I have one of these things that I've drilled a small 2mm hole into to fill with alcohol in the hopes of making a fast freezing container for a drink.
I tried filling in the hole with some epoxy, but holes keep forming in it as it cures and the alcohol inside keeps evaporating out. What's a good solution? I would just tap it and put in a bolt with an o-ring, but it's fairly thinly walled, maybe 1mm, so I doubt I could get any purchase. Any ideas?
There are better and worse epoxies to use for sealing. If they have to cure while in contact with alcohol, thatll be difficult to get right with any glue.
why not use a sealing rivet?
It's a small hole with not much clearance either side, I drilled it in that top rim. Most sealing rivets I see start at about 3mm required, and I don't know how much they expand inside so it might get blocked by one of the walls and be ineffectual. Plus I'd need a rivet gun.
>Any ideas?
Your idea is moronic. You can get a slushie cup for less than $15. Ever wonder why no one else has made a cup using alcohol?
Holy shit you people are morons.
Epoxies, silicones, etc are semi-permeable until totally set meaning you will lose alcohol to evaporation.
Soldering won't work. First, alcohol is flammable and a torch will burn it. A soldering iron will never get hot enough to seal stainless. It's very difficult to get solder to adhere to stainless. Any heat applied to the vessel will evaporate off alcohol meaning even if you seal some in it won't be the amount you wanted.
Please try this and post a video of the horrible burns you received. Melted aluminum won't stick to stainless dummy.
OP either needs to tap a hole and thread a gasketed plug in to seal it or find some sort of valve to permanently weld to it that would allow you to recharge the alcohol. Something like a refillable butane lighter uses.
>Ever wonder why no one else has made a cup using alcohol?
Honestly, I don't. I'm not big on physics, but it makes sense in my head. Ideally I'd have a large thermal mass made of copper, maybe a 1kg block with a hole in the center milled out to fit a can, then I'd put that in the freezer, get it down to -20, and then put a can in it to chill it quickly. Alcohol seems like a reasonable alternative, given this whole project cost me about 10 bucks instead of 200. It'll get down to -20 while maintaining a liquid state, and the thermal transfer between the SS inner wall and an aluminum can should be reasonable. I used a few layers of epoxy, filling in the hole each time, and it's now air tight at room temperature, so I'm going to put it in the freezer and see if it works.
I don't know why there isn't a market for this kind of stuff. If you want to improve thermal efficiency in an oven, you can get a baking stone or steel to act as a thermal mass. I guess there aren't that many people who care about chilling a can to the ideal temperature.
>I don't know why there isn't a market for this kind of stuff
There are already plenty of products out there for quickly making slushies, ice cream, or cooling sodas rapidly. They are inexpensive and work well. There's also this stuff called ice that's been around for centuries.
Your "invention" will never be practical. The materials are expensive. The alcohol charge is flammable and an explosion hazard. Most home freezers are set to around 0 degrees, you want people to set them to -20? Ever grab a -20 degree copper block without gloves on? You will hurt yourself.
>Most home freezers are set to around 0 degrees
I'm talking about a real measurement here, not burger shit. Most freezers are set to -20.
I don't care about my "invention". I'm not producing this shit. Preventing tissue damage is as simple as adding an insulating layer, I've got a neoprene bottle sleeve around the thing so I don't stick my fingers to it trying to get my can out. If anyone else made an appropriate product with a decent level of thermal mass, I wouldn't be making my own.
some epoxides are alcohol soluble and will gave out. you should do proper silver solder, especially if this is for a DIY still to be operated at stilling temps.
using rubbers/silicones/epoxies might be dangerous if it dissolves into the alcohol
Nah, the alcohol itself is sealed in to act as a cooling fluid, it doesn't matter if the epoxy gets into it, all that matters is that it goes to -20C in my freezer and the steel transfers that thermal mass into the can I want to cool.
The problem with silver solder is I'd be heating the vessel, and that'd probably cause the alcohol to start evaporating out very quickly before I can cover up the hole. And if I keep heating it, then I've got a pressure bomb.
those are quite harsh conditions, you'd need to match thermal expansion of the "glue" to the stainless steel otherwise it breaks
perhaps some flexible temp tolerating gasket like PTFE or inert sillicones ?
Would melting a beer can in a crucible and privately smearing it on with a paint stir stick over the plug work? Or, you know, whittling down a literal cork and jamming it in the pooper?
Jesus you're dumb as frick and I still don't even understand what you're trying to accomplish. What is this shut with a copper block now?
I want to cool a can to sub zero temperatures as fast as possible. My freezer takes like 30 minutes to take a can from fridge cold to the temp I like to drink it at.
A salt and ice water bath would probably be reasonably effective, but it's a lot of hassle. A copper block would have zero hassle, but it's super expensive and the aluminium can would limit thermal transfer anyway.
Copper is not that expensive. It’s around $3.50/lb.
The problem you will have with it is that it will immediately frost up from the condensation and your thing will get stuck.
What you want to do is slowly rotate the object to help dissipate the heat inside the object, like a rock tumbler, but more slowly.
the tards that steal copper for the scrap value have a serious easily-pursuaded mental disorder.. it’s a meme. Butter around here was at $7/lb, twice the price of copper. It’s like a friend of mine, see commercial on mexico vacation, needs to have it. He gets a new mattress once a year because he sees commercials that say you need a new mattress every year.
>My freezer takes like 30 minutes to take a can from fridge cold to the temp I like to drink it at.
Wrap the cans in a damp paper towel, they'll be ready in half that time.
Plan ahead and stock sodas in your fridge days before you plan to drink them.
Get a Chill-o-Matic Instant Beverage Cooler ($29.99 on Amazon). Cools cans to fridge temp in one minute.
I personally have a large cooler that I fill with free ice from the ice machine at work. It's always stocked with cold ones because every time I take one out to drink I pop a warm one in to chill.
Go buy some dry ice or an ultra low freezer, but enjoy accidentally freezing shit all the time.
>be anon
>cut hole in thing
>figure out how to seal it later
You're like the last guy I ever want to be stuck on a life raft with
Just solder a sealing plate over the hole with this shit. https://www.indium.com/products/nanofoil
Use the 3m aluminum tape for ducts.