Aluminium Alloy In A Bar?

[Ross]

God i hate you artistic types - Looks bloody great!!! Well done

 

[Phrak]

Thanks Mandrakar for finding this topic.

Matt, how did the finished product turn out, and have you got any tips you'd pass on to others considering building their own fonts?

Tim.
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=10372

 

[mobrien]

Hi Tim,

There has been no progress for a while - the font is still where the last photos show it - I moved house when I was halfway through the project, and then of course life got crazy! That said, in two weeks time I have three weeks holiday, and its on the list of things to do in that time - as well as panelling the freezer I have to get it all looking good!

I am planning on insulating the font and air cooling the beer lines - I'll post more on the thread when I get back to it!

M

 

[browndog]

Well Mobrien, you better be inviting a few of the local AHB Brewers around to give you a hand and give advise to any of the novice boys who come by.

cheers

Browndog

 

[Finite]

In the words of Paris Hilton.............


thats hot

 

[mobrien]

Things have been quiet on the bar building font, as I was stuck on the drip tray. But found the perfect item, 1m x 0.45m on ebay!



So I got all excited, whilst I am waiting for it to get here, so I finished the outside of the font. Sanded for about 3 hours, finishing off with 800 wet and dry, then 1200 steel wool, and then "Silvo" polish.



I also have the freezer now, and its all wired and ready to go.



Finally, the couple of trees I slabbed a year ago are just about dry, so I think everything is falling into place. Time to get this baby working!

I was just speaking to my wife about it, and she has decided that once it is done it will go in the house, not under the house - so its just getting better and better.

Now I just have to sort out the inside of the font (insulation; computer fan air circulation) and build the bar. Might even have it done for christmas

M

 

[Ross]

Nice work mate :super: ...

I'm looking forward to catching up for a few in the near future :beer:


cheers Ross...

 

[Doc]

Looking great.
Have you thought about getting it chromed to really make it shine ?
As for insulation, how about just getting some insulation trunking to go around the beer lines in the font ?

Doc

 

[mobrien]

I did think about chroming it, but it was going to be very costly! And until my wife gets a job again instead of studying, its not going to happen

The plan is to insulate the inside of the font, then have a poly pipe going around the lines. At the freezer end of the poly pipe, a computer fan attached, so 2 deg air is blown over the lines to the top, the warm(er) air coming back down the outside. In theory, this should mean cold beer to the tap, so minimal waste - and it seems easier than trying to work out a way to flood the font (which would be really cool, but I can't get my head around it).

M

 

[mobrien]

Got the drip tray today so had to sit it all together! Very happy here!

M

 

[Jye]

Its looking pretty big and full on... I love it :beerbang:

 

[browndog]

When are we up for the christening Mobrien, I'm just up the road Mate

cheers

Browndog

 

[mobrien]

Yeah, will be letting you know - the plan is a brew day at my place to christen it.... whenever that may be

M

 

[*hop*cone*]

How are you attaching the font to the tray and bar? Have you thought about getting the font proffessionally polished and then sprayed with a hardened clear acrylic. Or even anodised in a silver if that is posible.

 

[mobrien]

Yesterday was the day. Time to finish this sucker!

First step was to make some special bolts. I got cup head bolts, filed (OK, used an angle grinder!) off one side and put a bend in the middle. The flat side was so the bolt could slide down the inside of the SCUBA cylinder, and then not rotate as I tightened it. The bend was to get the bolt straight, as I had to drill the holes on an angle.



Then I drilled four holes in the base of the cylinder - this took ages as the cyclinder is about 25mm thick in the base, and I started small and worked my way up to the right size with plenty of cutting oil.

At Bunnings I found a gasket for between the font and the drip tray in the form of a sewer line o ring! *exactly* the right size!

 

[mobrien]

NExt step was plumbing the font. First I hooked up the bev line into the back of my snaplock tap adapters and stems. This involves putting a tiny metal piece into the tube (no idea what it is called!) which I do by heating up the bevva line with boiling water. A nut then slides over the top and tightens into the back of the stem, creating a seal using the now splade bevva line as the o ring. pretty neat.



Then it was "just" a matter of screwing the nut on the back of the stem - the nut is way inside the font, so I felt like a vet checking a cow for pregnancy...

Before I tightened the nuts, I put the taps on, to make sure they were going to be straight!

 

[mobrien]

Time to cut up the freezer. Holes drilled for the font and also the drain from the drip tray... The stainless skin destroyed my hole cutting bit... but I made it through.

Notice the nice white top of the freezer? more on that later.....



The drip tray sat nicely on top, and then I drilled the holes for the bolts. I used the gasket to mark the holes so they would be exact, and was careful to orient the taps to the front!

 

[mobrien]

Next I got a little tricky - I needed something inside the freezer to hold the bolts, and not collapse the lid of the freezer as I tightened the bolts. Wood could split, and MDF or the like would get rotten over time. So sitting at the table in the morning, I'm looking around the kitchen - "What I need is a nice piece of plastic, just like that chopping board"



Blue chopping board? We never had a blue chopping board!

Now was time to finish plumbing the font. John guest fitting for the other end of the bevva line, to go into the restrictors. Another hard job, but soaking in hot water helps!



And then the restrictors and keg out attachments - all with hose clamps of course!

 

[mobrien]

On the home straight now - a tube for the drain with a u-beaut hose clamp with a had twist side, rather than a screw!



And "Yeah baby", we're done!



We have an old Queeslander, and under the house is an old stables with feed door. My wife and I were trying to work out where to put the bar, and I'm looking at the old stables.... The feed doors were bolted shut, and had been painted many times in place - but a few minutes work and I had it open and working! The freezer and bar goes just behind there - now just need to tidy up behind the bar!

 

[mobrien]

Now you would think the story ends there - save for maybe a photo of the bar with a beer - which of course will happen later today when it is all cooled down. But there is more in this twisted tail of woe!

In the last photo, the observant of you will notice that the top of the freezer is now woodgrain - not white.

Now I could say that I was very clever and blended it in - but that would be a lie. It is actually a different freezer than the rest of the photos.

"huh?" I hear you say.

Let me explain. The freezer was all done. It was beautiful. I was feeling not unlike Tom Hanks when he made fire in that crappy commercial of a movie for fedex. I was man. I had made a bar.

But I *had* to put the final touch, and make it neat. I mean, it goes without saying.

So it was time to mount the gas manifold. So I screwed it to the side of the freezer. Two screws through the lip, and then had to do the two into the side of the freezer.

Now what is the chances of hitting anything? bugger all - and my logic was if a screw hit the fridge line, its so small it would just skim off the side. I mean, it just not possible.

Anyone see where this is going?

So I screwed the self tapper in, and then...


FFFFFFFFFFSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

I didn't say a word.