Heatsinks and Enclosures

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures for tonight, but I'll have some this weekend of the progress I am making.  I mentioned in the last post that I wanted to have my control panel done by the end of the weekend.  That didn't happen.  I ran into an issue with the heatsink and my taps.  I couldn't get deep enough holes tapped for the screws that will hold the SSRs against the heatsink.  Because of this I have the bottom of 2 screws embedded in my heatsink and I had to order a bottoming tap.  The tap came today and I had time to test fit one of the SSRs.  It worked beautifully.  Tomorrow I should be able to get the other SSR fitted and then mount the heatsink.  That is all I have left to do before I start wiring.

Since I couldn't work on my control panel, I started working on the heating element enclosures.  These boxes will provide a dry place for the heating element wiring while the element is working hard boiling my wort.  The boxes are 2 gang electrical boxes meant for outdoor electrical connections.  A flat plate is used to provide an even surface for mounting against the kettle.

The flat panel is designed to be used on only one side of the gang box.  However, in this application we need the flat plate on both sides.  To do this I had to drill holes in the box to align with those already in the plate.  That part was easy.  What wasn't easy was trying to get the flat plate to sit flush against the outside of the box.  After looking for solutions on forums, I tried to countersink the holes.  After a lot of trial and error I ended up with some decent looking countersinks, but the flat plate still didn't fit right.

I stared at the two parts and tried pushing them together for a long time before noticing that the box was too big for the flat plate.  It was too wide to sit flush because the corners were pushing against the bevel on the plate edges.  A quick measurement confirmed what my eyes were telling me.  If only I had checked that first.  I wouldn't have needed to spend so much time trying to get a good countersunk hole.  Now I will just have to JB Weld the box and plate together and fill in any holes that may arise.  Hopefully I can get it right the first time though.

After finding out I had wasted a lot of time I finally moved on to painting the boxes.  They are a dull grey normally, but I painted them with silver spray paint with a hammered finish.  This way they will be a closer match to the kettles that they will be attached to.

Overall, the weekend wasn't a complete bust, but I didn't get as much done as I was hoping.  The remainder of my parts also arrived today so if I get stuck on any one part of the build I will be able to move on to another portion with ease.  I still think my goal of mid June is doable, but now I need to really keep at it.  I am getting excited to brew again!