Completed my Danby DAR440BL Kegerator Build

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BansheeRider

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Last weekend I converted a Danby fridge into a kegerator. I found the fridge on CL for $115 brand new. I bought this kit from the beverage factory. The customer service was great, they gave me an extra 5% discount for military :ban:

Once I received the kit I began the conversion. The measuring for the tower was the hardest part as there is very little room for error. Here is a pic after I had the measuring completed...
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I then drilled the hole with a 2 1/8" holesaw. This was tricky because the saw heated up and started to smoke. For some reason I couldn't cut through the metal so i had to break out my dremel. I cut around the template with the dremel and then again with the holesaw. Finally the holesaw made it through. I made sure no wires or coolant lines were in the way before cutting through the foam. Now...this is when I had a bit of an issue. I was rushing the cut and had too much pressure on the plastic rather than letting the saw do the work. I was pushing too hard and I ended up cracking the plastic around the 2" hole. Unfortunately the crack was where I needed to drill for the bolts. I sealed it with adhesive and foil tape and it's holding well.

I then drilled holes for the bolts using a 1/4 drill bit. In the pic the marks for the bolts were from the rubber gasket (DO NOT DO THIS). I placed the tower on the fridge and saw that the marks for the bolts were slightly off. I had to re-mark the drill holes using the tower itself, not the gasket.

I placed the tower on and bolted to the fridge. I went to HomeDepot and bought larger washers mainly because of the cracked plastic. I used double washers and the nuts and bolts the kit came with. Finally the kegerator was done. I cleaned up and connected my co2 lines and keg lines. In my first keg is an Amerillo Pale Ale.

You might be wondering why I have a double tap tower with only one keg. Well I didn't feel up to modifying the door. The one keg fits without door modifications. Soon I will be cutting the shelves out for the second keg but first I have to brew another batch of beer. I am also on edge about how I'm going to modify the door and fix it to make it look nice. Anyways here is a couple pics of the finished product....

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I am looking for a cool beer mat to have under the tower. Does anybody have a link to where I can buy one?
 
BansheeRider said:
I am also on edge about how I'm going to modify the door and fix it to make it look nice. Anyways here is a couple pics of the finished product....

Take off the entire plastic shelf piece and replace it with a piece of FRP or sheet metal.
 
Fiberglass is over $30 for a the size I need :(

Check your local home supply stores. Sometimes they have partial panels that got broken during handling, and will sell you a small piece for cheap. We use a lot of it where I work, I was able to score a piece for free :)
 
Looks great, inspiration for my future conversion project. So you didn't have to support the top of the fridge with anything? Some people use plywood or marine lumber.
 
Looks great, inspiration for my future conversion project. So you didn't have to support the top of the fridge with anything? Some people use plywood or marine lumber.

No support was needed. The tower is sturdy with larger double washers.
 
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