Brutus 10 Brewing System

admin

Well I finally have some welds that I'm happy enough with to share with the group.  My friend Craig and I are building a brewing system that is basically a big scaffolding built out of 1/16th wall 2x2 square T304 SS tubing.  It has full PID loop temperature control system, three 65,000 BTU gas burners, features a built in gas-manifold out of one of the rear gusset pipes and has twin high-temp pumps for pumping sparge water, etc.  I'm not by any means an accomplished brewer (or welder for that matter), but I'm really enjoying TIG welding.  These welds were done with a water cooled Radnor Torch (#7 Gas Lens, 3/32 Thorinated Electrode, and 1/16th 308 rod) on a Syncrowave 185 at 75A, EN.  Most of the welds were started as either a fusing tack or a slight amount of rod tack and then depending on the gap, were either fused or welded with rod.I'm really curious to hear some constructive criticism.  Obviously we had no fixture table, so keeping the top of the structure flat was a chore with the material shrinking, but I just kept choosing my welds in a fashion that would counteract the warp.  Came out ok.  Photos are here:  Welding the Brutus 10 Brewing System, and a few of them are attached below also.  Had a blast doing this and helped teach my friend Craig a thing or two about TIG as well - he is catching on very quick.Thanks in advance for the feedback.JasonGriffith ControlsLa Center, WA Attached Images
Reply:So where's pictures of the completed rig?  Have you cooked up your first batch with it yet?
Reply:good lookin welds from my vantage point...anywho...since this a food grade product and the process i assume is the same for most brewing machines, do the welds have to be xray'd or back-gassed to prevent contamination inside the tubing where the welds join?...just curious since i dont really have a great deal of knowledge in brewing or manufacturing of "brews"...
Reply:We've got the top of the table done so far, will post more photos when we've got it standing up.  As for 'food grade product,' it's going to be brewing 10 gallon batches in a garage next to a pile of Mustang parts, so we're not too concerned about that...it's just for personal use.  And the beer doesn't go in the weldment, so that's not a major concern either (misunderstood your comment initially).The photos of the top of the table are in the link that is in the original post, but I'll attach it here also.  Now I think I'm going to have to post some of the not so beautiful welds so I can get some criticism and advice.  Most of the issues I had were sooting where I touched with the tungsten.  I get pretty close when I weld, seems to work much better that way.  Just need to control the torch a little better - and it took me a while to figure out that almost every time I was touching was when I was hitting one of the tacks that was at higher altitude than the base material.Jason Attached ImagesLast edited by griffith; 10-04-2009 at 05:20 PM.
Reply:I can't wait to see the finished project!!  Those Brutus 10's are Soooo cool!!!    How much $$$ do you expect to have in it when it's up and running?  I want to make one soooo bad...  Esab TradeMaster TorchSmith AW1A Airline TorchLincoln AC/DC 225/125Millermatic 252 w/ Spoolmatic 15aThermal Arc 190 GTSSpeedGlas 9100v
Reply:My friend (who is spending the $$ and going to end up with the finished project) is expecting to spend a grand total of <$1500.  It should be really sweet.  The next project is a nice conical fermenter with temp control also.  This is something he and his wife and my wife and I have been into for a while (them far more than us - but we had the location to brew/ferment at our house for quite a while so we got into it also).  We've lost one too many batches to no temp control on the fermenter over the winter (even with attempted half-assed solutions like electric blankets around the carboy, etc), and we're ready to get a setup that makes brewing a whole lot easier.  For anyone who doesn't know what these things look like when they're finished here's a pic of another person's setup:  I'll keep sending photos as we make progress.  Jason
Reply:Ok!  We made some more progress today with the Brutus 10.  It's a freestanding unit now, mostly just tacks - gives me something to do in the evenings next week.  I've made some good progress with working on TIG welding aluminum and it has been very helpful with my stainless work.  I am getting much better at adding filler rod and keeping the weld looking decent.  I don't have any good photos of this, but I'll add some later.  Here are the new pics!The tacks kindof look like bird-poo, but the color turned out decent, not frying all of the alloys out of the SS anymore   And they knock down easy enough when I go back over to seam it all up (although I tend to pay more attention to what I'm doing and not what's coming up ahead and those tall tacks like to run into my electrode Tomorrow my ArcTime eletrodes and the rest of my goodies from ArcZone arrive, so I'm excited to try some new options on my torch!Oh, and it has casters also, so it's not really that short!Jason Attached Images
Reply:One thing I noticed. You might be following the puddle. Rather then just putting the torch in the proper proportion/angle, to the flat metal as opposed to the exposed edge metal. You will probably want to throw just a bit more heat into a flat or radius, piece of metal with no exposed edge. But once you find that spot or percentage. You do not want to alter the angle of the TIG torch. You want to keep the TIG torch at the exact angle you started at. In the exact same place compared to the joint. All the way down the part. I know with stainless steel it can help to pump the pedal a bit. This give you better control of the puddle as well. But you should always keep the torch angle and its position to the crouch the same throughout the weld. Once you know it or find it. When you do the filling, where the open edge meats the fillet radius, on the corner of the box tubing. You will definitely benefit from coming on and off the heat. By heating the part filling it in to the right level, coming off the heat, and cooling it. You will not get depressions. And you will not pull the puddle hollow as you move, if you come off the heat. Just keep the torch going, as you move forward, the smallest amount of heat without shutting off the torch. You will see that quickly you take control of where the puddle goes. But those welds are plenty good and plenty strong.        Sincerely,             William McCormick
Reply:William,After I did these welds I started noticing just that - I was blasting away at the puddle and starting far to close to the center of the junction between the two parts.  I also noticed that starting on the work that didn't have the exposed edge was mighty helpful.Great advice on the torch/pedal control.  I noticed all of those things, but in the moment on a part I'm trying to make something out of I haven't really messed around with different techniques.  I _have_ been having difficulties with pulling the puddle hollow.  I'll try these things tonight and post up some photos of my progress.  The other thing I was doing with those tacks (kindof stupid, and I am not doing it anymore) is laying the rod in the gap and blasting away at it instead of starting the puddle on the part and adding the filler.  Until yesterday I was pretty skiddish about blowing a hole between the two parts or having the work pull away from the seam, and I think that was leading me to 'cheat' to avoid that risk instead of diving into the risk and learning the right way to do things by controlling the heat and torch correctly.  Will keep you posted,Jason