Whoops... umm.. help?

So after measuring like 5 times and cutting once, I still managed to mess this up (I'm not a savvy woodworker apparently).

I was hoping to do a double-walled keezer collar with some "lesser" wood on the inside and a larger over-hanging lip with nicer wood on the outside. Lid to be attached to collar so I can lift the taps out of the way. I ended up coming short on the cuts, as seen here:





Is there any way to save this mistake?

So... if I understand you correctly, what's pictured is the "lesser" wood, which is supposed to be just a bit bigger than the freezer, so you can just attach the nice wood flush and have it serve as a lip? And, the problem is, it's actually just a bit smaller, so just attaching your nice wood would leave too narrow a collar to fit over the fridge?

If I've got that all straight, seems like you could get some cheap, relatively thin wood -- firring strips might be just what the doctor ordered -- to serve as shims between the pictured structural bit and the nicer wood that will serve as the lip.

Might wanna measure your nice wood six times, though. ;-)

Put some molding on it to cover it up?

ShinyBuddha said:

Put some molding on it to cover it up?

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Dry wall looks like complete crap before it is finished with mud, tape, paint and moulding. Then it looks flawless.

feinbera said:

So... if I understand you correctly, what's pictured is the "lesser" wood, which is supposed to be just a bit bigger than the freezer, so you can just attach the nice wood flush and have it serve as a lip? And, the problem is, it's actually just a bit smaller, so just attaching your nice wood would leave too narrow a collar to fit over the fridge?

If I've got that all straight, seems like you could get some cheap, relatively thin wood -- firring strips might be just what the doctor ordered -- to serve as shims between the pictured structural bit and the nicer wood that will serve as the lip.

Might wanna measure your nice wood six times, though. ;-)

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Yeah - you got it right. This would be a lot easier if I had proper tools. I basically have a drill. Hell, Home Depot did the cutting for me.

I guess my issue is going to be finding something in store thinner than a 1x since my "gap" is about 3/8 to 1/2 inch.

I think I went wrong in my measuring by not realizing the lid (which I measured) is slightly smaller than the body (which is the lynch pin in the design, as it turns out). But yes - 6 times next time

Use shims

Don't forget to get longer shanks for your taps because of the extra width. You'll need it.

Looks like I'll give shims a try. Not the "glue the boards together" solution I had planned but as long as the end product serves beer...

I'd say either some sort of bottom moulding or a flat bull nose piece to sit under the collar and come out to hide that white "ledge" that is seen.

If you go the bull nose or flat piece coming out it wouldn't have to be much... then have the collar sit on it.

DanH said:

Use shims

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Yeah, shims for windows and doors are what I was thinking. Screw from the inside through the cheap wood, through the shim and into the good wood. Just don't go too long on your screws. You can stack two shims together pointing in opposite directions and get an even shim. The more they overlap the thicker they get this way being they are pie slice shaped.

How are you attaching the outside piece to this inner structure? If you're using screws, you could pre-drill your holes and then glue washers to the back, around the hole. I'm assuming your 'finished' sheet isn't super thick or heavy, so it's really just a facade - it doesn't need a whole lot of structure to hold it to your base frame.

Perhaps you can find a friend in the neighborhood who will cut wood to size in exchange for some homebrew.
Toolies often look for more projects so they can use all their toys. Heck, they might end up building a home pub for you.

Put spacers between the hinges and the wood on the back side. The front side will then be flush and the gap will not be noticed by anyone but you with it in the back.

raysmithtx said:

Put spacers between the hinges and the wood on the back side. The front side will then be flush and the gap will not be noticed by anyone but you with it in the back.

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Simple, awesome solution.

I have the same type collar on my Keezer. 2x4 as the inner and 1x6 cedar as the outside finished face. I used carriage bolts with washers/nuts to secure them and it looks better having the bolt and washer heads on the outside IMO. If I were you, I would skip the wedges and use the carriage bolts and just use washers to make up the gap between the outer and inner boards. This will leave an air gap between the two when looking at it from above which you can hide with trim strips. The trim strips would be the width of the inner board and outer board plus the air gap.

Also, you might want to insulate the collar using pink foam board and be sure to caulk around the gaps with silicone caulk. Use spray adhesive to bond the insulation to your boards. I would double or triple up the insulation depending on the width you have to work with.

jhay_x7 said:

I used carriage bolts with washers/nuts to secure them and it looks better having the bolt and washer heads on the outside IMO. If I were you, I would skip the wedges and use the carriage bolts and just use washers to make up the gap between the outer and inner boards.

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That's not a bad idea either.

Right now I'm toying with 3 options:

1. Shims.
2. Washers as spacers w/ bolts.
3. Getting some 1/4 inch or 3/8 inch plywood (or similar thin board) and sandwiching it between the inner/outer collar using construction adhesive

#3 is a pretty "no fuss" option so I'm trying to figure out if there is any reason NOT to do this...

If you want slightly bigger overhand than 3/8, you could use 1/2" insulation board...very cheap and would provide insulation.

Better check that 3/8 measurement though it sounds like based on your other cuts

How about go to Home Depot and grab some free paint mixers. Then just glue them on to the existing collar and use those as spacers to get to the edge of the freezer? It's free and easy!

Shimming the hinge side won't fix the same set back problem with the sides.

I'd use this as an excuse to learn how to use a router, because all you'd really need to do to let you slap the fancy wood directly to the collar is to route out a rabbet to match the set back/inset at the bottom edge...

Cheers!

Just to throw it out there, I saw a post recently where someone had made the overhanging collar like you planned on, but afterwards realized that a driptray mounted to the side of the keezer doesn't stick out far enough to catch the drips. They were wishing that they'd made it flush or even slightly recessed like yours is. :shrug:

Thanks for all the input guys.

I took all the suggestions to heart and played around with the ideas yesterday - it seems like "something" kept getting in the way of every suggestion for this reason or that.

Ultimately my wife walked in, suggested I just ignore the over-hang idea and rip the good wood down to the same 1x6 size as the other wood and call it a day. Not as luxurious or skillful but moves the job along without spending any more money.

Not my idealistic plan but if she's happy with it I'm happy...

Yeah...you'll get tired of sitting there with a homebrew admiring your handiwork on the keezer anyway and find something else to enjoy looking at, probably her it sounds like.