The great stainless single tier begins!

[doctorsbro]

I am Doctorsbro's brother, and the future proud owner of this brewstand. I have a Ph.D. in chemistry

Pretty crazy to think my brother has a phd and im a high school dropout.....

 

[mmurray]

Pretty crazy to think my brother has a phd and im a high school dropout.....

It's only further proof that the Federal Board of Education doesn't have a clue! Not everyone is meant to or needs to go to college! Our government is so geared towards testing and pushing everyone towards college so that we can improve our "Rank" internationally. That drive is why we are loosing our trades!

I grew up surrounded by Blue Collar family members and I love working on cars, working with metal and other hobbies... That's probably why I like brewing so much! I can brew and work with basic principals of chemistry. I can build things that make brewing easier that involve metal work, refrigeration, electronics, plumbing, etc... This is my hobby and it's fun! I chose not to work a trade for a living, but I still enjoy doing various trades on my own time.

Doctorsbro... When I look at the work you have done so far on this build I as well as everone else here have nothing but respect for you and your abilities to work with metal! That's not a skill that can be easily mastered and you have displayed your education in an arena other than the class room!

Great work and I look forward to seeing more!

 

[doctorsbro]

Thanks for the kind words mmurray. Today i have gotten all of the tubes cut, even after dulling a bandsa blade and running to get another one so i could finish all of the tubes. I also beveled all of the areas that will be welded and ground smooth, also notched the legs so that the tube to sheetmetal transition to the top will be welded and ground smooth. Hopefully tomorrow i will have it all welded up, its going to be a loooooong day.... heres a few phots, not much but its something.

mitred tubes for the notched area where the casters will be

cutting....

bunch of tubes..

My parents shop(32'x20') that i built last year behind theyre existing 24x24 garage for them, comes in handy for projects like this

more updates tomorrow

 

[Espi]

You have a skill and ability greater than 95 % of the human population..

A hunk of paper doesn't prove anything.

You sir are extremely talented.

And I am jealous!

 

[doctorsbro]

You have a skill and ability greater than 95 % of the human population..

A hunk of paper doesn't prove anything.

You sir are extremely talented.

And I am jealous!

Thanks man, i did get ALOT done today, all i have left to do is make plates to mount a set of caster wheels, make 2 plates for mounting the pumps onto, cut the 11" holes in the 3 plates that the windscreens weld too , then weld all of the mounting plates and also weld the windscreens to the plates, then finish grinding and then its off to the sanding/polishing step

 

[doctorsbro]

more pictures!

 

[FoxRunner]

Hurry up and get this finished, BUT just before you do make a minor mistake you would just never be happy with. Then forget about your brother sell me this one and then go back and make perfection again....

That should be your plan.

 

[doctorsbro]

Still need to finish some grinding on the stand but i will do that when i start the sanding/polishing stage.

 

[doctorsbro]

i also need to source some stainless bars for each end , kind of like stainless grab bars in a bathroom so you can have something to hold onto when pushing/pulling the stand around

 

[pickles]

Awesome job! What are you using to weld the SS?

 

[doctorsbro]

Awesome job! What are you using to weld the SS?

Im using a miller challenger 172 220 mig welder with argon 2%co2 gas with 308l stainless wire, i do have a tig but man tigging is so slow....

 

[ctb6760]

progress looks awesome. what pumps and burners are you planning on putting on it?

 

[doctorsbro]

progress looks awesome. what pumps and burners are you planning on putting on it?

3-bg14 banjo burners and 2 march809 pumps, hopefully i can get the ones with the stainless pump heads

 

[ctb6760]

nice. once i finally get everything to build mine (eventually) those are what i'm planning on using

 

[P8ten]

Subscribed. This thing is awesome. Love the progress shots. Keep 'em coming.

 

[Layne]

Beautifull!

 

[doctorsbro]

will have some updates tomorrow with some pics

 

[hrafnkell]

Hope you didn't forget us - I'm looking forward to an update

 

[doctorsbro]

well ive got some done, i had to make some brackets for the swivel casters so that they have room to swivel, the fixed casters on the other end i just drilled and tapped the bottom of the tube and bolted them in, i also added push/pull handles that i made

current

handle plates i cut out

handles, i used .75" stainless pipe for this with a 1" od.

wheels

plates

 

[doctorsbro]

For the bottom shelf i think i am going to use 1/2" polypropylene plastic sheet, if i did it in stainless it would scratch terribly when sliding the kegs in and out, the plastic is a nice crisp white and is commonly used for cutting boards and commerical kitchen surfaces and is usda approved for food contact lol.

 

[doctorsbro]

i still have to finish the burner plates/wind screens, i had the holes plasma cut in the plates and need to grind them down and then weld the windscreens to the plates and then install them into the stand. After all that is done i need to make some boxes/ covers out of stainless for the pumps, i like the covers that cover the entire pump and just the pump head is exposed, Then its time for sanding and polishing, im going to converst a variable speed buffer into a tool that will hold a 4"x4" sanding drum and make a handle so it can be held directly above the drum, just like the metabo burnishing tool

I can get the 4" drum from caswell plating for about $10 and then use the metabo 220-2000 grit belt paper for it for all of the sanding and then buff it to a mirror shine. The burnishing tool makes for a really flat smooth polished surface without and waves in the surface.

 

[sanch]

Lookin good you will have to show us the burnisher. I am sure I am not the only one looking for new ways to make polishing easier.

 

[doctorsbro]

Lookin good you will have to show us the burnisher. I am sure I am not the only one looking for new ways to make polishing easier.

For sure, im going to have to have my brother machine a shaft for the buffer to accept the 4" drums, other than that it will be simple, im just going to buy a buffer from harbor freight and buy the replacement warranty or find a good used dewalt, the metabo burnisher kit is almost $600 plus another $300 of attatchments to use it for sanding and polishing, way out of my price range but a really nice tool. The expensive part is buying the sanding belts from metabo, they are the only ones that sell a belt finer than 320 grit all the way up to 2000 grit. And theyre belts are very high quality and last a long time, a shop i worked at uses these metabos for commercial kitchen stuff and man they are nice...

I could get away with using grit compounds on a buffing wheel but cutting with a 1" wide wheel leaves a really really wavy surface, i want this to be mirror flat...

 

[kladue]

Have you used the 3M scotch brite pads and 4" grinder adapter for smoothing things up. Start with the blue pads and then finish with the gray pads to get to almost mirror finish, as pads give out you pull them off hook&loop adapter and change to new.

 

[doctorsbro]

I havent tried them but i may check them out

 

[doctorsbro]

Well i have made a little progress, i recieved the burner/windscreens plates back from being punched after some miscommunications and wasted materials. No i just need to weld them up and get everything sanded and polished. After im done with the burner plates/windscreens i am going to source some 1/4" x 1 1/4" stainless flat bar and make grating for the keggles to sit on, im going to do something "special" with the grating, its not just going to be "basic" rows of flatbar, im also going to polish the grating as well

heres the burner plates fitted in the recessed areas of the stand

notice the edge on the punched hole, used a 5/16" round punch around the paremeter to punch out the hole, probably took about 500 hits to nibble it out, all done on a cnc strippit punch press, holes line up perfect with my rings for welding

ready for welding

hmmmmm what to do with these circles......

 

[doctorsbro]

I also started sanding everything down, i had to sand every part that i bent on the press brake since it leaves scratch marks from the dies, everything is at 100 grit now with a small patch at 220 on the left side of the control panel front, man this is going to be hard on my arms and tools sanding and polishing the whole thing down to a mirror finish. I may add some tri clover fittings to the back of the stand so i can hand the hoses with tri clover ends when the stand is not in use and will keep the hoses from getting crap in them and a convenient place to store them.

 

[ctb6760]

if its big enough you can make tops for the keggles

 

[doctorsbro]

if its big enough you can make tops for the keggles

Thanks for the suggestion, my borther also just suggested this to me as well, im not sure if they will be large enough or not, whats the average hole size in a keggle? Thes disks are about 10 1/2"

 

[ctb6760]

I don't have any myself but while looking around it looks like a 12" hole is pretty common. hmmm there must be something you can use them for

 

[Oldshovelhead]

Thanks for the suggestion, my borther also just suggested this to me as well, im not sure if they will be large enough or not, whats the average hole size in a keggle? Thes disks are about 10 1/2"

my opening is about 12" leaving about 1 3/4" between the outside wall and the inside of the opening

 

[doctorsbro]

my opening is about 12" leaving about 1 3/4" between the outside wall and the inside of the opening

yeah i figured the openings will be larger than the disks since the keg od. is 16-3/8". hmmmmmmm, maybe i will just see how far i can roll them down the street.......

 

[40Below]

Sub'd

 

[sanch]

Death Frisbee ha

 

[Oldshovelhead]

add plumbing and it could hold a sparge arm

 

[doctorsbro]

add plumbing and it could hold a sparge arm

thats a good idea but i have something up my sleeve for a sparge allready.

 

[Hoosier-Brewer]

Neat project, I'm in to see it finished.

 

[brehuh]

Awesome! Looks great so far

 

[dmfa200]

Hey doctorsbro,

Kick Ass brewstand!!!
Looks commercial quality, like something you'd see in the kitchen of a gourmet restaurant.

Are you using your cell phone camera to take pics?

 

[doctorsbro]

Hey doctorsbro,

Kick Ass brewstand!!!
Looks commercial quality, like something you'd see in the kitchen of a gourmet restaurant.

Are you using your cell phone camera to take pics?

Thanks, yes it is a cell phone camera, its a p.o.s., it is a blackberry but i carry it in my back pocket all day and theres dirt inside its lens....