drill press capper?

[jcobbs]

I just ordered one... less than $11 including shipping. I plan on placing a piece of rubber (like the round piece you buy at Wal-Mart to help open jar lids) on the deck of the press and voila... instant bottle capper for very small price. Supposedly even caps twist off bottles...
I can't believe only 4 people have bought this item... stainless steel.

Yes, it does cap twist-offs, very nicely. I don't know how a "regular" bench capper is supposed to feel when it operates, but this is very easy to use. Put the cap on top of the bottle, line it up, and press down. You'll feel the resistance ease up as the cap is crimped and the capper slides down the side of the cap. At that point you're done; no need to press any harder. The bottle will be stuck in the capper but just rock it gently side-to-side and it comes right out!

I did a couple of twist-offs and they sealed perfectly and twisted off just fine.

 

[Hillbilly_Bill]

Yes, it does cap twist-offs, very nicely. I don't know how a "regular" bench capper is supposed to feel when it operates, but this is very easy to use. Put the cap on top of the bottle, line it up, and press down. You'll feel the resistance ease up as the cap is crimped and the capper slides down the side of the cap. At that point you're done; no need to press any harder. The bottle will be stuck in the capper but just rock it gently side-to-side and it comes right out!

I did a couple of twist-offs and they sealed perfectly and twisted off just fine.

Thanks for this info... ever since I ordered this capper yesterday, I have been wondering how much force I was going to need to exert using my drill press. I was also wondering if I need to buy a wing capper as a back-up. I think now I will just let my bag full of empty soda pop bottles be my emergency back-up plan. I can't wait to try this capper.

 

[jcobbs]

Yeah I was afraid to press too hard at first and my first couple of bottles weren't really capped tight enough. I'd recommend getting a couple of empty bottles that it wouldn't hurt to break and practice on them. Just press down till you get a feel for when the crimp forms and the capper slides on down on to the cap.

Maybe you can tell a little from this photo--the small bottles were capped with the capper.

 

[chrisrush]

I agree. I got one from Tom for less than $10 and it is a nice heavy piece of stainless. I've bottled about 40+ bottles and the first couple I was a little hesitant to press down on the bottle, but after I realized it needed a little more umph. Good as gold now.

 

[Hillbilly_Bill]

Yeah I was afraid to press too hard at first and my first couple of bottles weren't really capped tight enough. I'd recommend getting a couple of empty bottles that it wouldn't hurt to break and practice on them. Just press down till you get a feel for when the crimp forms and the capper slides on down on to the cap.

Maybe you can tell a little from this photo--the small bottles were capped with the capper.

Nice looking bottles... all of them.

I agree. I got one from Tom for less than $10 and it is a nice heavy piece of stainless. I've bottled about 40+ bottles and the first couple I was a little hesitant to press down on the bottle, but after I realized it needed a little more umph. Good as gold now.

Thanks guys... mine hasn't gotten here yet, but this is good info... can't wait to try it out.

 

[jcobbs]

Thanks, that's blueberry wine in the front and in the blue bottles, the slightly darker golden in the middle is pear and the lighter at the rear is spiced mead, basically Joe's Ancient Orange without the oranges. The corked bottles were done on the drill press too; I chucked a flat-headed bolt in the drill and used it to push in the corks.

 

[Hillbilly_Bill]

If you didn't compress the corks, you must have been using #8 corks... right?

This sure is good info.

 

[trailblazer]

i go to school for CAD and im wondering if you could build a jig to automaticly cap bottles on a cnc mill? i dont know if it would be reasonable but it could be cool?

 

[ClaudiusB]

Yeah I was afraid to press too hard at first and my first couple of bottles weren't really capped tight enough.

Use the drill press stop to set the proper hight.

i go to school for CAD and im wondering if you could build a jig to automaticly cap bottles on a cnc mill?

Can be done, good school project.
I used to have an automatic pneumatic capper attached to my bottle filler.

i dont know if it would be reasonable but it could be cool?

Cool only if you include a cap feeder

Cheers,
ClaudiusB

 

[mordantly]

cnc capper? that could potentially be the most expensive capper on the planet.. if i "used" one of my employers Hermle C40U 's at a mere $500k!

 

[jcobbs]

I use #7's and #8's. I have a little plastic hand corker and sometimes I use the funnel portion of it to compress the corks as the go in. Just substitute the drill press and bolt for the plunger half of the corker.

Interesting how this thread started with a capper I got for two bucks and has progressed to a $500K CNC machine!

 

[Hillbilly_Bill]

Interesting how this thread started with a capper I got for two bucks and has progressed to a $500K CNC machine!

I felt right at home as long as you guys were talking in the $10 range...
Now, I am taking a back seat to the more affluent among us.

 

[jcobbs]

Hey, $10 is about my limit too! Some folks have more money in a wine kit or a batch of beer than I have in my total investment in this hobby. I understand that homebrewing and winemaking is about good, not cheap, but the two don't have to be mutually exclusive.

 

[tom9380]

You can make as many as you would like with the $500K CNC machine. However, if you sell any in the United States you run the risk of infringing a patent as I am the original designer and manufacturer.

 

[wildwest450]

You can make as many as you would like with the $500K CNC machine. However, if you sell any in the United States you run the risk of infringing a patent as I am the original designer and manufacturer.

Ha! Face!
Cool product btw. Get a vendor account and start making money on here!

 

[jcobbs]

You can make as many as you would like with the $500K CNC machine. However, if you sell any in the United States you run the risk of infringing a patent as I am the original designer and manufacturer.

I think trailblazer was wondering if he could build a jig and program a CNC mill to actually cap the bottles, which would be a masterfully ingenious and beautifully impractical use of a ridiculously expensive machine If he were to do such a thing he might need to figure out how to install one or more of your cappers (which are great, btw) on it.

I think the general consensus on this thread is that we are all far too lazy and cheap to infringe on your patent by making these ourselves, and thus we are more than happy to purchase them from you Thanks for putting out a nice product and selling at a reasonable price--hope you sell a ton of them!

 

[trailblazer]

i could care less about making those cappers, id rather just buy one. all im talking about is mounting one of those suckers on a cnc mill and for fun and tryin to cap some bottles. dont get your panties in a knot. all someone has to do is change a few details of your capper and they could mass produce them as well.

 

[Willygilly]

There were only two; one with & one without some caps thrown in. I bid on both but missed the other one.

Many years ago when I first started homebrewing I still had my metal lathe. So I chucked up a 2" steel round about 1.25" long and bored a blind hole large enough so the uncrimped cap just fit inside and deep enough to accomodate the cap after crimping. I also cut and polished a large radius on the edge of the bore.

I placed the bottle of beer on the bench and the uncrimped cap on top of the bottle. Then I placed the capper on top of the cap, held the bottle and the bottom edge of the capper in my left hand and whacked the top of the capper with a large plastic mallet. It worked great.

I must admit I was a bit nervous during the maiden run with the capper. I wasn't sure if the bottle would burst or what might happen. I probably bottled a few hundred bottles that way and never had a problem. I still have the mallet, but I don't know what I did with the capper. Now I use the winged crimper type bottle capper.