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Old     (kbob)      Join Date: Aug 2009       04-08-2010, 9:04 PM Reply   
I’ve been thinking for awhile on how to make a unique and inexpensive set of tower speakers and this is what I came up with. I haven’t seen any cans like them yet…so thought I’d try it. I went down to the Specs Liquor store in downtown Houston. It’s probably the largest in the city, and they had around 11 or 12 different kinds of mini kegs. So I looked for the right color and flavor that would be nice to drink (a lot of) and look good together. I actually bought 5 mini kegs for around $100.00 and so I had one to experiment with. I used a dremel to cut a hole for the Polk DB651 speakers. Come to find out…the inside diameter of the keg is 6-3/8” and the speaker diameter is 6.5”. It was 1/8” of an inch off…I was so pissed! So my solution was taking foam pad sheets that I found at hobby lobby and filled in the lip of the can so that the speaker would fit flush on top. I used two pieces to fill in the gap, and a larger piece to keep the speaker and surface of the can from touching on the outer edge. I sprayed the inside of the can with Undercoat sound Eliminator that I purchased at O’Reilly’s. I sprayed 3 thick coats and used two bottles…probably overkill. I sprayed 3 coats of Rustoleum clear coat on the outside for protection and shine. I used banana jack female connections that I purchased at Radio shack. I like the low profile and I’m pleased how they turned out. After soldering all my connections I filled the speaker cans with white polyfill (used for stuffed animals lol) that I also purchased at hobby lobby to help with dampening. I put it all together I and bought self driving sheet metal screws hoping they would grab the thin aluminum and hold the speaker to the mini keg. The screws were a huge fail and would not hold at all. I was brainstorming on how to hold the speakers in and a friend suggested using aluminum rivets. I tried ½” long rivets but they were too short. So I searched grainger but I didn’t want to buy 500 rivets when I only needed 16. I ended up buying 3/16” Dia, 1.4” long rivets from Mcmaster-Carr. I drilled out the speaker and grill holes to fit the large rivets. The tower clamps are from bulletlines.com and the stainless steel knobs I bought at http://www.monroeengineering.com/kno...ob-studded.htm for quick disconnecting. A friend of mine had some 316SS angle and cut 4 pieces for me to make the L-brackets.
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Old     (kbob)      Join Date: Aug 2009       04-08-2010, 9:08 PM Reply   
More pics
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Old     (kbob)      Join Date: Aug 2009       04-08-2010, 9:10 PM Reply   
Two more
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Old     (99_slaunch)      Join Date: Oct 2005       04-08-2010, 9:11 PM Reply   
Very cool idea and nice clean work too.
Old     (supraride)      Join Date: Jun 2007       04-08-2010, 9:15 PM Reply   
Thats awesome. How do they sound?
Old     (my_malibu)      Join Date: Feb 2008       04-08-2010, 9:15 PM Reply   
love them
one of a kind
Old     (kbob)      Join Date: Aug 2009       04-08-2010, 9:20 PM Reply   
I haven't installed the rest of my system yet and haven't run any wiring to the tower...but it was killing me not knowing what they sounded like, so I hooked them up to my stereo receiver in my room and cranked them up haha...sounded pretty good to me, but i'm sure they'll sound a lot better with regular amps.
Old     (dohboy)      Join Date: Aug 2007       04-08-2010, 9:26 PM Reply   
Are the kegs gonna hold up? How thick is the aluminum? Very Cool
Old     (kbob)      Join Date: Aug 2009       04-08-2010, 9:32 PM Reply   
RIch, I'll let you know after this Sunday when I hit up the lake. I was curious about that myself, but I think it'll be alright. The whole project was sorta trial and error just to see if I could do it.
Old     (sinkoumn)      Join Date: Jan 2007       04-08-2010, 10:36 PM Reply   
Ahah, that's awesome! Ingenuity at it's finest
Old     (westsidarider)      Join Date: Feb 2003       04-09-2010, 12:49 AM Reply   
When you start making speaker cans out of mini kegs......... YOU MIGHT BE A REDNECK
Old     (liquiddiet)      Join Date: Feb 2009       04-09-2010, 5:15 AM Reply   
Very cool, great idea, love it!
Old     (wakereviews)      Join Date: Sep 2006       04-09-2010, 5:25 AM Reply   
Wow, that is classic. Nice work!
Old     (bmr82)      Join Date: Jul 2008       04-09-2010, 5:39 AM Reply   
That is the most original thing I have ever seen. That's awesome man. Nice work.
Old     (eustace)      Join Date: Nov 2002       04-09-2010, 5:54 AM Reply   
Awesome!
Old     (kbob)      Join Date: Aug 2009       04-09-2010, 6:25 AM Reply   
Thanks guys for the compliments...and yeah...they might be redneck...but I went to A&M...so it fits in

Last edited by kbob; 04-09-2010 at 6:32 AM. Reason: added to it
Old     (jay_g)      Join Date: Apr 2006       04-09-2010, 7:08 AM Reply   
Your gonna get an open container ticket
Old     (nelems)      Join Date: Mar 2010       04-09-2010, 7:32 AM Reply   
Nice looking. Are you using the kegs with the Heiniken keg system or do those have their own pumps, taps. I have been looking at the mini keg system but none of our local stores offer them, I'm sure I could get a local to order them.
Old     (kbob)      Join Date: Aug 2009       04-09-2010, 7:41 AM Reply   
I'm pretty sure the guy at Specs said that you can only use the Heiniken keg system with Heiniken cans because they are designed to be pressurized. All the other cans just have a vent at the top that you turn to let the pressure off and then a spout at the bottom that pulls out and rotates to pour it out. With 5 of them to drink amongst friends...i definitely looked into that lol.
Old     (boomboom)      Join Date: Apr 2008       04-09-2010, 7:50 AM Reply   
that's cool!!
Old     (kbob)      Join Date: Aug 2009       04-09-2010, 8:16 AM Reply   
um...I'm thinking maybe I should take them back apart...and put a piece of flat bar on the inside where the bracket is to beef it up a little with it being thin aluminum...
Old     (stang_killa_ss)      Join Date: Jan 2010       04-09-2010, 8:34 AM Reply   
sick! get some pics of teh whole boat on the water with them. (from the back side)
Old     (wake77)      Join Date: Jan 2009       04-09-2010, 9:21 AM Reply   
Another thing I was thinking about (by the way I like your idea), is the screws you have through the kegs to attach them to the bracket to hang. I'm not sure about the thinness of the kegs, but do you think that just running the screws through the kegs is going to hold? What I'm getting at is that you are going to hit wakes and rough water and do you think that over time with the boat rocking that the screws will widen the holes through the kegs? If the kegs are relatively thin, this may happen. I guess maybe washers on both sides may eliminate this, but I was thinking that if you are going to take them apart to reinforce them, maybe you could put some sort of plate that the screws will put pressure on instead of the kegs.

I am not versed in these sort of projects, so my thoughts may be dead wrong.
Old     (petrey10)      Join Date: Apr 2010       04-09-2010, 9:24 AM Reply   
powder coat them and no one could tell how redneck you are!!
Old     (bruizza)      Join Date: May 2009       04-09-2010, 9:31 AM Reply   
Those are awesome!
Old     (tyler97217)      Join Date: Aug 2004       04-09-2010, 9:32 AM Reply   
ha ha... this is awesome. Congrats man and great idea! I could definitely see this being a real trend. Spend $200 on tower speakers and the best part about it, you get drunk 4 times.... That is a deal! Not to mention pretty cool!
Old     (wazzy)      Join Date: Nov 2001       04-09-2010, 10:03 AM Reply   
Ssiicckk!!
Old     (wakeviolater)      Join Date: Sep 2004       04-09-2010, 10:11 AM Reply   
you are the SECOND person to do this. My buddy did this to his a year ago.
Old     (mdaijogo)      Join Date: Mar 2010       04-09-2010, 10:20 AM Reply   
That is an awesome job you did there. Large fender washers inside the can may also help with reinforcing it.

Maybe cut out some of the sound deading material and bond the fender washers to the can. Just an thought.

Again, nice setup.

m-
Old     (bremsen)      Join Date: Aug 2005       04-09-2010, 10:27 AM Reply   
Yeh, I was thinking you should probably reinforce the inside mounting points as well but other than that.....I think those are awesome!
Old     (kbob)      Join Date: Aug 2009       04-09-2010, 10:34 AM Reply   
I would actually be a little surprised to be the first person to try this lol! Thanks for the tips, i'd like to reinforce it a little more, but those rivets are going to be a pain to get out i'm afraid. Any rivet guru's out there with some suggestions? I assume you just drill them out with a regular drill bit...
Old     (bremsen)      Join Date: Aug 2005       04-09-2010, 11:03 AM Reply   
They make rivet drill bits, but I've used regular ones as well. Just need one slightly larger than the shank diameter. They're just aluminum, so its not as tough as you think.
Old     (bcrider)      Join Date: Apr 2006       04-09-2010, 11:04 AM Reply   
On a different note..... your not one of those trailer with your boards in the racks are you??? Hope it wasn't too fast or far.
Old     (kbob)      Join Date: Aug 2009       04-09-2010, 11:11 AM Reply   
Thanks Ryan...
Dave...no worries on boards being in the racks going down the road. I just keep them up there while its sitting in storage to get them out of the way.
Old     (stang_killa_ss)      Join Date: Jan 2010       04-09-2010, 11:54 AM Reply   
only thing that would have made the project cooler..

if you had made a false bottom(facing front when mounted on tower) say 2-3" deep, and seal them.
add a fill screw cap up top, and a spicket at the bottom. each can false bottom would probly hold 2-3 beers.
although probly get warm in the sun. have to devise a cooling system...
Old     (okcwakebrdr)      Join Date: Dec 2004       04-09-2010, 3:09 PM Reply   
The Guiness guys would be proud! BRILLIANT!!!
Old     (hatepain)      Join Date: Aug 2006       04-09-2010, 3:22 PM Reply   
Very funny and ingenius...good times!
Old     (gti2lo)      Join Date: Nov 2005       04-09-2010, 5:46 PM Reply   
Awesome idea! great idea!

I actually saved up 8 Heiniken kegs and I am making patio lights out of them!
Old     (chris4x4gill2)      Join Date: Sep 2009       04-09-2010, 6:03 PM Reply   
good looking project and a very ingenious idea! update us once you get it on the wate ra few times. Let us know how they are holding up.
Old     (kkong72)      Join Date: Apr 2007       04-09-2010, 6:36 PM Reply   
thats killer man, great job!
Old    walker44            04-11-2010, 9:02 AM Reply   
Great build! Now go finish off a real keg and make a sub

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