The great stainless single tier begins!

[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....

 

[doctorsbro]

no this is not a mirror...... its a brewstand with some ******* reflection in it....

I started polishing today and ive got to say the gator grit stuff is pretty low quality, the medium and fine grit pads dont last long at all, and the metal insert that holds them in is a bad design as well, it makes it so you can only use the outer edge of the pad, and also grinder rpm is too much for the pad, it heats up and begins to melt its resin that the grit is embedded in. I will be getting 3m scotchbrite 4" hook and loop pads in medium, fine, very fine and super fine tomorrow, they are much cheaper as well @ $2 each. I also cant see somebody going from fine grit gator grit pad to the #2 compound, it leaves nasty scratch marks, after the fine grit i had to wetsand with 320 grit and 400 grit to remove the fine grit pad scratches. No more expensive gator grit for me....

more progress

this is going to be a ton of work, my process is, 3m course 4" pads, then medium and fine gator grit, 320 and 400 grit wetsand, then #2 and then #5 on spiral sewn sisal wheels. With going with the very fine and super fine pads it will eliminate the need to wetsand with 320 and 400 grit, the super fine has a grit equivalent of 320-600 depending on technique when using the pad, and yes i used an electric random orbital sander to do the 320 and 400 grit wetsanding, was very carefull to not get any water in the sander lol i did hand wetsand it for about 10 minutes and then my arms started to give out....... so far i have about 5 hours into polishing, i imagine i will have probably 40 hours into it hopefully making it up to my brothers standards..

 

[doctorsbro]

Also, after the whole thing is polished i will be etching my brothers brew companies name in the front panel

 

[doctorsbro]

hopefully i will have almost all of the polishing done by the end of next weekend, im also going to do the polishing in 3 steps with the #1, #3 and then #5, going from #2 to #5 is too big of a jump in grit and is really hard to remove the #2's swirls with the #5

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

That is a serious mirror-like finish! Keep doin what you're doin, because the work you've done so far is SICK!:rockin:

 

[jfkriege]

I am going to go and burn my brew sculpture now.

That looks fantastic.

 

[mrpeccator]

The thread should be retitled "The Greatest Single Tier Begins". Bling is being redefined.

 

[doctorsbro]

Thank you for the compliments, but I think lehr has me beat, he is a very good fabricator by the looks of his pictures in his photo album. Hopefully this weekend I will have some more pictures to post, I have to pick up some more pads to continue polishing, gator grits wear out rather fast and will be going with scotchbrites

 

[DeeDub76]

Work of art man!!!

 

[jdbrewers]

wow im deeply jealous!! me likies!!! Keep up the good work and show us the progress.

 

[rmullins]

That thing is gorgeous. I'm starting to think it would be a good idea to move to Council Bluffs and make a new friend