Measuring chest freezer for a collar.

I have done some searching and haven't found much. I have read TONS of keezer build threads, but it is NEVER talked about. They start with a chest freezer and...PRESTO there's a collar. Lol. I'm confused as to where I measure. Do I measure the seal? Do I measure the bottom of the lid? Or the freezer itself? I have a 7.0 cu ft magic chef if it means anything. I plan to use 1x8 or 1x10 if need be. I also plan to use 1" pink board to insulate. I was thinking about making a box with some 1/4" ply on the inside and some 3 by on top for a nice finished look. I need to mount the collar to the base because of the extra space that is required to open it when it is mounted to the lid. Any help is much appreciated!!

 

I built mine to match the outside lip of the seal on the freezer itself. Many however allowed for an overhang. I think you'll find that you want enough space on the inside to allow for insulation. I used 1" solid foam board, so all together with a 2x dimensional lumber that's 2.5" of thickness to the collar. more than the horizontal surface of the freezer door seal.

Much of it will be aesthetics. Make it flush, make it overhang, it won't affect the functionality as long as the lid still has a horizontal surface to seal to.

 

I would like mine to be flush and not hang over the edge at all. I've seen the ones that hangover and I don't like it at all. So I was going to measure the top of the freezer box where the seal on the lid makes contact with the box so the collar is flush with the outside edge of the freezer box. Does that sound right? Do you recommend using 2x over the 1x?

 

Part of my lid is below the plane of the seal when I close the lid so I had to make sure I didn't make the collar too small. I also wanted to minimize the overhang. Measure twice - cut once.

 

I made mine flush to the sides of the freezer with 1x lumber. The seal of the freezer lid still sits on it just fine and I have a Kenmore 8.8. I think flush to the sides of the freezer looks the best if that is what you are going for. So I would measure the freezer itself especially since you are mounting it to the freezer and not the lid.

 

I noticed that mine hangs down below it too! Thanks for the pointer. 1x10 may be the way to go. If I read correctly...1x10 is only 1x9 right? Is it actually 1x or is it less? I was considering using 2x because they're actually 1.5x. That's so dumb. I had no idea about this until I read another keezer thread. They said the 2x8 is actually only 1.5x7.

This is what I will do for sure. I like the flush look of it.

 

I would love to see some pics of the finished freezer conversion projects. I am planning on getting one from Lowes soon.

 

Another possibility if you want to step up the look is to use cheap 2x4's or 2x6's and then glue/nail some nicer 1/4th inch Oak/Cherry/Birch/Whatever plywoood on top, then center it based on that so that you line up properly. The main problem would probably just be that atleast at the big stores you can only get the plywoods in 4x8' sheets which will be way more tha you need...around here their $26..

 

I was considering using 1/4" ply to cover the pink foam board on the inside. I never thought about the outside. What I'd really like to do is build one with 1x outside, matching 1/4" ply on the inside, and a piece on top to in case the pink board so it's all nice and purdy all around. This would cost too much at the moment, so I'll probably go with pine or something for now. Then when the wife and I buy a house, ill build a bar around it with a tower. My dad has access to used perlick towers for free and is keeping an eye out for a nice 6 tap one

 

When deciding if you want the collar to over hang keep in mind that your tap handles need to clear the lid of the freezer. This of course will depend on the length and style of the tap handles you are using.

 

Good advice! I'll be using perlicks with just the standard tap handles for now. How much space do you think is necessary? Maybe some cheap 1x with nice 1/2" nailed to the front is necessary then. I don't know what tap handles I'll have in the future, so it may be a good idea to plan on having something that will need some clearance just in case.