Do wing cappers go bad?

Not like possessed (although if anybody has a possessed wing capper, I would be interested in acquiring such an item), but no longer functioning properly.

I have the generic black wing capper that I bought 13 months ago with my initial brew kit. It's worked fine up until the last month or so. I've started finding bottles among batches that look capped just fine, but aren't carbed.

I don't believe it is an issue with uneven priming distribution because I've followed the same process for the past year and only recently had problems consistently with bottles. I've also had this problem with different sets of caps purchased at different LHBS. I'm also capping 12oz bottles that I have used successfully for several batches.

Last night I was bottling a batch and several caps didn't securely cap or wouldn't cap. The only consistent factor seems to be the capper, but I'm not sure if those cappers start to fail. Does anybody have any ideas for repairing the capper, or do I need to just look into buying a new one?

The metal part that crimps the cap can wear out. Also, make sure they didn't accidentally get turned around. Sometimes there is a larger size crimper on the other side.

Can I buy replacement parts for those metal pieces at one of the HBS?

Not really. wing cappers are $15 pieces of ****

The last one I owned, the tabs on the sides that guide the handles down properly both broke, so the whole thing is now flimsy and will skew as you crimp it.

$35 bench capper was the best investment I made in bottling...along with a bottle tree.

Possibly.

How many bottles have you done with this capper? Seems kind of fast to wear out. Are you using any new types of bottles? Sometimes you find bottles from certain brands just don't work well with the wing cappers. Also, is the little cup that holds the cap in place tight and still in good visual working order?

Try spraying all of the pivot points with WD-40. It will probly work better than new. I've capped thousands of bottles with my original wing capper.

Shooter said:

Possibly.

How many bottles have you done with this capper? Seems kind of fast to wear out. Are you using any new types of bottles? Sometimes you find bottles from certain brands just don't work well with the wing cappers. Also, is the little cup that holds the cap in place tight and still in good visual working order?

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Certainly no more than a thousand. The bottles are whatever we have bought and drank, so there's a lot of different bottles. Nothing tremendously new or different has been introduced.

The cup seems to be soldily in place. The indention from the magnet in the middle of the cup is usually only half a circle. I thought that suggested imbalanced pressure on the cap, but my girlfriend, who does the capping, said it's always been that way. She could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time. :fro:

Mine always makes a half circle. So, I think she might be right on that...FOR NOW!!!