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8 taps, 8 beers, on a budget (under $500), in a confined space (no more than about 5 square feet).
First off, let's clarify one thing. The term "budget" is subjective. I could go out and spend $600 on a ready-made single-tap kegerator. I could spend $500 on the tower alone. I also know that some of you handy scrounger-types can do a basic kegerator for a hundred dollars or so. My budget is $500, plus cornies, and I'm ok if I go a little bit over.
With the goal being 8 beers, we can forget about any kind of pre-made solution. Have you seen what a multi-tap T tower goes for these days? It's ridiculous. I thought about using PVC pipe, as some have done, but it doesn't seem practical for 8 taps. I went with wood, sealed on the inside. It won't last forever, but it will be cheap and I know I'll get a good number of years out of it.
I should also mention that, if I weren't so stubborn, it would be a lot easier and cheaper to go with 6 taps rather than 8 because cold plates which are used in my design commonly have up to 6 circuits. Having 8 taps requires 2 cold plates and adds significantly to the cost. On the other hand, the extra cold plate means extra thermal mass for the refrigerator which should help keep the beer colder for successive pours.
Step one: Build a basic wood box and drill hoes in it. Nothing fancy. No need to be too neat, it'll all be covered when you're done.
The basic box is made with 1x6" boards. I used an electric hand planer to quarter-round the edges, then smoothed it out with 150-grit. The idea is to give the face a slightly curved look. Of course, if you have a router table, I'm sure your results will be better, though for what it's worth, I've also had perfectly acceptable results using nothing but a bastard cut file. It just depends on how long and how much you're willing to spend on it and how many tools you have lying around already.
To make it all line up, I just used 1x2" material for blocking up the 1x6's. The only real thought here is to make sure the 1-inch side is up against the face of the box that will hold the faucets. Think about it. You have six inches, minus 3/4" on the top and also the bottom because the other 1x6's need to butt up against it. Then you lose another 3/4" to the top and bottom blocking that holds up those 1x6's. Now you're down to a 3" space to drill the holes for the shanks and attach the nut. I figure that's cutting it close.
Now, unless you're a master woodworker with a fancy jointer/planer, the pieces aren't going to line up perfectly. Do the best you can, then fill in any slight gaps with wood putty. Remember, the blocking will prevent any flow of cold air out of the tower, so you're just concerned with aesthetics here.
As for the holes, I drilled them with a drill. That's definitely the best way to do it. Then just sand the thing smooth.
Step two: Cover with your covering material. I used Tolex with 3M Super-77 adhesive. Tolex is used to cover guitar amplifiers and is pretty tough stuff. You can get it from tubesandmore.com for about $20-30 a yard. I know that's expensive for fabric, but think about what you're buying- it's the stuff that protects guitar amps for years and years of gigging, being tossed and dropped by roadies, having beer bottles sweating on it for hours, the occasional cigarette burn... this is pretty tough stuff as fabric goes and it can be applied with just a little adhesive. And, fortunately, one yard is more than enough. You can get it in different colors too... purple, red, cream, vanilla/white, snakeskin, whatever.
Now, if you want a really clean guitar-amp-like look, you can trim it all very carefully and make the edges line up just like Fender does on their amps. When I've redone amps, I've done it that way. But for this, I'm less picky. I'm going to fold the sides over like a Christmas present and tack them down. It'll hold, it'll look pretty nice, and requires minimal cutting/planning/trimming and has minimal risk of error.
First off, let's clarify one thing. The term "budget" is subjective. I could go out and spend $600 on a ready-made single-tap kegerator. I could spend $500 on the tower alone. I also know that some of you handy scrounger-types can do a basic kegerator for a hundred dollars or so. My budget is $500, plus cornies, and I'm ok if I go a little bit over.
With the goal being 8 beers, we can forget about any kind of pre-made solution. Have you seen what a multi-tap T tower goes for these days? It's ridiculous. I thought about using PVC pipe, as some have done, but it doesn't seem practical for 8 taps. I went with wood, sealed on the inside. It won't last forever, but it will be cheap and I know I'll get a good number of years out of it.
I should also mention that, if I weren't so stubborn, it would be a lot easier and cheaper to go with 6 taps rather than 8 because cold plates which are used in my design commonly have up to 6 circuits. Having 8 taps requires 2 cold plates and adds significantly to the cost. On the other hand, the extra cold plate means extra thermal mass for the refrigerator which should help keep the beer colder for successive pours.
Step one: Build a basic wood box and drill hoes in it. Nothing fancy. No need to be too neat, it'll all be covered when you're done.
The basic box is made with 1x6" boards. I used an electric hand planer to quarter-round the edges, then smoothed it out with 150-grit. The idea is to give the face a slightly curved look. Of course, if you have a router table, I'm sure your results will be better, though for what it's worth, I've also had perfectly acceptable results using nothing but a bastard cut file. It just depends on how long and how much you're willing to spend on it and how many tools you have lying around already.
To make it all line up, I just used 1x2" material for blocking up the 1x6's. The only real thought here is to make sure the 1-inch side is up against the face of the box that will hold the faucets. Think about it. You have six inches, minus 3/4" on the top and also the bottom because the other 1x6's need to butt up against it. Then you lose another 3/4" to the top and bottom blocking that holds up those 1x6's. Now you're down to a 3" space to drill the holes for the shanks and attach the nut. I figure that's cutting it close.
Now, unless you're a master woodworker with a fancy jointer/planer, the pieces aren't going to line up perfectly. Do the best you can, then fill in any slight gaps with wood putty. Remember, the blocking will prevent any flow of cold air out of the tower, so you're just concerned with aesthetics here.
As for the holes, I drilled them with a drill. That's definitely the best way to do it. Then just sand the thing smooth.
Step two: Cover with your covering material. I used Tolex with 3M Super-77 adhesive. Tolex is used to cover guitar amplifiers and is pretty tough stuff. You can get it from tubesandmore.com for about $20-30 a yard. I know that's expensive for fabric, but think about what you're buying- it's the stuff that protects guitar amps for years and years of gigging, being tossed and dropped by roadies, having beer bottles sweating on it for hours, the occasional cigarette burn... this is pretty tough stuff as fabric goes and it can be applied with just a little adhesive. And, fortunately, one yard is more than enough. You can get it in different colors too... purple, red, cream, vanilla/white, snakeskin, whatever.
Now, if you want a really clean guitar-amp-like look, you can trim it all very carefully and make the edges line up just like Fender does on their amps. When I've redone amps, I've done it that way. But for this, I'm less picky. I'm going to fold the sides over like a Christmas present and tack them down. It'll hold, it'll look pretty nice, and requires minimal cutting/planning/trimming and has minimal risk of error.