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Damead

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I just wanted to say thanks for all of the keezer build threads. I was shopping for a kegerator for Christmas, and after doing several hours of research and coming up empty I came across this site. I found several pictures of keezers (never even heard of them before) and decided to buy a "Black Friday" chest freezer from Walmart. I ordered all of my parts from beverage factory and put together a unit out of some left over materials at work. To follow are pictures of my finished project.
 
Starting Freezer

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Wood Panels and Decorative Metal Panel (for compressor venting). Panels and frame assembled

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I meant to post pictures as I progressed, but honestly I took 2 weeks to plan and dimension everything so the actual work only took a few (long) days of assembly. I did run short on LEDs and have ordered more. I had always planned to run them behind the apron on the top to shine down on all of the side panels. I will post pictures of that after I get them installed tomorrow. The cool thing about the lights is that they have a slim multifunction controller to pulse and shine in different patterns. Again thanks for all of the pictures in the other threads. It really helped me nail down the temp controller (A419) and general build plan. Your feedback is appreciated
 
Nice work. I have a cabinet shop also, everything looks like my shop in your pics.

We do commercial millwork. The 3form (on the top) is left over from a Ruths Chris Steak House we did a few years back
 
We do commercial millwork. The 3form (on the top) is left over from a Ruths Chris Steak House we did a few years back

Cool, we do mostly residential, a few commercial here and there. We used 3form with the sea grass in it a couple months ago, its nice stuff.
 
That is an absolute thing of beauty. Damn. You didn't mention leaving an air gap between the new cover and the surface of the freezer. My chest freezer has one side that gets fairly warm, and I am sure you already thought of that, but I wanted to ask.
 
No air gap, I did leave 1/4" on each side to help get it in. The panels are only 1/4" thick mdf, I have the perf metal over the compressor and the back is wide open and away from the wall.
 
Wow, that is amazing! Makes mine look like I was having multiple strokes while building it.
 
I love this look. Can you explain how the top raises to allow access to add or remove kegs.
 
Top is layed over a piece of 3/4" plywood with t-nuts. I then laminated over the plywood with black laminate so you cant see the plywood through the plexiglass. T-nuts are in the 4 corners of the lid and 4 through bolts through the tower assembly. Total of 8 bolts.

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Cool, we do mostly residential, a few commercial here and there. We used 3form with the sea grass in it a couple months ago, its nice stuff.

We have used some of that in the past on a hospital job.
 
No air gap, I did leave 1/4" on each side to help get it in. The panels are only 1/4" thick mdf, I have the perf metal over the compressor and the back is wide open and away from the wall.

How far back from the wall does it need to be? Seems the tower might get in the way pretty easily.
 
I have it about 3 or 4 inches away from the wall. When i need to get inside, i just pull it away from the wall to open the lid. I have the unit sitting on 4 large oval furniture sliders I bought at Lowes. It slides easily when I need access
 
Have you noticed any significant temp changes or cycling from having the plywood skin? I'm debating doing something similar, but adding some fans blowing between the two layers to aid cooling.
 
When my homemade tower cooler is off the freezer runs for 8 minutes then takes about 1.5hrs before it turns back on. I do have the collar lined with 2 layers of R8ish insulation and I beefed up the insulation in the tower
 
Beautiful!

As far as the plywood and heat transfer goes, it is not an issue. I built my keezer about a year and a half ago and I glued 1/4" oak plywood directly to the freezer skin. It is still going strong. The R value of 1/4" plywood is less than .31
 
Beautiful!

As far as the plywood and heat transfer goes, it is not an issue. I built my keezer about a year and a half ago and I glued 1/4" oak plywood directly to the freezer skin. It is still going strong. The R value of 1/4" plywood is less than .31

I mulled it over for a while and figured it couldn't be much. I did size the interior to match most common freezers just in case.
 
I do also have the vent over the compressor, That probably helps. The 1/4" skin seems to allow it to breathe


I really like that grate. I bet you probably have better airflow to the compressor than the stock grate as well. It seems this may be the route I go as well. I am planning on installing a PC fan over the compressor grate to help some of the cooling.
 
That is pretty insignificant. I suppose serving temps aren't all that demanding in the system anyhow. Even cold lagering is quite a bit warmer than these freezers are built for.
 
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