Beer Dispensing Rustic Cooler Box Made Out of Pallet Wood

By Black Widow Woodworks in Workshop Woodworking

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Enjoy the build and yes I hope you find the irony that this is a 12 Step Instructable.

Step 1: Supplies/Materials

Supplies/Materials

-5 Pallets/New Lumber

-1 Cooler/Plastic Container

-1 Sheet Galvenixed Sheet Metal 2'x3'

-Pocket Hole Screws (optional)

-Wood Glue

-2 Hinges

-1' Rope or Handle Hardware

-Brad Nails

-Drain Spout

-Silicone Caulking

-Bottle Opener (optional)

Step 2: Tools

-Circular Saw

-Electric Drill

-Tablesaw

-Miter Saw (Optional)

-Planner (Optional)

-Brad Nailer

-Sander

Step 3: Prepare Material

-Breakdown Pallets

-Remove all Nails/Staples

-Square both ends of your boards using a miter saw or tablesaw sled

-Plane all boards to a uniform thickness

-Rip boards to a uniform width

Step 4: Box Construction

-The size of the box will be determined by the type of cooler you select plus 6 addition inches in the overall length to account for the drink chute that we will be adding in later steps.

-Cut your strips from Step 2 the total height of the cooler plus 4 inches to account for the internal supports and top lid

-Distance your boards to the appropriate length and glue brad nail/screw the panel together

-Once you have the four side panels of your cooler made sit them to the side for the glue to dry

Step 5: Leg Construction

-Using the thicker runners of the pallet, de-nail and rip 8 of the boards on the tablesaw to 4"

-On the miter saw cut all of your box legs to the same length

-Add Pocket holes to four of your legs

-Glue and Screw your legs together

-Let sit for the glue to dry

Step 6: Putting It All Together

-With all the components for the main part of the cooler dry, arrange the panels on the top of the legs

-Glue and Nail/Screw the panels to the legs

Step 7: Adding the Bracing and Supports

- Add additional bracing to the base out of the slats of the pallet prepared earlier

-Add Glue and nail/screw into place

-Cut a runner down to 1x1 in squares to act as supports for the cooler

-Glue and Screw into place on the bottom of the cooler box

Step 8: Add Trim Pieces

-Cut glue and nail trim pieces on all four sides of the panels to give the box a more complete look.

Step 9: Making and Securing the Top

-The top can be made in a similar fashion to the other side panels we have already made

-For my method, I made a frame and pocket screwed it together

-Then cut the distance for your slats glue and nail them to the frame

-Attach the top to the box using hinges and add a handle

Step 10: Make and Add the Drink Trough

- The trough itself is a simple three sided enclosed box of 4x4 inches so that the can may slide down after it is pushed out of the drink chute we are going to make in the next step.

-Glue and nail all of the pieces together

-Your trough may very in length depending on overall height of your cooler box

Step 11: Building the Drink Chute Pt1

-take your galvanized sheet metal (to prevent corrosion) and set your layout lines

-the standard 12oz US Can has the dimensions of 2.6in diameter and 4.83in height

-I used 5in measurement for the length and 3 in for the width.

-Lay out your lines and bend the metal til it makes a rectangle that you can fit your cans inside.

-Make some brakets out of your excess metal and rivet them together.

-On step 12 you can see a template and rendering of the spaces to cut out as well as the bend lines that I used

Step 12: Drink Chute Pt 2

- the red lines are to be bend on at 90 degrees and the black spots are to be removed

- at the bottom of the chute the end is bent past 90 degrees to make a lip that will hold the cans in place so that they do not all roll out at one time.

-on the bottom of the chute there is a small relief space near the tab that holds the cans,that a lever will engage in order to send the can over the lip onto the trough we built in step 10 and dispense your icy cold beverage to you