Questions on making a new pan

[Grizz747]

I am looking to make a Pan. I boiled last year on a cinder block/4 steam tray pan set up. I am a teacher and I am going to ask the local vo-ed if they can weld one up. My first questions are what gauge should I use 20 or 22? and does it make a difference other than cosmetic, if I use mirror finish or brush polish? I am sure there will be many more to follow.

[Bucket Head]

Griz,

How good are the welders there? The thinner the material, the harder it is to weld. Ask the instructor if there is a student/students that have excelled at the "tricky" stuff. I would go with the thicker of the two. It would be a little easier to weld and would be a little more durable. Shiney and polished material costs more. My pans are just "mill finish", and work fine. Not as nice as factory pans, but they are respectable looking.

Let us know what you decide and keep us posted on the progress.

Steve

[Haynes Forest Products]

The problem with mirror finish is your going to ruin the finish in the welded areas and then grind and brush to make them look good so go with the brushed. The nice shinny pans that you buy are not polished after welding.

[Grizz747]

By thicker what is the max, should it be 18 Gauge or should it be determined by the Voed teacher? Is 18 to thick?

[Bucket Head]

Griz,

No, 18 ga. would'nt be too thick. My pans are made of both 14 and 16 ga. stainless. Yes, much thicker than they need to be, but they still boil sap! I'm sure I'm losing a little bit of heat transfer because of the thickness. However, they are very sturdy, and they were easy to weld. I can get forty gph evaporation with them, and thats comparable to the factory rigs of the same size.

Haynes,

I don't know anything about the factory welding process, other than their TIG welded. How are they welded without polishing afterwards? They must get a little something after the welding. There has to be some "blueing" due to the heat. Have you seen their process? How do they do it?

Steve

[Haynes Forest Products]

Welding SS is tricky if you want it to look and stay nice and shinny. One reason that modern pans can be made out of thinner material is because of the bends, folds and partitions they all add to the stability of the finished product. Its not easy to weld a 5 sided box without it warping or twisting. If you get a chance look at the backside of a SS sink one that is welded. The welds look like crap because the molten metal on the backside was exposed to the surounding air/oxygen. It picks up the impuritys from the air and turns it black. I have mig welded SS and ground it smooth and it looked great until moisture made it rust along the weld because of contaminates from the air.

When they do pans they cant get polishing wheels and brushes into the flues and inside bends so they Anneale it in a furnace. They first make sure that the welds are as nice as they can be. Then they heat them up in a furnace with inert gas in it as close to the melting point of the steel to glaze the surface.

[Grizz747]

I will be boiling this year again on my block arch, but next year I will probably use an old oil tank I have at my hunting cabin that is already cut and used as a grill(very seldom) I am wondering should I make a 27 x 54 pan with channels or a 27 x24 and a 27 x 30 both with channels?

[Gary R]

I would recommend one pan. A 27X30 pan with a few gallons of sweet in it is real heavy. Very difficult to pour into another pan by yourself. My pan is 24X54. I didn't go the full 27" because I added insulation and fire brick. Others have gone 27" and it seems to work well for them. Also, are you ever going to put this indoors? You definately don't want to pull a pan off with a fire going. If you have water available you can wash your pan while it's on the arch. I'm only taking mine off at the end of the season to clean the soot.

[Grizz747]

Gary
I was thinking of connecting them with 3/4 copper pipe. I was thinking of having the back pan channels going front to back and the front pan going side to side. I am not sure if there is and advantage to doing it this way or just one big pan. I am expanding to 50 taps this year.

[3rdgen.maple]

I personally would go with the 2 pans. I think you could maintain a better gradiant throughout and not have to batch boil. I would also set it up like you described back pan front to back dividers and front pan side to side. Put a drain on opposite corners so you can rotate the syrup pan and draw off the same side. And I would definately pipe them together. Maybe even build a float box for the back pan to regulate the sap level in the pans.

[Grizz747]

That is what I was thinking. Should the draw off be in the front corner of the front pan or the back corner of the front pan(toward the middle of the arch)? Is there an advantage to either?

[Gary R]

With only 50 taps on a pan that size, I'd think most boils will be batch boils. It will take 6 1/3 gal. just to keep 1" in the pans. I think you'd have to keep the sweet in there for a few boils in order to draw off, or chase with water.

[3rdgen.maple]

Grizz front corner on the side you prefer if you have it in the middle the flow would be way off and you would make syrup in the front section along with the middle and you would be in trouble in a hurry. If you put it in the back corner you will have to pipe the back pan to the front of the syrup pan.

Gary I do agree but I yet to see a guy only tap 50 trees once then they get bigger and bigger and bigger. He could very well still batch boil and chase with water or hold the sweet for another run. I just think that he would outgrow a single pan in the future and then be in need of another upgrade sooner. But that is what we are here for is different ideas so keep em coming.