How to make a magic beer bottle?

PjB

PjB

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Hi wonderful people, it's been a minute! I need to make an oversized beer bottle that will appear to empty when tipped up (without fluid exiting the bottle,) and then magically refill when upright again. I understand some of it in theory: a small amount of fluid is held in a space between an outer and inner bottle. When tipped, the fluid runs into the cap (or top of the bottle) area. How would you cast this? As one unit or two separate pieces / steps? What material would you cast it in? Is there a hole between the two bottles for air/fluid circulation? This would be about 1.5X life size and needs to be relatively light weight for a backpack puppet to handle. For anyone unfamiliar, I'm thinking something like the magic baby bottles here: https://www.amazon.com/Click-Play-Magic-Disappearing-Bottles/dp/B077G59GQF/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3LVU8TFQQ3Y33&keywords=magic+baby+bottles&qid=1704782986&sprefix=magic+baby+bottle,aps,119&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1 TIA!
 
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Sounds like a job for someone with CAD skills and a 3 d printer. Clear PLA or probably better for fluid is Clear PETG.
My son might like the challenge (He's high functioning autistic with good CAD skills and an associates in engineering tech) He's designed custom boat fittings, Clips for diffusion for theatrical strips, Chair adapters for our captioning project,
repair end caps for my dental xray. I'm the printing guy then. Clear with amber fluid would probably be the most visible. Materials under 25 bucks... Design and futzing time? hey it's an adventure but I"m sure an amazon gift card to
supplement his gaming habit might suffice. Let me know and we could see if we could knock out a working miniature as a test bed.
 
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jtweigandt said:
Sounds like a job for someone with CAD skills and a 3 d printer. Clear PLA or probably better for fluid is Clear PETG.
My son might like the challenge (He's high functioning autistic with good CAD skills and an associates in engineering tech) He's designed custom boat fittings, Clips for diffusion for theatrical strips, Chair adapters for our captioning project,
repair end caps for my dental xray. I'm the printing guy then. Clear with amber fluid would probably be the most visible. Materials under 25 bucks... Design and futzing time? hey it's an adventure but I"m sure an amazon gift card to
supplement his gaming habit might suffice. Let me know and we could see if we could knock out a working miniature as a test bed.
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I think the bottle will have to be amber/brown as well as the fluid. Need to replicate the attached. Will probably need to add a label at the top to make room for the reservoir. You/your son will be a great option if I can't hack it myself. Thanks for offering! Happy to pay him, I'll let you know, Thanks!
 

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jtweigandt said:
Sounds like a job for someone with CAD skills and a 3 d printer. Clear PLA or probably better for fluid is Clear PETG.
My son might like the challenge (He's high functioning autistic with good CAD skills and an associates in engineering tech) He's designed custom boat fittings, Clips for diffusion for theatrical strips, Chair adapters for our captioning project,
repair end caps for my dental xray. I'm the printing guy then. Clear with amber fluid would probably be the most visible. Materials under 25 bucks... Design and futzing time? hey it's an adventure but I"m sure an amazon gift card to
supplement his gaming habit might suffice. Let me know and we could see if we could knock out a working miniature as a test bed.
Click to expand...
One of the first lessons in the Fusion360 training course I took is drawing a beer bottle. It really would be easy to make the shell of a bottle, then insert the center, opaque tube then seal the whole thing up. It would have to be resin printed though Don't know that you could get any FDM printer to have clear enough results and even PETG might be to brittle. It's a good Idea though.
 
PjB said:
Thanks, Van, but this trick won't work for my application. I need the liquid to reappear/re-set.
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Does it have to be full, get drunk, set down empty, then reappear filled later? I mean do you have to see it empty as it's sitting or can it refill as soon as it's set down? Oh, and does it have to be uncapped in the action?
 
Van said:
Does it have to be full, get drunk, set down empty, then reappear filled later? I mean do you have to see it empty as it's sitting or can it refill as soon as it's set down? Oh, and does it have to be uncapped in the action?
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It probably will remain in the puppet's hand. Like the toy bottle I referenced, it would appear to be emptying when held in drinking position, then refilling whenever upright. I'm guessing you didn't feed your baby dolls when you were little? ;)

The "trick" is the illusion that it's a full bottle, when in reality it's a tiny bit of liquid in the small space between two bottles. The amount being small enough to be concealed in the top when tipped. A baby bottle works for the illusion because of the cap/nipple area. The beer bottle should appear to be uncapped, so I imagine it will have to have a label added at the top with an opaque area beyond that to hide the liquid when it collects there.

I don't think I'm following your description with the "center opaque tube." I believe the inner bottle has to have the same contours as the outer bottle for the illusion to work. This is what's stumping me as how to mold and cast it.
 
PjB said:
It probably will remain in the puppet's hand. ;)
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"I'll have what the magic-beer drinking puppet is having!"

Ditto on the suggestion to hide the top tube with a neck label on the bottle. Maybe "Geppetto Bros Brewing"?
 
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