Vevor clone: The Improvening
Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2022 3:08 pm
I have an 8 gallon Vevor clone which I’ve modified a bit and am generally not unhappy with. In my opinion, there are two areas where it has room for improvement: the silicone gasket, and more or less the entire vapor path, especially the brass fittings and the cheap condenser. The metal is thin too, but there’s not a lot you can do about that.
My modifications were simple enough. I replaced the silicone gasket with PTFE, soldered 3/4” copper pipe to the lid, and made a small shotgun condenser. The condenser is connected via a copper union. Since I moved the thermometer into the vapor path, I soldered a piece of copper over the second hole in the lid. This worked well for me for quite a while. However, there were a couple issues which I wasn’t happy with. For one, the general quality of the work isn’t my best. It’s not straight, and the patch was very poorly done. It’s functional, but I’m not proud of it. Then there’s the issue of the elbow on the condenser making it impossible to get in there for cleaning. I also don’t like needing a wrench to put everything together.
And then last time I ran the still, I noticed that the solder joint between the lid and the copper pipe had cracked, presumably due to the weight of the condenser on it. Easily repaired, but that was the last little bit of motivation I needed to make some changes. I’ve been wanting to move up to a more modular design, using tri-clamps. So, the time has come.
Since it seems that anything 1.5” or less uses the same size flange, it seems logical to me to go with 1.5” tri-clamps. To that end, I will be soldering two ferrules to the lid of my boiler. One will go where my 3/4” pipe was, the other where the plugged hole was. While I don’t absolutely need two, it’s a nice clean way of hiding an ugly patch, plus it gives me access if I want to refill the boiler, add a thermometer, a stirrer, or whatever else I chose to do in the future.
I started by heating the pieces I’d soldered to the lid, and pulling them off. Told you it was ugly.
My modifications were simple enough. I replaced the silicone gasket with PTFE, soldered 3/4” copper pipe to the lid, and made a small shotgun condenser. The condenser is connected via a copper union. Since I moved the thermometer into the vapor path, I soldered a piece of copper over the second hole in the lid. This worked well for me for quite a while. However, there were a couple issues which I wasn’t happy with. For one, the general quality of the work isn’t my best. It’s not straight, and the patch was very poorly done. It’s functional, but I’m not proud of it. Then there’s the issue of the elbow on the condenser making it impossible to get in there for cleaning. I also don’t like needing a wrench to put everything together.
And then last time I ran the still, I noticed that the solder joint between the lid and the copper pipe had cracked, presumably due to the weight of the condenser on it. Easily repaired, but that was the last little bit of motivation I needed to make some changes. I’ve been wanting to move up to a more modular design, using tri-clamps. So, the time has come.
Since it seems that anything 1.5” or less uses the same size flange, it seems logical to me to go with 1.5” tri-clamps. To that end, I will be soldering two ferrules to the lid of my boiler. One will go where my 3/4” pipe was, the other where the plugged hole was. While I don’t absolutely need two, it’s a nice clean way of hiding an ugly patch, plus it gives me access if I want to refill the boiler, add a thermometer, a stirrer, or whatever else I chose to do in the future.
I started by heating the pieces I’d soldered to the lid, and pulling them off. Told you it was ugly.