Keezer Build - Walnut and Anigre

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Nanitebrewing

Active Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2011
Messages
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Location
Eugene
I have been building my 8-tap keezer thanks to the wealth of information on this site. You guys rock!

The dark wood is walnut and the light wood is fiddleback anigre veneer I'll be putting on plywood. The bar top is granite with a travertine backsplash.

There will be 2" gaps around the freezer with "silent" computer fans moving the air.

So far I've got the base built, most of the bar top, and am starting on the coffin and veneering.

More as the build progresses.

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The lid weighs a ton and I want some kind of lift assist.
With the curved sides, the gap between the side and freezer narrows to only about 1.25" in the middle limiting springs or actuators. I am considering using gas lift springs designed for truck covers - $25 for a pair rated at 100 lbs and I can mount them horizontally. Any thoughts here?
 
Before I settled on heavy duty drawer glides for my keezer, I toyed around with using gas lift from a celica hatchback. It worked during my test runs but that was before I put tiles on.
 
Beautiful job! The curved sides are cool as hell and the choice of wood species is amazing. Very, very nice work sir! My suggestion would be linear actuators, but like you mentioned, with the curved sides it may not leave enough room. The top on mine weighs a ton as well, because it has a coffin, flanking shelves, cedar logs, and tumbled travertine on the top and backsplash. I have plenty of room for actuators, but if I spend any more on brewing projects at the moment, my wife is going to kill me. :D
 
Thanks, the wife gave me the go ahead as long is it matches the style of most of the rest of the furniture I've built in the house - two tone woods and graceful curves. I wanted it to appear lighter than it is.

I wonder if a linear actuator internally mounted would do the job. Maybe set up on the compressor hump?
 
Okay, the kids were over their sickness this weekend so I got some time to work on this.

I've got the top about ready to put on the freezer. The veneered sides are on, the top is on - from a real great marbled walnut board. I just need to get the foam cut and the taps installed. (And see if I can sneakily order the three extra taps and shanks I need that I don't have).

I'm still mulling over linear actuator vs. gas spring assists.

I won't have as much time to build coming up since I am building our club's booth for the Seattle NHC. We've got an awesome theme planned! The dry run is in a month though and I haven't started it yet.

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Well, I've got all 8 taps flowing now. Two CO2 manifolds are mounted under the lid. I've got the coffin insulated and the fan circulating air through. It seems to keep the beer lines fairly cool.

I went with the gas lift-assist springs. Can't beat $25 for a pair: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0041EIXHI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

They work great! I hardly need any force to lift the lid and more importantly they act as a stop so that the lid does not go too far over. Sure beats the decapitation stick I was using for a while.

Hopefully I'll have some more time soon the finish the curved legs and veneer the panels soon.

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I see the wood support (for lower arm) but wonder how you prevent it from moving away from freezer unless outside frame prevents it moving out under load. I like your lift design and want to make an assisted lid. Thanks if you respond.
 
That looks super sweet - definitely a unique wood combo as far as I have seen. The gas lift assist is sweet too, I need to implement something like that on mine. as the propping up with 2x4s is getting. I am willing to bet that my lid weighs a bit less than yours as well, as I used glass tile, and I still think mine is exceptionally heavy. Are those springs rated for 80 lbs each or combined?

I would definitely be interested to see pics of how those arms are attached to the base (or the freezer itself?)
 
I'll take some other pictures of the spring mounts tonight. They are mounted to a 'frame' that is 3 boards - very dense 1" beech. The boards are lap jointed at the corner (very strong). The vertical board is attached to the base with a block of wood and screws. The horizontal board is a attached to a small block that wraps around the back of the freezer and is mounted to the freezer with a screw into the hinge mount. (It will make more sense with pictures).
The other end of the spring is just screwed to the lid. I used some carpet tape to stick the boards to the side of the freezer, though that is not working well. The boards bow away from the freezer by maybe a 1/4". I may try to epoxy them to the side, but the framework is pretty stable as is.

As for the 80 lb rating, I really don't know if it is each or both. I think both. I could hardly compress them before they were mounted and actually thought they were too much, but they seem just right.

I weighed how much force I need to open the lid by standing on a scale and pushing the lid up. Came out to be about 70 pounds.
 
looks great. I'll be waiting impatiently for the rest.

Would the gaps for the computer fans look cool with some light coming out of them from LEDs on the computer fans?
 
looks great. I'll be waiting impatiently for the rest.

Would the gaps for the computer fans look cool with some light coming out of them from LEDs on the computer fans?

That would be cool!

More pictures to follow tonight. Too many pints of our club's Dry stout last night on tap at Eugene's Rogue brewery to get the pics on.
 
Except for a couple more coats of finish and custom tap handles, she is finally finished!

The veneering of the panels and getting the curves of the legs laid out just right took some time, but I really like the how it turned out.

The air flows up through the sides well and the skirt is removable. I just need to decide on some tap labels beyond the blue tape.

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LOVE the piston assisted top opener.
I've had the same idea brewing in my head for my keezer project but couldn't figure how to mount the bottom knuckle. Your idea of using an extended bolt for the factory hinge to hold the piston is brilliant.
Oh....and that veneer is beautiful and $
 
Nanitebrewing, Great job on your keezer wish I had those wood working skills.

Got a couple of questions for you about the gas shock you used. I am working on my second keezer build and wanted to use shocks to hold the lid open.

Did the mounting brackets come with the shocks you used or did you have to order them separate?

Is there a reason you attached the shocks so far to the rear of the lid?

Some one else on the forum attached his shocks similar to yours and they ended up bending the rear frame of the freezer. It appears that they were pushing the lid backwards instead of lifting it. I was thinking of attaching mine more towards the front of the lid to prevent damage.

Again that is a sweet looking keezer.
 
Thanks for the kind words.

As far as the springs: The mounting brackets were separate, purchased from the same vendor on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004716UFM/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00470ZMHU/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
They have several types.

As for position, I just kind of went with where they would fit well with the length extended and retracted as well as the open angle I wanted. I think any further forward and they would not open the lid far enough. I haven't noticed any flexing or bending. These spring are 80 pound rated, I'm not sure if that is each or the pair. I still need to give some lift to the lid, but not much and the best thing is that they stop the lid from falling backwards.
 
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