Keggle Drilling...

How long did it take you to drill your holes into your keggles?

Which ones?

sigh... Thats a shame...

I mean the holes in the keg walls for the couplers...

32 seconds. Beat that!

32 seconds? doubt it...

2 minutes is a good estimate... why?

DIY Keggle Conversion (video!)

Scroll down and find the video where he drills his hole, I think Yuri's times are pretty accurate.

I used a bi-metal hole saw...ya it took about 30 seconds with someone squirting a bit of cutting oil on it. for me.

Well, maybe its my step-bit, but I couldn't for the life of me get the hole drilled... I work in a mech. eng. facility, spend about 5 hours a week in the machine shop, and have never had this big of an issue drilling anything... I used both the bridgeport machining oil as well as the lathe cutting oil, slow drill speed, clamped the keg down to a work bench so it couldnt budge, and still nothing... It's gotta be the step bit if those times are accurate... Unfortunately, this is a BRAND NEW step bit...

NoClueBrewMaster said:

It's gotta be the step bit if those times are accurate... Unfortunately, this is a BRAND NEW step bit...

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We've been over this recently and I took a pretty big ration of grief about my being so adamant about using a hole saw.
The really unfortunate part...is that my hole saw was $8 (I did spend 11, but I needed a new Pilot Bit as well)...How much did that step bit set you back?

40 with shipping... I have used hole saws before, but I'm not using one on my keggle... I'll take a little elbow grease over a sloppy hole...

I'm not insinuating that yours came out sloppy, but from my experience, hole saws don't work that well for precise cuts...

I bought a step drill set at Harbor Freight for about $10, came with three bits... the largest but cut through the keg like better, used some Quaker State 10w30 to lube it up!

Ya I can't explain it... I have drilled high carbon steel with crap bits with any problems... I'm gonna talk to our head machinist tomorrow and see what he has to say on the subject...

Stainless has to be cut very aggressively with a good oil (on none), or it work-hardens and will ruin your bit. If the bit stops making chips, you only have a few revolutions (3-5) before your screwed. If it stops cutting, sharpen the bit before beginning again.

Maybe you accidentally work-hardened the stainless by using improper pressure or tool speed. Too much or too little of either can result in friction, heat, and then a nearly impenetrable piece of stainless. I ruined a couple of bits with improper technique on some stainless sheet.

Did you drill a pilot hole, or are you going straight at it with the step bit?

GNBrews said:

Stainless has to be cut very aggressively with a good amount of oil, or it work-hardens and will ruin your bit.

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I'm wondering if you'd get a good go if you drill a pilot hole with a smaller bit?

here she is:


edit***wow you guys are fast

I've drilled them two different ways. the first time I just took a nail and made a dent so my step bit wouldn't wander, put some PAM on the keg as I drilled it and it went fine (probably 1-2 minutes).

The other way worked better, i dropped the table on my drill press and used that, I was able to put a lot more force on it with the press of course and it cut much better, a lot closer to the 30 seconds mentioned. Still used PAM as cutting oil, I didn't have much else and it has a fairly high smoke point.

Could be work hardened... I used a punch for the started, then a 3/16 which wouldn't get through, so I started using the step bit...

I thought about using the drill press...

BierMuncher said:

Which ones?


View attachment 8205

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that thing scares me every time i see it...
then i get these nightmares of the 5 kegs in my basement all ending up looking like that...

you, sir, truly do have ugly junk

Why does BierMuncher's keggle always make me think of this...

Another thing to add is that it's important to support the backside of the work too so that it doesn't work harden from being bent from the drill pressure.

I know it's a "WTF?!", but some guys swear by using condensed milk instead of oil to lubricate the bit when drilling stainless. Google it.

Milk? Eh...

The holes are done... We used a different drill than what I used last night and it took about 2 minutes...

I would agree that hole saws make a sloppy hole but I just went with a bit 1/8" smaller than my desired finished hole and used a round file to clean it up. Oil, low speed, high pressure, bimetal hole saw took all of 20 seconds per hole for a total of 9 holes. I can imagine the step bit taking longer because you're literally cutting out the whole plug one sliver at a time from the inside out. I know it makes a cleaner hole.

I used both a step drill and a hole saw and I'll stick with a hole saw and a pilot bit. The end result was a nice hole and a lot less time spent getting it.

just curious- how many holes do you get with the hole saw before you need to replace it?

That was the main reason I went with the step bit- i can resharpen it if needed as well as get a lotta bang for the buck...

I've done four kegs with two 1/2" couplings each all using the same bit and it's still cutting OK. For the $7 I paid (with the pilot), I'd say it was a great value.

Concerning those half couplings, did you use those on the valve?

If so, how does your "tube" connect to the bottom of the keg to the inside of the valve?

Tube as in dip tube? I use a 1/2" NPT to 1/2" compression fitting... I'll take a pic of the fitting for you...

Yeah, the dip tube (had a brain phart at the time). The problem I am having is that the half coupling that I have is not threaded all the way through (only 99%). So, attaching a NPT threaded anything to the inside of the coupling is not an option.

Drilling the holes is a piece a cake with a bi-metal holesaw and some lubricating oil. I was worried that the holesaw might jump around and rough up the surround area so I drilled a hole through a 1"x2" board and clamped it down to use as a pilot hole. All in all, I can drill a hole in under 30 seconds!

I didn't use half couplings, I used 1/2 inch FULL couplings. If you had half couplings welded in, your only option for installing a siphon tube is having the coupling replaced.