Drinking From a Fire Hose

[Uglydog]

Now you really can drink from a fire hose!!

Tonight is our fire fighter dance and fundraiser.
Just finished these "coffee" mugs.
Alot Steam Punk for my preference. But, I'm hoping they will score some bids....

These are made from out of service fire hose couplings, with Stainless inserts and lids from coffee mugs my bride found at Goodwill.
I've not seen these before, and came up with the idea while decommissioning the hose.
This is an easy project with really loose tolerances.
If you have a local volunteer fire dept struggling for funding, then you might consider asking for their old couplings and donating some time to make this project.
All it takes is a lathe and a drill press. I elected to TIG the couplings but that wouldn't have been necessary.

Daryl
MN

 

[francist]

I like it!

-frank

 

[thomas s]

Good job.

 

[MikeWi]

I'd love to see a write-up of how you made these.

 

[dulltool17]

Classy, Daryl!

 

[Superburban]

Awesome, let us know how much they fetch.

 

[Old junk]

Pretty cool

 

[brino]

Great project.
Thanks for sharing it!

-brino

 

[Charles Spencer]

Alot Steam Punk for my preference.

Steampunk, yeah. Having dealt with some fairly ignorant people while buying used or vintage items, there are certain terms that make me think I would be better served looking elsewhere:

Victorian
Art Deco
Shabby Chic
Steampunk
Recently restored

While the first two are legitimate terms they are hardly ever correctly used by somebody who is trying to put lipstick on a pig. I have found they tend to mean:

Victorian (I think it's really old)
Art Deco (I think it's old but not really old)
Shabby Chic (A piece of junk)
Steampunk (A greasy piece of junk)
Recently restored (I slapped a coat of paint on it)

 

[Uglydog]

I'll chase down the final sell price.

1) Sourced 2.5" couplings.
2) Both all the 2.5" couplings and the stainless liners have wide tolerances. Each of these are different and need to be matched. Not a production set up.
3) Air Chiseled out the brass sedge and removed remaining hose.
4) Grind off the anodizing and TIG'd the couplings together.
5) Identified which end of the coupling had the longest throat Mounted in a 4jaw, indicated center off the piece closes to the tailstock.
6) Bore a taper. Match the stainless liner, to the couplings.
7) I used 3.75 2024 round stock to make the plug for the base.
8) Cut 1.1inch slabs.
9) Face each side of the 1.1 slab.
10) Turn the OD to match the coupling.
11) Measure the little taper at the end of the coupling.
12) Bore the taper on the other end of the 1.1inch slab. Again all the couplings are different from each other.
13) Source or fabricate some utility handles.
14) Identify where you want to place the handles.
15) Drill and Tap two 1/4x20 cap screw on both ends to retain the handle. Measure to ensure the cap screws are not to long and don't interfere with the stainless liner.
16) Drill and Tap two 1/4x20 holes to retain the base.
17) I used blue locktite so there might be a hope of getting the liner out if anyone ever wanted to.
18) Press the liner into the taper. I use the press I got from Dave Smith. Note: To much and you will split the very fragile liners.
19) From an manufacturing perspective these mugs are all very different from each other as the tolerance of the re purposed materials are so very different in size.

Any of this make sense?
I'm certainly not a technical writer.

Daryl
MN