Strong fridge shelf? Marine ply?

[zeggie]

Hey guys, I have a ~400l Fisher Paykel all fridge and keen to fit a second fermenter in there.
Comes with crappy plastic shelves I wouldn't trust to hold much.

Bunnings have 6mm marine ply they can cut up for a shelf, reckon this would hold a heavy full 25l fermenter?

They also have 12mm thick but wont fit in the shelf supports and worried cutting the edges will weaken it.
Never did woodwork at school so know nothing about this

Any ideas?

 

[mmmyummybeer]

Sorry can't help with info on the strength of marine ply we used a sheet of checker plate aluminum in ours, and it works great, it easily supports 5 kegs and keeps the crisper draw free for bottles.




Probable doesn't helps much but is another idea,

good luck

 

[brewologist]

How much is the marine ply?

I put in an aluminum checker plate shelf in mine last weekend. It is holding two full cornies at the moment and it handles them no worries.
I hope it can handle four but haven't tried that yet. Cost $50

I had the front folded to add support to the shelf. This was suggested by the sheetmetal shop. It works well.

The best bit was that I didn't have to spend the time knocking something up with wood as I dont have the time to do that at the moment with work being very busy.

 

[mmmyummybeer]

Should handle 4 easy as. Mines holding 5.

 

[zeggie]

Oh excellent, cheers guys checkplate looks like a MUCH better idea. So a local sheetmetal place can do this, any places in Melb you recommend (if you're from here?)

Marine ply was going to be 15-20 bucks, but 50 bucks for checkerplate would be worth it for piece of mind

 

[brewologist]

Thanks yummybeer,

All I need to now is get a couple of brew weekends in a row to fill all my cornies.

I'd love to see the new fridge stocked to capacity.

 

[brewologist]

Oh excellent, cheers guys checkplate looks like a MUCH better idea. So a local sheetmetal place can do this, any places in Melb you recommend (if you're from here?)

Marine ply was going to be 15-20 bucks, but 50 bucks for checkerplate would be worth it for piece of mind

Hey zeggie,

Any place close to you should do it. Goggle sheet metal in your area. I'm not from Melb so can't help out there.

 

[Adr_0]

Just on the marine ply, I don't know that marine ply would be much good. While the glueing of it is a lot better/more consistent, it's actually more flexible than normal ply (to allow it to be shaped). So you're paying a lot for something that will bow in the middle.

Checkerplate sounds good.

I've done a brace with 70x45 hardwood, delicately measured, which does the trick well and still permits circulation of air through the wire shelf. Do you need it? I don't know; you could argue you don't in the bottom section but I think limiting circulation in a fridge is a bad idea: not so much for temperature (though there is that) but for building up mould etc. Could be a total non-issue.

 

[Tex083]

Any indsturial estate will have sheet metal workers, Marine places will have alloy and Stainless if you want to get fancy.
I find cash works best, and the price is usually good.
I have a sheetmetal worker near me he is heaps cheaper than other big places. He is in Pascoe Vale next to the pub.

 

[zeggie]

Any indsturial estate will have sheet metal workers, Marine places will have alloy and Stainless if you want to get fancy.
I find cash works best, and the price is usually good.
I have a sheetmetal worker near me he is heaps cheaper than other big places. He is in Pascoe Vale next to the pub.

Pascoe Vale isn't that far from me, could you post the name of the place or PM?

Cheers!

 

[zeggie]

Just on the marine ply, I don't know that marine ply would be much good. While the glueing of it is a lot better/more consistent, it's actually more flexible than normal ply (to allow it to be shaped). So you're paying a lot for something that will bow in the middle.

Checkerplate sounds good.

I've done a brace with 70x45 hardwood, delicately measured, which does the trick well and still permits circulation of air through the wire shelf. Do you need it? I don't know; you could argue you don't in the bottom section but I think limiting circulation in a fridge is a bad idea: not so much for temperature (though there is that) but for building up mould etc. Could be a total non-issue.

Yeah I've scrubbed out ply for the moment. I only thought marine ply because of moisture in the Brew fridge

 

[robbo5253]

I just have a piece of 4X2 holding up the front of my shelf in my fermenting fridge & it holds 2 brews with no dramas. It all depends how your shelfs connect to the fridge.

I like the idea of still having the shelves as it allows air flow.

Cheers

Robbo

 

[Tex083]

Pascoe Vale isn't that far from me, could you post the name of the place or PM?

Cheers!

It's Peter Smiths Sheet Metal in Fawkner Rd. it runs from railway pde. To Cumbrland road.
There are a few in Williamstown and Campbellfield, Thomastown too.
I like this one because his s local.

 

[Spiesy]

stainless checkerplate certainly sound like a good idea.

I just bought some timber from Masters and made mine myself, cut to measure, drilled together and then coated with a sealant to hopefully keep the moisture out.

 

[GalBrew]

I made a shelf from 2 bits of plywood, with pine batons sandwiched in between held together with timber screws and thickly painted for protection. It can hold 2x 19L and 1x 9L kegs no problems. Only cost about $30 in materials. You can see in the pic that it slots nicely into the shelf rails in the fridge. Has been going strong for about a year now.

 

[mmmyummybeer]

We brought our checker plate as an off cut from the scappy. It is about 5 to 6mm thick and we just had to trim it to size. We curved the front to blend in with the shape of the crisper drawer.

 

[QldKev]

I would be worried if the solid shelf would be an issue with air flow, I guess a fan always gets things moving and all fridges should have a fan imho.

I've always been lucky and had metal shelves in both fridges I've converted, so I could just double them up.

If I had to make some I would make mine from security screens like Barley Belly did

 

[mmmyummybeer]

The original shelf we took out was the same size shape etc and made out of solid glass. The fridge has the air vents running down the front of the door. For keeping beer kegs cold it works fine, but if I was building a fermentation fridge then I would definitely go for Kev's security screen version, looks good too.

 

[Vanoontour]

This is what I have, lucky I got a mate in the biz...

 

[QldKev]

This is what I have, lucky I got a mate in the biz...

Fridge Shelves.jpg

You fridge looks identical to Barley Bellys, even where the security screen is cut and you even have blue milk crates next to it!