Soda Can Stoppers From Bottle Cork

This Instructable shows you how to make closures or stoppers for soda cans. The stoppers are made from recycled bottle corks. A complete guide can be found in the video below.

For this project you need the following parts:

• Bottle corks
• Soda cans
• Scrap wood for a jig

Tools:

• Soda can cutter (Link to soda can cutter on aliexpress)
• Electric drill
• Drill bit (Link to set of drill bits on aliexpress)
• Vice
• Hot glue gun
• Sanding paper
• Japanese hand saw (Link to Japanese hand saw on aliexpress)
• Adhesive tape
• Screw and drive-in nut
• Nail
• Utility Knife

This project is based on the following Instructables: How to remove the ink from soda cans

The project begins with the production of a jig to saw square cork blocks from round cork cones. These in turn are then glued together to form a block. The block thereafter is sanded round to fit the opening of the soda can.

Fix a scrap piece of wood in a vice. Drill a hole in the piece of wood. The hole should be the size of the bottle cork. Saw from above a small slit in the hole slightly off center. That is the jig that we need to prepare the square shaped cork bars.

Press the first bottle cork into the hole. Saw the first side of the bottle cork through the pre-cut slit. Do not cut through completely. Now turn the cork 180° and make the second cut. Turn the cork two more times so that all cuts are at right angles to each other. Remove the cork from the jig and cut through the prepared cuts. Repeat this procedure until you have enough cork bars to glue a block in the size of the lid of a soda can.

Remove the lid from a soda can. Take the lid as a template how many cork bars you have to glue together. Then glue them together with a hot glue gun. Let the glue cool down and put the lid back on. Cut the cork with a knife around the lid. Leave about 5 millimetres of excess.

Place the lid of the soda can again on the cork plate in order to find the center. Make a hole through the lid into the plate with a nail. Remove the lid and enlarge the hole. Then put through the screw and fix it with a drive-in nut.

Fix sandpaper to your working desk with adhesive tape. Then clamp the screw with the cork plate into the drill chuck of the drill. Turn on the drill and start to press the rotating cork plate to the sanding paper. It is wise to also install a vaccum cleaner next to the sandpaper because otherwise you will have cork dust all over. Repeat this process until your cork plate is round and fits the opening of the soda can.

Remove the screw and the drive-in nut after sanding. Then you have two possibilities to close the hole in the middle of the cork. The first is to mix some cork saw dust with clue and close the hole. The second method is to cut another round piece from a cork as a handle an glue it onto the stopper.

That's all - hope you have fun making this stoppers.