DIY Fermentation Chiller UPDATE
Update for the DIY Fermentation Automatic Temp Controller:
Turns out you cannot buy a stopper with a 1″ hole in it. LOL
So, I guess I will have to make my own. <sigh>
I ordered some #10 stopper and some 1″ OD stainless steel pipe. Cut off a small portion of pipe and turned the ID into a inner bevel. Then used a 1″ flap wheel to make it smooth.
I put the new cutter, which is basically a “cork bore”, into my DIY air powered grommet press. Using a chunk of cutting board below it, I pressed the stainless pipe through the stopper.
Seems to have worked like a champ!
EDIT:
I was not 100% happy with the way the plug cutter cut. So I put it back into the lathe and made the edge ever sharper! I also printed a holder for the stopper to help keep its shape. While cutting with the old cutter, i noticed that it would deform when pressed, as you can see in the photo above. So the printed part now keeps the stopper from deforming while pressing. It is made with 5 inner and outer shells with 80% honey comb infill.
Only way I can think to make the cutter better is to add a shank to spin it while pressing. Could be done on a large floor drill press. But alas I have no way to weld stainless steel.
NOW it seems to have worked like a champ!
DIY Beer Fermentation Automatic Temp Control (Chiller)
I recently got back into home beer brewing. But I noticed that I had a problem with fermentation temp control with the gear I had on hand. One of the keys to good beer it fermentation at 68-70° F.
A lot of the beer community seems to wrap the fermenter in a thermal blanket, and chill it with a cooler of ice water. Seems like a lot of steps to me. I then found a device that seems to use a Pelteir with an aluminum rod to regulate the temp of the beer….but it is $350! OUCH! Kind of pricey for “home brew”.
So I decided to make my own. I have played with Pelteirs in the past. Went to amazon and ordered a 12VDC Peltier and heat sink combo, along with a 12VDC digital temp controller. The found a aluminum rod on Ebay, even had a 5/16 tapped hole in the end! All for under $50. I designed a case for the thole thing in Fusion 360, then 3D printed it…13 HOUR PRINT. I also replaced the controllers screw terminals with removable screw terminals.
Once I got all my parts in, I had to modify the heat sink to work with aluminum rod. Then did some tests with the new set up in a 2Gal water cooler jug. Which will be my new fermenter! This should help keep the beer at a more steady rate. So no need to wrap a carboy in a thermal blanket! The tests keep the water within 1° F of the target, which was set to 67° F. While the beer is fermenting, it may have to work a little harder to maintain due to the heat generated by the yeast. That test yet to come.
I am planing on making my own PIC based controller with some features that the DIY and commercially available one does not currently have.
Cheers! 🍻
3D Systems Cube Gen 3 Rubber Wiper
I bought a cube 3 printer a while ago, very easy to use. So recently I found a refurb on eBay pretty cheap. It did not come with any filament or accessories, including the wipers and wiper holster. I looked online to see if I could buy the rubber wiper blade. I recall seeing them a few years ago, and they were not cheap! But I couldn’t find any.
So I 3D printed the holster and ordered some silicone 1/16″ mat to laser cut my own wiper!
If you would like to buy some, I will be selling them in my store. Here
ULINE Heat Sealer Strap
I bought 2 brand new ULINE poly bag heat sealers. Both of them came with an extruded plastic strap to keep the handle closed when not in use.
Somehow my kids managed to lose both of them…ARGGG!
So I designed a new one in Sketchup. Super basic design. Printed with ABS with an infill of 50%.
You can find the STL file on my Thingiverse profile: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3000103
Swing Out Peg Board
Needed some peg board above my workbench for tools and junk. But the electrical panel is in the way. So I used some aluminum Tslot materiel and made a frame for some peg board. I got some plastic beg board materiel from 80/20 Inc. Which fits great in the aluminum slot. Then mounted the frame on some hinges, to studs in the wall. The peg board can now swing out and still have access to the panel.
DYI Plywood Cutting Panel Saw
While doing a kitchen remodel in my new home, I did not want cheap partial board cabinets. Real wood cabinets were WAY to costly! So I set out to make my own cabinets.
Got a great deal on 3/4″ Birch plywood at Lowes, it was 1/2 off! But I could not cut it all at the store, far too many cuts. After looking at pricing on panels saws, that was out of the question. So I did a DIY search for one. Found tons of information on making your own. So I borrowed bits from the various versions I found and made my own!
It can rip and cross cut ply wood up to 1″ thick. Even cuts nice and true! I designed the saw holder in Sketchup and laser cut it from 3/8″ acrylic. I used Tslot aluminum, with liner slides for the motion.
FrisBeer Drinking Game
Someone introduced me to this game. And it is HELLA fun! FrisBeer also known as “Polish Horseshoes”. Basically 2 teams take turns throwing a frisbee at opposite teams beer bottle sitting on a pole. Has lots of fun rules, or you can make your own “house rules”. The guys who showed it to me had a 3d printed bottle, with a harbor freight flash light inside. We also used a lighted frisbee. But the bottles he made were not very bright…. so I made my own with a custom LED PCB.
I downloaded a 3D file for a beer bottle, made it 2 sections to house the LEDs and battery. Made the battery compartment for a 9v, with a working battery door and on/off switch! Printed out 2 complete sets with a translucent ABS. The 2 sections are a slip fit male and female. I used some hot glue to keep them together. The main part of the bottle was the absolute max my printer height could do.
I had the PCBs made by expresspcb.com, using their CAD software. It was the fastest turn around I could get, I was going on a trip and wanted to take this with me. Since they do not offer routing with the bare boards level, I centered a .250″ hole and chucked it up in my mini lathe and cut them round with a carbide bit.
Quick trip to Lowes and made the stands out of PVC pipe. I did not glue them together, this way it could be adjusted is the ground is not level.
Pace out a distance for the length between the two pole set-ups. Drink a beer. This distance must be inconsistent with any other distance you've previously used, because no one's ever decided on a distance and who the eff ever has a tape measure anyways?
Next, do whatever it takes to get the poles to stand up. Try pounding the stakes or bars into the ground and putting the PVC over them with a beer. Or pile rocks around your poles, I don't care.
Wrap some empty bottles in duct tape so they don't break. Balance them on the poles. Unlike horseshoes, you and your teammate stand on the same side. Drink a beer. Somebody goes first.
Offence: Try to hit the pole or the bottle. Call "fish out of the water" on somebody if they don't have a beer.
Defense: Without reaching in front of your pole, catch the bottle and frisbee before they hit the ground.
Low Shots: Low shots do not count. How low is low? Yes. Use some electrical tape, maybe. Or refer to gentleman's note below.
Scoring:
2 points - the bottle hits the ground
1 point - you're caught without a drinakble beer in at least one of your hands
1 point - the frisbee hits the ground (a catchable throw isn't caught)
To WIN:
· Games are traditionally played to 12 or 21.
· This "final" score, though decided before play, is typically negotiated higher throughout play, depending on many varibles (e.g. you are not winning).
· You must win by 2 points.
· You cannot win on a dropped frisbee.
Note: This is a gentlmans' sport; thus any disagreement regarding a play is to be ruled, and typically conceeded, by the team that stands to gain.
Yukon Cornelius Halloween Ax Prop
I dressed up as Yukon Cornelius for a Halloween party, since I have red beard. I had everything I needed for the costume except for the Ax. I went all over town looking for one that was close to the show. Couldn’t find anything!
So I 3D printed one! Simple layout in sketchup. Used a 1/2″ PVC pipe for the handle. Then some brown spray paint for the handle and some silver hammered spray paint for the ax head.
DIY DeWalt Flashlight LED Upgrade
My trusty 18V DeWalt DW919 gooseneck flash light is quite dated by today’s standards. It still has the OEM bulb.
I went to use it the other day and WOW…was it dim. The battery was fully charged, so I know it wasn’t that.
So off to the internet to find a way to make it LED, and bright! After searching for a while I couldn’t find anything good and low cost. So I dropped the idea.
While laying in bed one night, not being able to sleep, it came to me!!
USE A OLD LED POD AS THE LED SOURCE!
The next day I dug through the shop and found a single LED pod. Took it apart and the flashlight…then BOOM!!! Hella bright LED Dewalt flashlight!
The LED board is aluminum, so I mounted it to a 1/4″ thick chunk of scrap I had. I drilled and tapped the aluminum to match the mounting holes in the LED board. This should be good enough for cooling. The LED pod works off voltage from 12v-24v. So the 18V DeWalt is perfect. Had to trim the corners of the reflector to fit inside the flashlight housing. The soldered the leads to the bulb contacts.
The whole thing took about 20 mins to put together.
I am going to cut some acrylic and use some LED collimators. to make a new lens, and make it even better!
DIY Drain Clog Cleaning Stick
You have most likely seen these on TV or at a hardware store. It’s a stick with barbs to clean your sink drain.
They cost about $3+. And the instructions tell you to throw it away when you are done. I hate throwing money away! 🙁
I have cleaned them in the past, but it is a real pain.
I went to the hardware store to grab one, needed it that day. Took one off the rack and had an brilliant idea! Use a long zip tie as the stick, and save a TON of money!! $$$ WINNING $$$!! It take about 2 mins to make barbs down the sides of the wire tie. I used a smaller wire tie as a loop handle at the top.
WORKS LIKE A CHAMP!!!
The cost of 24″ long zip ties are $6.50 for 15pcs. That works out to be $.43 EACH. Now for $.43 I will throw it away! 🙂
Plus you have the added bonus of having the zip ties for other uses/projects!
One way I would make the next one is to heat the razor a little to bend the barb out a more.
Be Careful not to slip and cut yourself!!!
