The clever idea thread!!!

[berkut]

I think everyone will like this one! This is a thread where everyone can post simple, clever ideas, hints and tricks. The simple ones like "i always apply a ball of brazing rod on the brazed element to see when the correct temperture is reached" to really big ones like system charging or stuff like that...

There are rules! Each post must look like a continuation of the prevoriuos one. Each post after the first one begin with "..." and end with "..." so the next post looks like a continuation of a serious brain storm. Like this :

My clever hint is bla bla... - post 1

...my clever idea is... - post 2

...you can help yourself by... - post 3

You can post several ideas in one post like i will in a moment:

Lets start!:

When tig welding something really thin (like a vacuum insulation hx shell) be very percise as any porosity will rouin your work, so keep the liquid pool at all time and try to do everything in 1 welding stage...

...its easyer to weld/braze when you have somewhere to rest your wrists or elbows on so higher precission is archieved, not soft of balancing in mid air...

[star882]

When pulling a vacuum, keep the whole system warm to help drive out moisture. Doing it in the garage is perfect during the summer.

[Sneil]

...you forgot the ... lol...

[n00b 0f l337]

Also when pulling a vacuum you can use a propane torch to warm the tubes a bit in large areas that may have collected water like phase and oil seprerators or HX's.

[wdrzal]

never heat with a torch,too easy to over heat and cause the oxidation we so desperatly try to prevent. heat gun or hair dryer. A torch is not recommended.

[martinjon666]

...dont forget the dots...newly learned, never use propane as shielding gas...

[Ssilencer]

I used a heat gun over the filter dryer when vacuum and over the condensor too.

[runmc]

Compressor oil doesn't absorb nitrogen. If you brake a vacuum with nitrogen, your pull down time is alot quicker than if you brake the vacuum with the refrigerant your using. Braking a vacuum this way will cut a tipple evac in half(give or take :eek: )

[Ssilencer]

Also, pulling a vacuum from both sides it helps to do it quicker, and without the valves, half the time.

[jinu117]

Valve core removal tool is great. Both high side and low side vacuuming is great too. Proper triple evac actually makes the deep evac faster. First and 2nd just do it from low side with highside tapped into nitrogen regulator so that you don't introduce any air in the process.
On last push of nitrogen, open highside and put it to your refrigerant manifold and after you pull decent vacuum from low side open high side up. Let it suck things up. This reduces vacuum time tremendeously while keeping no contamination of air or moisture in.
In my opinion nitrogen purging is about 3-4 times faster than rerfrigerant purging. (brand new system takes maybe 4 hours to triple evac... I've noticed that once I open working system, triple evac can take well past 8 hours in total... okay I am a bit extreme on evac... but I sincerely believe that is what gives me good temp from my experiences as well as quieter running and more energy efficient running system)

[wdrzal]

The single best thing to cut down on vacuum time and assure a dry system besides a good pump is remove valve cores when vacuuming, this requires a special tool to remove the valve cores without loosing vacuum.

Restrictions are critical at very low pressures(deep vacuum)

[the_new_guy]

the best ay to make a coaxial HX is to
take a pvc pipe, make and slot in one end, pass pipe thru slot then bend pipe around the pvc pipe, when done slid off.

[Carlz0r]

...and no one is remembering the "..."s...

[_HL4E_HalfLife_]

You can use a service shutoff valve as a metering device.

Thx to me for putting it to the test lol:D.

[_HL4E_HalfLife_]

Well this thread died quick lol.

[cryo-tek]

You can use heat lamps on the compressor and filter driers to heat them up …....

[labrat23]

When first getting your tools to braze, forget about those packets of Bernzomatic brazing rods. Go find a welding supply shop and get yourself a pound of 15% or 20% silver rod. You will be saving yourself money before...

...oh, and you dont need a fancy mapp torch, just put a mapp bottle on a really good propane torch. I like the ones with a 2 foot rubber hose so you can braze straight down...

[SoddemFX]

When vacuuming in winter, having a 2KW fan heater blowing on a system speeds up the process a great deal.

Having a hose with a ball valve on the end, or buying 1/4" ball valves to fit on the hose lets you shut off the high side to the manifold right by the schrader valve, which when charging stops liquid backing up into the hose. I had some wierd system behavior before i had this, and i think its helped me a lot.

Use propper cutting fluid when machining copper, parafin and other light oils just dont work as well.

Cheap MIG welders use a single small gas tank and regulator which dont have anywhere as much gas flow as you need, if you cant afford a large bottle you can use a 'T' piece to connect two of the small disposable bottles (each with their own regulator) together onto the gas line. This made quite a lot of difference for me when i was welding aluminium.

Make a stand and use a few fire bricks to make a waist high brasing hearth, its much easier to brase when your not bent over staring downwards.

Tom