Brian's 8 Plate Bubbler

[Almanac]

Any more than one cap per plate and I would be running out of power and making too much booze.

Blasphemy! Go wash your mouth out you terrible person

Too much booze indeed as if that's even possible

AM

[Myles]

That's the one I am basing mine on, I have always had something like this in the back of my mind. This one promted me to actually make a start.

From reading othere posts of his,I think Lloyd's figures here are over generous, time will tell.

Any more than one cap per plate and I would be running out of power and making too much booze. (Did I really just write - too much booze??

This is a very valid point. Some time back I was lookin at building a 6" column, then realised I wouldn't have enough power to run it. So it got scaled back to 5".

Then Lloyd upped the game with the introduction of the ProCaps,other folks trials set the power levels so even the 5" needs to be reigned in a bit.

4.5" with 3 ProCaps seems about right for 6kW. 4 ProCaps would need a dedicated circuit, board and breakers. Domestic wiring is just about at the limit on 6kW.

[ant]

Sounds logical Brian. I know almost norhing about driving a plate still but wasn't there also something about watching plates drying up in sequence as a certain stage was reached at the end? Read it somewhere a couple or so years ago but it could have been some odd situation.

[YHB]

For those who wanted to know how the vapour and condensate travel through the bubble cap here is a better diagram - I hope.

[ant]

That seems clear enough. So there is no puke gap in this design and the whole downcomer assembly is supported by the edge of the bubblecap meeting the plate? The double cup at the bottom with the reflux distribution pipe is to stop reflux falling straight into the next downcomer. You could perhaps take that tube from the top of the inner cup and save yourself a piece of copper by eliminating the outer cup. Or replace the tube with a large copper washer, soldered around the top edge of the inner cup, to act as a spill plate like you see in some garden water features. Little brolly for the downcomer below. Whatever you choose I am confident it will be wonderful.

[ant]

Ah no wait. It could all be hanging down from the plate on the outer pipe. Just have to wait and see as all is revealed.

[Anavrin]

Here's a pic of the pro cap by Stilldragon they're $30 AUS, not sure of the European price, I would guess at €35 plus delivery but they are equivalent to what your making, interestingly they don't have the bottom cap or the tube for the liquid to pass through, they have simplified things by having a bent stainless strip on the bottom, allowing the liquid to simply flow down the sides before running along said strip, which is pointing away to the side of the column.

[YHB]

they are equivalent to what your making, interestingly they don't have the bottom cap or the tube for the liquid to pass through, they have simplified things by having a bent stainless strip on the bottom

They haven't simplified things, it's me complicating things because I do not have access to stainless steel.

As Ant suggested in one of his posts, there are many options when it comes to preventing the condensate dropping through the hole in the middle of the cap below. The one I showed in the sketch is my favourite at the moment. But it all depends on when I pick up the piece of copper to make it, it may say to me "I am umbrella" or it may tell me "I am a downspout"

I am still working on the prototype but the bits to make, it including the extra cup at the bottom, will come out at under three pounds a throw. It all depends how much you value your time as to whether you think it is worth building them or buying them from stilldragon, But with me, it's every penny a prisoner.

[ant]

I think the stainless strip would work as copper instead. Not sure why it is stainless. A copper disk in the same place as the strip would make an easy brolly.


£3 a throw is an amazing price to achieve this at.

[Easydrinker]

They haven't simplified things, it's me complicating things because I do not have access to stainless steel.

Just a thought Brian, what about an old SS serving/whisking bowl and a large pair of tin snips,in the abscence of a metal cutting guillotine?
Easier in a hotel room than my second suggestion of an angle grinder!
Not yet tried cutting SS myself but my Really big snips chew through quite serious sheet,and cope with quite heavy guage copper.
You could always slice open some large bore pipe offcuts and cut to shape.
I'll leave the thought with you.
Robert.

[googe]

Good stuff YHB!, nice compact size, diameter wise!. I never had sight glasses on my first, took some practice to get it running properly, was alot easier when I put a sight glass in, but once you learn how to run it you shouldn't need one!. I used a tee for the top of my centre downcomer on some plates I did ages ago,works great!, a member called tickle advised me on using a tee.

[Myles]

Pintoshines own version of a mushroom splitter on his LM column is a beauty that could be addapted of fill the function you are looking for. Simple solder job with sheet copper.

Circular disc bigger than the hole soldered onto the end of a vertical copper strip, that is soldered into the hole.

His is all done in stainless, but the principle is valid.

[YHB]

Thanks everybody for the input. I will procrastinate for a while longer.

Trying to work in a hotel bedroom must be one of my daftest ideas yet, and I have had some really daft ones.

Anyhow just to prove that I have done something, here is an update on something that would have taken be a day to do properly in my shed but has taken over two weeks to do here.

The idea was to make a former that would allow me to make the column sections, be able to form the flanges on both ends, split it and remove the section.

Take one 300 x 500 x 20 thick plastic (nylon I think) very dense chopping board.

Cut it into 6 pieces 150 x 150

Cut a 67.5 hole in the middle of each one, 67.5 hole saws were too expensive so I bought a cheap set of saws the biggest being 64mm so it was cut a 64 mm hole and file it to the required size.

Glue and bolt the pieces together so I now had a 150x150x120 block with a 67mm hole going through the middle.

Remove the table lamp that I glued to the glass topped table.

Saw the block in two.

Bolt it back together again.





I think it will do the job.

All I have to do is anneal the pipe and hammer the flanges flat.

I am hesitating about annealing the pipe in the hotel, In my room I have 4 smoke detectors and three sprinklers. I have burnt the toast a couple of times and the next thing you know is a couple of guys charging into the room waving fire extinguishers about. I do not think they would be too happy if they caught me using a blow lamp.

Need to think on that one.

Making the gaskets should keep me out of trouble for a while?

[chill]

Remove the table lamp that I glued to the glass topped table.

[Easydrinker]

Brian,your adversaries have me chortling,sorry.
Best of luck with it.
Robert