Fisher Paykel Keezer Build Questions

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woodwormm

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i've just taken the lid off and cut my timber pieces for the collar...

now i'm pretty impressed with the measure thrice cut once kind of effort and the compount mitre saw...

however it seems I wasn't paying attention to how the springs on the lid work when i unscrewed the hinges.

Does anyone have a good image of how the springs (twist rod style) fit into the hinges when the lid is on?

also can I just cut and terminate the wiring to the lid light? there's nothing important in that cable is there?

cheers
 
if you get stuck could always take a pic of my fermentation freezer which is a F&P
 
if you get stuck could always take a pic of my fermentation freezer which is a F&P

cheers, I may wander into harvey's on my lunch break tomorrow... have a gawk in person, i'm sure they'd be same style still..
 
First question, unfortunately, I just chucked them springs. PITA. Fought them for a few hours and chucked them.

Second, the back panel of the freezer, where the lid light wire is coming from, unscrew that and there is plenty of slack in the cable to have it reach up over the collar. No need to cut. If you want to cut anyway, I'm not sure but looks like that light is all it powers. You could re-purpose it for a fan though!
 
First question, unfortunately, I just chucked them springs. PITA. Fought them for a few hours and chucked them.

Second, the back panel of the freezer, where the lid light wire is coming from, unscrew that and there is plenty of slack in the cable to have it reach up over the collar. No need to cut. If you want to cut anyway, I'm not sure but looks like that light is all it powers. You could re-purpose it for a fan though!

good to know about the slack in the cable... fan... hmmm i think i want a 12Volt PC one (for lesser power consumption) but good idea...

without the springs is the lid weight enough to hold it down? or did you add clasps/clips to the lid ?

cheers again
 
Depends on the size and how heavy the lid is.
My 500L doesn't require the springs, however my 200L does.

I pulled apart a few hard drives and used the magnets on either corner of the lid + front corners of the wood.
Strong enough to securely hold down the lid and apply some pressure.
 
I dont have a pic for you but I near broke my finger when I tried to re-fit mine....

Then I found the trick: With you hinges unscrewed, lay your lid flat, upside down and put the spring/rods in the holes. Then you just simply fold the the lid over to closed and do up the hinges...

I'll see if I can find the post that had a better explanation for you.

Also, if you undo the bracket to the light cable, you should be able to get enough length to not have to cut it.



Found it:
Edit: Here and Here
 
I'm not sure but looks like that light is all it powers. You could re-purpose it for a fan though!

Surely though if it powers the light, and you reuse it to run a fan, wouldn't that mean that the fan will ONLY come on when the lid is open?

You'd want the fan to come on (or have power supplied to it atleast) when the lid is closed.

I used to have my fan and the actual freezer hooked up to a powerboard that was run by the controller. There was also a switch i placed in line with the fan, so that power was supplied to the fan when the freezer was fired up by the controlller, and with the lid closed allowed the fan to run. When the lid was opened, the fan shut off. Quite simple actually. All it required was using a momentary switch installed on the collar high enough so it made closed contact with the lid.
 
I dont have a pic for you but I near broke my finger when I tried to re-fit mine....

Then I found the trick: With you hinges unscrewed, lay your lid flat, upside down and put the spring/rods in the holes. Then you just simply fold the the lid over to closed and do up the hinges...

I'll see if I can find the post that had a better explanation for you.

Also, if you undo the bracket to the light cable, you should be able to get enough length to not have to cut it.



Found it:
Edit: Here and Here

awesome! just what i needed. cheers
 
So - reasonably productive day. A trip to Capalaba and I've returned with 4 kegs and everything else I need to get going (Although, I think I'm going to go back for that manifold ASAP. The option of turning off lines appeals to me.

And good news is, all four fit into my F&P H215X - It's snug but it fits. Time for a collar (So I can fit my gas bottle in.. Didn't expect it to be so big) but after a trip to the big green shed today I came home empty handed.

This thing has corner hinges (wraps around) so the first design I looked at to copy (which used an inner collar then a nicer outer collar) wont work, at least not neatly. Bunnings also didn't seem to have any dressed pine in remotely the right sizes. Any suggestions?

I know a couple of people use this freezer, how did you solve this?

Edit: Had a look at those above links - when you say unfinished is this the "construction" pine at the back of the shed? I think it was 90mm*38mm or something? Looked pretty rough but if a decent sanding brings it up all right I might still consider it. I'm thinking that I could probably still use the oak face plates (I wanted to steal this guys build http://billybrew.com/kegerator-collar) and just cut away a bit for the hinges as long as I sand it well? I'll admit I'm a bit of a gumby with this sort of thing, though I usually muddle my way through it with decent results.
 
get some treated pine and build it out of that. I had to chistle the inside so the lid closed. Also for people thinking collars and new freezes make sure you use a method you can restore the unit back to stock, I used that door foam seal crap and stuck that to the freezer and silicone my collar onto the foam. I built mine before I tested the freezer and of coarse it was on 4 hours and not even cool enough for a fridge (without the temp control attached)

So was a bit pissed with that and had to take it all apart and assemble to stock to get a swap over they couldnt see any mods done :p lucky or it was $380 down the drain
 
The sad part is, I had to google treated pine.....

But on the other hand, that looks much more like what I'd want to use. The dressed stuff was either 19mm or 45mm square and fairless useless due to the hinges. I'll pop out there again tomorrow and see what I can find.

Cheers Kelby.
 
Well, what I did was a bit of overkill but simple, the 19mm pine boards at bunnings are exactly the inner recess lip of the freezer, so, build that. Then 2 lengths of 45 mm pine (construction type) one on top of the other to form the collar. Use a face board on 3 sides to hold it all in. I have pics I'll post when I can get to them.
 
treated pine is H3, I wouldnt got h4 as thats for in the ground (and hard to find at greenshed) H2 is normal structural pine (but its T2 now as its termite treated lol). You want H2 if you paint it all the way around in 3 coats or H3 if you want it to last and still paint it.
 
Treated pine.. Really? I would think that it would be best to keep all the treated junk away from a food/bev area...
I just hit up a wood yard and picked up some 2 by 4's of Oregon, stained it and sealed it.
 
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Pictures say enough.

Note, inner lip recess replicated with timber on the inside.
 
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