Steam hood fabrication

[madmapler]

I've been looking for a steam hood to buy all summer and finally decided to try making one. I have almost no experience with sheetmetal but I'm finding out that its really not that difficult. We ( My brother and myself) rented a sheetmetal brake. It's the type used for vinyl siding. I'm using .040(18ga.) aluminum I ordered from a guy who makes signs (3-4x8). Its about all the brake can handle on the 8' bends and it took both of us to work at it. I used 1 1/2" alum. channel for my drip channel. I found the best way to cut it is with a wood cutting circular blade. I connected the channel with aluminum brazing rod after watching a few youtube videos and trying it out on some scrap. We're attaching the sections with 1/8" rivets. I would say anyone with basic skills could do this. It's critical to measure correctly but we even messed that up a little and were able to straighten and re-bend with the brake. I'm posting pics. of what we did yesterday and will post more this evening. The costs so far are $67 weekend brake rental, $150 for 3-4x8 sheets, $120 for channel(bought 12' extra), $16 for alum. brazing rod, $20 for 300 rivets. 12078 12080 12079

[Ghs57]

Did you have any specific design considerations? Will you have a preheater inside? I'm looking to do the same thing this winter, and have been reading all the homemade threads.

[madmapler]

I do have a preheater so I did make sure the dimensions were compatible with it. I made a cardboard template for the ends to get the basic shape. Today we're adding a front section to cover the front pan.

[madmapler]

Here it is all together with the front attached. I'll add the stacks and sliders next weekend hopefully. 12083

[Sugarmaker]

Nice work on the hood fabrications. Should work real good for you.
Regards,
Chris

[wiam]

Did you put a lip on the bottom to keep it from sliding off?

[madmapler]

Did you put a lip on the bottom to keep it from sliding off?

Funny you should ask. We were thinking about that when we put it on for a fit check. I'm going to braze some tabs on the corners to keep it in place.

[nymapleguy607]

You might want to add a drain to the front section of hood too. My front section of hood will fill with condensate as the season goes on.

[wiam]

You might want to add a drain to the front section of hood too. My front section of hood will fill with condensate as the season goes on.

I think I see one in the last picture.

[madmapler]

There will be a copper pipe that runs through the wall into the rear drip channel. We'll also be making a funnel to catch the condensate from the front stack and send it to the channel.

[MISugarDaddy]

Very nice work. Be careful or you will be having others on Trader asking you to make one for them.
Gary

[nymapleguy607]

I think I see one in the last picture.
Sorry missed that..

There will be a copper pipe that runs through the wall into the rear drip channel. We'll also be making a funnel to catch the condensate from the front stack and send it to the channel.
Nice looking build

[madmapler]

Very nice work. Be careful or you will be having others on Trader asking you to make one for them.
Gary
Thanks. As I said earlier, this is my first attempt ever at doing something like this. I've hardly even pop riveted before. For anyone who has thought about doing this, I'd say go for it. I'll post the rest of the project when I get back to it.

[Ghs57]

Tech question: You said you used a wood cutting blade for cuts. Was that for the channel, sheets or both? I've used that method for channel and other extruded stock before, but not for sheets. Just go slow.

[madmapler]

I used a circular saw on the sheets for a few cuts and it worked fine however my brother came up with a nibbler so we used that for the rest. Definitely go slow. Too fast and you'll get rough edges.

[maple flats]

In the future try cutting it with a plywood blade mounted backwards. That is how we used to cut aluminum back when I was in the siding business. We also cut vinyl siding that way too, especially for long angle cuts. Sometimes we used the backwards plywood blade for cross cuts, but more often we used snips unless we were working at 15 degrees or under, then the vinyl cut better with the saw.
Your hood looks like you did an excellent job. You should be proud of it.

[madmapler]

Thanks for clarifying that. The framing blade I used had a slightly bent tooth so I assumed a good framing blade would be okay. I probably shouldn't have.

[Ghs57]

How high above the syrup pan is your hood? I'm wondering if there is a rule of thumb for this. It looks like you plan on separate flues for the front and back hoods. That seems reasonable on a rig this size. Will you have a window to check things in the rear pan?

I'm planning on moving to a 2x6 rig next season, and will be building a hood with preheater, thanks in good part to this and similar posts. I would think I can have the hood open to the syrup pan and use one flue, unless the experience of others suggests otherwise.

[lpakiz]

I think I posted on this a while back, but I'll repeat for those who still have design questions.
I think the stack size should be determined by how many gallons of steam per hour you want removed. I don't think the physical dimensions of the rig are that pertinent. My evaporator does around 100 GPH.
That said, the ONE 12 inch stack in my main hood pulls the steam off of the front pan thru a cutout into the end of the main hood very well after the building is heated up for the day. So, one 12-inch stack will pull 100 gallons of steam per hour.
I like the single stack, as that is one less penetration thru the roof, one less jack to buy, one less places to leak, one less stack to cover when not using, etc.
I wouldn't count on much more, tho.

[KReinisch]

May I ask how you connected the drain ports. I am going to make one of these and I want to know how. Thank You!

[madmapler]

How high above the syrup pan is your hood? I'm wondering if there is a rule of thumb for this. It looks like you plan on separate flues for the front and back hoods. That seems reasonable on a rig this size. Will you have a window to check things in the rear pan?

I'm planning on moving to a 2x6 rig next season, and will be building a hood with preheater, thanks in good part to this and similar posts. I would think I can have the hood open to the syrup pan and use one flue, unless the experience of others suggests otherwise.

Its about 17" above the pan. My only reason for choosing that height is so I can look around under it with out hitting my head. I will have 2 stacks that go into the cupola. You need to keep the back one isolated if you're using a preheater. The rear one will be 16" and have a damper.

[madmapler]

May I ask how you connected the drain ports. I am going to make one of these and I want to know how. Thank You! If you're talking about the front channel connecting to the rear then you can see a 1/2" copper fitting in one of the pics. I will be running a copper pipe from there into the rear hood channel. If that doesn't answer your question then let me know.

[Ghs57]

Its about 17" above the pan. My only reason for choosing that height is so I can look around under it with out hitting my head. I will have 2 stacks that go into the cupola. You need to keep the back one isolated if you're using a preheater. The rear one will be 16" and have a damper.

Thanks Sean. I drew my plan at 16 inches, But I can relate to the headroom issue. I would be interested in seeing a picture of your your preheater. I also need to add AUF to my arch this year.

You have really grown your operation over the past few years. I'd be happy to double my taps from last year (to 200 or so). I have a very limited number of taps on my land, so I need to negotiate additional taps from the surrounding area.

[madmapler]

I am using a older leader preheater I picked up. If I was going to build one I'd get a set of copper manifolds at Webbs or on ebay and solder pipes between them at whatever length you want. If you haven't seen them they are simply a pipe that is capped on one end and has several female outlets coming out of the side. I suppose you could solder a bunch of tees together and build one.

[unc23win]

Awesome build Sean very nice work from the pictures you would never know you hadn't done it before. It is amazing some of the things we will try to do ourselves in the syrup trade. As a farmer I try to buy the special tools to do the jobs I need to get the job done not only saving on labor but getting them done in my time frame.

Nice work!

[madmapler]

I'm as amazed as anyone Jared! I agree 100% with what you said. I've always been a do-it-yourselfer and there's plenty of opportunity for that in sugaring. Youtube makes you a DIY'er on steroids.

[unc23win]

Funny you mentioned youtube I was just on there the other day learning something myself. As a teacher I try to teach my woodworking students to be as independent as possible and I pretty much tell them learn how to do stuff yourself maybe a wood project today maybe a house some day. If I don't get the NRCS grant for 2017 I will most likely be building a preheater (thanks for mentioning the manifold I hadn't though of that) and maybe expanding my RO myself haven't needed either yet, but hoping to soon!

[longlivenintendo]

I wish there were youtube videos on how to do this... I dont know how you created a stack port for you to attach a pipe so you can vent it through the roof.

[madmapler]

I haven't got to that yet. I will be tracing out the holes with my stack pipe, cutting them, then making approx.1"cuts upwards around the bottom of the stack pipe that are spaced about 3/4" apart (making1"x3/4" tabs). I'll bend every other tab out 90 degrees and set the stack over the hole I cut. I'll then bend the remaining tabs under the hood so I'll have one tab on top of the hood and the next underneath, locking the stack pipe in place. I'll then randomly rivet the tabs to the hood or alum. solder them. Many of the older hoods and roof jacks were built this way. If someone knows a better way I'm listening.

[Paddymountain]

I went to the Amish and had them take a piece of SS cut a 10" diameter hole in it. Then role a piece 1 inch wide 10" inside diameter and weld it to the plate.
Easy then to pop rivet it to the hood

[Paddymountain]

Here is a picture of the flange they built for me.12238

[Mitchhorne8]

I'm very interested in the final product. I'm process of trying to figure out what to do. I just payed for a 2x6 evaporator, so I'm in no position to hand out 1800$ for a hood

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[wiam]

How did you connect the ports to the channel?

[scottdevine]

Here was my silly attempt on the cheap. A construction site was demoing a lab, and i grabbed some scrap air duct (24x36)...perfect for my needs

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[lpakiz]

To attach my base stub to the hood, I cut a 12'" round hole in the roof of the hood.
If you look at smoke or steam pipes, you will notice a small rolled bead, one on each end. I cut the hole in the hood accurate enough so that the pipe enters the hole, but the rolled bead won't pass. Before assembling the pipe to the hood, I drilled a couple 1/8" + cross-holes holes in the pipe, about 1/4 inch lower than the bead. After I assembled the pipe to the hood, I used a piece of 1/8 brazing rod as a sort of very long, cross-wise cotter key, to retain the pipe in the hood. This key is not really necessary if you have gravity around your place.
This stub piece of pipe is only 8 inches tall, and connects to the rest of the stack, which is suspended from the roof. The connector is a wrap-around sleeve or jacket, about 2 feet long, which is tightened around the lower stub and the upper suspended stack with 3 small SS bolts and nuts.
I can remove the connector band and raise the hood about 2 feet without disturbing the upper part of the steam stack.