Laser-engraved caps

[lostnfoam]

ah well as long as the price is good i would by a 10lb bag right off the back

 

[Purebloom]

Count me in!

 

[Brewpastor]

Cool idea. Would this work on glass, as in drinking glasses or growlers?

 

[Whelk]

I'd definitely be interested in buying some if the price was low. I wouldn't buy them if they cost more than 2.5 times a regular cap. Austin Homebrew Supply sells 12 oz bag of caps (150 caps) for 2.95. That's .0196 cents each. So, .0491 cents each, call it a nickel. That's $7.50 for 150 caps, etched to my specifications. Naturally, I'd expect discounts at 3 pound, 5 pound, and 10 pound quantities.

That price range sounds good to me. Hell, I'd even pay more, (but probably not all that much more). It's a great idea, and..yeah, let me know if this works out, I'll buy plenty.

 

[chainsawbrewing]

i too would like some of these caps. i'll keep my eye on this thread.

brian

 

[sirsloop]

I'm getting married in Sept and i'm giving out beer as gifts to all my guests... I was actually talking to my fiancee about findng custom caps the other day then I ran into this thread!!

I'm DEFINITLY going to have to get a hookup on caps here!!! I'm thinking our monogram with 9-1-07 under it. Let me know the price for say 500 caps, what format and dimensions you want the file in!!

 

[aseelye]

I could definitely see buying 10 lbs or so of these as well, please post pricing whenever you decide to start doing this.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

I'm thinking the first thing to do is start doing large runs of "easy" cap designs. Things like "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Birthday". You could sell those all day long. Also, things like "Barleywine" and "High Gravity"- things for beers that will age for a long time. That way people get the most use out of their caps, ya know? They get to look at them purty things for a long time before cracking them open.

I would easily pay $5 for a batchload of caps (about 50... so about a dime a piece), but I'm not sure that I'd be willing to pay shipping to ONLY by the caps. In otherwords, I'd be far more inclined to buy these caps from a HBS (internet or local) than from a third party- no offense to you, I'm just saying shipping could be a deal breaker just for this item, but if I was already buying other stuff, I could see throwing these in.

As for truly custom orders, one off batches, I would love that! Would gladly pay about twice as much for a truly custom cap in low quantities. The shipping issue still applies though...

 

[ayrton]

Ah, the laser!

About four or five days after I posted this, someone across town ran into an electricity pole, which caused the poles around our business to go out. The building that the laser resides in got nailed, and the surge fried every single component in the laser and its controllers. We've spent every day since rush-ordering parts from China (during Chinese new year) and fixing one component, only to find out the next one was broken too. We literally just got it working again on Monday, but now they've got a load of tools to do before they get moving on other things. They haven't forgotten the caps, and I promise to let you all know when/how/where you can order some as soon as they're ready. :rockin:

EDIT: In the meantime, I really appreciate the feedback on prices and such, and will pass them on to my boss.

 

[ayrton]

Cool idea. Would this work on glass, as in drinking glasses or growlers?

Nah, we tried. Light has the irritating property of going right through clear stuff. I don't know how laser etching is done on glass, unless they find a way to put something opaque on the surface so as to get the light to reflect.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Ah, the laser!

I have always wanted to be able to say that!

 

[ayrton]

I have always wanted to be able to say that!

The machine was hard to fix, but fixing the shark whose head the laser is attached to was even harder.

 

[RoaringBrewer]

As for the price, I'll pay whatever (within reason) you want to charge. I don't plan on using these on all my beers, just any I plan to sample out. Probably 12 bottles out of each 2-case batch...

A few hundred caps would last me a while...

Let me know when its up and running...

 

[joshpooh]

I'm thinking the first thing to do is start doing large runs of "easy" cap designs. Things like "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Birthday". You could sell those all day long. Also, things like "Barleywine" and "High Gravity"- things for beers that will age for a long time. That way people get the most use out of their caps, ya know? They get to look at them purty things for a long time before cracking them open.

I would easily pay $5 for a batchload of caps (about 50... so about a dime a piece), but I'm not sure that I'd be willing to pay shipping to ONLY by the caps. In otherwords, I'd be far more inclined to buy these caps from a HBS (internet or local) than from a third party- no offense to you, I'm just saying shipping could be a deal breaker just for this item, but if I was already buying other stuff, I could see throwing these in.

As for truly custom orders, one off batches, I would love that! Would gladly pay about twice as much for a truly custom cap in low quantities. The shipping issue still applies though...

Makes a good point about the shipping. Perhaps a good idea would be to team up with a homebrew site or lhbs store. Maybe get them to take the orders supply the caps and they pay you for the engraving and charge the customer extra for the engraved caps. That way you shipping wouldn't be a deal breaker because you could purchase them with other items. I imagine using a middle man would have to drive the cost up a little bit, but if it could stay within the 10 cents per cap range I think people would still buy them for certain beers but not all. Which is probably what they would be anyway more of a novelty thing than something to use for each and every batch.

 

[joshpooh]

This thread brings up a point about how to distinguish different brews. My method is buying overrun caps and using a different overrun for each brew. sometimes this method doesn't work because I brew too many different styles and don't have enough different caps, but it works most of the time. Most of the time by the ones with the same cap condition the old ones with that cap are already gone.

 

[zoebisch01]

The machine was hard to fix, but fixing the shark whose head the laser is attached to was even harder.

Alright Aryton! Enough of this nonsense. All I ask for is Frikkin sharks with laser beams attached to their heads. Is that so much to ask of you?

 

[zoebisch01]

This thread brings up a point about how to distinguish different brews. My method is buying overrun caps and using a different overrun for each brew. sometimes this method doesn't work because I brew too many different styles and don't have enough different caps, but it works most of the time. Most of the time by the ones with the same cap condition the old ones with that cap are already gone.

I use a sharpie on blank caps. O-Oatmeal Stout, H- House, etc....

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

I use those metallic RoseArt markers that are like sharpies only metallic. In my scrawly, scribbly handwriting, I spell out the name of each beer- "ESB" or "Apfelwein". The markers stay on pretty well, but will rinse off with a rag in some starsan. And it looks "sorta" pretty, imho.

 

[kvh]

This thread brings up a point about how to distinguish different brews. My method is buying overrun caps and using a different overrun for each brew. sometimes this method doesn't work because I brew too many different styles and don't have enough different caps, but it works most of the time. Most of the time by the ones with the same cap condition the old ones with that cap are already gone.

http://www.homebrewheaven.com/ stocks about 8 different colored caps, which I currently use to distinguish my different brews. I bought a pound of each a year ago (except gold and stars/stripes, which I think everyone already uses). I have the same problem of still drinking the old ones when that color comes back around.

Cool idea. Would this work on glass, as in drinking glasses or growlers?

You can purchase a glass etching kit from most craft stores, and certainly online. The disadvantage being that you need a stencil to maks off your image that you want to stencil. If you have patience, an exacto knife, and some packing tape or sticky shelf liner, it's possible though.

*EDIT* Looks like http://www.glass-etching-kits.com/ has a system which lets you make exact stencil copies of your digital print-outs - if you have access to a UV exposing unit. As it so happens, I do. Sunlight should work if you adjusted your exposure time.

 

[BierMuncher]

We have a laser etching machine where I work, and they're always looking for new things to try to "burn." I thought bottle caps would be a good idea:

I can crank out a batch's worth in about five minutes.

I don't like you...

 

[ayrton]

I don't like you...

Join the club! We have t-shirts.

Oh, and laser-engraved bottle caps.

 

[BierMuncher]

Join the club! We have t-shirts.

Oh, and laser-engraved bottle caps.

DOH ! ! ! !

 

[BarryNL]

Personally, I think I'd be prepared to go to about €10 for 100 engraved caps but at that price I'd keep them just for a few bottles per batch. If you could do them at €5 per 100 I'd probably use them for all bottling.

Of course, the shipping charges to Europe would probably make them ridiculously expensive...

 

[sirsloop]

any news on these caps?

 

[ayrton]

Nope! My boss is in California right now, and he's doing the pricing. I'm just a software developer, so I don't really deal with anything on that side unless he brings it up. The website is being created as we speak. As soon as I have some figures (or at least a site to which I can point you), I'll let you know.

 

[sirsloop]

ttt !!

 

[Melana]

WOW. Just WOW.

 

[jfrizzell]

Nope! My boss is in California right now, and he's doing the pricing. I'm just a software developer, so I don't really deal with anything on that side unless he brings it up. The website is being created as we speak. As soon as I have some figures (or at least a site to which I can point you), I'll let you know.

Any update on the cap situation?

 

[RoaringBrewer]

Do I get a free 100 caps for working at A-P 10 years ago when I was 15?! Bwahaha...

Bump for the updaaate.

 

[Kelly.]

im interested too

i know most people arent gonna like this, but i think the prices are abit low.

normally you have to buy a ton of custom caps, not because the caps are expensive, but because of the process involved with making them.
he said it takes ~5 mins to make ~50 caps, but i doubt that includes the setup time, wear and tear on the machine (even if its minimal) etc etc

i personally would be willing to order ~500 caps once pricing is released.