Post by rad14701 » Wed Dec 03, 2008 3:26 pm

Well, after reading recent posts about member experiences with winding a copper condenser coil I decided to wind a new condenser for the still described here... The original condenser works fine for knocking down the vapors created by the still but have been wondering if I could make a more efficient one without much trouble... This afternoon I just couldn't resist blowing off some work stress with some tinkering... I've mentioned before that I work out of my apartment and I get Spring Fever as soon as the first snow flakes arrive...Anyway, thinking about the experiences that other have had, both good and bad, while attempting to wind copper tubing I decided to try a method I have pondered for a while now... I started out by grabbing a spare length of 1/4" OD copper tubing I had stashed in my office closet and went to work... First I attempted heating one side of the tubing and wrapping it around a piece of 3/4" copper pipe... I wasn't impressed with that method and scrapped it in short order... Too much work for the results... Never been keen on that method and definitely reaffirmed my opinion...What to do next... I decided to simply use a pair of Vise-Grip pliers to hold the 1/4" tubing in place on the 3/4" copper pipe... Next, I very carefully and slowly started winding the tubing around the pipe, making sure I went slowly enough, and applying pressure in the right place, to avoid kinking or flattening of the 1/4" tubing...Once I was almost a full winding around the 3/4" pipe I pulled out a piece of insulated 12 gauge copper wire that I've had kicking around and wound it around the 3/4" pipe as a spacer... True, some folks feel that no air space is required between coils but I don't totally agree... Not only does the air gap allow more turbulence but it also allows the coils more room to curve without flattening...Now is probably a good time to mention that I have been kicking around several ideas for winding jigs and even full fledged tubing benders... I have several concepts kicking around in the old gray matter, some based on existing designs and others of my own thinking, but most are overkill for someone only needing one or two condenser coils...Back to winding the coil... Using the insulated copper wire to evenly regulate the air gap between winds, as well as slow and prudent pressure applied to the 1/4" tubing, I was able to wind a nice condenser coil with very little effort and without salt, sand, or anything else in the tubing... When I got down to the very end of the tubing I used a phillips screwdriver inserted about a 1/4" into the end of the tubing to help with the last bit of the coil, pressing the coil down on a hard surface to make the last half coil...So, how did it turn out...??? Great...!!! Now, I've made more than my share of coils over the years but very few this small... Again, this was 1/4" tubing wrapped around 3/4" copper pipe... This is quite a bit smaller than what a standard column would use unless multiple helix coils are used... Truth be told, the original condenser for this still was made by winding 1/4" tubing around a 5/8" mandrel, but there was a small amount of flattening due to the tight coils - one of the reasons I wanted to build another coil...And how does the condenser coil fit into the 1 1/4" column...??? Tight...!!! Yes, it fits with some persuasion, but it'll need some work... I'll probably shrink it down a bit by sliding the 5/8" tube inside it and coaxing the coil smaller by twisting it... I may even wind some thin foam sheeting around the 5/8" tube to help avoid kinking... We'll see how that goes tomorrow... If I had to, I could live with a tight fitting condenser, but it might not be as efficient as I had intended... The goal is to insert a 1/2" copper pipe cold-finger down the center...Okay, without further ado, here is are a few pictures of what this whole affair wound up being...This just goes to show that it really is possible to wind a condenser without filling the tubing... Granted, if this was 1/4" ID tubing I probably couldn't wind this small without some additional help...Hope someone find this helpful...