Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
I've been working on a new base for the Tapcooler can filler I bought a while back. I had picked up their accessory base, with the grooves and back drain. To me, the back drain was a total pain to use (had to keep working it to get the thing to drain). Plus it really wasn't big enough. You could fit the can on it, sure. But you needed something else to place the can on in order to place the lid on before sealing it. Which means you needed to have a drip try right next to it. I did that for two sessions while I worked on the replacement base.
Used a section of 1" x 5" x 8" aluminum (bought a 12" length, cut it to 8"). Then proceeded to make the area for the clamp to come out of where the filler is installed. Minor mistake made at the end there making the slot a little too long, introducing slop. Fixed with a couple of allen screws, which I'll be replacing with set screws shortly. I did drill and tap the hole to install another screw to hold the bar in place. Pretty much the same as the one I bought. Used a 5/16" end mill to make the grooves where the can will sit. Used a 1/2" end mill to make the feature at the back, around the bar. Also used a chamfer bit to remove sharp edges from the entire thing (top surface only). Also drilled and tapped a hole on the underside for the clamp to hold the base to the cart I use (same threaded rod and such that came with the setup). I also drilled and tapped the center of the working area 1/4" NPT for a brass barb fitting (3/8" barb) which I then put a short length of silicone tubing onto, right over a catch container. The catch container is also large enough so that any foam overflow that goes over the back of the base drains into it.
Used it for the first time yesterday and things were a LOT easier filling the cans. I might do something to protect it down the road. I'm also thinking about doing it over again with lessons learned from the first time. Just means I need to order another chunk of aluminum and get to it.
Pictures:
Next one (if I do make one) will have more even groove configurations. I might try to find a 1/4" end mill with a long enough LOC to use. With the plate being 1" thick at the start, the grooves are 3/4" deep. I also machined off the exposed part of the brass fitting, and then recessed it a bit. All in the effort to promote better draining. IME, the larger base is a big help compared with the smaller one they sell. I might even make version 2 a full 12" wide. The only 'issue' with that is fixturing the plate in order to drill the hole that's parallel with the top surface. You need to stand the plate on it's end, so that's about 6" off the vise bed. Milling vise jaws are less than 2" tall, so there was about 6" sticking up in the air. I simply used some more (thick) aluminum I have on hand to stabilize the piece. Used a couple of Kant-Twist clamps to hold it all together and drilling was easy. Of course, I broke the tap on one of the rear screw holes I made. Luckily, I had another tap of the same size to use. Version 2 will also ditch the metric screw sizes (from the hardware from Tapcooler) for SAE sizes. Instead of farking metric M4 screws, I'll use either an 8-32 or 10-32 to secure the clamp bar. If I need to use screws in the back, I could just use some of the 1/4-28 [set screws] I have on hand. Or one of the other sizes I have. IME, metric SUCKS for drilling and tapping holes. It's pretty difficult to find the proper drill size for metric screws. Where it's crazy easy to find the correct drill size for SAE/Standard screw sizes. For metric, you have to go with "that's close enough).
Used a section of 1" x 5" x 8" aluminum (bought a 12" length, cut it to 8"). Then proceeded to make the area for the clamp to come out of where the filler is installed. Minor mistake made at the end there making the slot a little too long, introducing slop. Fixed with a couple of allen screws, which I'll be replacing with set screws shortly. I did drill and tap the hole to install another screw to hold the bar in place. Pretty much the same as the one I bought. Used a 5/16" end mill to make the grooves where the can will sit. Used a 1/2" end mill to make the feature at the back, around the bar. Also used a chamfer bit to remove sharp edges from the entire thing (top surface only). Also drilled and tapped a hole on the underside for the clamp to hold the base to the cart I use (same threaded rod and such that came with the setup). I also drilled and tapped the center of the working area 1/4" NPT for a brass barb fitting (3/8" barb) which I then put a short length of silicone tubing onto, right over a catch container. The catch container is also large enough so that any foam overflow that goes over the back of the base drains into it.
Used it for the first time yesterday and things were a LOT easier filling the cans. I might do something to protect it down the road. I'm also thinking about doing it over again with lessons learned from the first time. Just means I need to order another chunk of aluminum and get to it.
Pictures:
Next one (if I do make one) will have more even groove configurations. I might try to find a 1/4" end mill with a long enough LOC to use. With the plate being 1" thick at the start, the grooves are 3/4" deep. I also machined off the exposed part of the brass fitting, and then recessed it a bit. All in the effort to promote better draining. IME, the larger base is a big help compared with the smaller one they sell. I might even make version 2 a full 12" wide. The only 'issue' with that is fixturing the plate in order to drill the hole that's parallel with the top surface. You need to stand the plate on it's end, so that's about 6" off the vise bed. Milling vise jaws are less than 2" tall, so there was about 6" sticking up in the air. I simply used some more (thick) aluminum I have on hand to stabilize the piece. Used a couple of Kant-Twist clamps to hold it all together and drilling was easy. Of course, I broke the tap on one of the rear screw holes I made. Luckily, I had another tap of the same size to use. Version 2 will also ditch the metric screw sizes (from the hardware from Tapcooler) for SAE sizes. Instead of farking metric M4 screws, I'll use either an 8-32 or 10-32 to secure the clamp bar. If I need to use screws in the back, I could just use some of the 1/4-28 [set screws] I have on hand. Or one of the other sizes I have. IME, metric SUCKS for drilling and tapping holes. It's pretty difficult to find the proper drill size for metric screws. Where it's crazy easy to find the correct drill size for SAE/Standard screw sizes. For metric, you have to go with "that's close enough).
