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New hand forged copper still under way…..


Jimmidaboot

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Hey y'all. Just thought I'd update on the new project I'm fabricating for a start up distillery in Ohio. It's about a 150 gallon direct fire with a tall stack leading to a swan neck. I hand forged the swan neck halves and welded them together. The top cone is put together, and soon the two will meet. Below this there will be a large cape, leading down to a straight sided boiler. There will be a 4" lyne arm that will bottle neck down to a 1" worm in an all copper condenser barrel. Anyways, here are a few pics….

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  • 2 weeks later...

Been doing a lot of lighting work recently, but also been working on this beauty in the between moments. Today my apprentice and I welded in the 17" companion flange so the still can be more easily transported and cleaned. Also, we welded in the 18" stainless manway, and welded the top cone to the lower cone or cape. You can see in the background the boiler sides are prepped for welding, and the blank for the bottom of the still awaits my attention. I'll be building a rather large Gatling gun type condenser for this unit. Will likely get to that next week. I'm exceedingly happy with the progress so far. Stay tuned for more hand formed copper still work!!

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Nope. I kinda think it's a bit steep too. The client's design was at about 20 degrees, this is about 30. Hand formed goose neck is an imperfect science! I might cut things back a bit and re-weld it at a lesser angle. I need to order a few more 4" stainless connections anyways. Burning one ain't too big of a deal.

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It's the stock frame from my chopper with a girder fork on it. It may someday become a real chopper, we'll see. I just picked up another Sportster…..

As far as the goose neck, have a look at the first picture up top here. I just kinda guessed at it. Made an oversized version out of cardboard, then cut it out of 48oz copper. Then I proceeded to wail upon it with no mercy until it took the shape I wanted. Then did the other half and trimmed them to fit together. I make it sound easy, but it isn't. My motto in the shop is that I can build anything….even if I have to try 10 times to get it right. Luckily, with 20 years of copper bending experience, I usually get it right the first time….but not always!

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Jimmi, have you ever done any hydroforming? When I saw the pix of the flat plate for the arm, that's what it reminded me of.

I'm impressed at your skills! I'm sure you just beat it by hand, but does copper do well on an English wheel? That's the way I always did my fenders...looking forward to seeing the copper tank on your sportie!

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  • 2 weeks later...

for the size of still that condenser will be plenty and then some.

That's what I figured. I'd rather err on the side of overdoing it than under doing it! I'm pretty proud of this one. Each unit that we build just gets better. Our techniques improve and along with that, our efficiency. I'm really hoping that someday I can be doing the copper lamps, chandeliers, and miscellaneous projects as more of a hobby, and make the still production my bread and butter. Distillers are a heck of a lot more fun to do business with than upscale lighting buyers and interior designers!

Cheers, my friends! And thank you for your support and encouragement. This is a great place you've created here. I couldn't have done this without the info and advice I've gotten from this forum and its members.

Jimmi

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Jimmi, have you ever done any hydroforming? When I saw the pix of the flat plate for the arm, that's what it reminded me of.

I'm impressed at your skills! I'm sure you just beat it by hand, but does copper do well on an English wheel? That's the way I always did my fenders...looking forward to seeing the copper tank on your sportie!

Hey Natrat,

I've never done hydroforming, but I find the process intriguing. Copper does great on an English wheel, but you need to be careful of your tension in order to avoid undue scarring of the metal.

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