Corrugated Iron for Beer Cans

[IrishPeter]

Due to the rampant food price inflation we have in the USA I am drinking what I bluntly refer to as "shitty beer." This comes in aluminium cans which look ripe for conversion into 16mm scale corrugated iron. As corrunagted iron is an important building material on light railways does anyone have any advice on how to convert shitty beer cans into 16mm corrugated iron. For example does someone do rollers or a jig to produce corrugated from beer cans?

Peter in AZ

[MDLR]

Good Mornin' from the UK................................

I always used food cans made of tinplated steel for corrugated iron. You get funny looks when you peel the label off to see how big the corrugated section is................... I used to find sweetcorn cans were the best.

Cut both ends off - much easier now you can get can openers that do this for you, but beware of sharp edges. Then, take a pair of tinsnips to open the can out and cut off the flat sections either side of the central corrugated section. CAREFULLY un-bend the remainder - rollers are helpful here but it can be done by hand, heeding again the warning about sharp edges.

Finally, put your sections up against a wall and blast them with a blowtorch to remove any surface treatment and the tin plating. Pin to a wood or ply sub-base with small tacks or glue to a plastic base with something like silicone sealant. Leave the completed job outside and let Mother Nature do the rusting!

Job done!

[Vapouriser]

I ve yet to use a beer, or any other can, due to the sharp edges , especialy on rolling stock which you hVe to keep touching. How does anyone else protect themselves?

[MDLR]

1) use thick gloves in the initial stages

2) Take a file to the sharp edges.

I tend only to use it on buildings which don't get handled so much.

[PeachBottom]

You're in the US? Oh, how I miss craft stores. Get yourself to a Michaels or AC Moore and look in the scrapbooking section for a roller that will do corrugation. A beer can ought to be flexible enough to use with it!

[Steven.T]

Never heard of beer coming in corrugated cans!


Might have to dig a few baked bean tins out of the recycling box...

[METHSSNIFFER]

I find good 'ol coop rhubarb tins best! Excellent water tower tanks.

[MDLR]

I used a tin that held new potatoes for my water tank!

[Keith S]

Peter, there are rollers that will do the job. They might be available at craft stores. On another forum, I saw a shed built entirely out of beer-can aluminum that was put through these rollers and it looked very real. I'll ask that guy where he got the roller, if you like.

As for your other problem, my wife gave me a beer-making kit for Christmas, it didn't look very convincing at first but it was dead easy to boil the wort, and put the yeast in, maybe half an hour's work. I bottled it two weeks ago and it has carbonated and looks perfectly clear now. I'm just trying to be patient about trying it, but I tasted it before bottling and it seemed like the real deal then. I can let you know how it turns out. It probably won't be "shitty". The recipe was called "Englishman's nut brown ale", and the next recipe I have is called "Irish Stout", of all things. The malts are prepared in New Zealand. I'm really hoping it turns out. I'm going to try it next week. Might be a solution to your "shitty beer" problem. Life is far, far, too short to tolerate shitty beer.

[Keith S]

Here you are, Peter. The fellow I'm talking about posted these pictures on the "Mamod" forum. I hope he doesn't mind my reproducing them here. Is that poor etiquette? I wouldn't mind my pictures floating about. Anyway,

Here is the roller:


Here is a Lager tin after processing:


And here is the station he was building:
I hope this helps!

[PeachBottom]

Here you are, Peter. The fellow I'm talking about posted these pictures on the "Mamod" forum. I hope he doesn't mind my reproducing them here. Is that poor etiquette? I wouldn't mind my pictures floating about. Anyway,

Here is the roller:

I have seen that exact roller for sale in US craft stores for about $10. My mom almost bought one for TommyDodd, but he didn't want one!

[IrishPeter]

Cheers!  I'll give Hobby Lobby a shot next time I am that way, which is my favourite as they do NOT open Sundays and pay more than Minimum Wage, if that fails then it is down to Michaels.  It should not be too difficult to get out that way in the next week or two.  Both places sell yarn, which means I do not have a battle to get the Missus out there.  Although my wife will think I've flipped my lid if she finds me wandering around in something like the Scrapbooking section looking for one!  :D

Peter in AZ

[IrishPeter]

Peter, there are rollers that will do the job. They might be available at craft stores. On another forum, I saw a shed built entirely out of beer-can aluminum that was put through these rollers and it looked very real. I'll ask that guy where he got the roller, if you like.

As for your other problem, my wife gave me a beer-making kit for Christmas, it didn't look very convincing at first but it was dead easy to boil the wort, and put the yeast in, maybe half an hour's work. I bottled it two weeks ago and it has carbonated and looks perfectly clear now. I'm just trying to be patient about trying it, but I tasted it before bottling and it seemed like the real deal then. I can let you know how it turns out. It probably won't be "shitty". The recipe was called "Englishman's nut brown ale", and the next recipe I have is called "Irish Stout", of all things. The malts are prepared in New Zealand. I'm really hoping it turns out. I'm going to try it next week. Might be a solution to your "shitty beer" problem. Life is far, far, too short to tolerate shitty beer.

Once "the visitor season" is over I shall be retrieving my brewing equipment from the shed and making something drinkable.  I seem to brew Viennese Lager, Stout and Brown Ale in winter and Mild in summer.  My generation generally went over to drinking the devil's own willy-water (Carling Black Label) and other forms of lager if they did not like beer that tasted like beer.  British Lagers are fairly two dimensional tastewise. They are OK on a hot day when you need to reduce the core temperature, but under normal circumstances I would rather have a pint of Heavy or Old Peculiar.  

Unfortunately, the Southwest is one of the more beer impoverished regions of the USA unless one can afford to do one's drinking either in the Irish Bar or the Brew Pub.  Most beer sold here is either innocuous lagers such as Heineken, or stuff that looks the same going in as coming out - Bud, Coors, or Natty, or Old Milwaukee - which should not really be classed as a beer.  

The salvation around here is Dos Equis Amber, and Negra Modello both of which are usually readily available, brewed in Mexico according to an old Austrian receipe.  Unfortunately Dos Equis also produce a Lager now which is nearly as bad as the domestic stuff.  Unfortunately, the 'hop-head' tendancy of American microbrew drinkers ruins a lot of the stuff produced by the smaller breweries.  One thing I learned pretty quickly over here is that it is possible to over hop India Pale Ale!  

All of which leaves me wondering if there are any breweries other than Guinness in Dubin that had NG railway systems...


Cheers,
Peter in AZ

[Keith S]

Ah, well, I shan't worry about you then- it sounds like you know what you're doing.

One more thing before I stop veering off-topic, you might not believe this, but about two years ago there appeared in the local grocery a pallet of strange bottles... they looked like 2-litre soft-drink bottles, but instead of a soft drink, they contained unfermented wort. Attached to the lid was a second cap with a primitive safety valve and a gelatine capsule of yeast. The instructions on the side said to pop the yeast into the bottle, screw on the supplied cap/valve, and store in a warm place for two weeks. When the liquid appeared perfectly transparent, it was time to put in the fridge for at least twelve hours, and then drink. It came in four flavours: "red lager", "brown ale", "pilsener", and "Cerveza". I bought a "red Lager" despite the protestations of my wife, and followed the directions. Two weeks and twelve hours later, we poured two glasses of the resulting beer-like liquid and had a sip: Beer! Not just terrible-tasting almost-beer, but actual delicious brown creamy-tasting beer! I know you won't believe this, but it's excellent beer, and it brews in one step, thanks to the little valve. My friend who used to be a professional brewer claims that the pressurized fermentation prevents a lot of off-flavours from forming, thus the short time between fermentation and drinking, plus there is no secondary fermentation necessary because it's already carbonated. Again, I'm sure you find this beggars belief, OR you have started to suspect my taste in beer, but I assure you, we Canadians are picky about things like beer, (despite our despicable export products like "Molson Canadian ) and also: only five dollars for two litres, because the government can't tax alcohol that hasn't formed yet.

Anyway, back to corrugated metal, and trains.

[GTB]

Peter, there are rollers that will do the job. They might be available at craft stores.

They are called paper crimpers. Available online, if the local craft shop doesn't stock them (all three in my area didn't). Make sure you get the type with extruded aluminium rollers, as the all plastic rollers are useless for anything thicker than paper.

I found it was unsuitable for what I needed as it came. You need three hands to use it for a start, one to hold the device, one to turn the knob and one to feed the card or aluminium sheets. The knob didn't have much leverage for crimping something like drink can aluminium and the plastic body flexed as well.

I followed the advice of the friend who showed me the one he built for making scale corrugated iron and built a corrugating machine out of wood, using just the rollers.

Having nothing else to do at the time, this one also has an infeed table and guide to keep things straight. There is a cleat under the base that can be clamped in the vice so it doesn't slide around on the workbench and only need two hands to use it. The bolts holding it together allow the top roller to be shimmed, to ensure both rollers are exactly parallel and also allow adjustment for different thickness sheet material.



Regards,
Graeme

[Keith S]

Just received a message from the original poster of those images on the "Mamod Forum", he is also a member here, Tmuir. His railway is called the zig-zag railway and he has more details about how he used that roller and also pictures of his railway and engines on the Mamod forum. I don't know how to make a link to that page here but it's under "Zig Zag Railway".

[sstjc]

Hopefully you mean this..... http://modelsteam.jeltz.myfreeforum.org ... asc-30.php

I have tried to sign up to that forum but whenever I appply nothing happens.... Feeling dejected now !

Barry

[PeachBottom]

stuff that looks the same going in as coming out - Bud, Coors, or Natty, or Old Milwaukee - which should not really be classed as a beer.  

Ugh. There was a reason we called it "Nasty Light" at Penn State.

I don't know if they distribute out west, but try Yuengling. It's made in NEPA and is quite good!

[invicta280]

All of which leaves me wondering if there are any breweries other than Guinness in Dubin that had NG railway systems...

Yes, the Oakhill brewery railway in Somerset. 2'6" guage with 2 locos.