My Keggle Project!

So I finally got around to hacking my keg up that a friend gave me, and well, it could be better...

Here is my keg Before...







The first cuts:







And finally somewhat finished (before my neighbors called the police on me for noise violations...)



Its by no means perfect, and yea I could have done better I think, but I don't think I did too bad for my first time using a grinder. I just need to round out the edges by drawing a line somehow and file the edge down.

Anyways, any criticism would be helpful, I'm really flying by the seat of my pants here. I'm going to order a weldless sight glass and a weldless mashtun conversion kit to install as well. Let me know what you think!

Total cost so far is right around $150. I bought the grinder brand new for $40.00 at Home Depot along with some safety equipment. I've burned through 5 cutting wheels and a grinding wheel to get it to this point. Today I bought a metal file and a 7/8" UBIT for making the weldless holes, that alone was $35.00, so if you can borrow one please do. Now only if my cordless drill is powerful enough to drill through (AAAAHAHAHAHAHA YEA RIGHT!!!). I will probably wind up buying a decent drill.

5 cutting wheels? That seems odd. Did you buy the thin cutting wheels or were you grinding the top off? I bought one of the cheepos from home depot ~$2 and removed my top in about 5 minutes free-handed. Anyway you got it off there!

I'm guessing the wheels flew apart. If you aren't slow and methodical with your circle, the wheel will go to low and fly apart in shards.

Frank, if you do another one you might want to check out the stickies in the DIY forum. There are some very simple jigs you can make to help. Also, I think it's Bobby_M that has a video of him cutting his.

Wow 5 cuttings wheels!
I just cut the top off another one last weekend. One cutting wheel with plenty of life left in it. Cut a while, let it cool, let the wheel guide itself, no need to force it down.
That being said, I think your hole looks fine. Sure it's not perfect, but file it down to the point it doesn't cut you and you're good to go.

Bobby M's video was very helpful to me. I cut the tops off 4 keggles with two cutting wheels with deliberate shallow rotations.

IrregularPulse said:

Wow 5 cuttings wheels!
I just cut the top off another one last weekend. One cutting wheel with plenty of life left in it. Cut a while, let it cool, let the wheel guide itself, no need to force it down.
That being said, I think your hole looks fine. Sure it's not perfect, but file it down to the point it doesn't cut you and you're good to go.

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Well, it wouldn't be mine if it wasn't perfect LOL, so yea... anyways yea I think I'll take your advice on that one. This was the first time I used a grinder in years, and even then it was for grinding welds down. I'm going to look for another keg around my area to try it again once this one is finished.

And yea, I used the thin metal cutting wheels. The guy at Home Depot said I would run through like 7 of them. And yea they're like 2 bucks a pop. You can really only use one of them for the entire top?

One question to everyone though, as far as weldless fittings go, anyone have a suggestion as to what I should use?

bargainfittings.com has everything you need. He is also a vendor here at HBT.

Its looks fine. Me and my buddy had to cut mine off with a sawzall. It was a PIA to get started. Eventually we just ended up bending the edges down and back so there isnt much rough edges to cut your arm. Unfortunatley this created a lip that makes for another PIA to get any type of fluid out of it. Oh well, Im just excited to be making 10 gallon bathces now.

Wow, five cutting wheels is nuts! We went through one for both our kegs and would still have it had my gf (and brew buddy) not gotten impatient and decided to just cut the top in one pass. The inside and outside of the keg was covered in the black powder of the grinding wheel. You did a nice job cleaning that up though from the initial cut.

yeah 5 seems like you were pushing way to hard.

i didn't even use 1 all the way when i cut mine. but as long as the jobs done and your happy with your ROI then your good.

I used ONE cutting wheel for THREE tops. You were probably plunging too keep causing a series of straight cuts.

Just remember tools are an investment and initial purchase can't be counted into a project cost. At least thats the way I explain it to SWMBO.

bucfanmike said:

Just remember tools are an investment and initial purchase can't be counted into a project cost. At least thats the way I explain it to SWMBO.

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he's right. you NEVER count needed tools, gas, time to the total bill.

bucfanmike said:

Just remember tools are an investment and initial purchase can't be counted into a project cost. At least thats the way I explain it to SWMBO.

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So you are telling that your swmbo accepted a sabco system of $$$$ as a tool? :fro:
And she is happy that "swmbo slayer" costs only variable inputs such as hops, malt, yeast, and water?

I drink to that! Prost!

I'm also in the middle of converting a keg. Luckily, my dad knew somebody that has a plasma cutter and used that to cut the lid off. Now I'm just awaiting my parts from bargainfittings and i'll be drilling the hole.

Your right about tools being an investment, but SWMBO doesn't see it that way. I'll be getting another keg to work on in the future so it's worth it to me, just not to her, and yea thats a whole other thread

barefittings.com has some cheap fittings, but how is the quality? I'm thinking about ordering what I need but want a second opinion.

Thanks for the compliments and replies so far! And yea, I did just cut straight lines. I was worried about the blade breaking apart and injuring myself because the warning on the blade said not to torq or twist the blade. Eh, just takes practice and patience I guess.

Well, bargainfittings.com has outfitted probably 50% or more of the kettles, keggles, and coolers you see here. I was blown away by the quality and customer service I received.

gunner65 said:

Well, bargainfittings.com has outfitted probably 50% or more of the kettles, keggles, and coolers you see here. I was blown away by the quality and customer service I received.

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Well then I guess that settles it... SOLD!