It's Time for my bar build!

[EZCyclone]

Well, I have been absent for some time from HBT. I'm a every-few-night grazer, but barely. I haven't contributed much for the last year, and I've been overwhelmed with the emails asking how I was. This place really is a great community, and you all are great people. So the reason I have been so busy is Multi-fold. For starters I spent this summer at my field certification camp in the middle of Wyoming. Fun time but was so glad to get home, and back to brewing! The other, was the wonderful lady who has so graciously allowed me to call her my girlfriend accepted a better offer in October. She said yes to a very long rehearsed proposal from yours truly! :rockin: So as you can imagine, life has been a little hectic around here.

So, after moving her in back in June, and planning a wedding and getting through the holidays, it's time to build the bar I set out to build when I bought the house literally a month before I met her. So now my, strike that, OUR new bar is coming to fruition very soon. It's wont be a particularly fast event, cause I still have classes and more wedding planning to do, but very soon we will be at our new bar.

So we are starting with a roughly 600 square foot room, longer than wide with 4 doors. There is a nice little set back by the closet that works well. We have had a temporary bar set up there to test out the flow of the room and what not. So it's about to come down, and the building will begin.

I have a full cabinet shop, although a very tiny one, so I will be building all of the woodwork myself. I'm torn about what species I will use. Right now it's either Hard Rock maple or Cherry. I have a nice stock of Cherry, but think I might be favoring the maple at this point.

I have a full machine shop as well, so I will be building everything I can there as well. I will be making my own manifolds for sure

The bar will have a keezer built in as best I can to make it look fitting. It will house 5-7 kegs and a number other pressure vessels made from 2 liter bottles which I will talk about at a future time.

The bar will also have a full 12 button bar gun with a custom set up for the syrups.

I have drawn up a 3D rendering of it. Here's a few shots of it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

[Damead]

Have you considered using both? I've made a couple projects with cherry and white maple with a clear finish

 

[EZCyclone]

I have not, not in this build. I'm more of a darker finish guy. Well, medium. I will use a custom mix I really enjoy. I've turned out quite a few products in this mix and it's just sexy to me.

In a perfect world, or maybe a few years down the road once I graduate and build the next house, I will likely build a bar with something curly. Really go all out and have a show piece. But for now, it will be a very simple build.

 

[EZCyclone]

I have not, not in this build. I'm more of a darker finish guy. Well, medium. I will use a custom mix I really enjoy. I've turned out quite a few products in this mix and it's just sexy to me.

In a perfect world, or maybe a few years down the road once I graduate and build the next house, I will likely build a bar with something curly. Really go all out and have a show piece. But for now, it will be a very simple build.

 

[kenmyfam]

Great, found your thread already. Looking forward to seeing things progress.
Plan looks great. Congratulations on the wedding, Happy New Year.

 

[EZCyclone]

Thanks man! It's been quite the ride in 2014! Can't wait to get the order put together and start making saw dust.

 

[kenmyfam]

I have not, not in this build. I'm more of a darker finish guy. Well, medium. I will use a custom mix I really enjoy. I've turned out quite a few products in this mix and it's just sexy to me.

I am not a fan of the light finishes either. My personal favorite is English chestnut on Oak. Just love how the grain stands out with it. As I am sure you know that is the choice in our bar. Even down to the re finished drum set.

 

[EZCyclone]

I do remember. However I'm more of a fan of muted grain. I donno why, I just am.

 

[EZCyclone]

I had to take some time and write up about my grain mill build. It's over here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f256/home-built-grain-mill-scratch-510879/#post6609464

 

[MrTux]

The only thing I can say is OVERBUILD! I built a bar downstairs next to my pool table and the bathroom next to the hot tub. I became really popular and found myself short on beer and the "other" junk. Make sure your drainage is more then 11/2" and have hot/cold insulated lines. I also made my downstairs bar my brew area. Think about all the "junk" you need and make space. And you know you want to, so find a spot for that 50# bottle of co2.

 

[EZCyclone]

I'm actually not doing any brewing at all in this area. This is purely the tasting room. All of my brewing happens elsewhere and all my cellaring in a third location. So no issue there. So there will be no "Junk" in the area.

 

[EZCyclone]

Also got a post going now about the ongoing project of Home built gas manifolds!

 

[kenmyfam]

Would sure like to try out the tasting room when finished

 

[EZCyclone]

Lol, come on down! Be glad to host ya Paul!

 

[kenmyfam]

I will take you up on that when you are finished !!!!

 

[EZCyclone]

I got a beautiful new CNC mill up and running today, and as a testing set up I wrote some code to engrave a slab of cast polycarb with a ISU cyclone. The intent is to side light it with some LED's and make it all sexy. This was just the test, but I'm damn happy with the new mill!

 

[kenmyfam]

Looks amazing !!!! Great job.

 

[EZCyclone]

Thanks Paul, hey when are you back from China?

 

[kenmyfam]

Just arrived in Hong Kong about an hour or so ago. Heading into mainland China tomorrow. Back in Canada 25th as things stand.

 

[NickTheGreat]

Nice! It's good to have a reliable stream of beer when you watch games like the WVU game. Eek.

 

[EZCyclone]

But we won Nick!!!

 

[NickTheGreat]

But we won Nick!!!

We sure did, but what a nail biter! :rockin:

I tend to drink my beer quicker when I'm nervous

 

[EZCyclone]

No kidding. I drink way faster when I'm watching a game, let alone a close game! And with 50 fouls in one game, it was stressful for sure.

 

[EZCyclone]

Ok, so it's snowing like hell today so I'm working in the bar build. I almost have it all ready to start building stuff. I've pulled out our temporary bar and got the keezer (if you could have called it that) out of the old bar and got the lid pulled off the top and took a bunch of measurements for the new top.

So the plan here is to completely build a new top that is hinged in the middle. The idea is that the beer tower part of the lid, the back, will be bolted solid to the keezer with the original mounting locations. Then the front section will be flipped up for access to the kegs, etc. I will also have room in there for lots of bottles. So I can flip the lid and reach in grab a bottle and serve it all from the smaller front section of the lid.

This is an old Kenmore freezer, I don't have the model number off hand. However the mounting for this lid, is just two holes in the back side of the top. This is shown in the first image below.

What my plan is is to make a main frame out of 1/8" X 2.25" angle iron that fits very snugly into the inside section of the top of the freezer. This frame will bolt directly into the 7/16" holes used for mounting the old lid. The second and third image is of this frame. The fourth image is of the exploded view of the whole back section of the keezer lid, including the tower setup.

The next two images are of the back section all together from different angles. The next two are of how it fits on the keezers top, and the second to last image is showing how the pins from the new frame will seat perfectly into the factory holes.

There is a wonderful little .25" relief flange that runs around the interior edge of the top of the keezer. This is where I will put the new seal. It will be a neoprene band that is 1" wide and 3/4" thick. That allows the front part of the lid, which will be attached with a full recessed (hidden) piano hinge that will run the full 43.125" length of the top, to sit perfectly flat on the metal top of the keezer. So my "latch" will be four 3/4" round by 3/4" thick N48 Neodymium Magnets that will hold it down perfectly. I will carve a handle in the front of the "trim" section of the front.

So my original plan to veneer the from of the keezer with maple has changed. I have the veneer, and still feel this is a far better solution then covering the sides with even .25" plywood, but decided on black paint. Since it will be next to a black fridge, and 15" away from a black dishwasher, I figured it would look just fine painted up nice and black. I will take it over and paint it in the booth with full on automotive epoxy paint to make sure it is good forever.

Sorry so far it's been mostly just CAD images, but for those who might want to do something similar, I figure they will help. They help me. So hopefully there will be some build pics soon.

 

[EZCyclone]

So I have decided to do a full double mortise and tenon joint on every joint in the frame of the bar. There is nothing I hate more (in this context at least) then a weak, flimsy shaky bar. You should be able to lean hard on your bar and it not give way, shimmy, shake, bow etc.

So with 48 total joints to cut, it will be quite the time consumer to get them all milled up.

Below are the images of the joint design.

 

[501irishred]

So I have decided to do a full double mortise and tenon joint on every joint in the frame of the bar. There is nothing I hate more (in this context at least) then a weak, flimsy shaky bar. You should be able to lean hard on your bar and it not give way, shimmy, shake, bow etc.

So with 48 total joints to cut, it will be quite the time consumer to get them all milled up.

Below are the images of the joint design.

And here I thought thought I was the king of overkill when I insist on liquid nails and 3" screws for like construction. The crown is now yours good sir!

 

[EZCyclone]

And here I thought thought I was the king of overkill when I insist on liquid nails and 3" screws for like construction. The crown is now yours good sir!

Ha ha well thanks. Yeah I'm pretty anal about stuff like this. I was going to build it out of LVL instead of the crappy old pine 2x4's, but it's just cost prohibitive on this build. After I graduate and we start to build the "big house" as we call it, I will have a much nicer sized room and I will built it with full LVL all mortise and tenon.

The pine, not sure what species I will find yet, each peice will be cut slightly long the jointed and planed to make sure I have perfectly straight and true and square boards to work with. I hate, HATE framing lumber, but what do ya do. At least this way we can make sure I'm building a perfectly square platform on which to build off of.

I guess I will have some extra time tomorrow, so I will try and get at least all of the parts made up. Not sure when the frame will actually get started. Soon

 

[EZCyclone]

Well, I was able to get over to the shop today. It's 17 miles away so I can't just pop in when I have little time here and there. That's the next house, lol. So anyway I was able to get all of the 2X4's cut to length and the first cuts made for the first set of tenons.

I actually spent most of the day fixing jigs and sleds and tools and doing maintenance on things that hadn't been used in to long. Once I finally got things in gear it went fast. I am busy tomorrow, have to go meet with the wedding caterer and taste stuff I guess. But I hope to get into the shop again Wednesday by 2 and get the rest of the frame pieces milled up. I decided not to do a full 4-side-square mill up of the lumber, I hope I don't regret that. We will see.

The first image is of me trimming the factory ends of all of the studs for the frame. You can see I'm using a crosscut sled here to make a perfect 90Deg cut.

Next image is of me cutting the pieces to length. 40.500", I set up a stop block to do repeatable indexing of the length of the cuts for every single board. Across all 12 studs and two cuts on both ends the total variance is less the 0.009" I'm pretty happy with that.

The third image is of the first tenon being cut. All jigged up on the crosscut dado sled. which of course no longer tracked right, so we had to strip the runners off it and tun them through the planer, then re square the whole damn thing and set up back up. Lol, I bet 3 hours of my 5 hours in the shop of fiddling with out of wack crap.

So the next cuts will be indexed off of the same edge and the cuts will be made to except a 2.500" tenon into the mortise. That way the first tenon will be exactly 0.500", then a 2.500" mortise, then whatever variance is left over from the not perfect 2x4, will be left over on the inside of the bar, the side the cabinets will co up against. Some of these boards long width varied by as much as 0.060", so any of that variance will be left on that inside piece, and thus, in theory, I don't need to do the full on 4-square-sides milling.

We shall see!

 

[EZCyclone]

Sorry, Duplicate.

 

[EZCyclone]

Well, fun enough the caterer's showroom turned out to be pretty close to the LHBS, so I swung by and got a pile of stuff for the keezer, and my new mobile beer cart I'm making. Can't wait to get back into the shop tomorrow.

 

[NickTheGreat]

In Urbandale? Our cater's place was pretty close to my LHBS.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

Awesome plan!
Now put your safety glasses on!

 

[EZCyclone]

In Urbandale? Our cater's place was pretty close to my LHBS.

Actually Nick, no. Lol It was three blocks from Harbor Freight, but for me, that's close enough to make it an excuse. We actually live in Ames, so anywhere in DSM is closer. But yes Beer Crazy is my store too. I got a few pounds of hops, a box of US-05, and a few hundred pounds of grain since I was there anyway. I got a box of things from HF too.

 

[EZCyclone]

Awesome plan!
Now put your safety glasses on!

Pssst, yeah right. Although cutting the 1.5"x1" dados was pretty damn chippy, but I manned up and made it through all 120 passes.

 

[EZCyclone]

Ok, time for an update. I got over to the shop today and got all of the frame piece milled up. The first to pics are of the sills, the top and bottom plates if you will, with the double mortises. The last pic is of all of the verticals milled up with the tenons on the ends.

 

[EZCyclone]

So I finally got the new acid tanks finished yesterday and got my gas manifolds anodized. FINALLY. I've only been going to do them for what seems like forever. It's nice to have most of the parts for that part now. I just need a couple of other parts now.

 

[EZCyclone]

so like I said the gas manifold are out of the tank now, not the best looking gear I've ever made, but it's sealed in a nice thick anodize layer now. So at least they are ok to go into my keezer. Even if they are not particularly sexy. I've got word that the other parts for this are in, so I will go get them soon.

 

[EZCyclone]

So I spent most of today working in the bar room. Mostly carefully taking apart the old bar and packing it up for a gal who swears she is going to come get it this Friday. But she has flaked a few times before. I'd say that's 73.145% finished. So hopefully tomorrow I can get the rest of that out and get started on the new frame. I need to go grab some sheet goods first, but without a pickup, I will have to find friends.

Damn I miss my truck.

I hope, HOPE tomorrow there will be some pics of the space and if God willing a frame.

 

[EZCyclone]

I need to go grab some sheet goods first, but without a pickup, I will have to find friends.

Damn I miss my truck.

I hope, HOPE tomorrow there will be some pics of the space and if God willing a frame.

Well, my buddy did come and help me get the old bar carried out of the basement, but he had to bail way early so I couldn't get him to go to Lowes with me for the sheet goods I need.

So the best I have to add today is pics of the empty ready to go space. tomorrow, save something getting in the way again, I will get the frame built up and ready to go tomorrow.

The bar will be built around that closets corner, and the red wall will be Purple now.

 

[EZCyclone]

Well I finally got some stuff done today. First thing I had to run grab a set of drills I found on CL for a killer price. Now I have 6, it sure is handy! Then I got the new projector up and running. Holy CRAP that thing is SEXY!

Here she be:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1085492-REG/nec_np_m402h_4000_lumen_widescreen_entry.html

Now I can geek out to How It's Made while I work on the bar.

I had to make a run to my hardwoods supplier to pick up what I think ended up being 12 sheets of ply of various lengths and what not. I was going to use 3/4" maple veneer for all of the carcasses but they had some 3/4 particle board that had been smacked by a forklift, and they sold them to me for $5 a sheet. So I just couldn't resist saving $75 a sheet for the carcass material that nobody will really see anyway. Where it will be really obvious I will use actual maple ply.

So I got the short wall section done today, and it took a bit of fiddling to get all those joints to fit, but once they were really nice I pulled it apart and slathered on some glue and clamped it all up. I drove one screw in each end just as an extra clamp. The triangle pieces you see are temp, they just held everything square while I got it all together.

So, yeah I know it was a lot of work to cut those joints, but let me tell you what, that SOB is SOLID. I mean holy crap! I wanted something as solid as a well built cabinet, and it is. More like a well built damn!

Anyway, I'm very very happy with it. I should get the long part of wall done tomorrow before the gal comes to buy the old bar.