Cutting A Keg Around Melb

[chimera]

A friend of mine has offered up a couple of old kegs he's had cluttering his garage since his youth. I dont believe I have the artillery to cut the tops off them, not cleanly at least.

Anybody know where i could go around Melb to get them cut so I can use them as brew kettles?

 

[yardy]

have a look at 'the keggle' on my blog below, buy a 5" grinder and have a go yourself, piece of pi$$.


cheers

yard

 

[Andyd]

Just shot you a PM...

 

[chimera]

Ah bugger it, im up for it!
Will post pics if I do a good enough job B)

 

[therook]

I havn't converted my keg yet, BUT if you weld your fitting inside the keg what do you coat it with to stop it rusting?????

rook

 

[Jerry]

Chimera,

You'll be right. It really isn't that difficult.

Just don't forget the ear muffs.

Scott

 

[Andyd]

I PM'ed Chimera, but for anyone else embarking on this for the first time...

Ear muffs - absolute necessity. You do NOT want to hear the song the stainless sings.

Gloves & long sleeves - an angle grinder spits out a hell of a lot of tiny shards of metal, that take weeks to work themselves out of your skin

Eye protection - same thing, different place. You get one pair - keep them

All this, coming from one who was observed standing in a spa, ankle deep in water, holding a power drill....

 

[Franko]

Depending on the size of your grinder you can now buy the very thin metal cutting discs from your local hardware store.they are about 1mm in thickness and cut absolutly wonderfull.

 

[bugwan]

Depending on the size of your grinder you can now buy the very thin metal cutting discs from your local hardware store.they are about 1mm in thickness and cut absolutly wonderfull.

I've got some cutting to do soon Franko - would you recommend a thinner cutting disc for the grinder? Does it make the job easier or a cleaner finish?

 

[Beerpig]

If using a cutting wheel or grinding disc be sure to get the correct one for cutting stainless

I think an iron free wheel/disc is what you need

Wheel/disc explosions are no fun at all

Cheers

 

[FNQ Bunyip]

would you recommend a thinner cutting disc for the grinder?
Does it make the job easier or a cleaner finish?

Yes yes yes ...

The new 1mm cutting disks are great , go around your marked line slowly to cut a shallow dip then just follow this and your through in no time ... They allso come in 1.6mm and the old 3mm...But the thin ones 1mm are best..
If they had these 10years ago I might still have some hearing left ...

:beer:

 

[Beerpig]

Flexovit make both ginding wheels & cutting discs, it is a brand name

Cheers

 

[warrenlw63]

If using a cutting wheel or grinding disc be sure to get the correct one for cutting stainless

I think an iron free wheel/disc is what you need

Wheel/disc explosions are no fun at all

Cheers

Yep, they help Beerpig. I used one for my first keg. IIRC They were about $2 a pop from Alltools. With care you can complete a keg with one disc.

OTOH 2nd time I cut a keg I just used a cheapie cutoff wheel from Bunnings which did the job well too. :beerbang:

The trick is don't put too much pressure on the grinder. Let the wheel do all the cutting otherwise you go through too many discs and the S/S seems to put up more resistance.

:excl: Make sure you wear thick gloves and "carefully" finish off the cut with a grinding disc and some Emery paper to a smooth finish. The sinters/shards of metal from the cut can slash you quite bady if you're not careful.

Warren -

 

[bugwan]

Thanks for the input guys. When I'm cutting I'll have a grinder in one hand and the printed version of this in the other...

 

[devo]

Chimera,

You'll be right. It really isn't that difficult.

Just don't forget the ear muffs.

Scott

It is pretty easy to do with an el cheapo 4" angle grinder fitted with a cutting blade, then do the clean up using a grinding blade. Ear muffs and eye protection is a must.

 

[NRB]

It also helps to fill the keg 3/4 full with water prior to cutting - it'll dull the sound significantly (it's a bloody loud job!) and will cool the shards that would damage the internal surface if it were empty.

I did mine with no experience. The job was not overly difficult and is relatively quick to boot.