Mounting a Contigo 20oz Water Bottle

[John Kleiber]

I'm trying to figure out the best method to mark a Contigo 20 oz water bottle. Unfortunately I do not have one in hand to see first hand the threading and extent.
I'm been googling for images to determine the what the opening looks like when the lid is removed to determine the extent of the threads.

It looks like the best method is to make a fixture to insert in the mouth of the bottle to allow it roll smoothly.

contigo_20_oz_water_bottle.jpgcontigo_20_oz_water_bottle_without_lid.jpg

[John Lifer]

Never tried one, but my 4 wheel rotation device would turn it fine. Hotdog maybe not so much.

[Bill George]

I'm trying to figure out the best method to mark a Contigo 20 oz water bottle. Unfortunately I do not have one in hand to see first hand the threading and extent.
I'm been googling for images to determine the what the opening looks like when the lid is removed to determine the extent of the threads.

It looks like the best method is to make a fixture to insert in the mouth of the bottle to allow it roll smoothly.

contigo_20_oz_water_bottle.jpgcontigo_20_oz_water_bottle_without_lid.jpg

John what do you charge to do a job like that?

[John Kleiber]

John what do you charge to do a job like that?

When I first got into this business, that was always the question, what to charge.

You'll find as many opinions on that at there are subscribers to this forum.

In general I focus on;

Cup size/design - can cooler, 20, 30 oz, water bottle or cups, all make some difference in price.
Will I need to make a fixture - usually not a factor in pricing unless the fixture is weirdly insane and I will never need it again.
Number of sides - 1 side 2 sides or darn near all over.
Mark positioning - some customers want top 1/3, others want that plus something else marked along the bottom.
Coated or uncoated - some coatings are easy, some I can tolerate and others seem to be coated in the equivalent of truck bed liner.
Quantity to be marked - the more the better (for me and the customer)
Time of year - certain times of the year are busier than others for us and our competitors.
Size of mark - I always factor in laser time which is a solid immovable time frame.
What the market is at the moment - Am I losing deals that I should and have always gotten? Somethings up, so I check the market.
Work load - Is it slow or am I up to my ears in work.
Hourly Rate - yet another variable.


Not meant to be sarcastic, though its my nature, asking how much this job would be is sort of like asking, how long is a little piece of string. My friend I don't even know at this point.

[John Kleiber]

Never tried one, but my 4 wheel rotation device would turn it fine. Hotdog maybe not so much.

I don't have a hot dog roller style, but I do have a chuck and 4 wheel roller style. 4 wheel roller will work best I think, chuck style takes to long to mount and never seems as concentric when rotated on center.

[Bill George]

Just asking John because around here when I told one customer $30 I never heard back! Yes I used my 3D printer to make some cones to fit about most of the standard sizes. But I gave up on my rotary for the fiber, because If I had to charge for the layout and setup time for a one off... I would never get the job. Give me an order for say 200 or so.... and I will figure it out!
This is my third year.... and things are picking up, just my website... no phone orders.

[Doug Fisher]

I would probably have to design and cut a cap to use that on my chuck type rotary because the "cone" on mine is so small and not interchangeable. Your four wheel roller should be able to handle things fine as-is, no?

[David Somers]

On my lathe I would mount something like that with the chuck on one side and a cone shape on the other that fit into the opening. Centers beautifully every time. Fast to mount and dismount. You might need to play with your rotary, which is essentially a realllllllllly slow lathe, but a cone might work just fine.

[Kev Williams]

I got a Contigo right here, the wife bought a bunch of 'em awhile back, probably for xmas presents-- and as she just said, 'they're nothing to write home about'
(first thing I did with one was spill coffee all over myself!)
contigo1.jpg
mine's different than the one in the pic above, mine has male threads in the cap, the one above the cup has the male threads...
Also, as you can see in the pic, for some reason the top 2" of cup on the stainless proper has a plastic covering...not sure why?
Not sure the other type has this...?

As for issues concerning holding either one, especially with any type of chuck-style rotary, I don't see the problem?

this is my LS900 rotary, and the cone and cup fixtures I'd use--
rotary2.jpg

easy-peasy...
rotary1.jpg
The LS900 rotary is a nice setup, it's the same rotary Gravograph supplies with the CNC rotary tool machines, lots of features and accessories...

This is the GCC rotary, fairly mundane piece of equipment compared to the LS900's, but I love the thing, and have never had any runout issues with it,
as long as I take a few seconds to insure the tail end is running fairly true. This rotary has engraved probably 200 Yeti's twice that many Hydroflasks with no focus issues...
Notice the plex ring on the tailstock? That ring is near the exact diameter of the bottom of a Yeti Rambler AND the larger Hydroflasks- With it, aligning the bottoms
of those cups is a simple matter of using my fingers to push the edges of the cups flush with the plex
rotary3.jpg

As for roller-style rotary's-- the top of this cup, and it appears the other one above too, isn't the same diameter as the bottom--
I assume a wheel-type has separate drive wheels and idler wheel so the diameter difference shouldn't be an issue?
But a hot-dog style, seems they would only do well with consistent-diameter objects...

[Mike Null]

Bill
I do quite a lot of cermarked Yeti and clones. My prices for a 2.5" image are pretty much as follows: 1-$25; 2-$30; 4 to 10-$10 each; 10 or more-$9; 20-36-$8; more than 36 $7.

For second side I charge half again the price. I have one high volume customer where I charge $6. Most of what I do is commercial and involves logos. There are competitors who will cut the prices so I lose some orders but I have no desire to be the lowest price in town.

[John Kleiber]

Just asking John because around here when I told one customer $30 I never heard back! Yes I used my 3D printer to make some cones to fit about most of the standard sizes. But I gave up on my rotary for the fiber, because If I had to charge for the layout and setup time for a one off... I would never get the job. Give me an order for say 200 or so.... and I will figure it out!
This is my third year.... and things are picking up, just my website... no phone orders.

Correct Bill. Fiber marking a stainless cup yields a beautiful mark, but fiber takes 20 minutes to mark as compared to C02 6 min is clearly not cost effective.

[John Kleiber]

Kev,

I've been making my own fixtures to use in my CO2 rotary for both chuck and 4 roller style.
I like the fixtures you posted and they would probably work great.
Problem is, I see little to nothing available to simply buy the cone or other style holders alone.

-John

[Kev Williams]

Funny thing is, it wouldn't surprise me a bit that hidden somewhere within the thousands of pages of a Graingers or MSC catalog is a selection of goodies intended for a totally different purpose that would work wonderfully as rotary fixtures