Drinks cans have got a lot thinner since I was a kid so wondering if anyone tried lately?
Need to go 30.9-31.6 … only 0.7mm but wondering if a single thickness drinks can will work and how/do you remove the plastic coating?

I had to do this a couple of years back, walked around the streets close to home and picked up a few cans. A Rockstar can was spot on for 30.9-31.6.

Aluminium drink cans make perfect shim stock, soft and sticky, easy to cut, free and already curled. Been using them on seatposts for about 30 years.

Right … I’ll give that a go tomorrow or when OH isn’t watching.

Loads of old drinks cans on sticks in the garden used for scaring birds (apparently) but don’t want to draw attention to me stealing a dropper back off her bike. 😉

Most drinks cans in the UK are steel as it is cheaper and easier to recycle. I had to really search for aluminum ones to experiment with making a meths stove a year or so back. A colleague provided some Stella Artois cans and Brew Dog beer was in aluminum cans. Most fizzy pop (coke, tango, etc.) is in steel cans.

Aluminum cans usually tell you on the packaging. Steel doesn’t bother but magnets are a giveaway.

Are you just looking for freebies, or a better alternative which might cost you a few quid? Mild steel can / will rust, possibly expanding in the bore and jamming the post in the tube.
There is a thing called shim steel, which is stainless steel. Comes in all sorts of different thicknesses, from about 0.05mm up to, well , the point where shim becomes plate. I have used 0.35mm shim steel, albeit on press tools, so it can be gotten, but unfortunately I believe it is quite pricey.
Do you know any engineer types? They can probably cut you a square.

Are you just looking for freebies, or a better alternative which might cost you a few quid?

Oh the former ….

Mild steel can / will rust, possibly expanding in the bore and jamming the post in the tube.

Given its going in a 4130 CrMo frame and the dropper is AL7075-T651 I might need to rethink longer term…short term I’ll stick a very liberal coat of PM600 rather than carbon paste.
I did have a lot of fun with a previous used steel frame and alloy seatpost and buckets of NaCl but don’t really want to be doing that to a dropper!

San Peligrino (lemonade but I assume all) is aluminium (or not ferrous anyway)

Gun Brewery might be the perfect tin for a shim, their cans are coated but then the logos etc are a peelable sticker rather than printed on, so you can easily remove it and have a lovely smooth bit of aluminium which could be from the private stock of Baron Alfred Krupp, who had to sell it at a great sacrifice.

slowol
Free Member

Most drinks cans in the UK are steel as it is cheaper and easier to recycle.

Is that true? lots of aerosols are steel now but ringpull drinks cans still tend to be aluminium ime. Maybe it’s just the brands I choose but I literally can’t remember having any steel drinks cans lately. (they go in my little furnace, like jet fuel it can’t melt steel)

It may depend where you are in the UK but most of the ones I looked at a couple of years ago were steel. It varies on the drink and maker. Craft beers do seem to come in smaller ali cans, supermarket beer and lager in steel 440 ml ones. Soft drinks also mainly seem to be in steel cans round here.
Peelable sticker is an interesting one that I’ve not seen.

I went through this process a couple of weeks ago.
None of my recycling collection cans seemed thick enough to work. Got a stack of shim steel but struggled to get the right combination to fit and the post slipped. Eventually got the correct seat post shim for a few quid. Funny, but it works much better.

slowol
Free Member

Peelable sticker is an interesting one that I’ve not seen.

I think it might be because Gun are a small brewery that mostly sells in cans, whereas most craft breweries prefer botles.

Thought about getting a Use shim….. Just saying like 🙄😉

I make beverage cans for a living and the millions we produce in our plant daily are all aluminium.

It’s the internal coating for different liquids that differs, not the can material. Acidic drinks get a thicker internal coating. Aluminium is easier to recycle and requires less treatment as a can.

For a shim that thick, I’d buy a proper one. I’ve used drink cans as shims before, fine for a very small difference but a proper shim is much better.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/brand-x-cnc-alloy-seatpost-shim/rp-prod6258

Yeah for a few.quid I’d buy a proper shim (having tried both).

@stevexc  I think I’ve a shim in that size, I’ll have a look around my spares box later today for you

Thought about getting a Use shim….. Just saying like 🙄😉

Yeah but it’s delivery/postage … given the materials I reckon I’ll end up with a plastic shim when I combine postage or need to make a order up. It’s also a bit of reusing … I’m trying to builds 2 bikes with no additional new bits and as much reuse as possible. [a bit philosophical tbh]

For a shim that thick, I’d buy a proper one. I’ve used drink cans as shims before, fine for a very small difference but a proper shim is much better.

I figure the CrMo steel frame will at least allow for a bit of extra

I make beverage cans for a living and the millions we produce in our plant daily are all aluminium.

It’s the internal coating for different liquids that differs, not the can material. Acidic drinks get a thicker internal coating. Aluminium is easier to recycle and requires less treatment as a can.

So I guess the question is if I should remove that coating. I’m very certain the cans have no ferrous metals (huge stack of Nb magnets)

@nickc

I think I’ve a shim in that size, I’ll have a look around my spares box later today for you

That would be cool… fits the build philosophy…

Most drinks cans in the UK are steel

I work for quite a large can producer.

we’re converting a few of our lines to Aluminium from steel at the moment…better recycling, and the ability to make more customisable cans

@stevextc ah, apologies dude it’s a 34.9 to 30.9 . Your’e welcome to it of course if it will help at all.

Same to anyone really PM if it’s a help at all to a build you;re doing

TBH beer can shims are for resizing stuff/filling small gaps, they’re never ideal for stuff like big differences in seatpost size

, apologies dude it’s a 34.9 to 30.9

Umm …i’ll actually go and measure I was asking about drinks cans so was just guessing measurements ..<pause>.. but it is actually 31.6 – 30.9 (which is only 0.7mm)

USE sell a 30.9 to 31.6 shim

There are plenty of aluminium drinks cans in UK got one in my other hand right now. Thickness tends to be about 0.1mm in the drawn out flat section.

@stevextc chain reaction have them here. Only three left though cos I just bought two.

I have one of these shims in the garage. PM me and I’ll send it on. 🙂

chain reaction have them here. Only three left though cos I just bought two.

Admitting defeat so only 2 left now …

@stevextc hope yours arrived better than mine. Both squashed pretty much flat in a flimsy plastic bag.

@Jordan … slightly squashed but not totally. It was OK after I wrapped it round the post.

Glad it worked for you. On closer inspection one of mine might be salvageable but the other one is a wright off. A couple of sharp creases in it so it will never be round again. They’re out of stock now but CRC have refunded me and told me to keep em so not a big deal.

Five days! 5 days!!!!!

Five days, this thread has been running and not a single reference to “Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance.”

Standards are slipping.