DIY Tap Handle?

bendavanza said:

Man my dog would love to chew on those antlers! He prefers them over hoofs.

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I'm suprised my dog hasnt chewed them up but I think he prefers the beer I spill on the floor.

Pat

Mickey was $6 on ebay, and has a 3.5" bolt through his neck. There's a 3/6"-16 coupler holding it on the tap.

The microphone is an old EV that I gutted. I might put some LED's inside it for parties. Haven't got around to it yet.

The third tap is gonna be a kickass dragon sculpture I bought a thrift store.

This thread needs more posts!

Personally, I stick to shift knobs for several reasons:
1. I have what's on tap listed on a separate sign.
2. I have space limits (freezer door above and didn't want the taps too low on my kegerator)
3. Price - I can pick quite a few up at a junkyard and only pay a buck or 2.

Note 4x4 tranny and transfer case knobs seem to be best (often have correct thread already) and shift pattern plate can be replaced by a logo or label.

I think I'm going to make myself a couple out of some sort of wooden table leg or something and a wooden square or oval that I will paint with chalk board paint to write the style on.

I'm going to tackle this over the holiday week.

I'll post some pics later on this week.

Hopefully.

here's some i turned on my lathe:

+1 on gearshift knobs, for the same reasons of clearance and simplicity. I got some black basic ones at the auto parts store, and some chrome ones on ebay. oNce I moved the kegerator indoors those tall handles were troublesome.

mZnthebend said:

You can't get a tensile test rod past an engineer. I used to have couple of those, post test, laying around.

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I get the impression that there is a higher than average concentration of fellow engineers on this forum.

jrickert said:

I get the impression that there is a higher than average concentration of fellow engineers on this forum.

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I've found that engineers tend to collect hobbies that inherently lend themselves to needlessly over complicating systems in pursuit of perfection....

...and things that involve drinking :cross:
Not that I wold know anything about either of those things.

I made one out of deer antler, cut it down until 2 points, then drilled out and epoxied in the insert. Pretty cool.

I found this in my dad's automotive shop 25 years ago...I am not sure where it came from. I tapped the bottom with a 3/8"x 16 tap and voila......come get your beer!!!!!

ILOVEBEER said:

I found this in my dad's automotive shop 25 years ago...I am not sure where it came from. I tapped the bottom with a 3/8"x 16 tap and voila......come get your beer!!!!!

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You should turn that hand around so it is giving the bird to the person filling their glass.

My next handle is going to be made from an old Sthil 028 saw piston and connecting Rod. I'll post pictures when I'm done

I have an old ski pole that got bent during a ski accident my swmbo was in. Went to lowes, bought a #16 nut3/8ths or 5/8ths I forget, took the ski pole that has a 45 degree bend in it at the bottom cut it with a hacksaw filed down the edges inserted nut with some super glue around so it held in nice and tight and screwed it onto my pink crayon bank tower (going for a random crap kegorator)

Well, I'm in the process of staining my taps. I'll post some pics tomorrow or the next day when they're lacquered.

Boston813 said:

I've found that engineers tend to collect hobbies that inherently lend themselves to needlessly over complicating systems in pursuit of perfection....

...and things that involve drinking :cross:
Not that I wold know anything about either of those things.

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We do tend to enjoy our beverages. At MSU it was much harped upon that the College of Engineering had more bar crawls than any other college.

I've picked up a couple muscle car shift handles (a Hurst T-Handle and a Mopar pistol-grip) that will be made into tap handles but I'm buried in needlessly overcomplicated projects right now, so there's nothing to show.

GearBeer said:

We do tend to enjoy our beverages. At MSU it was much harped upon that the College of Engineering had more bar crawls than any other college.

I've picked up a couple muscle car shift handles (a Hurst T-Handle and a Mopar pistol-grip) that will be made into tap handles but I'm buried in needlessly overcomplicated projects right now, so there's nothing to show.

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Well, I'm a senior Mechanical Engineering student at University of Houston and I think it may be because the school is large on international students, but I think I drink a lot more than some of my classmates.

Alright, here is a couple of pics of the tap handles I've been slowly making over the past few weeks. I bought 1 staircase spindle from HD, some wood screws, 2X 3/8" nuts, some JB Weld, and 2 wooden rectangle plates from the craft store and this is what I came up with.



I sprayed the flat surface of the plates with chalkboard paint so I could write what I had on tap.




They're not perfect, but I'm no carpenter.

To make these two taps, the materials cost me around $20 and heck, now I have enough stain, laquer, chalkboard paint, and knowledge to make 10 more sets. I imagine it would only cost me about $7 to make two more now.

I got most of the info to make these from here, http://www.homebrew.com/articles/article11030201.shtml

i took a hex nut the size of the tap handle bolt, grinded it down so it was a circle and soldered it into a spent .50 call shell. I need to shine the shell and spray it with some lacquer so it stays nice and shiny.

i should've been an engineer. what the hell do germanists know about building things? granted, we know as well as anyone else what a good beer should taste like!

Our friend's mother is a glass blower. Her son used to be the head chef for Dark Horse Brewery in Michigan and so she blew some glass tap handles for the bar. After he left dark horse, she was left with a big box of tap handles, so we grabbed 5 or 6. Some are solid colors while others are clear with color swirls like in the pics.

I believe she is making some more soon.

http://symposiumbrewery.com/images/tap1.jpg

http://symposiumbrewery.com/images/tap2.jpg

* Can't get pictures to show up in post, so I linked to them



Justin Miller
Symposium Brewery
http://www.symposiumbrewery.com

justinm said:

Our friend's mother is a glass blower. Her son used to be the head chef for Dark Horse Brewery in Michigan and so she blew some glass tap handles for the bar. After he left dark horse, she was left with a big box of tap handles, so we grabbed 5 or 6. Some are solid colors while others are clear with color swirls like in the pics.

I believe she is making some more soon.

http://symposiumbrewery.com/images/tap1.jpg

http://symposiumbrewery.com/images/tap2.jpg

* Can't get pictures to show up in post, so I linked to them



Justin Miller
Symposium Brewery
http://www.symposiumbrewery.com

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Wow, those are freakin awesome!

justinm said:

Our friend's mother is a glass blower. Her son used to be the head chef for Dark Horse Brewery in Michigan and so she blew some glass tap handles for the bar. After he left dark horse, she was left with a big box of tap handles, so we grabbed 5 or 6. Some are solid colors while others are clear with color swirls like in the pics.

I believe she is making some more soon.

http://symposiumbrewery.com/images/tap1.jpg

http://symposiumbrewery.com/images/tap2.jpg

* Can't get pictures to show up in post, so I linked to them



Justin Miller
Symposium Brewery
http://www.symposiumbrewery.com

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Has anybody tried making handles of Louisville Slugger mini bats? I am getting ready to build my first kegerator as a gift for a friend. He is a HUGE baseball fan and thought that would make good tap handles. Not sure if they are too skinny down at the handle but could always cut them in half and just use the bat end.
This noob appreciates any help/advice. Thanks!

Sure, just get a threaded insert.



B

Got this idea from someone else on this board so I cant take full credit.
I made these tap handles tonight for my kegerator.
I try to always have an IPA and a Stout or dark beer on tap at all times. So I took some used yeast vials and put Whole leaf hops in one and Black Patent Malt in the other. I think they turned out pretty good.

Swmbo loves the look of those....

I did the same thing. I love how they turned out, thanks to whoever it was that posted the idea here.

So did you just drill the cap and then screw them on?
So simple yet GREAT looking

Just a thought... if you could find a way to make them liquid tight even after they are screw onto the faucet you could fill each tube with a sample of the brew on that tap which would look way cool. Definitely a conversation piece

those yeast vials are sweet! i love that idea...

Do most hardware stores (ACE, Lowes, HD, etc...) carry the insert? I wanna get working on some new handles right away.

RJSkypala said:

Do most hardware stores (ACE, Lowes, HD, etc...) carry the insert? I wanna get working on some new handles right away.

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Yes... HD and Lowes they can be found the nut and bolt aisle in a pull out drawer.

SAMPLER said:

So did you just drill the cap and then screw them on?
So simple yet GREAT looking

Just a thought... if you could find a way to make them liquid tight even after they are screw onto the faucet you could fill each tube with a sample of the brew on that tap which would look way cool. Definitely a conversation piece

Click to expand...

I used the tap handle ferrules found here: http://www.beeravenue.com/beer_tap_handle_parts.html

The medium ones fit the yeast vial caps perfectly. Then I just got some 5/16" bolts from the hardware store, drilled a hole in the cap, and bolted the cap to the ferrule. Then you just fill your vial, screw the cap/ferrule on, and twist the whole thing onto your tap.

It's easy to unscrew the cap to change what's inside, and I think you could easily seal the cap with caulking if you wanted to fill the vial with a liquid.

SevenFields said:

Got this idea from someone else on this board so I cant take full credit.
I made these tap handles tonight for my kegerator.
I try to always have an IPA and a Stout or dark beer on tap at all times. So I took some used yeast vials and put Whole leaf hops in one and Black Patent Malt in the other. I think they turned out pretty good.

Click to expand...

It was me!!!

Skins_Brew said:

i took a hex nut the size of the tap handle bolt, grinded it down so it was a circle and soldered it into a spent .50 call shell. I need to shine the shell and spray it with some lacquer so it stays nice and shiny.

Click to expand...

friggin sweet! the only .50 i have has a projectile still, so no tap handle for it.


these all seem... so.... phallic:

justinm said:

Our friend's mother is a glass blower. Her son used to be the head chef for Dark Horse Brewery in Michigan and so she blew some glass tap handles for the bar. After he left dark horse, she was left with a big box of tap handles, so we grabbed 5 or 6. Some are solid colors while others are clear with color swirls like in the pics.

I believe she is making some more soon.

http://symposiumbrewery.com/images/tap1.jpg

http://symposiumbrewery.com/images/tap2.jpg

* Can't get pictures to show up in post, so I linked to them



Justin Miller
Symposium Brewery
http://www.symposiumbrewery.com

Click to expand...

SAMPLER said:

So did you just drill the cap and then screw them on?
So simple yet GREAT looking

Just a thought... if you could find a way to make them liquid tight even after they are screw onto the faucet you could fill each tube with a sample of the brew on that tap which would look way cool. Definitely a conversation piece

Click to expand...

Here is another thread on HBT about tap handles that has some good info.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/custom-tap-handle-search-124797/

SAMPLER said:

Just a thought... if you could find a way to make them liquid tight even after they are screw onto the faucet you could fill each tube with a sample of the brew on that tap which would look way cool. Definitely a conversation piece

Click to expand...

You could just epoxy a 3/8-16 nut to the cap.

[img="http://www.mainepumpkins.com/images/kegerator1.jpg"]

how to you get the sticky **** off the white lab tubes. i have a couple and i cant seem to get the glue off them. thanks

BrownDogBrews said:

how to you get the sticky **** off the white lab tubes. i have a couple and i cant seem to get the glue off them. thanks

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Rubbing Alcohol or the "Goo Gone" product worked on mine.

Great idea for the tap handle, whoever had it. Thanks!