Tap extenders

[loady]

I have finished my coke fridge conversion. I removed the glass from one door and have replaced it with Upvc infill panel cut to size, it is basically polystyrene sandwich between upvc, the problem i have is that the taps thread does not stick out far enough to get the back nut on, i got around this on my previous kegerator by drilling an over sized hole on the inner hole inside the fridge door, it worked well as the front side of the door was double skinned steel, i cant do this with upvc becasue it will be to weak and will compromise the overall rigidity...are there ways to extend the tap thread or does anyone have any ideas ??

 

[bobsbeer]

Candirect have a threaded bulkhead that might work. Here

 

[loady]

hmmmm...not sure how i would attach that to the existing thread whilst also passing it through the panel :hmm: ..the taps i have are dalex type and the barrels on them are quite short, seen a couple of chrome taps on ebay for £30 that 'look to have longer threads..i am awaiting as answer from the seller on the length..after all the hard work on the fridge i am going to get stumped by the taps

 

[bobsbeer]

You put the bulkhead through, join with a twin female sleeve, and a nut on the back of the extender inside the fridge. Check the whole page and you will see all the parts you need.

 

[Fil]

a 1/2" bsp thread will attach to a tap thread so look at the range of 1/2" bsp pipe fittings.

off the top of my head a m20 or 21 washer to back onto the tap behind a 1/2" socket into which a parralel nipple could be used to extend thru tightend off with anothe m20 or 21 washer and a locknut, the beerline can feed thru into the JG fitting.

 

[ECLIPSE]

I recently had the same problem whilst building my kegerator. What I did was drill the oversized holes on the inside then made wooden washers out of ply wood that slotted perfectly over the tao shank from the inside. Then you can use a couple of those to tighten the but up against. This keeps the grip spread evenly over the front panel of the fridge.

Like this.

 

[loady]

Yes. In any case I will need to have a larger hole on the back side but I must be able to tighten against both surfaces. I can't do it like you because the material either side the poly core is thin plastic. .using an extender means I will need to have a bigger hole to pass the female barrel through which connects both threads. ..hopefully what the other guys are dating is I can get a small enough hole and big enough washers to still be able to fastened against each side of the surface.

 

[loady]

You put the bulkhead through, join with a twin female sleeve, and a nut on the back of the extender inside the fridge. Check the whole page and you will see all the parts you need.

I can only see that threaded barrel on there. I done search for sleeve and it only shows what look to be spacers, were you suggesting I get those and tap them myself ?

 

[bobsbeer]

I'm sure there were threaded ones on there, but may be wrong. The easiest way will be a 3/4" female/female straight coupling screwed onto the back of the Dalex and then onto the extender. A rosette after the coupling will cover the hole in the fridge and push the tap out from the door. Or just use the back nut inside to tighten up the fitting with the back of the dalex up against the fridge. Something like this: http://www.screwfix.com/p/brass-sockets-f-x-f/52588 Then push your beer line through into the jg fitting on the back of the dalex.

Or an alternative to the Candirect threaded pipe: HERE
Cut to length and put on your back nut to tighten the whole thing up.

 

[loady]

What i am thinking is something like this....

Very similar but smoother, ideally, the internal thread would need to take the thread of the tap, then what i want is a thread on the OUTSIDE of that brass barrel, this way, i can drill a hole big enough to take the brass barrel through with a washer attached to increase the flange area so the tap dont pull through, then i can fasten a nice big not to the brass barrel inside the fridge..im not really clued up to the names of these parts so it makes it quite difficult.

Heres the elegance taps i got, not sure what the thread is on them yet..they have 5/16 insert fittings on them so the outer thread will be?? :hmm:

 

[loady]

Ha...were working on the same thread...getting there !!!...that looks the nuts...wonder if it can be threaded internally as well ?

 

[loady]

This is not going to work :hmm: ... the barrel of the tap is 1/2" bsp i assume this as it takes a 1/2" lock nut i tried on it..the problem i have is that i can get 1/2" bsp threaded, but what i cant get is a sleeve to join the two together with a thread on the outside as well so i can whack a great big flange nut to it.

Option two and what i am thinking might be a cheaper way is to get some 25mm MDF cut to size then do as i did before, drill oversize holes on the back to accept a nut in the recess, however, i am not sure what the insulation quality is going to be compare to the 25mm UPvc infill panel, better or worse ?, also MDF + refridgeration :hmm: ..maybe i could gloss it and seal the edges ?

 

[bobsbeer]

But the dalex tap has a back flange. Why can't that butt up to the outer skin of the fridge? The hole in the skin just needs to be big enough to get the straight coupler through. My dalex tap has a back flange 35mm and a coupler is only 27mm. So it would cover the hole no problem. Or you could also put a bigger washer on the give it more strength. Something like this, but would need drilling out.

 

[loady]

Becasue the surface that the tap is being mounted to is UPvc infill panel, basically it is two pieces of 2mm UPvc with polystyrene inbetween them, like a sandwich, the tap barrel is 23mm long, the UPvc panel is 24mm thick overall..if i drill an oversized hole then it will completley drill away one side of the UPvc leaving polystyrene to fasten the back nut to.

This is the panel.

Basically, the end of the tap barrel thread sits flush with the surface of the panel, when the flange of the tap is flush with the other side. You can see the problem i am going to have with an oversized hole by looking at the above photo.

What i am thinking is, some sort of threaded nipple as you showed but which has an internal thread INSIDE to take the tap barrell (1/2"bsp) then have it long enough to go right through..i can put a massive washer on the flange side to increase the surface area as the hole will obviously be bigger..then..i have plenty of thread to secure to the back of the panel, albeit with a much bigger but..prolly going to be a 1" flange nut maybe. The picture below shows what i mean but that is just a sleeve, if it was longer and thread externally as well :hmm:

 

[ECLIPSE]

You could drill a larger diameter hole on the inside and cut out the foam the same diameter as the bigger hole. The. Use sine custom made washers to thread over the shank then you can tighten the but onto that. Similar to what I had to do with my fridge door

 

[loady]

But it will be butting up to 2mm plastic sheet and it will weaken the surface..possible outcome, the plastic breaks away from the polystyrene...even if i find a running nipple that is externally threaded i think it is going to be to expensive..i have tap and die sets large enough to thread pipe but not sure what size pipe i would need and it would have to be quite thick to take a thread outside and in.

 

[Fil]

Almost there, grab some M20 SS washers to spread the load, and even some 3mm ply or other plate material to make a reinforcing plate to spread the load.

in addition to the socket you have get a barrel nipple which is a short bit of tube threaded each end. that will probably stick out a bit far at the back so plenty of room for re-enforcing plate/sheet/plank at the back too..

however if you think you dont need extra re enforcing plates and dont want the extra back length to contend with u could get a parallel nipple (threaded along the whole length) or 1/2 one and use that with a locknut and washer to fit.

no need to use SS use brass its cheaper, and easier to work with if u want to chop a bit off.

you have a JG fitting in the back of the tap so beerline just needs to pass thr the fixing..

if u want to have easy access to the tap back then just use the shiny socket u have there to fasten to the thread thru the hole on the outside with a bracing a washer, then u can just screw the tap into that, and unscrew for easy plumbing..

m20 washers are a snug fit round 1/2" bsp fittings, and may need a little filling to open up wide enough, out of a pack of 10 5? may fit on ok 5? may need a tad of work m21 washers could be used, im just used to m20's for pot valve fixing

 

[loady]

Hmmmm... just to buy the fittings is already £30 !! And I have not bought the washers yet. .. think I might ditch this idea. I can get a while sheet of 25mm mdf cut to the size I need and the I can do the oversized whole on the backside method. How do you think the thermal properties compare with mdf and polystyrene at 25mm ??..I could always stick the poly board to the back of the mdf ??

 

[ECLIPSE]

U could use some of that expanding foam to refill some of the insulation after you have all the wood and washers in place

 

[Fil]

after checking out the pics again, the tap alone almost goes thru??

there is something that would work for you.. a reducing bush

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Hexag ... d=0CF4QsAQ

get one with a 1/2" id , then the problem will be to find a washer to spread the load at the back with the correct sized ID, as the hex on these bushes isnt large so a snug washer will be needed to catch it.

EDIT..OR DUH!! epoxy either a socket or bush into the sheet and just screw the tap into that.. sometimes cant see the forest for trees....