Triclamps and Ferrules

[Admiral Toad]

A bit of advice please
I would like to cut the top of the vertical tube on my pothead and insert ferrules for a triclamp so I can have more flexibility on setups eg reduce height and run leibig condenser only on top of bubble plates and dephlegmator
I spotted some solder in ferrules on still dragons site which are 52mm diameter however my existing tube is 42mm
Any ideas ?

One option might be to get some stainless ones from the Chinese supplier I have used before (very good service btw)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-4-4-19MM-10 ... 3ce05fb570

If this would work I assume you can solder it using lead free or silver solder

Or are there some copper ones out there somewhere ?

[Anavrin]

Hi AT

I've just used the 2" copper tri-clamp ferrels from StillDragon to make my setup more modular, they fit UK 54mm copper pipe perfectly, if you get a reducer from 54mm to 42mm, then use a short piece of 54mm to connect between the ferrel and reducer, that'll do the job, if you don't have any 54mm pipe I bet some ones got a bit laying around, I could send you a bit in the post if you don't want to buy a full length of it. :-)

[Anavrin]

Just had a quick look on http://www.bes.co.uk/products/147.asp

You can get a 54mm male to 42mm female fitting for £3.99+vat, that will go straight from the ferrel to your 42mm pipe

[Admiral Toad]

Brilliant thanks for that ordered already

What type of solder would you recommend lead free or silver (or are they the same ?)

[Magnu420]

if its copper to stainless I would silver solder it
I couldnt find anyone to silver solder a ss furrule to 2" copper as they never did any
so I took it to a jewelry menders and goldsmith and he did it for me for a fiver

[Anavrin]

I just use lead free solder, never tried silver, I always imagined silver soldering to be more difficult and I've only just about mastered normal soldering!!

I did manage to get a 2" stainless ferrule braised in to the end of my column when I first built my still but I found a local company that did it for me.

[Myles]

You can braze stainless to copper in the 54mm size with hand held torches but will probably need MAP. It is easier with an improvised brazing hearth to keep the heat in.

Go for high silver content as the working temperature is lower. 56% silver from cupalloy is my preffered solder with borax flux.

If I was in the UK I would do it for you, but you can do it yourself with decent hand held torches.