to the upper plate contaminating the fraction and disturbing equilibrium.


I have always thought that it would be advantageous to return to the center of the plate offsetting some of the wall affect reflux.

now you got me thinking, maybe like a bottle trap configuration with a spout going down right next to my plate tree rod. maybe a 3/4x1/2x1/2 tee with a 3/4 cap soldered on and the arm goes over and 90s down near the center or even on a 45 to slow decent.

I was looking at parts and pieces in the garage and was thinking that a 1x1/2 st reducer and a 1" cap with a 3/8 outlet to the center as a bottle trap would work great. I know I know reinventing the wheel. But I think it would work great, and with the advantage of another cap or more sieve holes if needed.

I have a mock up of what I want to do. This will sit right under the plate and gently put the reflux in the center of the plate below as to not disturb any bubble cap action going on while giving more room for another bubble cap below. here it is tell me what you guys think.

Interesting idea PF but would an accurately placed J tube be easier and do the same thing?
Placing the bottom bend of the j tube so that it is touching the centre support would allow the returning distillate to run down the centre support minimizing disturbance. From what I've seen in all the other threads, the returning distillate coming from the down comer doesn't really shoot out but more or less over flows the j tube. allowing the distillate to run down the outside of the j tube to the lowest point of the tube before dropping to the next plate.

A little complicated. Not sure you need the reducer. What about using a 45 degree fitting to direct liquid against your centering rod?

Well i finished my build almost. Controll panel cooling tower boiler and still are done. All i need to do is make some element guards. Now all i need to do is move pictures from my phone to computer and remove metadata so i can post pics.

So i am doing my junkohol run and somthing of an idea struck me. I need to install a toilet in my garage. Other than that the run is great the third plate up is leaking down the sidewall slightly. Easy fix but i think its to efficient because its coming out dang near azeo.