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4" Crystal Dragon

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  • A 6x4 reducer is a standard item. I stock them here in the conical and bowl shapes but let your distributor know what you want so he can stock it.

    I'm excited to begin work on the 5" size because it is probably the upper end that any hobbyist would want and is a size that does not seem to exist anywhere else.

  • Lloyd I must not have explained myself properly. What I was trying to describe was the top of a 6" CD tower but with only a 4" ferrule outlet not the standard 6" ferrule outlet.

  • @what that is an interesting fitting. It is also expensive to produce. Let me explain...

    Its interesting because a 4" connection for a 6" sight tower could lead to applications that we cannot even conceive of yet.

    Its expensive because the fitting is made from a cast SS "donut" shape that requires a mold. Using the mold, a rough casting is made and that casting is machined into the finished part. The mold we need to do this 6x4 does not exist so we would need to spread the mold cost over the first 100 or so pieces produced. That's 50 sets of custom made sight towers.

    Is the demand strong enough for this? Probably not.

    We could perhaps weld a 4" ferrule to a specially machined 6" blank (maybe) to produce a very limited quantity without creating the mold but even a slight error - like an area that cannot be fully polished or a slight twist in the ferrule - and we get distractors screaming bloody murder. Its hard to win on small run items because we can't perfect them as we can over several generations.

    We are very, very good at developing distilling hardware when many items are sold. The SD bubble cap, for example, has graduated through 7 upgrades since its inception and most of the upgrade ideas have come from the users. Every single cap has been useful and useable and every upgrade has been an enhancement. Tens of thousands have been sold worldwide and if we can find a way to improve them then we are always willing to do so.

    The GB4 gin basket 4" had 50 kits made to test the market and to seek user feedback for improvement on the next generation. Most have been sold already and no more will be produced until user feedback begins to roll in. This is, I think, a healthy way to perfect a product. Put the basic tools in the hands of actual distillers and let them tell us how to make it better for them to use.

    Long story short, I could scab in a 4" ferrule on a 6" sight tower but it won't be perfect on the first attempt and the bottom feeding copycat companies that keep very close eyes on what they can steal from SD are all too quick to point out our mistakes as they copy and 'simultaneously invent' our products. Bless their copycat hearts, they seem to lurk for SD to do something before making their business plan and inventing the same thing.

    A bit of grandstanding now, if you please. I have never, ever taken credit for the vast majority of StillDragon products. I always give the credit to the users of our wares that have found innovative ways to use and improve our products or to LoO that has done so much SD design work.
    My strength is to filter the best of those ideas into new SD products or improvements so when someone says a 6" sight tower with 4" connections I MUST pay attention.

    .

    .

    I still think you should wait for the 5"er. A gallon an hour azeotrope from wash but it is not yet the promised land - its just in development.

    Don't change that dial; please stay tuned.

  • That will be acheivable with a regular 6 x 4 reducer, it just won't be glass. But if you use a flat reducer it won't take up much room.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Dam i wish i could draw. Close Loo, but the 6" flat section would need to be drilled to accept the threaded rod.

  • I think you may have to be satisfied with clamping that reducer on top of the 6" section. The amount of the custom fittings we would be called on for as you describe would probably be less than it would be worth to make them and we have been burnt many times on custom orders.

    Do you know a machinist? That may be your best option.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Hey punkin, yes something custom sounds like it may be the go. Just investigating the possibility of usung a couple of 6" sections under a 4" tower but keeping it all in beautiful CD. :D Doing so would give me ultimate flexibility.

  • Just use a End Reducer or a Conical reducer from 6" to 4" then the normal 4" CD Flange. If the ends of the rods went thru the 6" it would create a potential leak issue around the rods. or it would have to be very think to be able to tap and thread the rod holes an not go all the way thru.

    I think 6" sections with a 6" x 4" conical reducer would do the job well and look nice topped by a 4" CD Tower.

  • Can you please advise how thick the glass is in the 4" CD and is it borosilicate.

  • Yes Pyrex or equal from what i was toldededed...

  • It's around 7 or 8mm and yes boro. Gunna make one?

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • No gunna buy one from you punkin. I'm just a tight ass perfectionist when it comes to spending money Looked into 6" x 5 mm x 120 mm high glass last year, cheapest price $200 per glass 8-}

  • I asked about the glass and was given these dimensions 120 od x108 id x100 long

  • Seems i have thicker than standard glasses here, we're in the process of sorting it out.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • How much thicker, and does it still fit the gaskets?

  • Almost 3mm thicker so the gasket will not fit. :-w
    The correct glass has been added to Punkin's new sea freight that is scheduled to ship out very soon. He should have them in about 3 to 4 weeks.

  • @punkin said: Seems i have thicker than standard glasses here, we're in the process of sorting it out.

    Let me know if you have any cheap "seconds" to sell ;)

  • Sorry for the long post to follow, it should be a note instead of a letter?

    The thicker glass chimneys could actually be used but because they are a mistake we can't create the mold for the special gasket. They could be used as I did during the initial Crystal Dragon (CD) development.
    I put a silicon gasket atop a glass section (also called a 'chimney'), then a plate, another gasket, another chimney and repeat until the column was complete.
    Not as elegant as having the custom made CD gasket but it does work.

    We spent quite some time today tracking down all the 4" CD glass that has been sent out and Punkin was the only unfortunate soul to receive the wrong size chimney glass. My deepest apologies for the mix up and steps are now in place to keep this from happening again. I knew there were different sight tower specs and different chimney specs available from the beginning so we standardized on one size to avoid this from happening - or at least tried to - because the custom made CD gasket can only fit the one standard that it was designed for.

    Please stay tuned because over time SD will provide Crystal Dragon parts and supplies in sizes 2", 3", 4", 5", 6" and 8". Who knows, maybe other sizes too as we evolve but these are the sizes in our sights for the near future.

    Peeking in a hole to see what's going on vs. standing back and seeing the bigger picture in panoramic 360 degree is a personal choice. SS bubble tees that will last for generations or glass that you can break. But more than that, the SS bubble tees are quick and easy to configure. The glass needs you to cut connecting rods based on the number of chimneys desired. Pluses and minuses both ways. Right now I have a 4 plate 4" CD section and a 2 plate 4" CD section that I can interchange or combine for my personal rig. I'm very happy with the flexibility.

    5" is a few months away from deployment but it should make a splash and be quickly copied by the leaches (the companies that survive by copying SD at 40 to 50% more cost to the customer).
    Can't help all of that but we, SD, can move forward... and truly great modular components are in the works. This is going to be a very exciting new year. If not for the leaches we could give more details but giving you the info also gives the leaches the info too so we can't disclose the new products details until they are ready for release. We have already experienced how the leaches have 'invented' our products and their only claim to fame is being able to knock off our ideas at a price premium to the customer.

    Told you this was a long one and if you made it through to here then congratulations. You deserve a drink and the bar is open so pour yourself a tall one.
    We (Me and SD) have made tons of mistakes trying to figure out how to make stills affordable and accessible to everyone and we (mostly me) have stumped our toes to accomplish it. From push connect fittings to sight glass unions with thermowell sockets we have wrenched out products for distillers that are not just unique but are only available from StillDragon.

    With your help we have been prolific. In all of the above this one line is most important.

    With your help we have been prolific. Your feedback has led to the development to products that never existed before.

  • @Philter said: Let me know if you have any cheap "seconds" to sell ;)

    This could be possible.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Are they strong enough for one to be glued into 2 ferrules to go into the vapour path of a pot still? Without the supporting bolts I mean. If I remember correctly a 5" ferrule has an inner bore of about 123 mm. Would be nice to have a sight glass section in a pot still.

  • After reading both the 8" and 4" CD threads I was wondering, is there a separate gasket for the flange at each end, different from the one used between two glass sections RDD in the 8" thread mentions having to cut one down to fit the end flange

  • Yes those are a flat gasket that rest within tower ends.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • edited December 2013

    Thanks @Smaug, so they don't then have the capacity to hold a plate and that's why @RedDoorDistillery and @captainshooch were modifying the normal gasket to get the plate up out of the triclamp gasket.

  • edited December 2013

    @Smaug said: Yes those are a flat gasket that rest within tower ends.

    Something else i didn't know. I'll have to get @Lloyd to post me some of those as i don't have any. Not much good at my job it seems.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • edited December 2013

    The 4" special CD gasket does not need to be modified. You can use it with or without a plate. All the other sizes so far, 8" and 6", will need the special gasket to be modified to fit the recess in the flange. The 6" is not in production yet but the prototypes and the mold for the special gaskets are completed. The 5" is still a few weeks away to get the gasket mold finished.

    Slicing off one edge of the gasket is easy enough to do with a fresh razor blade.

    image

    4inch_crystal_dragon_gasket.jpg
    800 x 450 - 37K
  • edited December 2013

    Brilliant @Lloyd thank you. I'll just have to chill now till @punkin gets the new glass :D

  • I thought it looked pretty good when i tried it this morning.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • @what The reason why I modified the CD gasket is because I was moving the plate up from the tri clamp position to the base of the glass in a Sight Tower for a better view of the plate and the standard studs are not long enough to accomodate the thicker CD gasket. In any other application you would cut your own rods to length and the CD gasket does not need to be modified.

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