Fujieagle's Kal clone build with pics

Finally at the point to start posting some pics of my Kal clone build. Hopefully I will be done with it by next week. It has been fun and a long time coming. Here's my new control panel. 16x16x12 Couldn't find a 16x16x8 that I was willing to pay for. Ended up getting this one for about $130 shipped.

Here's the layout for the front panel

Front panel drilled for the lights, switches and alarm and cut out for the amp and volt gauges and Auber PIDs and timer

Receptacle layout and drilled. The circles are just for reference and not actual size or exact location.

Here's one of the heat sink cut out and top panel with the JB weld on it.

In primer and the back panel pilot drilled for the components

Components installed in front panel and tags installed

I didn't buy the amp and volt meter at the same time. When I got ready to buy the volt meter, I couldn't find one that matched the amp meter. I will keep looking and I will find and buy one eventually. I also went with the Auberin timer. I had no luck finding the one that Kal used for a reasonable price. And, I like the idea of the components matching. Although, I will now have to try to figure out the wiring for the timer. If anyone has used this one and can provide some assistance it would be much appreciated.

I got matching amp and volt meters from Kal. Just email him on his forums and he can help you out.

Here's the back panel with the components installed and the ground wires for the receptacles.

Now moving on to some front panel wiring.

Here are the receptacles wired and bundled. Still need to wire the XLR receptacles for the RTD probes.

The element boxes drilled and ready for assembly and a before and after of the RTD probes.

Looking good!

I bought my volt and amp meter's separately and they looked similar to that. I ended up blowing them up, havent replaced them and dont intend to.

I like your use of sticky pads and zipties ... makes everything much cleaner.

HHP said:

Looking good!

I bought my volt and amp meter's separately and they looked similar to that. I ended up blowing them up, havent replaced them and dont intend to.

I like your use of sticky pads and zipties ... makes everything much cleaner.

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Thanks HHP. Trying to make it look as neat as possible. I've probably used and removed more zip ties that what I have installed. When I run a wire, I zip tie it in place. After another wire or two is ran on the same run, I put new zip ties on and remove the ones previously installed. It takes more time and is kind of wasteful but I think it makes for a neater looking job in the end and is worth the time and expense. Zip ties are cheap.

Just somemore pics of the wiring progress. Gotta stop into one of the big box stores and get some 24 awg wire on my way home from work tonight.

fujieagle said:

Thanks HHP. Trying to make it look as neat as possible. I've probably used and removed more zip ties that what I have installed. When I run a wire, I zip tie it in place. After another wire or two is ran on the same run, I put new zip ties on and remove the ones previously installed. It takes more time and is kind of wasteful but I think it makes for a neater looking job in the end and is worth the time and expense. Zip ties are cheap.

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I did just about the same thing. Constantly cutting/zipping the same wires

Nice work!

bolts said:

I did just about the same thing. Constantly cutting/zipping the same wires

Nice work!

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So far it has taken a lot longer than I was expecting. Hopefully in the end it will be worth it. I am no electrical wizard by any stretch of the imagination.

fujieagle said:

So far it has taken a lot longer than I was expecting. Hopefully in the end it will be worth it. I am no electrical wizard by any stretch of the imagination.

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oh trust me... it will be worth it

yeah +1 to the OP. Any parts you need that you can't find email Kal and he will sell you them. He worked up a bunch of stuff for me that I was having a hard time finding for a good price.

looking good

very nice!

Great job. It is satisfying to make the progress, isn't it?

Be sure to just test everything with a voltmeter (set on continuity) to verify the connections are good and double check your wire connections.

Also, be sure to turn down the voltage on the adjustable DC power supplies so you don't fry the Amp or voltmeters. 4.5V works well. Some have fried their components because it came set too high.

Thanks for the positive feedback guys. It is satisfying to see it finally coming together. I was hoping to be done this week but in reality it will probably be next week. So can't wait. I started gathering parts about the time Kal first starting posting it. It has been a long time coming. I've got supplies for an American wheat, nut brown and a porter that I've made with my old set up. Can't wait to brew when this is done.

That's one of the cleanest panel builds that I've seen. Looks very professional.

TrainSafe said:

That's one of the cleanest panel builds that I've seen. Looks very professional.

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Thanks for the compliment. I guess it comes from spending the better part of my life as an aircraft mechanic. Attention to detail and everything neat and orderly. Well, that and maybe a little bit of OCD

Did you just use a jigsaw to cut out the squares for the PIDs it looks very clean? That is my next step for my project that's why I'm asking. Looks very good

everty2007 said:

Did you just use a jigsaw to cut out the squares for the PIDs it looks very clean? That is my next step for my project that's why I'm asking. Looks very good

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I used a die grinder and a jig saw to make the cut outs for the PIDs. Didn't really take too long. I made a template for the size i needed out of cardboard. Traced that onto the panel and then cut out staying inside the lines. I had to use a file in a few spots to get the corners quare.

Well, powered up the control panel tonight. Had a few wiring issues. Forgot to make the jumpers on the terminal strips for the hot and neutral. Doh, what a dumb s&^T. Oh and I had the step down transformers wired wrong. I wired the HOT side to the adjustable power supplies. Hopefully I didn't fry anything. I'll finish it up after work tomorrow and see what happens. And, the boil kettle relay isn't working. Gotta check that out and see if I wired something wrong there or if I got a bad part. Oh well, it was nice to see the lights and PIDs come to life. Plugged the temp probes in and they seem to be working properly.

Thats a great build!

I finished wiring mine but have been dragging my feet on having an electrician install my outlet and gfci. Also getting nervous about the holes in the sides of my new shiny polished unused keggles....sigh

So, I'm looking at building a kal clone as well. Did you buy everything yourself, or did you get one of his kits?

LiquidFlame said:

So, I'm looking at building a kal clone as well. Did you buy everything yourself, or did you get one of his kits?

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I have heard from others that it is almost the same price from Kal's kit as it is to source the parts yourself. I sourced them myself and it took months. It would be nice to have everything in one big box.



And I agree, the internal wiring is super neat. Nicely done! I wish I would have zip tied as I went.

I highly recommend purchasing at the very least his kit of parts. It will basically run you the same as trying to find them all yourself. I bought Kal's kit and finished my build about 6 weeks ago and couldn't be happier! I have also seen pics of the prebuilt units they sell, and the work looks top notch. Very clean lines and cabling work.

dburgette said:

I have heard from others that it is almost the same price from Kal's kit as it is to source the parts yourself. I sourced them myself and it took months. It would be nice to have everything in one big box.



And I agree, the internal wiring is super neat. Nicely done! I wish I would have zip tied as I went.

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If I did it again, I would buy the kit from Kal. Spent alot of time surfing the web and ordered a few wrong parts. In the end, I think I might have saved 100 bucks. Of course it is easier to sneak it past SWMBO a few parts at a time than to do it all at once.

fujieagle said:

If I did it again, I would buy the kit from Kal. Spent alot of time surfing the web and ordered a few wrong parts. In the end, I think I might have saved 100 bucks. Of course it is easier to sneak it past SWMBO a few parts at a time than to do it all at once.

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+1

There are a few things that I decided to build myself that I wish I had just purchased. The complete temp probes to my list.