If you're on a hike, or caught in a survival situation, it's really helpful to have containers
that are lightweight and weather resistant. So in this project let's turn a couple of
empty soda bottles, into compact, lightweight, and waterproof, soda cap containers.
Let's start this project with a hotel key, and a couple of plastic soda bottles. The
first thing we need to do is cut the tops off, and if we turn them upside down and clamp
them in a bench vise, it should be incredibly easy. Now if we use something like a hacksaw,
we can use the bottom side of the flange as a cutting guide, and the goal here is to make
the cut as clean as possible. When we're through to the other side, let's double check the
flange to make sure it's completely flat, and if there are any ridges, we can easily
shave them down with the saw blade. Now we're gonna need a second cap, and this time
I'm using a bottle with a black lid just for a little variety. This should allow us to
color code the two ends of our container. Now depending on your purpose, it could be
extremely important that the lids sit perfectly together. And to make sure that happens, let's
go ahead and sand the bottoms with something like 150 grit sandpaper, until they're perfectly
flat. They don't have to be smooth though. In-fact, the rougher they are, they better
they're gonna bond with an epoxy. While we're here it's a good idea to roughen both
sides of our hotel key as well, so let's go ahead and do that, then carefully trace around
one of the caps with a marker. As we cut it out, you can see we'll end up with a plastic
disc the exact same size as the caps, and this will become the divider that splits our
container into two separate compartments. Now to make this as strong and lightweight
as possible, let's try bonding it with a 2 part epoxy. This will need to be blended thoroughly
for about a minute to make sure it sets up properly. Now, without wasting too much time,
let's apply a liberal amount of epoxy to the base of the caps, then carefully set the round
divider on top, and press it into place. If you already have epoxy on the other cap, just
join it to the other side of the divider, and simply leave it to harden. In about 2
hours, your container will be firm enough to handle, and a few hours after that, it
should be fully ready to use. Now for an even stronger bond, try clamping both caps so they
set together under pressure. If you don't have a bench vise or a set of bar clamps,
try using a rubber band to keep things tight until the epoxy hardens. You can see here
how the epoxy at the bottom has completely sealed everything off. That means this container
will hold two different items, and keep them completely separate. Now I added some special
ingredients to mine and tucked it away in one of our first-aid kits to help out in emergency
situations. This will give us the power to ignite a survival fire, without ever having
to strike a match. Look for how this works in the matchless survival fire project.
I also tried another variation and found the simplest container could be made with 2 caps
and some hot glue. It won't be as strong, but you can make them start to finish in under
3 minutes. This version is still super lightweight, water resistant, and will work really well
for storing things like pills or small candies. You can see it's hollow all the way through,
so the contents can be accessed from either end. This works well to protect your matches
from the elements, or even make improvised hide and seek containers for geocaching. If
the container ever does get wet, everything inside will be kept safe and dry. Now both
variations weigh only half an ounce, or about 14 grams, but they can they still hold up
to 10 ml of fluid, which is the same amount as both of these glass bottles put together.
By the way, if you epoxy the two bottles end to end, you'll have another variation that
still looks really cool, and will last for a really long time. Well now you know how
to turn two empty soda bottles, into lightweight, multipurpose containers, that don't really
cost anything to make, but will do a great job protecting your stuff. Well that's it
for now. If you liked this project, perhaps you'll like some of my others. Check them
out at www.thekingofrandom.com