Forward: I serialized this build in the "What I Did For Beer Today" thread in the General forum to pump some life into it, and since have been answering PMs about various details and referencing the pertinent posts - once I've found them again. I'm going to pull all of those posts together into this thread, if only to make it easier for me to find them.
And off we go!
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Officially started the build of "K3", my third keezer (RIP K1. And K2 is currently trying to bleed out, but I'm keeping it on life-support with periodic r134a top-ups). It'll be a 14.8cf unit on a rolling dolly like K1 and K2, but rather than run all the plumbing and wiring inside the oem lids as before, I'm building my own this time.
The chest freezer is a Frigidaire FFFC15M4TW, but the same unit is sold under a number of brand names.
Here's is some basic dimensional data:
Note the scant air-gap between the top of the kegs and the underside of the lid liner (lid itself isn't shown but the beveled line is a projection of the liner). If a QD is plugged on a keg the lid will not fully close. Combined with the fact that the lid itself is assembled and then injection-foamed it's effectively glued together (I never found a single screw anywhere on that lid). It was pre-ordained that I was going to have to build a custom lid.
Also, I like to have the keezer top at bar height, and be movable. Both "K1" and "K2" used rolling dollies. K3 will be the same. And having the dolly provides a convenient place to tuck all the electronics chunks out of the way.
Here's a basic dimension drawing...
Just realized I never put the corner gussets in that drawing. Oh well, they'll show up later
So...with the prelim's out of the way, time to build something!
This afternoon I planed and squared up the 8' 2x8s for the dolly in my wee shop...
Was going to keep going but after a close inspection of the bottom of the freezer I spent the rest of the day doing a design revision to account for the way the chest freezer was built - which resulted in a decidedly non-uniform bottom.
Rather than insert the compressor and bolt it to an internal base plate in the conventional manner which would have maintained the otherwise flat bottom from end to end, this compressor was already attached to its plate - which was then attached to the underside of the base chassis. And as the plate has all kinds of bent "ribbing" for strength which project almost 1/4" below the rest of the chassis bottom, I'm going to have to account for that lest the whole thing sit at an angle.
But I have a solution...
Cheers!
And off we go!
================================================================================================
Officially started the build of "K3", my third keezer (RIP K1. And K2 is currently trying to bleed out, but I'm keeping it on life-support with periodic r134a top-ups). It'll be a 14.8cf unit on a rolling dolly like K1 and K2, but rather than run all the plumbing and wiring inside the oem lids as before, I'm building my own this time.
The chest freezer is a Frigidaire FFFC15M4TW, but the same unit is sold under a number of brand names.
Here's is some basic dimensional data:
Note the scant air-gap between the top of the kegs and the underside of the lid liner (lid itself isn't shown but the beveled line is a projection of the liner). If a QD is plugged on a keg the lid will not fully close. Combined with the fact that the lid itself is assembled and then injection-foamed it's effectively glued together (I never found a single screw anywhere on that lid). It was pre-ordained that I was going to have to build a custom lid.
Also, I like to have the keezer top at bar height, and be movable. Both "K1" and "K2" used rolling dollies. K3 will be the same. And having the dolly provides a convenient place to tuck all the electronics chunks out of the way.
Here's a basic dimension drawing...
Just realized I never put the corner gussets in that drawing. Oh well, they'll show up later
So...with the prelim's out of the way, time to build something!
This afternoon I planed and squared up the 8' 2x8s for the dolly in my wee shop...
Was going to keep going but after a close inspection of the bottom of the freezer I spent the rest of the day doing a design revision to account for the way the chest freezer was built - which resulted in a decidedly non-uniform bottom.
Rather than insert the compressor and bolt it to an internal base plate in the conventional manner which would have maintained the otherwise flat bottom from end to end, this compressor was already attached to its plate - which was then attached to the underside of the base chassis. And as the plate has all kinds of bent "ribbing" for strength which project almost 1/4" below the rest of the chassis bottom, I'm going to have to account for that lest the whole thing sit at an angle.
But I have a solution...
Cheers!
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