Hole Drilling 101 Required Please

[Logman]

The $25 Bunnings step drill gets a bad wrap - I've use it at least 10 times now and 5 of those was going through 50 litre kegs. B)

 

[pk.sax]

PS: My prediction has come half true.....

Bribie is drilling holes in his urns and using lube

 

[Bribie G]

By analogy from pipe bending, how about filling the urn with wet sand? No shortage around here

ps: Malted the new Chappo? h34r:

 

[Silo Ted]

cone bit and WD40

Cones and lube to drill the tealady. I like where this thread is going !

 

[Spork]

Sorry to go off topic (I'm not mentioning lube) but for us older farts with failing eyesight a good trick with stepped bits is to put a bit of tape around it at the step above the size you want to drill, so when the tape gets to the side of the hole you know you have drilled out to the desired diameter.

 

[Malted]

Sorry to go off topic (I'm not mentioning lube) but for us older farts with failing eyesight a good trick with stepped bits is to put a bit of tape around it at the step above the size you want to drill, so when the tape gets to the side of the hole you know you have drilled out to the desired diameter.

Oh ok I shall change what I said:

Dissadvantage for old farts with using a stepped drill is you have to stop all the time to look at how big the hole is. Keep pushing and you could end up with the hole too big. Not a good tool for old eyesight...

to


Dissadvantage for old farts with using a stepped drill is you have to stop all the time to look at how big the hole is. Keep pushing and you could end up with the hole too big. Not good for old tools eyesight...

 

[Malted]

Cones and lube to drill the tealady. I like where this thread is going !

Cones and scones?

 

[Cannibal Smurf]

Having used both, I would suggest the bi-metal holesaw with some lube Bribie

 

[Malted]

ps: Malted the new Chappo? h34r:

 

[Blackapple]

You can buy holes from a shop in sydney, they import them for making swiss cheese...........

 

[Silo Ted]

You can buy holes from a shop in sydney, they import them for making swiss cheese...........

Also for pink donuts.

The OP has been sufficiently answered.

As an aside that nobody's touched on. One more vessel and you're 3V. - learning a new way.

Give it a go, instead of spending your coin on revamping the birko.

Although as a living legend of the BIAB world, you might be accused of turncoatery

 

[Anofre]

My Birko has died and It's going to cost squillions to get it fixed so I'll just fit a new heater. I can't get any over the side elements here in Brisbane (Auslec etc don't stock them any more) and buying one from interstate is looking like $120 plus postage, so a couple of Ross's stick heaters will be cheaper

I got an over the side element up here off the shelf 2/3 months ago.
$100 after a bit of trade talk.
Ideal Electrical.

I got the advice from here and would agree best investment yet. Great flexibility & future potential.
Have gotten 2x keggle boils going side by side switching between, with a mini camp fire to help chug along. (I hafta photo it this weekend for the ghetto thread)

Best way to drill a perfect hole: shout a boilermaker from the pub a few of your best!

 

[Tim F]

Or, for thin metal like on your urn, see if you can track down one of these... SHEET METAL PUNCH
I used one to punch a hole in my SS kitchen sink top to install the mixer.

Agreed, those things rule. Used for both my kettles.

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

Hey Bribie

Did you keep track of how many brews you made in the birko?

Cheers

 

[RdeVjun]

MoM, you know that was a rhetorical question! Like, is the Pope Catholic?

Bribie, I can probably help you out with either a punch, holesaw or a stepped drill from our workshop, I'll bring them next week if you are able to wait until then. Do you have the dimension? I like the sheet punch myself, its a bit old school but you can take your time and be sure of the result.

 

[buggar work]

Bribie have a couple of sheet punches @ Godwin Beach not sure on sizes, will be home about 1.00pm today, you are more than welcome to use

 

[Bribie G]

Thanks guys for all help and offers - I went the other way and got an over the side

HowlingDog lives round the corner from a dealer and got me one for around the 100 mark - 2.4 kw, picked it up today at the State Comp, thanks Howard.

Advantages are that it can also be used to give a boost to the Crown Urn to bring to strike temp / boil, which "hard wired" heater in the Birko wouldn't be able to do, and can also help when I am doing a double batch.

When I double batch, the two urns run about 40 minutes apart at each stage, so there are times when the over the side will speed up the process - always useful

:icon_cheers: :icon_cheers: :icon_cheers: .

MoM, I would have done around 120 brews in the Birko so far - it's coming up to 3 years old in November.
The problem is definitely not the element, it's the control box/thermostat/dial unit. I do suspect that it's had wort splashed on it a few times that has got inside and shorted something. The unit was going to cost around the same as the over the side heater plus up to $60 labour.

Who knows, I may be lucky and pick up an urn for peanuts with an intact unit I can cannibalize at some stage, wiring looks very basic.

 

[komodo]

Couldn't piss the controls off and replace with an STC-1000?
Those over the side elements kick arse!

On a side not if you are ever drilling metal - defiantely use a cutting oil/fluid. Makes a hell of a difference! I like Rocol but theres plenty out there and as suggested for something simple like this a bit of WD40 will do the trick no worries. you just want to keep the cutting edge clean (the fluid removes a lot of the finner metal which "sands" the cutting edge blunt if its not moved away) and lubricated and cool

 

[kjparker]

Could you not also just do away with the thermostat and have it running full tilt all the time? This would be no different to one of the craftbrewer / kegking elements anyway?