Beer Cap Clock

I made a clock out of old beer caps. I love designing projects that can add color to my bar at home. This is a perfect clock to add at home and give your bar a little bit of pizzaz. It is great for beer loving people!

Tools/Supplies Used

• Fusion 360
• Cutting board/flat surface that is okay with getting indented
• 60 Beer Caps
• Pliers
• Rubber Mallet
• Clock Hands Movement Kit
• Wood Circle
• 1/4 inch Height
• 11.8 Diameter
• Hexagon Template with 6-inch sides
• Black Paint
• White Paint
• Paint brush
• 2 clamps
• Safety glasses
• Skill Saw
• Drill with 5/16 drill bit
• Ruler
• Hot Glue Gun

To start, take one of the beer caps and the pliers. Use the pliers to extend the edges of the beer cap outward. Once stretched out, repeat with the 59 other caps.

Take the stretched out beer cap and place the logo down on the cutting board. Use the rubber mallet to hammer down on the cap with a strong force. Once flattened, repeat with the 59 other caps.

Using Fusion 360, create the numbers 12, 3, 6, and 9. Make the height of the numbers 1 inch, extrude the numbers to 0.2 inches, and make the font Elephant. Print out numbers in the color white and save for later.

To make the base, lay the hexagon template on top of the wooden circle and trace the template. Once traced, put the circle on the corner of your workspace and use the two clamps to clamp down the circle. Using the skill saw, line up the red laser to match the drawn line. Cut down the line making sure you stay flat and straight. (It is okay if the lines don't come out perfectly because the beer caps will be going over the sides). Repeat on all sides.

Before you drill a hole, you need to find the center. Flip the hexagon over. Take a ruler and find the center between opposite corners and edges. Circle in the center where all the lines meet. Before drilling, make sure you have the right drill bit that fits the screw on the clock. Using a drill bit measurer, find the perfect fit. I used a 5/16 drill bit. Then, clamp the hexagon down and start drilling. Press down hard and straight on the drill so the drill doesn't move. Put on the clock movement pieces by following the directions on the box to make sure it fits.

Once cut and drilled, paint the sides and front in black paint and let dry. You can keep the clock screw in while you paint or take it out.

To attach the beer caps, place the beer caps in desired form and order. I started with five on the sides and then the next row kept growing by one until I reached the middle with nine beer caps. Remove the center beer cap so nothing is covering the hole. Starting from the middle row, start hot gluing the beer caps down, one by one. Using the 3D printed numbers, place the 12 at the top, the 3 on the right, the 6 on the bottom, and the 9 on the left. Hot glue these numbers down. Since I had darker beer caps, I painted my clock hands white. Following the directions from the clock movement kit, place the hour hand on the bottom and the minute hand on the top. Add the screw on top, add the battery, find the correct time, and you are all done!