StillDragon® Community Forum

Welcome!

Be part of our community & join our international next generation forum now!

In this Discussion

8" Crystal Dragon R&D...

going to do some test runs with 1 procap, 1 perf, and 2 old school bubble plates... I am sure I will go to all procap, but just want to know for myself.... making the struts from 3/8" schedule 40 stainless, with a stub of stainless allthread welded in but looking to make some end pieces that allow me to use other tubing, copper or carbon fiber or whatnot with a smaller tension rod.... there is one partially finished end piece on the top...

image

«13456789

Comments

  • Brilliant way to see different types of plates in operation.

  • @Lloyd - I was thinking of using polished common copper pipe as a sleeve in compression around a smaller tension rod, This would be best done with fittings on the end of each strut... but EU, AU, and US have different specs for standard tube I assume... is there some common one we could have end pieces, or 'bobbins' built around? (see the little piece of pipe sitting on top of the CD) They would fit in the hole of the CD, the end of the pipe would fit into it, and it would allow a 8mm rod to fit nicely in it, maybe even a recess hiding the nut. This is yet another thing that would delay anyone trying to copy the CD in all it's glory.. also, if they fit this .625"OD x .500"ID x 48" Carbon Tube that is $6/foot , a different look could be attained...

  • I have quite a bit of carbon tube available, it's been sitting for years. If anyone in interested I can pull some measurements. I believe I have 1/2 and 1" od in 8 foot lengths. I can rough cut to save on shipping costs. You would still need to run an all-thread through the tube.

  • I bought 1/2" stainless tube for my 8mm allthread covers on the 4" CD. So the 1/2" carbon may fit.

    Lloyd is looking into a neater rod for the 4" atm, similar to the Baby Dragon ones.

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

  • my local metal store has 20' sections of 3/8 schedule 40 304 pipe for $77, grainger charges that much for 10'. it just fits 1/2" thread on the inside, great for the 8" CD... for the 4" CD I used 1/4" sch 40, it fit a 8mm thread inside.

  • edited September 2014

    Pipe here is measured as Nominal Bore, so i should bow out.

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

  • the only successful thing 'merica did in the 70's to convert to the metric system was that they changed distilled spirits containers.... like many other things, our pipe system is goofy...

    Carbon, Alloy and Stainless Steel Pipes - ASME/ANSI B36.10/19 @ The Engineering ToolBox

  • If you are just using the tubing as a shroud for the all thread, mcmaster has some good prices on thin wall ss tubing here and they ship almost before you order it seems, as I have actually recieved same day shipping when I lived in GA near one of their distro centers

  • edited September 2014

    Designed by @Law_Of_Ohms and accepted by @grim to carry the weight of a huge 4" x 1 meter long product condenser for his 12" Crystal Dragon to the table mounted parrot...

    image

    Infinitely adjustable by adding 4" TC pipe sections and/or changing the rod length.
    Only one custom part was needed, the top fitting is a special reducer with a bolt flange in the middle of it.

    stilldragon_parrot_table_mount.jpg
    600 x 800 - 82K
  • Looks great mate, and what's that fantastic looking merchandise in the photo there?

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

  • .I am rather jealous of his inventory in the background myself...

  • That is one bad ass bird

  • OK, trying to come up with sano 8" CD struts... I think I may have a solution that is 'modular', let people use standard steel all-thread, and the cover tube of their choice.

    This was done in US threads, I would be happy with metric also I took a few 1/2" x1" stainless bolts and drilled them (I need a better tap, mine seems like it will break) for 5/16" thread(could use 1/4 or 6/8mm), and cut a groove in the head that seats 1/2" OD tube.

    I cut the tube, stainless in this case, to have about 1/32-1/16" (.75-1.5mm) compression per thick CD gasket.

    You can either assemble the two bolts and tube on the threaded rod and then install and tighten down the acorn nuts, or if you need to do one while assembled, put the bolt in the bottom, thread the rod in past where you need it, put the bolt in the top, slide the tube over, line up and start the thread in, torque the tube tight, then install the acorn nuts and tighten.

    I will get a good tap and finish this up, all it would take for @Lloyd to have made for us would be the hollow-threaded bolts, and like I said, they could be 12mmx25mm with a 6mm inside thread or 1/2"x1" with a 1/4 or 5/16" inside thread. probably add an acorn nut and a DIN washer and sell in packs of 8.

    image

    image

    1.jpg
    600 x 800 - 84K
    2.jpg
    600 x 801 - 54K
  • oh, on the right side is where I was trying 3/16 rod as a 'spoke', but did not feel comfortable with having just tension on the rods, and having the glass in that much compression... good for display, not so good for side loads on a production column!

  • OK, home depot DeWalt tap much better than the harbor freight one I had laying around, but I had to grind it down to go all the way through the bolt. I tapped two with 5/16 and assembled and it made a nice strut... I think 1/4" would be fine, as it is only in tension, and it definitely has tensile strength more than a couple hundred pounds, and is $4 for a 10' length in the unistrut department at home depot.

    image

    CDC20140928-01.jpg
    600 x 800 - 61K
  • Bravo! That's some great thinking and very nice execution!

    Hollow out a bolt and tap it... never would have considered that.

  • @CothermanDistilling: you are really a man of the detail! Congrats! I envy you for your patience. B-)

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • I f we could get @Lloyd to source these, even better...

  • OK, here is how I plan on assembling the plates for my R&D, tacked the downcomer caps on, made a plug out of a 1/2" stainless acorn nut and a bolt with cut down head for the bubble cap that was removed, was not sure if i wanted to cut the downcomer yet... I would like to get the cleaning and sacrificial run done tonight, but behind on other things, so not sure..

    image

    image

    1.jpg
    450 x 800 - 53K
    2.jpg
    450 x 800 - 54K
  • Looking good @CothermanDistilling can't wait to see it run! Quick question where did you locate the SS panel nuts on the PP down comers?

    The day you quit learning is the day you start dying!

    "I am an incurable gadgeteer, and I like enormously to set up a theory and then track down the consequences" Murray Leinster youtube.com/watch?v=08e9k-c91E8

  • not sure what exactly you are asking, so I will cover all my nuts ;-)

    The little nuts fit on the little bolts and cover the PP hole.... bwahahaha...

    The big nuts on the top pipe are positioned to give a little clearance below the cup

    The big nuts on the bottom pipe are just placed where I thought it would give a good fluid bed

    The cups are tack welded on 10mm from being bottomed out in the cup and the hole was welded shut.

  • @CothermanDistilling said:

    The big nuts on the top pipe are positioned to give a little clearance below the cup

    I'm trying to locate 1/4 SS not nut and not having any luck in find a panel nut that will work.

    The day you quit learning is the day you start dying!

    "I am an incurable gadgeteer, and I like enormously to set up a theory and then track down the consequences" Murray Leinster youtube.com/watch?v=08e9k-c91E8

  • Do you add anymore copper into your vapor path or do you think the caps will be enough

    Hypothetically speaking, if you were to be running perforated plates and just the copper down comers, would that be enough copper or would you add some in a reducer somewhere?

  • edited October 2014

    The DC's for the 8" perf plates are stainless mate.

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

  • Panel nut or an acorn nut? Panel nuts are the really thin one...

  • the thinner nuts on the downcomer are SD and come with the downcomer

    The thing I used to block off the copper hole under the downcomer to avoid having to cut the downcomer pipe at the present time is a 1/2" acorn nut on the bottom, and a bolt I turned down to about 4mm thick in the lathe. I also turned a ledge on the acorn nut to center in the hole.

    @jonno - short answer, I have enough copper, long answer, look at red door's 8" crystal dragon thread, he has 8 plates and no copper... copper not absolutely required if you don't have sulfites or you use other means to get rid of them, that process can be done wrong and then be harmful, so not discussed around here due to liability reasons...

  • Thanks guys for trying to help me out, my last post led to even more confusion when I typed not instead of npt which I see was an auto correction and I missed it. I since have located 1/4 NPT panel nuts at of all places amazon.

    The day you quit learning is the day you start dying!

    "I am an incurable gadgeteer, and I like enormously to set up a theory and then track down the consequences" Murray Leinster youtube.com/watch?v=08e9k-c91E8

  • @CothermanDistilling if you can send me a measured drawing of that drilled and threaded bolt I could get it made for you. I kinda feel like 1/2 of 100 pieces would sit on the self for a year and the minimum order would probably be 500 pieces. Though that doesn't mean much because they wouldn't cost much to make.
    Damn clever idea though.

  • here is a PDF... I think I will buy 1/4 of of that 100, I have already snapped a couple 1/4"-20 taps...

    pdf
    pdf
    Hollow bolt.pdf
    94K
Sign In or Register to comment.