4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Vapor, Liquid or Cooling Management. Flutes, plates, etc.

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Big Stogie
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by Big Stogie »

DetriotDIY, if you still have that piece of 4" let me know I cant be too far away from you

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Flute Journey viewtopic.php?f=17&t=69736
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

A little more progress…

The first picture is of the cones to reduce the vapor path through the dephleg that I mentioned in my last post. Just a visual to help with my explanation. The second photo is my dephleg mostly built, but lacking the I/Os. The next two are some vinyl stickers I designed and cut out on a CNC label cutter. And the last image is with the labels stuck on to the dephleg. The quotes on the dephleg are the “Whiskey is like a kiss…” and another one that isn’t actually among those in this image, it reads “There is nothing higher class than real craftsmanship, diversity, originality, and service of skilled human hands.”
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19 Vapor Tubes Constrained to 14 (almost)
19 Vapor Tubes Constrained to 14 (almost)
6.jpg (61.57 KiB) Viewed 7733 times
Starting Dephleg
Starting Dephleg
CNC Quotes
CNC Quotes
CNC Paisleys Vinyl Sticker
CNC Paisleys Vinyl Sticker
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

These next three photos are two more of the labeling. I taped everywhere else that the text and design wasn’t, and covered over the coolant and vapor I/Os, and then smudged in a bit of caulk along the precarious seams for good measure. The next photo is of a bag of copper sulfate powder next to a tub of the same mixed into water. I dunked the dephleg into this bath, all but the two thermowells, hooked up a DC power supply, positive to the exposed thermowell and negative to a strip of copper wire set in the bath at the far side, cranked up the I and V as high as they would go, and etched the exposed portions of the dephleg via electrolysis. You can see this in progress in the last image. I had to rotate the dephleg a few times, and would have liked to get the etch a bit more even and deeper, but the label started coming off. Maybe I’ll have better luck with the other sections.
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Sticker and Tape on the Dephleg
Sticker and Tape on the Dephleg
Another View
Another View
And Another View
And Another View
Copper Sulfate Bath
Copper Sulfate Bath
Electrolysis in Progress
Electrolysis in Progress
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

In the first couple of images you see some of how it came out. This was after about an hour of the electrolysis. I’m going to look into options to patina the etched portions to have them stand out a bit more. I’m thinking vinegar and salt, and then I’ll re-polish it off the raised portions and seal it so it stays put. Following the etching, I added on the coolant I/Os, which you can see in the third image. I may end up trimming the lower (inlet) line so that it doesn’t extend below the base of the dephleg so that I can set it flat on a table as needed. I stuck the temp sensors in the front just to have a look (picture 4), didn’t bother snugging them down with the proper orientation as I need to do the patina work before they can go in permanently.
Attachments
Lower Etching
Lower Etching
7.jpg (54.56 KiB) Viewed 7721 times
Top Etching
Top Etching
Dephleg Coolant Input & Output
Dephleg Coolant Input & Output
2.jpg (73.01 KiB) Viewed 7721 times
Dephleg Thermometers
Dephleg Thermometers
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

Did a pressure check on the coolant lines, and I had a leak. Bummer. It was between one of the vapor tubes and the top plate of the coolant space. Unfortunately this is inside the 4” diameter which I can only gain access to through the 2” reduced opening, I found where the leak was, dried it up, blotted it with some Stay-Clean liquid flux (I love that stuff), jammed my torch through the 2” opening at it ‘till it was steaming out the residual water in the coolant side and “puddle welded” some solder into place. I gave it a decent amount of heat until the puddle flattened out and looked to cover the hole. You can see the solder spot up close and farther back (the opening I had to work through) in the last two images. The added puddle us just to the thermowell.
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Close Up of Puddle Solder
Close Up of Puddle Solder
1.jpg (45.64 KiB) Viewed 7715 times
Dephleg Top Which had the Leak
Dephleg Top Which had the Leak
4.jpg (62.28 KiB) Viewed 7715 times
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

I've been reading about CIP thoughts and techniques. And the importance of getting all the fluids (water included) out of the system to minimize corrosion. It occurs to me that I could have designed the serpentine low of my dephleg a bit smarter to promote the water draining by gravity. Adding some pitch to the internal plates to promote drainage, and placing the lower port at the bottom of the cooling jacket so water can't pool in there. See what I mean in the image... Have others done this sort of thing? What do CIP people do regarding the water in their dephleg? Just leave it?

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Gravity Drain Cooling from a Dephleg / Shotgun Condenser
Gravity Drain Cooling from a Dephleg / Shotgun Condenser
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

OK, I’ve been making some forward progress, but the images take time to re-size and crop so I’m slow to post.
Drilled out the top and bottom plates for the product condenser, 6 internal baffles (I had planned a lot more but I think it was headed for overkill and excessive back pressure). The top picture shows everything lined up. Above the condenser jacket are some extra plates that show some of the process on how I cut them out, and some of my failure in trying to drill large holes for the ½” tubes into 24 gauge (0.022” thick) copper. Next image shows the condenser tubes laid along side and a pint of cider. Third and fourth images show the un-soldered assembly of the shotgun. The thin baffles got a bit bent when fitting them on, but it’ll be no problem functionally. It’s important when drilling all the holes for the tubes to mark their radial orientation. I drilled out the holes all together, and they are not rotationally symmetric despite my efforts, so little scribe marks on the side of the disks are invaluable for the fit up. I also carefully laid out the order of the baffles and the serpentine flow. All the 6 baffles were cut the same, and there are 5 condenser pipes, so the serpentine flow of the coolant is slightly helical as it flows up the length of the condenser. I also cut the nice angled tips of the pipes as I’ve seen others of you do… nice aesthetics I think. I have it such that the pipes are open just inside where the anti-vacuum air holes at the end of the condenser, thinking that it would be nice to see them (but it turns out to be pretty much impossible to see them as no light gets in.)
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Condenser with Plates Laid Out
Condenser with Plates Laid Out
And Tubes
And Tubes
Dry Fit
Dry Fit
And Aligned
And Aligned
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

In the first image here you can see how I soldered the end plates in place by cutting and shoving a bunch of solder into the center of the 5 pipes (after carefully squaring up the shotgun). Just heat and it all flows into the right spot, and seals off the center drill hole in the plate as well. Some of the pipes were so close set that I couldn’t slip the solder in as I wanted to… so I hammered the solder strip to a thinner geometry. The third image shows the results. I’ve done a bit of home plumbing soldering before, but I’m learning a lot about how to draw the solder about with heat has I build this still. Great learning experience. Last two images show the outlet side after soldering, and the inlet side after filing things flat.
Attachments
Solder Chunks
Solder Chunks
Making the Solder Fit
Making the Solder Fit
Post Heat
Post Heat
Outlet Soldered
Outlet Soldered
Inlet Cleaned UP
Inlet Cleaned UP
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

Before inserting the shotgun inside the condenser jacket, I needed to create the inlet and outlet openings. Drilling… reaming… I learned my lesson from my dephleg and made the lower outlet tube down low next to my bottom plate to promote complete, passive draining of the cooling water after shutting down the still via gravity. You can see this lined up in the third image. Next image shows it after having been soldered in place, without the inlet cooling fitting attached yet (anti-vacuum holes lower in the image). And the last image shows the top of the shotgun soldered in place and the tri-clamp flange attached. You can see the center solder hole (which was nice and flat in my images of the last post) having softened and almost sagged out in this image. I got lucky that it didn’t open up. I may have been quite liberal with the heat on this tri-clamp flange. It seems the thick stainless wants a lot more heat than the proper copper fittings. I’ve also learned that the tri-clamp flange, which fits with too much slop inside the 2” ID of the copper pipe, does well to have the OD of the flange very aggressively roughed up with my coarsest file. This raises all kinds of little burrs on the OD of the SS flange, which helps to develop a minor interference fit to the ID of the Cu as I insert it. This is good for getting a better axial alignment of the two, and also helps with surface for the solder to adhere to. Since I’ve been doing this trick, I haven’t had much problem with leaks in the SS flange to Cu tube sealing.
Attachments
Drilling for the Condenser Coolant Inlet
Drilling for the Condenser Coolant Inlet
And Reaming
And Reaming
Checking the Alignment
Checking the Alignment
Soldered In-Place
Soldered In-Place
The Inlet Side
The Inlet Side
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

Here I’ve clamped the upper part of the system together (with careful leveling) to get everything properly lined up so that I can solder it stress free… so that I won’t induce any bending stress as I assembled the finished fittings together. Image 2 shows things as I’ve soldered them up, connecting the outlets of the dephleg and the condenser into a 3-way T-type ball valve to split flow between the two sides. I used the Cu unions, despite having read a couple of threads where people struggled with them. I’m expecting with the carful, no stress layout, and some emry paper on the seated parts, it should work. I did order some ½ “ tri-clamp flanges based on some of the comments, but they arrived the day after I soldered these in… improvements for the future if I need them. After working with the big old 2” and 4” tri-clamps, these ½” ones are very cute. Next image shows the inlet side of the cooling system soldered up. Lots of messy solder drips all over the place… still not perfect in my craftsmanship. And the last view shows he assembly exploded into the different components.
Attachments
Dry Fit Plumbing
Dry Fit Plumbing
Outlet Soldered
Outlet Soldered
Inlet Soldered
Inlet Soldered
Exploded Assembly
Exploded Assembly
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by bentstick »

Damn Detroit looking good, I like it,pretty damn flash!

? Lookin at the PC as you have it arranged now are the oulet tubes for produt below the vent holes or level with them? Just fyi if level they should actualy be just below in my way of thinking.
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

Thanks Bentstick. The tube outlets are pretty much level with the anti-vacuum holes. The angle cut leaves the long tip towards the inside. I'm hoping that trains to product condensate to the center and prevents drip flicking outside of the holes. We'll see. If it's a problem, it's all solvable.
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

Next I built my parrot. I sized the parrot for a ¾” tube. I did the math and can’t recall the specifics at the moment, but I believe the cross sectional area of the ½” tubing is 160% of the cross sectional area of the parrot less the area of the alcoholometer. Thus, if I have too much product flow, it could cause some problems with my alcoholometer. But I’m doubtful… that would be a crap ton of flow. I’ve shown an exploded view of the parts. Included a drain for any leftover alcohol in the parrot after shutting down. I used a pipe bender to make the sweeps. I tried making a bender DIY and promptly kinked a tube in half. This was done by a very heavy duty manual tube bender that I bought off the internet. Works like a charm up to 1” ID and can handle over 180 degree bends. Next picture shows it after soldering, cleaning it up, adding the labels and preparing it for the etching bath. Next picture shows it post etching bath, and the crappy job I did. Some of the etching has worked beautifully, and then there’s this. Shyt! Oh well, win some – lose some. That’s how (one of the many ways) you know it’s hand crafted with love. The inlet tube to the parrot is not so strong, and it even bent out of parallel a couple of times as I was handling it. So I’m adding a link to strengthen it. Thought I might etch it as well, but I have to have some more success on the parts I’ve already prepared first before I spend that effort.
Attachments
Parrot Parts
Parrot Parts
Ready for Etching
Ready for Etching
Failed Etch
Failed Etch
Strengthening Link in Progress
Strengthening Link in Progress
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

Pausing on the parrot for the time being. I moved to the packed column. It’s only 22” tall :cry:, but I’ve been reading that larger diameters can get away with shorter lengths. Been also reading a fair bit on filling material on this site and in Distillation Design by Kister. I think I need a bottom screen that can hold objects roughly 0.4 – 0.5 inches in size. And, I thought a spider web design out of copper wire would be cool. It would be, but it was plenty for me to just solder up a simple basket, so I settled for that. First two images show the basket of 10 gauge wire as I was soldering it up. Six arches, hammer flat-ish at the bottom, with one massive spiral soldered to every other leg of the arch it encountered. The next images are it being fitted in, plunged through to the bottom, and soldered in place, just short of the tri-clamp flange.
Attachments
Bottom Screen
Bottom Screen
Again
Again
Fitting the Screen into the Column
Fitting the Screen into the Column
Plunging it Down from the Top Side
Plunging it Down from the Top Side
Soldered in Place
Soldered in Place
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

After this, I slapped my sticker design onto it and gave it another go with the electrolysis etching. It was dreadfully slow. I read to cut down my voltage to 5 V, and I’ve been etching in the basement which is quite cold. I think this slows the process, so as I type this and am etching another part, I’ve thrown the heater blanket under the blue bath of copper sulfate so see if that helps… just like fermenting a bucket of molasses :). You can see the column before going into the bath (next to the tube I rigged up to do the electrolysis in), and then two shots of the after math. Not a deep etch, but a ton better. I’m almost done, but I really want this to speed up… wearing thin on the artistic aspect.
Attachments
All Stickered up and Ready to Go
All Stickered up and Ready to Go
Better than the Parrot
Better than the Parrot
Decent Detail, but Not Deep
Decent Detail, but Not Deep
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

I also decided to whip up a botanical basket while I was reading up on packed columns and my Dad was visiting (who likes gin). I wanted to insert it above the final condenser, so I had to work with 2” pipe, but wanted to expand it to 4” to avoid it being too tall. This will mean that I’ll also need a similar height 2” extender above the dephleg to make all the plumbing fit right. No biggie, my shop is extra tall so it should all be able to stack up.
I’ve included a sketch of my design. I wanted to permanently insert a stainless screen into the 4” segment. This will come last, probably just repurposing a 4” stainless strainer screen. I’m targeting 6” tall at the basket by 4” diameter which should be about right for a 40 L wash. So I cut off a couple short lengths of 4” pipe and decided to build a funnel. I skipped the math and guessed at the right diameter to cut the copper sheet for a 4” pipe funnel with a flange. Scribed the circle and a number of radial lines about every 10 degrees. Cut the circle out with snips and cut in a slice so I could form a cone, the second and third pictures. Then I clamped the cone with a couple of vise grips and soldered it in place, and cut the tip of the cone off so the ID was about 1.25”.
Attachments
Botanical Basket Design
Botanical Basket Design
Raw Materials
Raw Materials
Shaping the Cone
Shaping the Cone
Clamped for Tinning (really soldering)
Clamped for Tinning (really soldering)
Cone Tip Cut Off
Cone Tip Cut Off
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

Next I cut each of the 10 degree lines such that I could bend them in line with the axis of the cone and the developed tines would fit inside of a 2” pipe with a little spring force (first image). And did the same for the wide end of the cone so that the tines would fit on the outside of the 4” pipe (second image). And then I dry fit it and soldered the crap out of it, and leak tested it, and fixed the 2 leaks I found with puddle soldering, and finally cleaned it up.

Of course, after I finished all this I looked at it and could have just bought a couple of 4" to 2" reducers. Well... they're expensive and this was fun.

Other side and the SS screen are yet to come.
Attachments
Preparing for the 2" Pipe
Preparing for the 2" Pipe
Fitting to the 4" Pipe
Fitting to the 4" Pipe
All Together Now
All Together Now
Ugly Solder Job
Ugly Solder Job
Better Finished Product
Better Finished Product
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by raketemensch »

That’s some ridiculously beautiful work right there. You pack a year’s worth of my patience for soldering into an afternoon.

I don’t think 22” is going to be enough to get to neutral for gin in a single run, but you could always either do a double run or build another 22” section.
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

Thanks Rocketeer.

Somewhere along the way a 24" packed column was suggested. I would like to distill it once. Been thinking of creating SPP, but I'm currently in the "Let's Talk Column Packing" and reading people discouraging the use of SPP in 4" columns. Haven't gotten to the end yet. Anyways, I'm game for doing the work if it'll make 22" deliver azeotrope, on top of 6 real plates. I'm thinking that would be enough if SPP works. That's HETP of ~30 mm, which should give me something like 15 plates, plus the 6 proper plates = 21, about what I need for azeo I thought (though I've yet to make anything other than rums so far). I was seeing that Odin suggested the magic of the SPP is at the beginning and the end of the pack, and my 6 plates effectively takes away the beginning. I also saw that Odessit said a 4" column would need something like 7-8 kW to run right. That said, the boiler I've had made (didn't do the stainless MIG myself) has two 5.5 kW heater elements. I was thinking to run only one at a time, but I could wire it to run both and deliver the 7.5 kW when making neutrals if needed.

Anyways, I do want to accomplish the task in one run, and am not sure of he wisdom of the forum on this one yet. Worst case, I have to re-work my packed column to something longer as you say. It wouldn't be as pretty, but I have plenty of 4" tube still left about.

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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by cede »

I'm following the post and this is real art !
Very good job and craftsmanship skills here.

Makes me want to start a 4" column :)
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

Thanks for the compliment Cede. I enjoy the art aspect of it (as well as the DIY and the distilling as well of course). Some of the art has worked… some, not so much. The final product should look pretty good. As with most things handmade, the maker sees (or tastes) a lot more of the imperfections than all the others.

Still catching up on some of the work over Christmas that I hadn’t posted. Here you can a bit more of the sieve plate column build. The first image shows my 3 plate section with etching, less sight glasses. And a close up of one of the details is next… a snake woven into the lattice work. These three plated columns, plus the packed column section and the dephleg worked out pretty well with the etching. They were also the first ones I etched. Most of the later etchings (the parrot, the product condenser, the arch at he top) etched poorly to horribly). I’ll see if there’s any salvaging the design work over the next couple of weeks.

The third image is as I’m preparing to solder the sight glasses onto the column sections. Fourth image shows more ugly solder work that has dripped through the etched design. And the last image shows it after cleaning, opening the (ever so slightly) undersized hole in the column to match the ID of the sight glass, and brushing the inside of the sight glass.
Attachments
Etching on 3 Plate Section
Etching on 3 Plate Section
Etching Detail of Snake
Etching Detail of Snake
Ready for Soldering the Sights
Ready for Soldering the Sights
1 Plate Soldered
1 Plate Soldered
And Cleaned Up
And Cleaned Up
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by hellbilly007 »

Awesome work D-Town! I'm digging the etching
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

My 3 plated sections are designed to be interchangeable, so that I can achieve anywhere from 1 to 6 plates in the column by mixing and matching the 3 sections. However I tied to solder the cups on the down comers close to the wall of the column to keep the outlet of a down comer above far away from the inlet of a down comer below. In the 3 plate section, I got lucky, and the cup was JUST inboard enough to avoid interference with the 2”-4” expansion cone that connects the column sections to the boiler (keg). The 1 and 2 plate sections weren’t as lucky and the cups had an interference with the SS cone when I try to assemble it. So, I rotated those two column sections such that when I put a torch onto the cup and soften the solder, gravity rotated the cup just a bit so that it would fit inside the cone. He first image shows me fitting the cone to the column section (up side down) to help explain what I mean.

The next image shows my two plate section with the sight glasses soldered on (a bit neater). In this case I was very careful to get the glasses well aligned to each other, but one was nicely over the cut hole in the column, while the other was shadowed badly. I began to solder them in place before I realized how badly the lower sight was aligned. It was so far off that there was a slight crescent opening between the column hole and the flange of the sight glass. A bit of manual “pulse width modulation” with torch heating and just melting solder to build it up and close off this section worked. I’ve found that this selective pulsing of the torch to just heat the copper to the right degree and melt the solder for topical fixes works well for me. A lot of times I can’t apply a “proper” amount of heat to the copper as there are many previously solder works in close proximity that would be jeopardized if I used a more traditional technique. I may be achieving some poorer quality “cold” solders doing this, but I have been leak checking (with a short head of static water) to make sure that under low pressure there are no leaks.

The third image shows all three columns with the sights soldered on and cleaned up. No lenses added in yet.
Attachments
Adjusting the Down Comer for the Column Diffuser
Adjusting the Down Comer for the Column Diffuser
2 Sights Soldered
2 Sights Soldered
All 3 Complete!
All 3 Complete!
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

Last weekend I made the top of the botanical section. First image shows the top components exploded after having cut and bent (and soldered the expansion cone on the top) to the right geometries. The second and third images show the assembly from the top and bottom after completing the solder work, checking for leaks, fixing the leaks, and cleaning up the excess solder. The last two images show the separated botanical components and the assembled system. I have not yet added in a pressure relief in case the botanicals plug, but this is on the agenda. I’m thinking a simple “S” curve with a water plug in the bottom of it during operation. More images to come on this in the future I’m sure.
Attachments
Botanical Top - Exploded Parts
Botanical Top - Exploded Parts
Assembled Top
Assembled Top
Botanical Top (3).jpg
Botanical Top/Bottom/Union Disassembled
Botanical Top/Bottom/Union Disassembled
And Assembled (less pressure relief)
And Assembled (less pressure relief)
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

And this next task is designing/preparing the strengthening section for the parrot (down tube to alcoholmeter portion that flexes far too easily… mentioned previously). I really only need a simple link, but decided to make it from a left over disk from the sieve plate work. I designed a few versions of my Home Distiller handle – DetroitDIY. Printed the 3 logos backwards onto toner transfer paper for etching PCBs (no fancy vinyl label cutting this time, but this process is easier and more effective… always learning and improving). I tried to iron different images onto the front and back, but mucked up the 313/DIY version, so I’m only etching one side… I’m soooo done with this etching crap.

Next three images show the DetroitDIY stick shift layout with the Fibonacci spiral of my sieve plates behind it. First one is ironed onto the plate, but the center portion around the drill hole didn’t transfer. Second image has some touchups added in by paint pen. Third image is after having etched it (was very light… wish I knew how to get back to the nice deep etching of the 4” tubes…), which I then scribbled over with black paint pen (into the etched depth) and then carefully sanded the high spots to reveal the copper again. Now I just need to solder this into the parrot without completely screwing up the paint pen work in the heated environment… tomorrow.

I’ve been wanting to improve my silly little image with all my posts of the 0 proof tralle alcoholometer. This disk looks like a good contender. :)
Attachments
DetroitDIY Designs
DetroitDIY Designs
Mask Transferred to Copper
Mask Transferred to Copper
Cleaned Up With Paint Pen
Cleaned Up With Paint Pen
Etched, Filled In, & Sanded "Clean"
Etched, Filled In, & Sanded "Clean"
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cede
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by cede »

Looking really good, close to the first run :)
Where di you get your sight glasses ? I only find 1 1/2 max
googe
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by googe »

Amazing build mate, you've put a hell of a lot of work into it!. Can't wait to see it complete :thumbup: good luck.
Here's to alcohol, the cause of, and solution to, all life's problems.
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DetroitDIY
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

Hi Cede,

Picked mine up through McMaster-Carr, but I expect Grainger may have them as well. Lot's of diameter and thickness options... just a bit pricey. Here's the link: https://www.mcmaster.com/#8476k161/=1623nh0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

2.25" diameter x 0.125" thick is was I'm using.

I'm close to done with all the soldering, but I want to clean the copper well and put a protective finish on it. Not such a big deal, except that it's cold as all get out around here and I don't want all the finish off gassing in the house. I would have to warm up the shop plenty and then do it out there. Perhaps next weekend.

Another consideration that I need to solve first. I hard plumbed in all my inlet and outlet cooling lines, unioning the reflux dephleg and the product condenser. After all that, I mad the botanical basket, which goes above the product condenser when used... this screws up my rigid plumbing.

I was thinking to just add in a riser above the dephleg, equal to the botanical basket (~12"). I'm hoping to be able to run gin or whatnot in one run, and I'm getting some cautionary feedback that my 22" packed section (possibly above a plate or three) will not be sufficient at achieve Azeo even with SPP (which is on my list to fabricate). If I add another 11-22" packed section, with the riser for the botanicals, things get very tall. Too tall to run in my basement which is preferable in these freaking cold Winter months. So it looks like my first plan (of the riser to compensate for the botanical basket and keep all the plumbing correct) is out.

Other options:
1) Have two different rigid plumbing options, which will required a bit of finagling each time I add the botanicals in or out.
2) Switch to flexible plumbing, but I didn't think this would look as nice and I was planning to get a little bit of structure out of the rigid plumbing to help hold the condenser and parrot in place.
3) Re-plumb the rigid lines for the botanical basket in place and always leave it in the loop. I kind of like this option as it keeps me at the lower overall height, keeps me with rigid plumbing for some structure, and keeps me at only one plumbing arrangement for simplicity.

I have to draw it out a bit, but option 3 is how I expect I'll go.

I also have to add in that pressure releif for the botanicals. I really want everything to be done so that when I do my cleaning runs, it'll all be there and I won't need to waste time on more cleaning runs later.

I also need to build my controller. I'm going to run rather old school (volt and ammeters and such). Need to make a nice system for that (woodworking time). I also need to do a bit of woodworking for a decent stand for the keg. It has a bottom drain so won't stand without some perimeter support that prevents the drain from being the lowest point on the system. And I would kind of like to make a little bit wider base just for extra stability for a fully loaded system (likely overkill, but that's how I roll sometimes).

And I need to design in a nice support for my collection jars under the parrot. I have been planning to make a wooden tray that is cantilever supported off of a couple of struts extending from the parrot itself, but I'll have to see... don't want to create such a moment that things bend.

And I may need something like an adjustable support column to transfer load from the canteleverd botanical/condenser/parrot side down to the outer rim of the keg... to remove the moment and replace it as a normal load nearly straight down.

That's what's on my To-Do list before I'm ready to run.

And I had a 4" fill port added to the top of my boiler keg. I'm thinking of making an alternate cap for it with a motor mounted to the cap that rotates a paddle projecting into the wash. This may allow me to do things like stronger botanicals in the boiler without the herbs settling and burning on the heater elements. But, that can definitely wait for a later day, and needs some thought first.

And from all I've seen about making the SPP, it looks like I'll have to rig up something for my lathe or drill press, and design in an automated cutter. I did a lot of SS wire cutting by hand in the past, when younger... making chainmail. But it took forever and I may automate this time.

Anyways, it'll likely be a few months before I'm ready to run it yet... Slow and steady.
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DetroitDIY
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by DetroitDIY »

Thanks Googe,

Been soldering up a few more odds and ends today and cleaning some parts with Penny Brite. Layed out all the parts on the floor. It is coming together nicely. My wife took a look at it on the floor and realized for the first time how big this thing is going to be. I think she's wondering what the hell we're going to do with so much alcohol.
Bvritr
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Re: 4th Triangle Flute Design & Build

Post by Bvritr »

You sir are an inspiration. I love the etching
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