flairing copper instead of flang

[hkevg1]

Hi all.
Obviously new to the site though I have been lurking and reading for more than a year.
I recently started by build. FINALLY!!! I am doing a simple pot still and intend to try to get a keg as a boiler.
My question however is that in my online searches for 2" copper i found a person on e-bay selling 2" copper and for a $5 extra fee says he/she will flair the end and this action will make it work with a tri-clamp onto a keg top for our purposes. will this in fact work or will it be to thin to get a good seal. will it be too flimsy and bend/break after a short time requiring me to fix a new problem. I am pretty new to soldering too but after building my liebig i think i can make an easy flang or get one of the comercial kits from mile hi or hillbilly stills and conect up that way if i need too. i just thought this might be an inexpensive and good looking way to make this work.
Thanks to everyone in advance....

[JackDanielsNB]

I did the same thing with my 2", but I used the local muffler shop to "stretch" the pipe so the ferrule fit inside just right. Worked great.

[Black Eye]

the Flare works good. I do it on my Columns instead of the easy flange. The flared edge will sometimes bend a little with the PTFE gasket, but I have no problems sealing it. Sometimes sanding the PTFE gasket flat helps as well

You can Order 2" copper pipe from Mcmaster Carr and all your fittings,tri clamps, gaskets. They carry up to 3" I believe click here for the tubing page and flare it yourself.

flaring it is pretty easy, there are a few different ways to do it. I anneal the tube figure out how much bigger the lip needs to be and bend it with pliers. if you'r tube is 2.125 and you need a 2.5" flange, that leaves you about 3/8 Divide that by 2 since you want to split that evenly and give youself a little extra for material thickness. I scribe a line about 1/4" down and then bend approx 45 degrees. After that I tap with a hammer to get it where I want it. I usually flatten them out so I flip it over and hammer the opposite side of the flange. Hammering it will re harden the annealed copper. If you want to be real particular you can cut a hole in a block of wood and shape it, then hammer the Annealed copper to that shape as well. If you think then flange is too thin you can always lay a bead built up solder down on it to stiffen it up some too, or build an easy flange ring to solder on top of your formed flange. You could even flare it extra long and bend it back on itself to double up the thickness. Personally I like the flared flange. I find that the first few times you torque down the Tri clamp it takes a lot to get things seated and I've broken an easy flange solder joint. Maybe it wasn't the best joint, but I started to use the flare method and I've been very happy.

check out this thread too viewtopic.php?f=62&t=27056

[Truckinbutch]

I got my ferrules and tri-clamp from Hillbilly . Filed a slight bevel on the inside edge of the 2" copper . Cleaned and fluxed inside of copper and outside of ferrule . Heated the outside of the copper slightly and swaged it over the ferrule with a block of wood and a hammer . Perfect fit and soldered right up .

[Bushman]

I thought about doing the same method as you see on the link, but making multiple ones using a 2" connector rather than doing it completely on the pipe. This would allow me to have them on hand and might be easier to solder than attaching to a long pipe.

[Condensifier]

I've used several easy flange methond's including the one in the link and this is my favorite method.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =2&t=13631