Benchtec 3 Stage Cascade

[sacha35]

Thanks for the comments guys but as said before none of this would have been possible without the help and support from both Bazx and soddemFX over the years as I have learnt so much from them, so credit goes out to them as well when giving the -100c Club I think -10c should be handed out to both of the guys for their input over the years.

There is still a long way to go yet though before this unit is done, tuning the second stage will be the hardest part as I have got to knock off at least 10c, then there’s the case to sort to keep all the goodies safe and sound, but will keep you guys fully updated with the progress.

[TiN_]

Great unit. Most beautiful i've seen

[n00b 0f l337]

I'd imagine you should be at a lower temperature, especially with the size compressors you have. Sdumpers 3 stager unloaded once fully tuned in the -140C range easily.

[godmod]

I am curious what it does fully loaded and tuned.

[sacha35]

iam at a Bit of a loss end at the moment due to not being able to test any loads due to waiting on a watt meter as my one has finally given up the ghost, so I thought I would spend this week and maybe a bit of next week sorting out the case panels ready to be painted.

As you can see I have started to put things together and the size of this unit has even stunned me even though I have built it, without the case panels on it do not look that big but you can see the size of this system is big.

I now have the sides on and have just got to fix the top part once this is done I will be marking out all the holes for the condensers/desuperheaters and some fancy air grills this I will be getting cut out, hope fully this should all be done by the end of next week then it’s off to the painters for a few days which will give me time to load test and tune this cascade.

Here are some pics of the side panels in place.

[NeverMore]

Whoa. That thing looks like it could eat a small child, lol.

[n00b 0f l337]

Could?
Has.

[tiborrr]

Is that insuation on the suction line really thick enough? I would recommend another wrap of e.g. 40/19mm (diameter/wall thickness) insulation tube minimum.

The unit looks magnificent!

[sacha35]

Is that insuation on the suction line really thick enough? I would recommend another wrap of e.g. 40/19mm (diameter/wall thickness) insulation tube minimum.

The unit looks magnificent!

Thanks for the info, I have this covered with an over cover of extra insulation if needed, but lots more testing is needed first before adding anything or any alterations, but thanks for pointing this out as this shows others would might be needed in extreme situations.

There is still a long way to go before I will be happy with how the unit is cosmetically and its performance so there will still be loads going on before it is complete, but will keep you all updated with what is going on.

[Rise]

wow. beautiful craftsmanship and impressive layout work with the piping, wiring, clean lines all over. how many hours did you spend designing this before going into the build itself? I can't wait to see how this does under loads!

Good luck with the rest!!

[nachthymnen]

Really beautiful work

[one_servant]

Top notch work Sacha!! I'm going to take a page out of your book and try to paint my copper lines on my next build...your end result just looks plain classy.

[TopherTony]

dude that is so freakin sweet. been away for so long, and I come back to this beauty. very nice!

[sacha35]

Well guys, been having the same problems as bazx with the R14 refrigerant, so it was time to put some R1150 in the last stage and get some benching done, this unit is rock solid at -105c with 1.95v on this E8600, I will still be looking to make this cascade cooler but for now it’s time for some benching, I will be running a few thought the week but for now here is a SPI 32M that I did, I think I can improve on this a little and will aim for sub 8 seconds.

Anyway here is a pic of the test I did today at 5.9 Gig.

[ultron5]

GOOD WORK!!!! :-)

[bazx]

looking good mate and a very tight 32

we will get to the bottom of r14

[quintus]

y not mixing r50 r1150 and r14?

[gosmeyer]

I will still be looking to make this cascade cooler but for now it’s time for some benching

You English and your dry humor Nice job Paul

[before]

Well guys, been having the same problems as bazx with the R14 refrigerant, so it was time to put some R1150 in the last stage and get some benching done, this unit is rock solid at -105c with 1.95v on this E8600, I will still be looking to make this cascade cooler but for now it’s time for some benching, I will be running a few thought the week but for now here is a SPI 32M that I did, I think I can improve on this a little and will aim for sub 8 seconds.

Anyway here is a pic of the test I did today at 5.9 Gig.

Nice one.

What's going on with R14?

[miahallen]

I think I can improve on this a little and will aim for sub 8 seconds.

That would be more than a "little improvement".

All joking aside...that's a beautiful piece of work.

[tiborrr]

One off-the-side, what are the quotes on R14 you guys are getting?

[godmod]

Big gas supplier in Austria (price incl. IVA):
1046,64€ for 6kg (which would equal 174,44€/kg)

edit: IVA is 20% here.

[august123]

i paid about 160€/kg. Thats normal price.

[sacha35]

Nice one.

What's going on with R14?

Thanks for the heads up guys, i don't know why i could not get the R14 to work correctly, i could get the evap down to -140c, but then the temps would start to rise and the suction would go into deep vacuum and the high side would start to creep up as if the cap tube was blocked, i did a few tests and found that at -105 the cap tube would block solid, so i thought oil problems or moisture, so changed out the oil for some zerol 150 and deep vacuumed down to 60 microns and still the same problem, as you know i am running the cascade at the mo with R1150 which goes down to -110 with know problems at all, good suction and high side pressures, so it is if the R14 just does not want to flow or it thickens up at a given temperature.

I will be trying outer things latter on to get this to the temperature i want but for now its a bit of fun and loads of benching to do as i have been out of the game for around 6 months so theres lots of catching up to do.

[tiborrr]

Impurities in your refrigerant maybe? Swapping to a larger diameter captube? Just a few ideas...

Greets,
N.