pan fabrication

[Kacey small scale maple]

I am having a local welder make me a pan for my homeade block arch the pan is going to be stainless 18''1\2 wide by 3' long with dividers. How should i design the dividers and what guage is good for the thickness of the metal should the dividers be sealed or tacked? I want it to be as efficent as possible!!!!:confused:

thanks in advance for any info,
kacey

[jmayerl]

That's pretty narrow so I would think only 2 dividers will fit. That's 6" channels so it should suffice. Tacked Is fine. As thin as possible 22 g is the standard.(you may not be able to find any local welders that can work with that thin of metal. Any thicker and it just doesn't transfer heat well. Remember SS is a horrible heat conductor.

[BreezyHill]

Tig welding melts the two pieces together...so full length. Don't do regular old mig weld as sugar will get below the divider and cause warping. The divider helps keep the pan bottom straight. I can do some measuring in the morning if you need. I have a 2x2 finish pan that has 4 sections for a back and forth flow. I have thought about turning it and replumbing it to get reversible flow. Have yet to decide if I want to try that yet. Have a friend that got a cross flow and hated it and spun his and replumbed to the old way. I would love to hear some convincing thoughts on how well cross flow works on making lighter syrup in the same year not from one year after changing...unless it was really convincing and made lighter for most of season versus short part of season before.

[jmayerl]

You said your having a local shop do it so question them and make sure he is a good tug welder and able to do this. When real pan makers do this they have heat sinks and jigs to make sure the pan won't warp. Also make sure they back gas so the welds are neat and don't rust.

[Big_Eddy]

304 Stainless, 20, 22 or 24 gauge for best heat transfer, but in reality, thicker will work too. Talk to your weldor - a pro stainless weldor may find 24 gauge easy, a pipe weldor may find it impossible. Depends on equipment and ability. A pro stainless weldor will know all about back gassing, heat sinking etc. If he doesn't know what you're talking about - find another weldor.

I'd suggest 2 or 3 cross-wise dividers for your pan. In at the back, out at the front. Use the same material for the divider as for the pan. Bend a 1/2" wide flange on the bottom edge and weld to the pan bottom. Either a continuous bead, or plug welds every 1/2" or so. As long as the gap is well clamped and you have a flat flange, any gaps will seal up with sugar over the first couple of boils.