DIY Ski Pole tap handle - best way to anchor hanger bolt and ferrule?

[dangerbrew]

Hey guys,

Just got back from the ski resort last night and found the top half of a broken ski pole near the lift and took it home, figuring I could make a pretty sweet tap handle out of it for the kegerator.

I've got it home and have just sawed the broken end off of it and now I've got a clean, hollow opening on the aluminum part of the ski pole below the handle.

My question is, once I get the hanger bolt and the ferrule, what would be the best and strongest way to attached them to this ski pole? Should I get a piece of wood that fits up inside the pole and then screw the hanger bolt into that or should I maybe get something like an epoxy/polyurethane and fill it with that and just have the hanger bolt suspended in it until it hardens or something of that nature?

Never tried anything like this before with a tap handle, so any input is appreciated.

 

[broadbill]

I'd go with a dowel up inside, epoxied in place.

 

[Leukass]

i like the idea of this - post a pic when you get it up and running

 

[pannell77]

interested in seeing the final product here.

 

[dangerbrew]

I think I'm going to go the route of using the dowel and the epoxy and then go from there. Also found a sweet little combo of hanger bolt and ferrule here:

http://www.rockler.com/beer-tap-component-hardware-beer-tap-ferrule?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=pla&utm_campaign=PL&gclid=CM

Will let you all know how it turns out with some pics. Probably will be a week or two before I get around to it. Been pretty busy at the brewery lately...

 

[dangerbrew]

Ok, so this is how it worked out.

Got my buddy to use his saw-zaw and cut the broken end off the ski pole for a clean edge the other day. While I was there, he told me he'd bought a bunch of these ferrule-type nut things for making his own tap handles in the future and gave me one of them to use so I wouldn't have to go and spend extra on a ferrule and a hanger bolt. We tried it out while we were there and it fit inside the ski pole pretty much perfectly.

After that I ended up going to Lowes the next day and getting some epoxy and a poplar dowel rod that fit 100% perfectly right up inside the pole and I went ahead and made a mark on the dowel with a permanent marker where it came out of the end of the ski pole. After making that mark, I took the ferrule-type nut thing and put it up above the mark I just made and made another mark higher up on the dowel so that the dowel would go all the way up inside the pole and, after cutting a little more off of it, the ferrule-type nut would sit right inside the pole in the space left over. Made the cut, pushed the dowel in, and tried out the ferrule nut - they all fit perfectly. The last thing to do was epoxy the dowel and the ferrule nut into the ski pole and let it cure for 24 hours.

I have to say, it looks and works great! If you find any used ski poles around or if you or anyone you know happens to break one on a trip, grab it and bring it back to life!

Here's an image of it while it was curing. I'll post another one of it on the kegerator when I get home:
[img=http://s7.postimg.org/b00xlnetz/polehandle.jpg]