converting ball lock to pin lock

[blackschnauzer]

today i went to buy a couple pin lock kegs on craigslist but when i got there, the seller was mistaken and they were actually ball lock kegs. i ended up buying them anyway for dirt cheap thinking i would convert them or something.... i see lots of info on converting pin lock to ball lock, but not the other way around. what is the best thing to do?

 

[bigken462]

I just converted 3 Pin locks over to Ball lock. I have no need for the old connectors. If you're interested, I'll mail you these that I have, if you mail me those ball locks. They came off Firestone Coke kegs if that makes a difference. Assuming they would fit, but I can't promise.

 

[blackschnauzer]

ill have to do some research to see if it will work, i tried to switch the posts with my current pin lock and the new ball lock ones, the ball lock post seemed to screw down onto the pin lock keg, but i dont have the fittings to air test it to see if it works, and the pin lock post would not go on to the ball lock keg....

 

[bigken462]

I purchased my fittings from Cornykeg.

They were a lot cheaper than many other places. Seems like mine was about 10 bucks a set.

They have conversion sets for pinlock.

Check out their site.

Ken

 

[blackschnauzer]

Thanks for the info. I guess one option would be to convert my other kegs to ball lock. It's weird to me that they are not so easily interchangeable.

 

[noiz2]

Old topic but I was looking to do the same thing. So far what I have found is that the biggest difference is that the post that the connector screws down onto is shorter with ball locks. So assuming your threads match the pin lock post will bottom out on the keg and not on the top of the keg post and leak.

A possible solution is to put the pin lock post on a lath and trim the .095" off. If you look in the ends of both ball lock posts are threaded right from the start and pin lock have an unthreaded section before the threads start.
I suspect though that this won't work because the pin lock connector needs the extra space.

My conclusion is that it is probably not practical to convert ball to pin. I think you would have to extend the threaded post on the keg. Short of removing the old one and welding a replacement or having special converter extensions, but then because you extended the posts the dip tubes would be short. Not an issue with gas and maybe not a huge deal with a extension if you don't go too far past the .1" you need.

BUT nobody seems to make the specialty extensions and you would have to take them off to clean so welding seems like the only "good" choice.

Considering that it's just a whole lot cheaper to convert everything to ball lock, sadly...
Sadly because I have a lot of kegs and connectors so still a bunch of cash.
My solution is going to just swap connectors on the lines I need to and maybe convert a keg or two every once in awhile.

 

[Shawn3997]

Can't you just make up some MFL thingies and just screw on the type you need for the keg you're using?