Seasoned Warrior Posted July 5, 2011 Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 I have a curious application question. I have a commission for a custom beer dispensing tower (sometimes called a tapper) and while the tower itself is pretty much standard pottery I was wondering if anyone here has used mechanical fasteners with ceramics. The tower has openings for the faucets which use a shank and I can get pretty close dimensionally to the final opening so that the shank the faucet fits into will fit tightly. The question I have is that I was supplied with a template for a standard mounting flange. I was planning on making an oversize socket and then using a threaded insert which would be epoxied into the socket of the finished tower. The inserts would be positioned using a template to maintain the position of the inserts accurately. I was thinking that the socket should be ribbed to prevent pull-outs although the epoxy I use is rated at 2000 pounds and I suspect exceeds the tensile strength of the ceramic The porosity of the ceramic should bond well with the epoxy so perhaps ribs are superfluous. I plan on using an elastomeric sheet material (EPDM) to absorb any irregularities between the tower and the mounting flange. The design requires a blind thread instead of a through thread and that is why I was thinking of using inserts. The inserts I was planning on using have a diamond knurl on the outside and I was thinking it would interlock well with ribs in the socket. Any thoughts??? Bests regards, Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted July 5, 2011 Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 Hi Charles, Interesting problem. I assume the EPDM would act like a rubber washer. Your plans sounds logical to me. Marcia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Up in Smoke Pottery Posted July 5, 2011 Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 Charles, your plan sounds good. The old water crocks with a valve on the bottom is roughly the same principal(if I am understanding you correctly). I would recommend making the tower and other pieces stronger/thicker than one would think, beer towers get a lot of force put on them especially during a peak time in the restaurant. In my years as restaurant/bar mgr the staff could be very rough on equipment. It would be very sad if your hard work was damaged by a careless person. I'd also figure a recommended torque on the tapper assembly so not to crack your piece when they change out heads later on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasoned Warrior Posted July 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2011 Thanks Marcia. Yes the EPDM is just a gasket at the base of the tower to take up some slight irregularities in the mating surfaces as well as preventing air exchange with the chilled air used to cool the supply lines. Thanks Up in Smoke, good thoughts. I had planned the tower in three parts. The tower base, a heavy polished brass collar in which the shanks for the faucets are mounted and a ceramic finial. A design similar to those used in Germany and Austria. Best regards, Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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