Building a Distillation Apparatus

[elementcollector1]

Distillation sets today are far too expensive. So, I'm going to build my own. Here's the ideas I have so far:

-The retort will be made from a flower bulb (with the long glass part bent sideways and a glass entry tube inserted by heating a copper pipe of the same size, passing it through, and 'welding' the tube on.

-The condenser will be made of a glass tube (coiled if at all possible) inside a cut-open, clear wine bottle that has had two holes melted into it with entry and exit points for water flow, which can be hooked up to a garden hose.

Is there any way to improve on this? I'm looking for cost efficiency and product efficiency (though not to the extent that I'd pay for an actual setup) above most else, though I'm willing to compromise on some things.

Any thoughts?

[John Cuthber]

My first thought is that the thermal expansion coefficients of copper and glass differ too much for you to be able to weld them unless the copper is very thin.

It is possible

 

Unfortunately, a glassworking lathe is probably more expensive than a decent still.

 

Depending on what you wish to distil, you may find that copper plumbing fittings and pipe can do the job more easily than glass.

[InigoMontoya]

Depending on what you wish to distil, you may find that copper plumbing fittings and pipe can do the job more easily than glass.

That was my thought as well.

 

Buy a pressure cooker at a thrift shop. Attach copper tubing to steam outlet. Run copper tubing through a water bath....