Keg Lathe

I saw this and am offering it up for comment.
It's not something I need to undertake right now.

http://www.instructables.com/id/ELW6NXMF4TLKW45/

If you use an angle grinder and use the rim of the keg as a guide then you can get a neat result in 5 minutes.

This seems like a lot of effort even for 3 kegs.

ITA: It seems that this would be something that a LHBS or a club would have for a loaner.

I'm pretty sure that Bobby_M rigged up a jig of some sort, whereas Yuri and BierMuncher eyeballed it.

And we know what wide variation of quality occured there...

olllllo said:

I'm pretty sure that Bobby_M rigged up a jig of some sort, whereas Yuri and BierMuncher eyeballed it.

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I didn't exactly eyeball it - I scribed a guide line using the loop of string method, then used the keg's outer rim as a sort of "fence" to guide the torch as I cut.

This is mine fresh cut without a clean up.

I landed two kegs this weekend and I want to cut the tops off, a friend of mine is a plasma cutting fiend, and I just want to make sure there isn't anything special I need to do before she cuts them.


I tapped the both of them and pumped out as much of the beer as I could. Then I released the air out of the keg.

Are there any other precautions that should be considered before the cutting begins?

Thanks,
-Nick

Yes. Whether or not the keg police are going to bust you. OK. I didn't say that. Shhh.

Take the valves and spears out and then fill them up with about 3 gallons of cold water. That will protect the bottom from getting slag on it from the cut.

Watch my video on how to get the valve out. It's pretty easy.

Seems like way too much work for cutting the top off of a keg. I like the idea of a perfect cut by putting the keg in the jig. I'd put an angle grinder in the vice and speed things up though.

Orphy, can you explain what you mean by using the rim as a guide using an angle grinder. I'm taking on this project this weekend and it would be a great help. As an aside, I am drinking my first glass wheat beer from my newly fabricated sanyo 4912. Thanks to all for there post and expertise. Kelly

In my case, I went for the most simple build to quickly get 3 identical cuts. I took my jig apart directly afterward. The instructable's guy obviously put more than 15 minutes into the jig he made, as did Yuri for his plasma turntable. I suppose if you plan to do more than 3 kegs, it's worth it. Also, if you don't have any need or desire to make repeatable cuts, there's nothing wrong with drawing a circle and freehanding it.

keldognuts said:

Orphy, can you explain what you mean by using the rim as a guide using an angle grinder. I'm taking on this project this weekend and it would be a great help. As an aside, I am drinking my first glass wheat beer from my newly fabricated sanyo 4912. Thanks to all for there post and expertise. Kelly

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Hold the angle grinder back against the rim of the keg. That way you get a good consistand circular cut.

Bobby_M said:

Yes. Whether or not the keg police are going to bust you. OK. I didn't say that. Shhh.

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If you are in or close to Florida get your kegs there. I have been looking for "legal" cheap kegs for a while and found a guy in Jacksonville trying to get rid of one, and he said he will look for a few more for me. In Florida, the distributors and brewerys won't take the kegs back without a receipt, and the scrap companies won't take them because there is such a ruckous about them being obtained "illegally". A lot of these kegs end up in the trash, in someones back yard, in someones barn etc. That makes the keg abandonned. Meaning, finders keepers...that doesn't mean go and lose the receipt though. It just means go find the ones people dump. Go get em. Hurry up though because the brewerys Florida will probably start following New Yorks example and start tracking the serial number so they know "whose" keg it is.

keldognuts said:

Orphy, can you explain what you mean by using the rim as a guide using an angle grinder. I'm taking on this project this weekend and it would be a great help. As an aside, I am drinking my first glass wheat beer from my newly fabricated sanyo 4912. Thanks to all for there post and expertise. Kelly

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Theres also a good video on youtube on converting a keg and it explains a little bit on using a jig to cut the holes. search keg, kettle, keggle, or keg conversion on youtube and you should find it.

Here it is. Looks like it was posted by a Homebrewtalk member! Yuri_Rage also has a conversion video there, but if you don't have any plasma cutting skills you will want to build the jig. I don't have a cutter, or any skills using it, so its off to Home Crapo for a grinder for a grinder and some clamps for me! He says the jig has a 2 inch hold saw that fits right into the tap hole after you remove the center. He probably could put a spacer between the hole saw and the hole to make a tighter fit but it doesnt seem like he needs it to do a pretty good job cutting that hole. Looks like a pretty easy jig to build to me. Go for it man.

Skrimpy said:

If you are in or close to Florida get your kegs there. I have been looking for "legal" cheap kegs for a while and found a guy in Jacksonville trying to get rid of one, and he said he will look for a few more for me. In Florida, the distributors and brewerys won't take the kegs back without a receipt, and the scrap companies won't take them because there is such a ruckous about them being obtained "illegally". A lot of these kegs end up in the trash, in someones back yard, in someones barn etc. That makes the keg abandonned. Meaning, finders keepers...that doesn't mean go and lose the receipt though. It just means go find the ones people dump. Go get em. Hurry up though because the brewerys Florida will probably start following New Yorks example and start tracking the serial number so they know "whose" keg it is.

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I call bull**** on that one...Where did you get your info from???

Skrimpy said:

Here it is. Looks like it was posted by a Homebrewtalk member! Yuri_Rage also has a conversion video there, but if you don't have any plasma cutting skills you will want to build the jig. I don't have a cutter, or any skills using it, so its off to Home Crapo for a grinder for a grinder and some clamps for me! He says the jig has a 2 inch hold saw that fits right into the tap hole after you remove the center. He probably could put a spacer between the hole saw and the hole to make a tighter fit but it doesnt seem like he needs it to do a pretty good job cutting that hole. Looks like a pretty easy jig to build to me. Go for it man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LthGdMk_avk

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Yeah, that's my vid. It is pretty easy but I don't know if I'd go through the trouble for a single keg. It's not that hard to cut freehand with the grinder. It won't be perfect, but...

jesse said:

I call bull**** on that one...Where did you get your info from???

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A guy on a bottle digging forum I frequent. I posted in their classified section that I was looking for kegs and he said he had one. I asked him if the thing was legal. He said that the cops raided an underage party in his apartment complex and left the keg behind. He grabbed the keg and tried to return it for the deposit. He tried several times at several different places and nobody would take it without the receipt. He then turned to the scrap yards and they of course wouldn't touch the thing with a ten foot pole. I don't know what you think about it but to me that is abandonned property! The people that "own" the thing won't take it back without a receipt??!!?? By any law, that's abandonned, and by any law, acquired property previously abandonned is NOT stolen. Get your keg in florida.

Bobby_M said:

Yeah, that's my vid. It is pretty easy but I don't know if I'd go through the trouble for a single keg. It's not that hard to cut freehand with the grinder. It won't be perfect, but...

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I would for one keg (because I am a perfectionist), but I will end up doing 4-5 anyway. Even if it was a little off I would throw the thing out and start over. Great video by the way. I watch it every now and again. That tune is a trip. Nice job laying it into the video too.

Skrimpy said:

Even if it was a little off I would throw the thing out and start over.

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I'll take your scraps.

Skrimpy said:

A guy on a bottle digging forum I frequent. I posted in their classified section that I was looking for kegs and he said he had one. I asked him if the thing was legal. He said that the cops raided an underage party in his apartment complex and left the keg behind. He grabbed the keg and tried to return it for the deposit. He tried several times at several different places and nobody would take it without the receipt. He then turned to the scrap yards and they of course wouldn't touch the thing with a ten foot pole. I don't know what you think about it but to me that is abandonned property! The people that "own" the thing won't take it back without a receipt??!!?? By any law, that's abandonned, and by any law, acquired property previously abandonned is NOT stolen. Get your keg in florida.

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The distributors are taking the brunt of this since they were previously doing $10 keg deposits, or at least that what the owner a popular establishment in downtown orlando was telling me, and the kegs were getting about $40 for scrap at scrap yards. So people were stealing and scrapping them.

If you really wanted to return it to someone you could return it to a distributor, I highly doubt they would say no, of course they probably wouldn't offer you any money either. It sounds like he was trying to return only to get money for it.

I second the freehand deal, following a scribed layout line. I used a 5 gallon pail and a sharpie.

What does a perfectly shaped and sized opening actually gain you for the task that you use the keggle for?

All that is necessary is an opening that you may or may not need to find a stock pot cover to fit.

Hand driving a keg to revolve (maybe 10 rpm's?) so that a high speed steel lathe tool bit held in a cheap bench vise can scratch away at the toughness of a 304 stainless keg is so totally time consuming and cumbersome as to be absurd.

And what of the accompanying dings and dents inherent in most commercial kegs? So much for the hours of setup of 'lathe' and 'machining' since the dents will transfer into the finished cut....

A 1/16" cut off disk on a high speed air die grinder for me, free-handed-maybe 5 mins...and maybe 2 mins with file to suit, as needed.

I've got other things that I have to spend time on!

our club came up with a different design for cutting kegs.


>remove the spear from the keg
>we have a jig that fits in the spear hole and one end houses a diegrinder. much like a compass set up
>locate the diameter you desire and lock the die grinder into the compass housing
>proceed to cut

debur and away you go - perfect cuts every time