Is there a good way to stabilize a sight glass without using eyebolt?

Has anyone come up with a way to stabilize the top end of the sight glass without drilling a hole into the kettle for an eyebolt?

I was thinking of maybe trying to fashion an "L" shaped holder out of a thin sheet of SS that will hang from the rim of the kettle. The horizontal part of the "L" will have a hole drilled in it for the tube to pass through.

Has anyone tried something like that?

An eyebolt bolted into a through hole provides an immovable mounting point to secure the sight glass in case of bumping etc. To use anything that is not tightly affixed to the keggle provides little to no support. Let's put it this way: there is a reason why all of us choose to drill our precious keggles for the sight glass support: it simply works.

Possibly a clear, hard plastic piece of tubing the right size to install from fitting to fitting over the sight tube?

I have to ask why as it works so well. You could try a zip tie to one of the handles if your kettle has handles.

Chris

I was just trying to avoid drilling my kettle. Drilling SS always gives me fits since it never turns out as clean as I would like it to be.

I drilled mine with no problem, but could you J-B weld a plastic "T" to the side of a kettle?

Maybe something attached to a clamp that you would clip to the lip of the kettle??

Or eyebolt. Use a drill press, cutting oil, and go slowly. Though I now recall drilling my holes for the valves. Could not use the drill press.

One of theses:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-spring-clamps/=ya48zj

With an eyebolt double nutted to it.

You can weld/JB weld a nut to the outside of the kettle and screw the eyebolt into it.

hezagenius said:

I was just trying to avoid drilling my kettle. Drilling SS always gives me fits since it never turns out as clean as I would like it to be.

Click to expand...

I hear you, I hate drilling SS as well. I made my eHERMS control panel from a stainless steel box and I was cursing as well. I think I went though $100 worth of cutting tools building it.

Just buy a brand new drill bit from a reputable source, e.g. Ace Hardware, Home Depot or Lowes. Use some oil on the bit and don't be afraid to push the bit firmly, if it spins you will work harden the stainless and make a mess. You can then use a countersink, or just a larger bit to clean up with blowout on the back of the hole. The two nuts will cover any scratches or problems with your technique.

Hope this helps,


Chris

-CHRIS- said:

I hear you, I hate drilling SS as well. I made my eHERMS control panel from a stainless steel box and I was cursing as well. I think I went though $100 worth of cutting tools building it.



Just buy a brand new drill bit from a reputable source, e.g. Ace Hardware, Home Depot or Lowes. Use some oil on the bit and don't be afraid to push the bit firmly, if it spins you will work harden the stainless and make a mess. You can then use a countersink, or just a larger bit to clean up with blowout on the back of the hole. The two nuts will cover any scratches or problems with your technique.



Hope this helps,





Chris

Click to expand...

Lots of cutting fluid and go very slow. Speed is not your friend in this case. Trying to drill at a high speed will surely harden stainless.

I misplaced my eyebolt and never installed it. Sightglass has worked fine without it for 3 years!

How about a large binder clip clamped over the top rim of the kettle, run the sight glass up through the wire handle of the clamp.

Fwiw, you need the sight glass as secure as possible, if it breaks loose, your feet will get soaked

I wouldn't advise half assing the job.

I bent a small piece of 3/8 stainless tubing into an elbow. The top of my sight tube fits over it and is clamped with a hose clamp. I did drill a hole in the kettle for the other end of the elbow to fit through. This probably doesn't help much because this is a setup that I've never seen used before. I started with the typical racking cane sight tube, but after some heat warping and several leaks, I changed to high temp silicone hose. No warping, no leaks, no fear of a glass tube breaking. Removable and easily replaceable. It does have to be secure at the top because it's not rigid. I can get more/better pictures if interested in going this route.

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