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When you really want to have welded-in ports on your vessels but can't find a competent welder, this fitting is the next best thing if you're willing to do some soldering. The tricky part about soldering fittings into the thin walls of pots and kegs is the extremely minimal contact area which does not allow for enough strength. Using these fittings, along with a our reusable install tool, you'll create a tight fitting joint with loads of contact area that is ready for a quick silver solder job.
The fitting has 1/2" NPT male threads on one end and 1/2" NPT female threads on the other. The typical use would be to install it into a vessel with the male threads facing out for direct threading of a ball valve. The female threads on the inside would then accommodate a diptube assembly, tubular screen, or any other accessory you can think of. The orientation may also be reversed if you can think of a reason to do so. The machined chamfer on the leading edge of the fitting allows it to enlarge its own hole.
Here's how it gets installed (assuming male threads outward):
- Drill or punch a 13/16" hole in your THIN walled pot less than 1mm or 7/8" hole in your thicker pots 1mm or thicker,
- Deburr the hole (file or sand the sharp edges),
- Degrease the fitting and pot wall with paint thinner, acetone, etc.
- push the fitting into the hole in your pot from the inside until it stops.
- Remove the nut and washer from the install tool and then insert the bolt of the install tool into the PTbulkhead fitting until the large diameter die contacts the pot wall.
- On the inside of the pot, install the washer and thread on the nut until hand snug.
- Apply liquid flux to the fitting on the inside of the pot. This will ensure flux coverage when the fitting is pulled into place, but also acts as a lubricant.
- With a pair of wrenches of some sort, tighten the bolt/nut to pull the fitting through the hole until it is set where you want it. We like making it almost flush with the inside wall. If you pull it too far and it pops out of the hole, just reload the fitting and pull again.
- Apply a little more flux, heat with a propane torch and apply Stay Brite silver solder to the joint on the inside of the pot.
- After cooling, clean up the area and polish the heat affected areas with bar keeper's friend or a felt wheel with polishing compound to return the area to the original luster.
Other details:
The install tool is available separately as an accessory. It can be used over and over to install many PTbulkhead fittings. If you would rather pull in a 1/2" NPT coupling , you can use the pull tool and PTbulkhead fitting together to create a dimple large enough for the coupling. You will simply pull the PTBulkhead fitting into your hole just up until the point where the max diameter is about to be reached then disassemble (for emphasis, this does NOT mean to pull the fitting all the way through as you may make the flare opening too larger for your coupling). You will then reload the tool with the full coupling in place instead of the PTbulkhead and pull that through to whatever position you wish. For this usage, creating an initial hole at 7/8" diameter will make things easier, especially in thicker walled pots.
NOTE: Stainless steel cannot be soldered to aluminum pots. Also, you cannot use standard plumbing flux found in big box stores. You MUST use special liquid acid flux such as found in our accessory silver soldering kits when soldering stainless steel together or to brass or copper.
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