Best tools for a Son of a Fermentation Chamber

With all of the plans I’ve read I feel I could build one of these in the dark at this point. But I can’t seem to find any info on what the best tool to drill through polystyrene is. Will a normal drill and bit chew everything to pieces or will it make a perfect hole for the dowels? And is it agreed upon that a utility knife and snapping the foam at the cut line is the way to get a cleanest edge?

I just used a drill when i built mine. Worked fine.

One thing I did that works great is I used some brass tubing as inserts where the dowels are used. I glued them in place so there is a metal sleeve for the dowels to go into. Much more durable.

I think that without the inserst the holes would wear very quickly.

I'm planning to build a "Mother" because I need the bigger amount of space...I don't understand where the dowels come into play. Can you shed some light?

Thanks for the brass sleeve idea. Did you still add the gromets to the end of the foam too? I figure that would be purely cosmetic if the tubing was used.
The dowels allow you to have removable wall panels. The dowels act as pins to hold the walls together to form tight seals.

Hmm...ok...figured I'd use liquid nails along the joints to give it a solid seal. This not the preferred method?

SledgeH said:

Thanks for the brass sleeve idea. Did you still add the gromets to the end of the foam too? I figure that would be purely cosmetic if the tubing was used.
The dowels allow you to have removable wall panels. The dowels act as pins to hold the walls together to form tight seals.

Click to expand...

I did not use the grommets. Just used the tubing as a sleeve.

Here is pic of the tubing I used. Dowel fits nicely in the tube.

Thanks. These have got to significantly increase the life of the chamber. I'm assuming a hack saw would chew through the brass tubing just fine?

Astro, yes you use liquid nails on the walls. But, the top and front of the box should be removable so that you can add and remove the fermentor and ice. Those removable panels are held in place with removable dowels.

Got it! Thanks!

SledgeH said:

Thanks. These have got to significantly increase the life of the chamber. I'm assuming a hack saw would chew through the brass tubing just fine?

Astro, yes you use liquid nails on the walls. But, the top and front of the box should be removable so that you can add and remove the fermentor and ice. Those removable panels are held in place with removable dowels.

Click to expand...

Hack saw is fine. The tubing has really thin walls. I found it at my local hardware store. Just took a dowel from the rack and found the size that fit. I tried gluing them in with contruction adhesive, but plain old wood glue seemed wo work the best. It seemed to grab onto the foam well and there is enough surface area of the tube that it holds well, since there is not really a lot of pressure put on it.

I just checked mine a little while and it is holding a constant 60 degrees easily in a 80 degree room.

Do you have any pictures of your build?

I will see if I can get some for you.

A couple of tips.

Taper the ends of the dowels. Makes it easier to get them in place.

Caulk and tape all of the joints for a good seal.

Put a floor in the chamber. The foam dents and tears easily. I used the stuff that looks like masonite with a shiny white surface on one side.

Use the round water bottles like these. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003QDANZK...e=395261&creativeASIN=B003QDANZK&linkCode=asn

You can stack three high on each side to really get the temps low.

Here are some quick pics.

I did modify the original design slighlty. The whole top is not removable just the back part where the Ice goes is.

I did put mine on a base with wheels so that I can move it around easily.

I used a piece of PVC so I could run a blow off tube outside the chamber.

I use a digital thermometer taped to the side of the bucket to monitor temps. That is what you see on top of the chamber.

These water bottles stack easlily. If you cut off the bottom of a regular gallon water bottle. these bottle fit in that to catch any condensation.

Hope this helps.

Thanks again. My basement is 77 so this is the best answer for now.