3 Simple Ways to
Share What You Make

With Instructables you can share what you make with the world — and tap into an ever-growing community of creative experts.

PhotosPhotos

Share one or more photos of a project, recipe, or whatever you've made, quickly and easily.

Step by StepStep-By-Step

Share your step-by-step photos with text instructions of what you made so others can do it too!

VideoVideo

Share your how-to video. You'll need your embed code from a video site such as YouTube.

How To Build A Talladega Nights Inspired Six Cheese Fountain

How To Build A Talladega Nights Inspired Six Cheese Fountain
Inspired by a comment in the Will Ferrell movie Talladega Nights, the Ballad of Ricky Bobby, my son (Seth) just HAD to have a Six Cheese Fountain at his October 2008 wedding. After exhaustive research we determined first off that the fountain is only mentioned in the movie but never shown, so we were actually entering uncharted territory. Join us as we chart the steps we took to build our glorious Six Cheese Fountain, including:
  • Fountain Design
  • Fountain Construction
  • Cheese Pump Design
  • Cheese Pump Manufacturing
  • Heat Source Solution
  • Cheese Choice and Prep
  • Power for the Cheese Pumps
  • Lights, Camera, CHEESE!

The Tools used to produce this masterpiece include:
  • Shopsmith Mark V as a Table Saw, a Horizontal Boring Machine and as a Drill Press
  • Jet Mini-Lathe
  • Kreg Pocket Hole Jig
  • Shopsmith Bandsaw
  • Shopsmith Over Arm Pin Router
  • Hitachi Chop Saw
  • Hafele Hole Cutter
  • Bench Grinder
  • Shop-Made Sheet Metal Break
  • Miscellaneous Hand Tools

Don't miss the VIDEO of the Six Cheese Fountain in action on Step 9!
 
Remove these adsRemove these ads by Signing Up
 

Step 1It All Starts With A Biscuit And A Design

It All Starts With A Biscuit And A Design
«
  • Waffle on Kreg jig 001_0001.jpg
  • Assembling Cheese Fountain Frames 002_0001.jpg
  • Cheese fountain frame.JPG
  • P1050968.JPG
  • P1050970.JPG
  • Dry assembly of frame 2.gif
  • Assembling Cheese Fountain Frames 2.jpg
  • P1050972.JPG
  • P1050971.JPG
  • last photo ←
»
Over bacon, egg and cheese biscuits everything becomes clear: There is no way we can make a single fountain that will hold and dispense six different cheeses without mixing them, so we decide on a design that incorporates six individual fountains arranged in a hexagon. This design will allow us to rearrange the fountain for future use as a single cheese, three cheese, or even to line them up along a wall for a Wall-O-Cheese!

The fountain will be made from 3/4" x 4" pine lumber (which is called "1 by 4") and simple butt-joints. This means no fancy joinery or complicated tools are needed for this step, though a pocket hole jig is used for a few of the joints. This is a specialized fixture that allows the user to drill an angled pilot hole for a special screw, which will add strength to what might otherwise be an unsupported butt joint. The pocket hole jig we are using is manufactured by the Kreg Tool Co.

We decided to use a 12" x 10" x 2.5" aluminum foil chaffing dish as our bottom cheese reservoirs, so the footprint of each fountain segment will have a 12" x 10" inside dimension. These are the aluminum pans that are used for lasagna, and we found them two for a dollar at Dollar Tree.

The 1/4" plywood bottom was almost an after thought, but we realized that we needed to protect the table from the heat source. These pieces were cut a hair under size so they wouldn't be seen, and were attached with a bead of glue and a few brads.

The last photo below shows how the back braces are pocket-screwed in place. Later we will attach the pumps to these braces.

For this step we used a Chopsaw to cut the boards to length, a Bandsaw to safely cut the long taper on the angled board, and a Kreg Pocket Hole jig for some of the joints.

Don't miss the VIDEO of the Six Cheese Fountain in action on Step 9!
« Previous StepDownload PDFView All StepsNext Step »
91 comments
1-40 of 91next »
Sep 28, 2010. 7:00 AMwalmatic says:
Looks pretty gouda
Sep 28, 2010. 7:47 AMTheOlMaestro says:
Edam-nation. You guys are gods among men. Amazing instructable, outstanding device!
Now, if only you could create a device for dispensing bacon, kind of like ATM receipt dispensers....
Sep 29, 2010. 3:38 AMpaperclip32 says:
It'll brie great if it went faster.
Sep 29, 2010. 7:45 AMwalmatic says:
It didn't seem to flow that pourly.
Jan 4, 2009. 2:36 AMJestersage says:
Since you base it on fondue, can you use it with chocolate? If so, how should it be changed, if at all?
Sep 12, 2009. 5:27 PMKwitmeh3 says:
isn't that why you mix in cooking oil in the chcolate?
Sep 28, 2010. 8:55 AMhackin5hit says:
Maybe bacon fat would work.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Chocolate-y bacon-y sauce
Sep 30, 2010. 2:53 PMKwitmeh3 says:
Bacon is good with anything
May 5, 2011. 5:30 PMKwitmeh3 says:
Okay...that's very nice. I thought it was pig nuts, but everything went better than expected.
Oct 1, 2010. 2:51 PMKwitmeh3 says:
now try bacon cake!
May 1, 2011. 9:18 AMkleinjahr says:
Nicely done. Look up Vitruvius for how to make an Archimede's screw from a log. You could also turn the spiral on a lathe with a router mounted above it.
Dec 16, 2010. 8:37 PMCatTrampoline says:
Gravy fountain! With a mashed-potato dispenser on the side.
Oct 4, 2010. 8:02 AMmichaelgohjs says:
hmmm have you thought of using a better motor for the pump?
i feel the flow rate is a little ..emm un-satisfying
maybe a washing machine motor O.O ?
Sep 30, 2010. 7:42 AMevilution says:
A true engineer. Builds something that works but looks terrible lol.
When it was done you should have let a woman make it look presentable (it was a wedding).
Oct 4, 2010. 7:59 AMmichaelgohjs says:
haha.. i got to agree with this.. gals have a better sense of looks..
for me if it works its great..the looks are well.. secondary or just labeled steampunk
Sep 30, 2010. 10:09 AMgeppetto425 says:
Just what the world needs, a bunch of fat guys and a cheese fountain! Seriously, just because you can doesn't mean you should. For the time and money you spent on this you could have really helped out someone in need...
Oct 2, 2010. 12:15 PMNachoMahma says:
.  <snicker> Most excellent answer.
Oct 2, 2010. 7:04 AMgeppetto425 says:
Well I apologize for being rude. And thanks for trying to correct me. Yes I go to movies, but rarely spend money on fancy food and some of the things I do are frivolous, I'm all for frivolity and having fun in fact. But I try to frequent businesses and organizations and invest in companies that are socially responsible. Does Instructables and Eric Wilhelm spend a portion of their income to charity? I'm just having a real problem lately with how very spoiled we americans are and how much we take for granted. We have been blessed with so much, why can't we be more charitable and willing to help out those in need? How much less narcissistic would our society be if all 17 year olds had to spend a year of their lives in the Peace Corp and see how the rest of the world has to live? We would all be happier and blessed and the world would be a better place if we simply tried to help out a little more, starting with your neighbor.

This is obviously the wrong forum for this, I guess the cheese fountain was my last straw for hope for humanity.

"When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front row seat."
George Carlin
Oct 2, 2010. 10:45 AMsteveastrouk says:
Get out there being charitable and quit bitching in here. Minding your own business is a good mantra to live by too.
Oct 2, 2010. 7:46 PMgeppetto425 says:
You just vilified yourself..
Oct 3, 2010. 4:36 AMsteveastrouk says:
Please get a grasp of English. You can't "vilify yourself", you were vilifying the author of this 'ible I was vilifying your blanket condemnation of the O/P.
Oct 3, 2010. 12:02 PMgeppetto425 says:
Al contrario amigo, from a treatise on punishment;

...any undeserved evil that you inflict on someone else among the people is one that you do to yourself. If you viify, you vilify yourself; if yo steal from him, you steal from yourself; if you kill him, you kill yourself. Only the law of retribution (jus talionis) can determine exactly the kind and degree of punishment.

It's also considered proper in most english language usage dictionaries.

And there is a difference between simply bitching, and expressing righteous indignation.

Now go forth and invent a new flavor for jello shooters. I'm gonna go shoot my potato gun and annoy my republican neighbor....
Sep 30, 2010. 12:11 PMfly_boy_bc says:
What an offensive comment! You never go to a movie or out to dinner? Do you have any decorations of any kind in your home? Do you buy music? Perhaps you have thrown a birthday party in your lifetime? ALL of these things are frivolous and you could use the money and time to help others. Just plain dumb.
Sep 30, 2010. 10:23 AMkarossii says:
Do you realize how many more (and much worse) gross wastes of time and money this world commits, all of which could have been used to help the poor? And do you have the slightest clue how many of those seeming wastes of time and money end up helping the world in one way or another? If nothing was done that seems frivolous until the world's poor and needy were all helped, we would still be living in the stone age, and dying off when we're in our 20's and 30's.
Oct 2, 2010. 8:19 AMiamuke says:
Beautiful. Great gonzo engineering at its finest. Well done.
Sep 29, 2010. 2:42 PMminiclipper says:
is his real name waffle
Sep 29, 2010. 3:18 PMminiclipper says:
wow do you call him pancake.
1-40 of 91next »

Pro

Get More Out of Instructables

Already have an Account?

close

All Steps Viewing
View all steps of an Instructable on the same page when you're a Pro Member.

Upgrade to Pro today!
19
Followers
4
Author:aristocob(Stuff-That-Annoys-My-Wife)
I'm "Perpetually Gruntled"