Ok, Hole saw is ready to go, IM honestly having trouble deciding how far apart for my taps...
FYI: Fridge is 630mm wide... Pilot hole is smack on 315mm... I contempleted coming in 133 from each side, But i feel they will be too far apart, hence, making the drip tray size a PITA...
Just curious, How close are your taps? And how close is too close?
Cheers
Ben
With my fridge, erm kegerator, I thought I could fit in three kegs so I put on three taps. I looked at the size of glasses I would commonly use; say you have a pint sitting there whilst pouring another, to help decide on the spacings. But really this isn't probably going to happen very often. So all that aside, what sized drip tray do you reckon you'd want (what would look good on the fridge) and how many taps do you reckon you'll want (i read your post as being three?)- to a large extent that will determine the spacing of the taps. You don't want them so close as to bust your knuckles nor too far apart that it looks odd. I recklon a larger drip tray is better than one that is barely wide enough. So you're planning 260mm centre to centre of your outside taps? I'd go a 500mm tray maybe? Visually that would give you about 90mm outwards from the tap collar to the edge of the tray and 65mm to the fridge edge. That's a lot of the fridge covered by the tray.
You could probably come a bit closer to the centre pilot hole. Mark two dots on a piece of paper and form your hands as fists on these two dots. How far apart are your fists? What feels to be a comfortable distance apart? My fists could easliy go in to 100mm apart. That would give 200mm between centre to centre of outside taps and maybe get away with a 400mm tray and 115mm either side of the tray to the outside of the door edge. I don't remember my kegerator measurements but am just looking at my hands on a piece of paper.
Also a
removable drip tray is good for cleaning (rather than permanently fixed). I have some screws into the fridge skin that keyholes on the drip tray fit over.
Size of hole: I think I drilled mine at 21mm and it is quite snug; when I poke the shanks back in I sometimes get a bit of the insulation foam on the threads and on the end; therefor maybe too snug given the foam etc. However it would probably nice and neat through a timber structure.
Re: holesaw and depth of cut - you can cut twice as deep as it would appear, by cutting half from each side. They will still get tearout on the exit side (particulalry if there is plastic on the inside of the door) if you poke them through all the way from one side only. To reduce tearout you need to attack the hole from both sides.
You can do the same with a spade bit in timber (reduce tearout by attacking from both sides) if you have a pilot hole for it to follow...
Re: stepped bit in a fridge door. Stepped bits are better for thin material. In thicker material they are not going to give a smooth bore hole, i.e tapered. In theory you could use a stepper bit on both the inside skin and the outside skin and poke the inner foam out with a screwdriver or tool of you choice. They may also shatter the plastic of the door inner if you leave it on and drill though it like i did.
At any rate, don't drill the plastics whilst it is cold, let it reach room temp before drilling.
Cheapest holesaws I have seen in Adelaide are the tradetools brand from Gasweld - about $10 for the holesaw, the arbour is about $15. Or since I am almost around the corner from you, you could borrow mine if you want and see how far apart my taps.
Edit: oops looks like you already have a holesaw.
