Condenser coil supports, need help

[Connor]

Hey guys, I'm wondering if someone with some copper experience can help me with a project I'm doing. I'm replacing the condenser coil supports in our still. Currently they are made of wood and have severely rotted away. Nowadays Prulho makes all the supports out of copper pipe and we would like to do the same. Here is a picture of how they do it.

I have been in contact with Prulho and they say that the dents are made with a disc grinder. My question is how can a disc grinder make those dents without cutting through the pipe? As you can see the dents go much further in than the thickness of the pipe which you can observe by the bolt holes.

Any ideas? Or a better way of doing it?

Cheers,

Connor

[porter]

That's an easy one.....Use a piece of material harder than the copper and simply pound/press it into the pipe. The disc grinder marks are where they evened out the ridges which are created when the dimple is pressed in. Look at the grind marks closer, they only cover the edges along with the drilled hole. Time consuming, but you only do it once. They didn't use a disc grinder to make the complete dimple effect.

We use same method to fit various odd round pieces to square surfaces so you have proper surface contact.

If you don't grind off the raised edges on the stand pipes they will create wear points on the coil.

I would prefer using an 8in piece of oak, grind the end down to the form you want and strike the other end with a mallet. Couple of practice shots and you'll be finished in no time.

[Panoscape]

If it's just for support, why not use the cross bolt to support the bottom of copper coil? Put one under each coil section that's perpendicular to the vertical support. Drillin' a bunch of holes sounds a lot easier than banging dents into the pipes.

[Connor]

These are great ideas, thank you so much for your help guys.

Anyone know where to find 5-6" copper bolts? They need to be copper to prevent electrolysis. I'm having a rough time coming across the like.

I suppose I could probably use nylon bolts...

[porter]

If it's just for support, why not use the cross bolt to support the bottom of copper coil? Put one under each coil section that's perpendicular to the vertical support. Drillin' a bunch of holes sounds a lot easier than banging dents into the pipes.

And right you are about banging, they probably used a hydrolic press, but he asked.....

Get copper rod and make some J-hooks, just thread the rod yourself. Several suppliers on the web will ship copper rods UPS.

Much cheaper than finding copper bolts...........

While you're at it, compute the difference in cost of using your 'new' method versus the old wood method that lasted how many years? You might just decide the extra effort and cost isn't worth the difference if the wood lasted a really long time. Also, there's several different woods available that simply won't rot in any reasonable time if you do use wood.

[Panoscape]

Brass and copper are fully compatible for use in water applications.

[Sherman]

I think there is an optical illusion going on. I think those are actually holes rather than dents. A dent would have made the sides bulge out. There is no reason for copper to be in the hole.

[rocky1]

the bolts they are using in the picture are brass not copper, heat and the right amount of force and you should be able to make the dents in the pipe, we are a full service copper fabrication shop if you need anything.

thanks mark

419-561-1634

markberan36@yahoo.com

[Moe]

Conner

I just did a test. Take 1/2 copper pipe lay a piece of 1 inch iron rod perpendicular on it and hit. It deforms the pipe some but hammer the pipe straight on something. It works without too much trouble. The photo looks like the pipe has been heated a little by each dimple. If you have too people and a good torch heat just the top side of the pipe and hit it while it is hot a little bit of heat helps. Then use stainless bolts to put it together. You will have no trouble with electrolysis.

Moe