Pneumatic Bottle Capper - Just...because.

[jhoneycutt]

Bumped for future reference

 

[RadicalEd]

Very Nice!

I got wrapped up in some other projects (brew stand and fermenters) but this sort of thing is an excellent brain exercise and I'd love to do one in the future

 

[rossi46]

Design a 6 beer pneumatic bottling system and you'll have a customer.

ME!!!!

I've been thinking about how to do that, it may be beyond my ability. I think two bottles would be easy though.

 

[iamsblack]

A question about air cylinders;

I have 2-1/2" bore cylinder but it has a 6" stroke. Is there any problem having the cylinder "bottom out" well before the end of the stroke? I have a feeling this is just fine but I'd like to know. I guess I could set this up to stroke out about 2" on a bomber and then I would have enough travel left to still cap a regular sized beer bottle.

I have not been able to find any spec on minimum stroke setup.

 

[grupe]

Mine seals the cap before bottoming out and how far it moves really depends on bottle height. I use 2x4 or 1x4 to space the bottles up for shorter bottles.

 

[ClaudiusB]

A question about air cylinders;

I have 2-1/2" bore cylinder but it has a 6" stroke. Is there any problem having the cylinder "bottom out" well before the end of the stroke? I have a feeling this is just fine but I'd like to know. I guess I could set this up to stroke out about 2" on a bomber and then I would have enough travel left to still cap a regular sized beer bottle.

I have not been able to find any spec on minimum stroke setup.

Set the stroke to the shortest bottle and you will be fine.
My pneumatic capper works that way and on my filler line the capper worked that way too.

Cheeers,
ClaudiusB

 

[Vesku]

Here's my prototype in action:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104045943760755128661/LievalanPanimo#5954648645400791346

 

[Vesku]

Trying to make it feed the caps automatically:
[ame]http://youtu.be/K9FQmfjGtBE[/ame]
[ame]http://youtu.be/pDDr1t1ElhQ[/ame]

 

[KPSquared]

The auto cap feeding is so cool. I love the innovation in this thread!

 

[Vesku]

I'll put the caps on a magazine, trying to get the dimensions right for the mechanism, it starts to be in the right ballpark:

 

[RadicalEd]

Nice!

 

[Vesku]

Nearly there, a few things still hold in place by bubblegum, but it works reasonable well already. A big bummer was the fact that the magazine bended when I glued it together, it sometimes shoots two caps at the time because of that.

[ame]http://youtu.be/ayErOyFyYTY[/ame]

[ame]http://youtu.be/zM_fHwKZBw8[/ame]

 

[Vesku]

And now the final video of this prototype, bottling some beer:

[ame="http://youtu.be/b6Hz2QIyvlU"]http://youtu.be/b6Hz2QIyvlU[/ame]

If I get an inspiration to do another one, it will have a conveyer-belt + Arduino controlled automation (... to make the bottling process even more complicated operation ...)

 

[ClaudiusB]

And now the final video of this prototype, bottling some beer:

http://youtu.be/b6Hz2QIyvlU

If I get an inspiration to do another one, it will have a conveyer-belt + Arduino controlled automation (... to make the bottling process even more complicated operation ...)

You did a great job.
Go with a conveyor and you will love it.
I had three conveyors, in-feed, bottling and out-feed.
Only the bottling is still around as a show and tell unit.

Cheers,
ClaudiusB

 

[Setesh]

That is really neat! Nice work!

 

[mbocian65]

When using a single acting cylinder, how do you release the pressure in the cylinder. I just built this, and without removing the air hose, the pressure remains in the cylinder and the capper remains in the down position.

 

[grupe]

That cylinder I used has spring return

 

[mbocian65]

nevermind, just realized that I didn't have a 3 way valve introduced into the system. Thanks for the quick reply

 

[evanmars]

So -TH- are you the Todd Huizingh of the article on the pneumatic capper in BYO?

 

[-TH-]

So -TH- are you the Todd Huizingh of the article on the pneumatic capper in BYO?

One and the same!!!

 

[evanmars]

In that case:
Congratulations!

 

[-TH-]

In that case:
Congratulations!

Why, thank you!

 

[Vesku]

My wooden capper gave up, I made a new version from steel + plexiglass:

I need to redo the cap magazine from plexiglass too as soon as I can get some...

 

[Pumpkinman906]

The Oxbeast lives..Thanks to everyone on this thread for the help and inspiration.

 

[sticky_iks]

Hey guys, first of all, amazing builds! Our old homemade bench capper just conked out and I've been inspired to build a pneumatic one to replace it. Have most of the components but I was wondering about the specs for the compressors you use. I tried calculating the CFM requirements for my cylinder (0.073) but I don't think that translates in actual usage. What tank size do you think is enough? Motor size? Minimum CFM? How many bottles can you guys cap before your compressor kicks in? Thanks a lot and Happy International Beer Day!

 

[-TH-]

The Oxbeast lives..Thanks to everyone on this thread for the help and inspiration.

Very nice!!!!!

 

[-TH-]

Hey guys, first of all, amazing builds! Our old homemade bench capper just conked out and I've been inspired to build a pneumatic one to replace it. Have most of the components but I was wondering about the specs for the compressors you use. I tried calculating the CFM requirements for my cylinder (0.073) but I don't think that translates in actual usage. What tank size do you think is enough? Motor size? Minimum CFM? How many bottles can you guys cap before your compressor kicks in? Thanks a lot and Happy International Beer Day!

CFM usage is super low like you calculated (looks like you used 20 times per min? unless your stroke is longer). Real life is probably a little more cubic feet per cycle when you count tubing but much less than 20 cycles per minute. Regardless of all that, I can't imagine you could possibly buy a compressor too small for this application.

 

[sticky_iks]

I calculated for a 2" bore 2" stroke double acting cylinder at 3 cycles a minute. lol I'm not too confident with my math but yeah, it seems to be way below 1 CFM even at 20 cycles. Good compressors are hard to come by here, we mostly get cheap Chinese direct drive ones, usually with 2hp (peak rating) motors, 20-30L tanks, and grossly overestimated CFM ratings. I'm just worried a compressor like that might kick in every 10 bottles or so since they run at around 90 decibels

 

[Hang Glider]

... I can't imagine you could possibly buy a compressor too small for this application.

unless its those tiny ones for airbrushing...


yes, Sticky_icks - it may kick on during bottling - unless you have one of those 50-gallon tanks. My compressor is in the garage, and my capping done in the kitchen, so the door is barely cracked open to let the hose through. Really, its just part of the deal. If you want to cap pneumatically, the likelihood of noise is a probability.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

Good compressors are hard to come by here, we mostly get cheap Chinese direct drive ones, usually with 2hp (peak rating) motors, 20-30L tanks, and grossly overestimated CFM ratings.



Where is "here"?