Wow.. ProFlow Dynamics was FAST. Ordered it Monday Morning, got it Wednesday from CA to IA, USPS 3-day Priority. Now a letter from my mom in Chicago takes a week to get here... go figure....
This is the first step to de-ghetto my setup. I e-bayed a set of sanitary fitting (tri Clamp/tri clover) parts for the inlet from China (I'm a cheap ba$tard and have had good luck so far doing that) and already have ball lock SS QD's for the output which I also gathered up cheap for the old P38i pump (which was a bear to prime)... So we will see.
I'd like to TIG weld on the TC's but I've never TIG welded before.. I have a friend with a setup.. but .. I wonder if there is such a thing as food grade epoxy or silicon sealant to "hide" the threads from the liquid? Anyone know?
I'm interested in this too ad I also have a SS chugger with tri-clamp fittings threaded on.
The solder is fairly soft and can be polished smooth after it cools.
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On deck/fermenting:
* Belle's Helles (cue AC/DC)
Well, Awesome, thanks. A good food grade of silver solder and flux is definitely something I can do. I would worry about the normal "drill and tap" the plug ends like Chugger suggests but for the connector I am getting with full threads it should work well. I will have to consider doing that at the outlet end eventually but certainly at the inlet it wouldn't be that hard to do right away. Initially and for awhile I'm going to use Ball Lock SS QD's I got.. but if I had known that the differential to go with sanitary fittings would have only been a few bucks.....
Live and learn. Those might end up on my keg lines for cleaning anyway...
EDIT: I looked at that page and read about that adapter and the word "solder" didn't even end up registering. My fear with that piece is that without the backing nut suggested that it would potentially be a little weak for the application.. with a NPT SS nut, it would probably work fine.. but so will the $6 3/4" NPT to TC I have coming, and it's only about 1.25" bigger.. still, I am psyched.
UndeadFred wrote:Well, Awesome, thanks. A good food grade of silver solder and flux is definitely something I can do. I would worry about the normal "drill and tap" the plug ends like Chugger suggests but for the connector I am getting with full threads it should work well. I will have to consider doing that at the outlet end eventually but certainly at the inlet it wouldn't be that hard to do right away. Initially and for awhile I'm going to use Ball Lock SS QD's I got.. but if I had known that the differential to go with sanitary fittings would have only been a few bucks.....
Live and learn. Those might end up on my keg lines for cleaning anyway...
EDIT: I looked at that page and read about that adapter and the word "solder" didn't even end up registering. My fear with that piece is that without the backing nut suggested that it would potentially be a little weak for the application.. with a NPT SS nut, it would probably work fine.. but so will the $6 3/4" NPT to TC I have coming, and it's only about 1.25" bigger.. still, I am psyched.
Fred
Hey Fred, I forgot exactly what you told me at the last meeting, did you end up buying tools/parts to do something with this?
(I'm going to be ordering a pump soon and figured I may as well make my system all TC)
304 Stainless is great for casting but tough to machine. I couldn't reliably tap the Tri-Clover cover with a NPT pipe tap by hand, but drilling it with a 3/4" Silver & Deming style (reduced shank) drill in the Lathe and then drilling to one step up from that with a step bit seemed to work. I left a little lip on the hole to stop the NPT male side as an end stop (to make the internal silver solder fit tighter, also) and then soldered on a 1/2" NPT 304 SS nut (while on a pipe). It worked fine. I then ordered off a 3/4" nut from China and just recently got it and haven't had time to do the same with that part.
I suspect that with care I can make the soldered on nut work the same way the Brew Hardware one works.. flow solder into the top carefully but use a wet sponge or something to heatsink the nut. As long as I tin both sides first it should work. If it doesn't then I suspect the nut can be touched up after it melts by getting under the soldered on fitting/nut/cover with a little more solder. Then hand sandpaper and buffing wheel to make it look nice.
So the short answer is, yes it will probably work, but I'm not in any hurry to do this with my Chugger head at this time. I will try to solder the nut/drilled TC cover to a short stainless nipple next time I get bored to prove it out. But I suspect with some swearing it's doable.
I'll add that the thread on TC end for the pump (The one with the "long" NPT thread collar) works great and it wouldn't be hard to remove to clean ever few brews. I need to look at it again to see about soldering the insides of it, but the drilled and soldered on nut covers are much lower profile on the pump, and the end result would look better.
As far as using TCs? They rock.. plain and simple....
Center Inlet Chugger, Stainless Steel...
