Bung

Posted on September 20, 2011 by bung

Bungs come in many shapes and sizes and for varying applications. They are basically a seal ro stopper for certain vessels or containers. You find them in barrels, test tubes, boats and many other such containers. The most common bung of all is the wine bottle cork.

A Bung needs to be partially inserted into the container and will act as a seal. It generally requires friction against the wall of the container to remain in place. Although in some other cases a bung can be screwed into the container/vessel. For example the bungs on boats and in steel barrels will generally be the screw in type. Generally a bung will either keep something in or keep something out of a container.
Bungs
Friction bungs other than the cork ones mentioned above are

* rubber bungs : which are generally, but not always used with test tubes.
* metal bungs : which can be used in a variety of metal industries. Including car industry, home building, sheet metal fabrication, boat building and many others
* wood bungs : Are generally used in carpentary. Generally they will hold sections of wood together.
* plastic bungs : are used in plastic barrels, car suspension, chemistry, toys and ice boxes (just to name a few things)

Bungs come in many shapes and sizes. Traditionally they are cone shaped or round but this is not really true in all cases. Other things that are bungs are plugs. for example a bath tub plug is a bung. The bath tub plug is keeping water in the bath until you pull it out to drain the bath, so it definitely follows our definition of a bung above.

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Bung wrench, Barrel wrench, Drum wrench.

Posted on September 20, 2011 by bung

Is a great tool that anyone who handles drums and barrels all day cannot do without. Most oil barrels will come with at least 1 bung but more usually 2. Wine barrels also have 2 bungs. The difference is that Wine barrels are usually made of wood, oak in particular and oil barrels are generally made of steel. One other type of barrel is the plastic barrel that can store almost anything up to and including strong acids and bases. A bung wrench, drum wrench or barrel wrench is typically not need for a plastic barrel. They more usually have twist off caps rather than bungs.

However for metal drums they are completely invaluable. Trying to screw off the bungs on a metal barrel with your fingers can basically be impossible. When buying drum wrenches, you have to be aware of the different qualities of bung wrench out there. Some might look great but are cheap and do not have the strength needed to do the job day in and day out. The torsional loads tha t a drum wrench can experience can be huge and if applied all day long the handle could weaken and snap. I have purchased a number of different brands and the best being a grainger tool. No Barrel wrench has snapped on me as yet but I do definitely trust some more than others.

drum wrench

When going to the store. Keep in mind that there are different types of bung wrenches out there. Some do only one size bung while others are designed to do 2 or more. I personally prefer the ones that can do 2 or more sized bungs as that means only having to remember to take one tool with you. Although these types can get cumbersome and getting a grip on one can be a little harder, as typically one end of the tool will handle one size and the other will handle the other size of bung. This means the teeth of the tool can hamper your grip. If you are removing or placing bungs all day long then you might want to buy a tool a size. This will let you have tools with more comfortable grips and will facilitat e ease of use.

These types of tools don.t fly off the shelves at your local hardware store, many will probably not even stock them. However you can usually find them online. Always look for them as a sale item. Like I said they are things that your ave rage shopper out there is not looking for. So do your research and wait until you find one that is listed at a discount.

Finally a word of advice when using these tools. Take care and don.t rush. In many cases the bungs on these metal barrels are screwed in with machines, especially if they contained oil at any stage. This means that the bungs will be scre wed down very tightly. Make sure the barrel is securely fastened. I use a huge vice for this job. Then insert the wrench and exert the force counter clock wise. If you find that it is not coming off. Put a long piece of metal pipe over t he handle of the wrench as this will give you more leverage and allow you exert more pressure on the bung.

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Rubber Bungs

Posted on September 20, 2011 by bung

Rubber bungs are used in a variety of situations. Commonly they are used to stopper laboratory glassware and are heavily used in the home beer brewing industries. Scientific uses for bungs They are usually made from hardened rubber and are generally pushed into the instruments they are stoppering. This completely stops the escape of gases or liquids. Sometimes they do have holes in them also so that a rubber or glass tube can be inserted into it.

rubber bungs

Rubber bungs are used in a variety of situations. Commonly they are used to stopper laboratory glassware and are heavily used in the home beer brewing industries.

Scientific uses for bungs They are usually made from hardened rubber and are generally pushed into the instruments they are stoppering. This completely stops the escape of gases or liquids. Sometimes they do have holes in them also so that a rubber or glass tube can be inserted into it.

  • Used in the distillation of essences and perfumes.
  • Used in chemical experiments as the hardened rubber tends to resist most corrosive substances.
  • Rubber stoppers are being phased out and replaced with glass stoppers as less pressure is required to op them out. Which reduces the chance for catastrophic events.

Industrial uses for rubber bungs Rubber stoppers have many industrial uses but the following are generally considered the most normal.

  • Pull Plugs They are rubber plugs used for sealing both ends of a through hole.
  • Plus Plugs are easy to install with their unique 360 degrees pull tab design.
  • T-Plugs come in a wide variety of sizes and offer a cost effective solution for many applications.
  • Washer Plugs These not only act as rubber hole plugs but also mask the area surrounding the hole.
  • Rubber Flange Caps This is a type of cap or plug, the design of which simplifies the application and removal of the cap. There is an internal lip on the open end that provides a positive seal to prevent any contaminants from seeping onto the part. A flanged head enables the cap or the plug to be manually removed with ease.
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