that will be converted to boilers or tuns where preserving the spear wasn't important. i'd already got into an old a-type keg using a pair of pliers to drop the
safety tab then a hammer and centrepunch to undo the spear and decided this would not be practical for regular removal and cause potentially terminal damage to
the seal over time.
so, ordered a few a-types from crusader (awesome service)..
asked - as others have done- for them to be shipped with spears separate so i could remove the safety tab. the hacksaw made extremely light work of that.
from then it was just a case of making a tool for tightening and loosening the spear. i had initially planned - as suggested by some on here as an idea - to
drill another hole opposite the one in the spear and use two aligned bolts to lock it, but looking at that polished stainless and considering drilling precise
holes in it with inadequate tools didn't fill me with confidence. figured that a tri-point design should hold well around the rim though, and it turned out to
be pretty simple with some junk i had lying around. for half an hour playing about this worked well, with minimal metalworking skills
essentially a plate of metal with a couple of bolts through to sit around the rim of the spear, then a hole opposite to match the hole already in the spear,
laid out in a fairly equilateral triangle shape..
sitting cosy against the bolt heads..
used a washer to raise the bolt head to sit at a better height on the sloped rim..
sit it on the spear, line up the holes and drop a bolt through (sawn to <7mm thread length) to lock it in place. then just use a fat ass screwdriver as a whammy bar..
hope this might help anyone considering a-system kegs. as the saying goes, if i can do it..
* sorry 'bout the light on some of the pictures. if anyone wants better ones i can take some, but i think you can get the gist.. ?
