So this little hardware store by me has these rubber stoppers and me being a redneck that lives where the water is copper color plastic bottles don't fair well here.

So I have put myself on a mission to make some of these stoppers that I can use on glass bottles that can be replaced with ease and I was curious if anyone else has undertaken this adventure before me and if so what is the best tubing to use.

As you can see I had some scrap copper ice maker tubing laying around and it works except that I will have to increase the diameter of the tubing so since I need to go buy some I'm trying to figure out the best material for the job and something that will last...I doubt this soft copper tubing will last very long against the teeth of a thirsty rat...

:cheers:

How do you plan on creating the watering tube like with the ball bearing and stuff? I believe you can order real waterbottle tubes from www.beanfarm.com, and the stoppers too....(AND the glass bottles!)

Hey bro ask jas in the hole. I think he used his old whiskey bottles and something like at one time.....

How do you plan on creating the watering tube like with the ball bearing and stuff? I believe you can order real waterbottle tubes from www.beanfarm.com, and the stoppers too....(AND the glass bottles!)

A slight bend in the tube creates an air pocket that when the rat sips on the tube it causes the air to go into the bottle and a small bit of water to come out in it's place...some of the old water bottles I used to have that were glorified large test tubes used the same type of set up...

Ron if I remember right that was that Mark guy...but I do recall the water bottles...lol

A slight bend in the tube creates an air pocket that when the rat sips on the tube it causes the air to go into the bottle and a small bit of water to come out in it's place...some of the old water bottles I used to have that were glorified large test tubes used the same type of set up...

Ron if I remember right that was that Mark guy...but I do recall the water bottles...lol

I couldnt remember which drunk it was..... :lmao:

some of the old water bottles I used to have that were glorified large test tubes used the same type of set up...

You mean like these here?

http://www.arcatapet.com/item.cfm?cat=1818

A slight bend in the tube creates an air pocket that when the rat sips on the tube it causes the air to go into the bottle and a small bit of water to come out in it's place...some of the old water bottles I used to have that were glorified large test tubes used the same type of set up...

Ron if I remember right that was that Mark guy...but I do recall the water bottles...lol

Ah ok, cool. I agree copper pipe likely wouldn't hold up, shouldn't be too hard to find something else.

http://microgroup.com/microgroup_catalog.pdf

This is where I order hypo tubing for my medical device projects....you could probably find something perfect for your rat bottles, here.

You mean like these here?

http://www.arcatapet.com/item.cfm?cat=1818

Those look similar to the ones I remember from way back when...funny...lol

http://microgroup.com/microgroup_catalog.pdf

This is where I order hypo tubing for my medical device projects....you could probably find something perfect for your rat bottles, here.

I was thinking about some stainless steel tubing...thanks for the link :cheers:

I was thinking about some stainless steel tubing...thanks for the link :cheers:

I'm here for you, Jeffie!:devil::devil::devil:

You could always use glass tubing and fire the drinking end to smooth it out and create a "lip" to keep the water from dripping.

You could always use glass tubing and fire the drinking end to smooth it out and create a "lip" to keep the water from dripping.

That is an idea, I found some stainless steel lined in brass solid tubing that you can use for supply lines, I want to work out flaring the ends a bit and remove any sharp edges but I think I have something that I can universally use on those glass bottles people get with some drinks...now before I go through alot more I have to make sure the place keeps these stoppers in stock...lol

You could always use glass tubing and fire the drinking end to smooth it out and create a "lip" to keep the water from dripping.

glass tubing is the way to go....a friend of mine finds it in teacher supply stores...cuts it and burns the end with a blow torch....

I have always used rabbit bottles in my holding bins...

Yeah, I thought about the glass tubing from a chemistry class I took in college a loooong time ago. We would cut, bend and fire smooth the ends for all the connections between test tubes and flasks using those rubber stoppers.

i used stainless steel brake line with an inverted flare and ball bering i just heated it and pushed it through the lid of a 2 liter bottle some silacone on both sides and i have been useing it for about 2 years now

i used stainless steel brake line with an inverted flare and ball bering i just heated it and pushed it through the lid of a 2 liter bottle some silacone on both sides and i have been useing it for about 2 years now

Now that is bush league baby! we need some pictures of that in action.

heres the bush league water bottles

http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq341/chrisr9240/100_2985.jpg


http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq341/chrisr9240/100_2983.jpg

Lets see the whole setup

Ingenious Chris!

Ingenious Chris!

no not ingenious just cheap lol the way i see it i was just throwing away the mnt. dew bottles and i already had everything else to make the sippers

no not ingenious just cheap lol the way i see it i was just throwing away the mnt. dew bottles and i already had everything else to make the sippers

That is exactly what makes it genius :cheers:

i am thinking about running hard line down to all the racks when i build more out in the garage in the spring this was just the test to see how well the would work some brake line a few brass tees and a hand full of berings i think it should work i have noticed they work better if i doubble up on the berings in the lines just in case anyone else is thinking about trying it

So are you just buying the break line and bearing at an auto parts store and cutting them to size?

you could by bearings at the parts store im sure i had some old harley head cup berings lying around i used i did buy the breakline at auto parts one other thing i did was to sand off the green coating they put on breaklines now i just figured it couldnt be to good for the rats a few quick swipes with some 800 grit sand paper and they are nice and clean i tried to drill the caps out but they were never as tight as the ones i heated with a propane torch and just stabbed through the cap. obvously holding with pliers let it all cool a bit of silacone on both sides and they are good to go

you could by bearings at the parts store im sure i had some old harley head cup berings lying around i used i did buy the breakline at auto parts one other thing i did was to sand off the green coating they put on breaklines now i just figured it couldnt be to good for the rats a few quick swipes with some 800 grit sand paper and they are nice and clean i tried to drill the caps out but they were never as tight as the ones i heated with a propane torch and just stabbed through the cap. obvously holding with pliers let it all cool a bit of silacone on both sides and they are good to go

thanks, how did you get every piece of brake line to have the inverted flare?

you can buy the tool at most auto parts stores for like15 bucks i already had it but with the tool rental at most chain stores now you would get that 15 bucks back when you return it only use the first die the one that rolls it inward just like sippers on the water bottles you can buy

Good stuff, thanks for the replies Chris.