StillSmart

YHB wrote:I think Keystone is refering to this one.

http://wiki.homedistiller.org/index.php ... w_To_Build

Thanks Brian!

yeah this is the plans i was going by
2ft column with a 5" coil on a stock pot

im in town today so im gunna have a look to see if any of the diy stores sell the spring benders

I don't understand what you are going to do with the spring benders?

it should help bend the pipe to make the coil .

it give the pipe strenth as the spring doesn't kink .

if you look at this how to the guy uses one.

http://www.artisan-distiller.net/phpBB3 ... =11&t=1689

if u look at pics three and four u can see it in action.m

Very nice, but it must be a different spring to the one I have.

With mine you cannot get anywhere near such a sharp bend, which is why I asked.

Or it may be just the differnce between UK 3/8 and US 1/4 tube.

i think the 8mm soft copper is to large for the coil
i should of gone with the 6mm

i can only find a pack of five on ebay so not sure if i can get this done before xmas .


pritty gutted as i wanted to atleast have the coil done .m

yay found a place to buy a set of benders from bad news carn't get them till end of january >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(


i may just order the pack from fleabay .m

i feel a bit happyer to night as iv figured out that the reason i couldnt coil the pipe is that its too cold

i tryed to do it again tonight but had the blow torch warming the tube up not to much just enough too keep it warm through .

i still haven't managed to make a good coil but i got to about 3" and got kinks in the pipe i will get some 6mm pipe and try again .m

Chubbs, out of interest, how are you going to mount the column on the boiler. Most folks start off stressing over the coil, but the most challenging bit is usually the boiler connection.

ok iv'e got 2 stop ends one im going to drill 3 holes one for temp gauge the other 2 is coil in/out

bottom 8 holes at 6mm with 8 s/s nut and bolts and one hole at 30 to 40mm hole in the middle

with a card washer cvered in ptfe tape
i may even go get some gasket paper if it's ok to use ?

i had a few problems with my first still as i baought a tank conector
and soon realised cutting s/s is very hard .

i may even see if a friend has a tap and die set big enough to do the inside of the 54mm tube and do it like the t500 but not sure i could get the bolt big enough.m

just out of intrest has any one used copper brake pipe
either 1/4 or 3/16

and if i made it out of 3/16 or 5mm
would a 5" double coil be able to knock the vapour down in a boka still ?
or would i have to make it a little bigger and say have a
8" coil in a 32" pipe ?

Capt-Cudellez wrote:Chubbs, out of interest, how are you going to mount the column on the boiler. Most folks start off stressing over the coil, but the most challenging bit is usually the boiler connection.

Other way round for me, 64mm hole saw went through the SS lid pretty easy, 5 to 10 seconds a time and lots of WD40. Yet to tighten the tank connector though.

I'm getting nowhere winding the condensor, have messed up 2 or 3 metres so far.

Can't get the copper red hot for annealing. The gas is a butane/propane mix and I think that is the problem. Need to look out for 100% propane.

Hi John, does the tank connector have an olive to be deformed on tightening?
Those sort of fittings require some specialist tools once you get up to the large diameter stuff.
I know some folks just use them as a mechanical support and solder them in.

arh right im glad im not the only one thats having a problem

iv'e had a result with 6m roll of 1/4 soft copper pipe and a bender

if anyone is intrested got the copper pipe and bender deliverd from mastercooltools.com

for less than £12

i didn't heat the copper up till it was red hot just had it near the coil as i was doing it in the garage so it was very cold and it just helped with the bending .

il post some pics later of my failed coils what i think was happening was it was getting to warm at about 3" then it just kinked .once i get the pipe and bender .

i had so much trouble with the last one but then it was a proper stainless steel presure cooker that was atlest 20yrs old .m

Capt-Cudellez wrote:Hi John, does the tank connector have an olive to be deformed on tightening?
Those sort of fittings require some specialist tools once you get up to the large diameter stuff.
I know some folks just use them as a mechanical support and solder them in.

That's the one, the nuts are 70mm across the flats, haven't found anyone with a large enough wrench to lend me yet.

I'm toying with the idea of using an old Record No.3 vice + crowbar as a spanner.

If the olive doesn't deform enough, I can apply flour paste as it's only a short stub being fastened to the connector.