Aluminium Alloy In A Bar?

[mobrien]

Now this is where an understanding wife is priceless. She just says "OK, where do we get another freezer"!

So onto ebay, trading post and courier mail - and sure enough, a nice freezer in the courier mail for $140. Three hours driving later, another hour redoing the holes, and we're finished. Again.

And the hole? Well I did a bit of an autopsy, and opened up around the hole carefully using a drill bit going at 1000 km/hr and basically butchered around it... I hit the gas line dead center - 1mm above or below and I would have been fine.

In this photo, the total hole is about 5mm across - its not as big as it looks!

 

[mobrien]

So thats it - more photos later as I get liquid actually coming out of this baby!

M

 

[Jye]

Looks fantastic, what a great way to bring in the new year with the birth of a new bar :beerbang:

Bugger about the first freezer :angry: how did you attach the manifold to the second freezer? ... double sided tape

 

[FNQ Bunyip]

Well done , Another great home made bar..

What the hell did we all do befor brewing and building brew gear...

:beer:

Enjoy a few from it you deserve them..

 

[fixa]

Nice work mate!!! looks fantastic. i can almost taste the beer coming from it...

 

[browndog]

Excellent work Mo, I can feel a christening coming on!

cheers

Browndog

 

[Adamt]

Sorry to hear for your loss. But don't throw that dead freezer shell away, you just got yourself a fermenting insulator!

 

[dicko]

Bugger about the first freezer :angry: how did you attach the manifold to the second freezer? ... double sided tape

Hi mobrien,

Very well done and a top post loaded with good info.
I am about to do a similar thing to a freezer.
It will be going into our new house and I have conviced my wife to allow me to buy a new freezer.
Which raises the question;
How do you attach the gas manifold inside the freezer without causing any damage??
BTW, I will not be having a collar of wood as I am fitting an Andale 3 tap font to the top.

Cheers

 

[mobrien]

Ahhh - beers at lunch!

Still got to get the restricters dialled in 100% (a little too much head still), but I better not do any more now.... 4 beers on tap, all trying to get dialled in... and I can't seem to not pour full glassess.... nor throw away good beer...


left to right:

Wit beir
Aussie Ale
Munich Lager
Amber ale (very dark and malted!)

 

[mobrien]

Hi mobrien,

Very well done and a top post loaded with good info.
I am about to do a similar thing to a freezer.
It will be going into our new house and I have conviced my wife to allow me to buy a new freezer.
Which raises the question;
How do you attach the gas manifold inside the freezer without casing any damage??
BTW, I will not be having a collar of wood as I am fitting an Andale 3 tap font to the top.

Cheers

Excellent! Go luck with the project.

to answer your question - at the moment the manifold is just sitting loose (!!) - but the plan is to get a piece of plastic and glue it to the side - then I can screw to the side without having to search the trading post afterwards!

M

 

[dicko]

Excellent! Go luck with the project.

to answer your question - at the moment the manifold is just sitting loose (!!) - but the plan is to get a piece of plastic and glue it to the side - then I can screw to the side without having to search the trading post afterwards!

M

Good idea, maybe a piece of that blue cutting board that you used under the font.
I had thoughts of making a frame that fitted down one internal end of the freezer and attach everything to that.
I know one thing tho, if I stuff the new freezer my life wont be worth living h34r:
Cheers

 

[FNQ Bunyip]

What about just useing silicon or sikaflex to glue it .

you can slip a bit of wire trace behind it and cut it off if ever needs be. like a cheese slicer.. Ive mounted all sorts of things with it.

:beer:

 

[dicko]

What about just useing silicon or sikaflex to glue it .

you can slip a bit of wire trace behind it and cut it off if ever needs be. like a cheese slicer.. Ive mounted all sorts of things with it.

:beer:

Ah! FNQ B,

Sikaflex, thats the way to go.
They use that stuff when they assemble coach (bus) bodies to stick the side panels onto the frame.
I used it on a fishing boat a few years ago and "it sticks like you know what to a blanket"
Cheers mate. :beer:

 

[tangent]

man that drip tray is awesome. completes the set-up perfectly almost. you need a semi round one. how much do you want for that one?

 

[mobrien]

Been at a bit more - no manifold mounting or anything like that - but I did finish up the font cooling system!

I bought a 12v car fan (one that plugs into the cigarette lighter) from supercheap at the sale on the 30th - I just cut up my old scanners power supply (12v) and wired it all up - works a treat. So now sitting under the font, the fan blows cold air up its clacker! All wired to the controller, so turns on when the freezer is on and off when its not.



I'll have to get some sickaflex to do the manifold mounting too

And Tangent - I'd love to get a semi round one, and help you out with a drip tray - but you know... the bolts and the 2nd freezer - don't thinks its going to move from this one :beerbang:

 

[Wortgames]

How do you attach the gas manifold inside the freezer without causing any damage??
BTW, I will not be having a collar of wood as I am fitting an Andale 3 tap font to the top.

Hi Dicko,

I wondered that myself but I actually just have my manifold sitting in there loose on top of the kegs. It makes life much easier to remove all the gas lines when rearranging kegs anyway. I have modified my manifold to have a QD post as the input, when I take the thing travelling I have a sodastream bottle in there, but at home I just have a long line from the big bottle coming in under the lid and plugging into the manifold. This also has the advantage of giving me a nice long gas line with a QD on it, which I can use around the place without having to move the gas bottle :super:

I have fitted taps through the front of a chest freezer though, and if you're keen to drill holes then I reckon there is only one way to do it. You need to remove the plastic trim at the top of the walls, and dig out the foam insulation with a screwdriver and vacuum cleaner until you can see where all the lines are. Then you can measure and mark your holes between them.

For the taps, I used some short lengths of PVC pipe to hold the two skins apart and create a tube for the tap shanks to screw up tight against, then filled the void with that expanda-foam stuff and replaced the trim.

 

[Linz]

Excellent! Go luck with the project.

to answer your question - at the moment the manifold is just sitting loose (!!) - but the plan is to get a piece of plastic and glue it to the side - then I can screw to the side without having to search the trading post afterwards!

M

Screw it to the under side of the freezer lid........

 

[mobrien]

Screw it to the under side of the freezer lid........

Me likes!

M

 

[dicko]

Hi Wortgames,

I have considered that as well, but I currently use a fridge with a "T" piece for two kegs and I find it is a PITA mainly because the lines are stiff and seem to have a "mind of their own" and organise themselves int the most difficult position to gain access to the ball valves when I need to turn one or the other off.
I have done a lot of "grovelling" (sp) to get this set up and I can't be seen to be complaining (as observed by my wife) about access etc.

Howdy Linz,

That is also a good thought.
The freezer should be here in a fortnight so I will pursue all options.

Cheers guys and thanks for your help :beer:

 

[Linz]

I also drilled thru the back edge of the lid, so that the cooling lines are no probs either...