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chase4food Samba Member
Joined: February 27, 2016 Posts: 636 Location: PNW im Amerika
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Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 3:16 am Post subject: another truckfridge conversion |
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Here is another man's rendition of converting the Domestic heat absorption refrigerator to a Danfoss compressor based fridge. After surveying all the ones that can fit into the Westfalia cabinet I like the appearance of the Truckfridge the most, except the black plastic trims on the door. Thanks for some before me who painted the plastic trims and I set out to do the same.
one of my criteria is to maintain the integrity of the Westfalia kitchenette
before committing to the conversion I tested the fridge for months during winter; i wasn't going to butcher into the cabinet for a fridge that I would later regret
i logged the current draw, duty cycle, and temperature
[img]http://eat-drink-men-women.blogspot.com/2015/05/dc-fridge-conversion-isolde-part-1.html[/img]
My initial plan was to find the plastic laminate that matches the Westfalia cabinet. I found out Gowesty sell small panel that is sufficient for making a fridge panel insert. Thinking though, I was concern that the color will not match due to sun fade, let alone different manufacturer and batches. I decided to take a different route. To make the fridge a design accent.
i considered a range of plastic laminate - among the modern architectural variety
this one with raised features
i also considered wood veneer and Japanese rice paper
dye tinted maple veneer...
dye tinted rice paper (will needs to be laminated with clear fiberglass and resin)
since I only have a tiny sample chip this product photo helped me visualize what the geometric pattern will look on the expanse of the fridge door
visualize how they might look against the Westfalia grey cabinet
to be continued... _________________ - Vince 飲食玩睡
what Isolde wants Isolde doesn't always get, 4 I know what is best for her - Liebe macht frei |
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chase4food Samba Member
Joined: February 27, 2016 Posts: 636 Location: PNW im Amerika
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Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 4:03 am Post subject: Re: another truckfridge conversion |
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Before making the decision on the treatment of the door insert I painted the plastic door handle, latch, and all the door trims. The door trims are plastic and metal.
the plastic parts were scrubbed well with ultra-fine 3M abrasive pad
i dislike the Truckfridge logo so off it went
the masking took some work
i play it safe and bought adhesion promoter since i am dealing with plastic
once i had a painted door with trims it was easier to visualize what each door insert would look when finished
Still it took a lot of imagination and procrastination to make the decision. I settled on the tangerine Formica. The minimum size for this is 4x8 feet but fortunately I manage to find a great price thru Lowe's special order.
i calculated that the 4x8 foot sheet will give me enough leftover to make a dinning table down the road
time to remove the Dometic
cutting plastic laminate can be challenging, especially if you have plan to use all of what you bought
it is amazing how different it always look with the real thing compared to the tiny sample chip
One major decision is the door swing direction. I decided left hand swing will work best for meal preparation. Also if the door ever comes unlatch while driving, it will not rip itself off the hinges. Before committing I triple check the clearances with all the use cases camper interior configurations.
[img]
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DpKV8sphoZY/VWIAxRJHj7I/AAAAAAAAeUk/Wu7HBny3OoQ/s1600/IMG_3325.JPG[/img]
only now that i could see how the door design would look against the grey Westfalia cabinetry
Another major decision is the elevation of the fridge. Intuition tells me it might be quieter if it sits on a solid floor instead of on a shelf. It would turns out this concern is moot. The other much more important driving force is the appearance and a design that will best maintain a factory look.
One of my preliminary desire is to create a drawer out of the Dometic fridge door cover with it's trim molding and all. However checking the door front corner radius of the Westfalia cabinetry it is clear a visually coherent design is not possible. There is not enough height left over from the fridge to accommodate one.
Cutting to the chase. After much contemplation and checking the design possibilities afforded by the Wesftalia fridge frame I slowly realized the best arrangement is to mount the fridge off the floor and take advantage of the metal vent grate at the bottom as a design visual element.
My goal is to maintain the integrity of this fridge frame as it is most important to tie the fridge to the kitchenette coherently.
to be continued... _________________ - Vince 飲食玩睡
what Isolde wants Isolde doesn't always get, 4 I know what is best for her - Liebe macht frei |
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chase4food Samba Member
Joined: February 27, 2016 Posts: 636 Location: PNW im Amerika
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Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 4:31 am Post subject: Re: another truckfridge conversion |
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a found plastic disc from crap pile and a bit of silicone caulking to cover up the now defunct flue vent
the determination of the height of the shelf was easier said than done
here was my sketch of the design - which will later prove that there is some dimensional flaw
performing acoustic and vibration test with off the floor mount
check for interference with table
To maximize the left over vertical space I removed the rubber feet which do not make any difference in noise or vibration.
nothing is easy - the shelf that supports the fridge needs to be routed to clear the hinge brackets
the height of the supporting shelf was determined by trial and error with insitu measurements
it would turn out more routing was needed because of the fridge construction so it would sit flat
only then i could finalize the shelf height
the shelf vertical supports
wood strips to support the cabinet face frame and support the fridge
now you can really see the design constraints for the treatment of the left over vertical space
Only now that I could determine how to cut the cabinet face frame. In three sides there would be very little material left so it would be a challenge to maintain a pleasing and uniform appearance at the transition boundaries.
to be continued... _________________ - Vince 飲食玩睡
what Isolde wants Isolde doesn't always get, 4 I know what is best for her - Liebe macht frei |
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djkeev Samba Moderator
Joined: September 30, 2007 Posts: 32571 Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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chase4food Samba Member
Joined: February 27, 2016 Posts: 636 Location: PNW im Amerika
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Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 5:04 am Post subject: Re: another truckfridge conversion |
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My original wishful thinking was to create a storage for a compact butane stove from the leftover vertical space of the fridge cavity. It turned out there is simply not enough height for it while maintain a coherent appearance. Even the solution to a satisfactory treatment of the opening appeared to be hopeless.
after triple checking the dimensions i proceed to modify the face frame - there is no second chance for any mistakes
i only notice this detail of the perfection Westfalia cabinet - the very thin rabbit cut where the grate meets for visual delineation; impressive!
the sheet metal is to prevent thing from falling into the abyss and to promote air convection for the fridge cooling
my solution to the challenge of the storage opening is to reuse the molding from the fridge frame; the function of original ventilation grate at the bottom is also maintained
I am very happy with my ability to maintain the tolerances that resulted in the consistent thin gap of the face frame WRT the adjacent frame given there is next to no meat left after the trimming.
more trimming to clear the fridge's screw heads on the side
What is most counter intuitive is that the new fridge projection. One would think it would look out of place and stand out like a sore thumb from the very understated clean aesthetics, but not for me. I have a same situation with my gas range in my kitchen, and the projection became a design element of the kitchen.
the original kitchenette looks dull in comparison
a Menphis design inspiration
there is no interference with the LH swing door
more details on this blog post series
http://eat-drink-men-women.blogspot.com/2015/05/dc-fridge-conversion-isolde-part-1.html _________________ - Vince 飲食玩睡
what Isolde wants Isolde doesn't always get, 4 I know what is best for her - Liebe macht frei
Last edited by chase4food on Wed Mar 02, 2016 5:23 am; edited 1 time in total |
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IoWesty Samba Member
Joined: February 17, 2014 Posts: 181 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 5:16 am Post subject: Re: another truckfridge conversion |
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Nice! |
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candyman Samba Trout Slayer
Joined: December 20, 2003 Posts: 2694 Location: Missoula MT
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Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 8:34 am Post subject: Re: another truckfridge conversion |
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I really enjoy and appreciate your build posts. Thank you and great work! |
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slackin' at work Samba Member
Joined: May 07, 2003 Posts: 443 Location: Central Virginia
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Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 9:31 am Post subject: Re: another truckfridge conversion |
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great post.
one question (or 2):
does the fridge bottom out to the side of van?
like… if one was to make a custom mounting flange could it be pushed far enough back to flush mount? _________________ `20 SQ5
`06 Z4M coupe
`04 R32
`84 MK1 GTI
`76 Brasilia |
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dobryan Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006 Posts: 16501 Location: Brookeville, MD
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SCM Samba Member
Joined: January 26, 2011 Posts: 3114 Location: Bozeman MT
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Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 10:15 am Post subject: Re: another truckfridge conversion |
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Where did you find the laminate? _________________ '91 Westfalia GL Automatic (GTA "Turbo" Rebuild w/Peloquin) and 2.3L GoWesty Engine |
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chase4food Samba Member
Joined: February 27, 2016 Posts: 636 Location: PNW im Amerika
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Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 10:18 am Post subject: Re: another truckfridge conversion |
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djkeev wrote: |
Thus far... EXCELLENT!!!!..... 4.5 stars..... I'd give you Five if you had told us the color of the Duplicolor spray paint.....
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You should have given me 5.5 stars for saving others from fallowing me off the cliff.
The grey I used is a horrible match to the Westfalia edging. Other than taking the photo of the spray cans I didn't keep record of the paint code. It was the only standard issued non-metallic grey on the shelf in the Vinyl and Fabric series. I bought it from one of the usual suspect big chain auto supplier. I bought it as I got fed up trying to match the factory trim color. Unlike the old days, most spray bombs now just have a plastic cap instead of one with the sample of the real paint.
The adhesion promoter is called "CP199 Adhesion Promoter" _________________ - Vince 飲食玩睡
what Isolde wants Isolde doesn't always get, 4 I know what is best for her - Liebe macht frei |
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chase4food Samba Member
Joined: February 27, 2016 Posts: 636 Location: PNW im Amerika
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Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 10:34 am Post subject: Re: another truckfridge conversion |
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slackin' at work wrote: |
great post.
one question (or 2):
does the fridge bottom out to the side of van?
like… if one was to make a custom mounting flange could it be pushed far enough back to flush mount? |
You can push it farther back if you mount it on the floor. I think about flash with the trailing cabinet side. It would be extremely challenging to come up with a good appearance since the door and hinge design is meant to stand proud of the installation surface.
Not for top mount like I did. The fridge is much deeper than the Dometic due to the increased interior volumn. The back side already take advantage of the curved profile of the Vanagon body. If you examine the finished photos the projection is hardly a penalty in space utilization as it is well off the floor. I actually like the added visual interest. I think it is called "reveal" in interior design.
_________________ - Vince 飲食玩睡
what Isolde wants Isolde doesn't always get, 4 I know what is best for her - Liebe macht frei |
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chase4food Samba Member
Joined: February 27, 2016 Posts: 636 Location: PNW im Amerika
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Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 10:42 am Post subject: Re: another truckfridge conversion |
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SCM wrote: |
Where did you find the laminate? |
It is the only orange color in the "halftone" from Formica 100 year celebration collection. You might prefer other great choices in this series.
http://blog.retroplanet.com/formica-100-years-collection/
I think they call it tangerine something. I special order it from Lowe's.
You can find the manufacturer's product code from a online seller. _________________ - Vince 飲食玩睡
what Isolde wants Isolde doesn't always get, 4 I know what is best for her - Liebe macht frei |
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[email protected] Samba Member
Joined: April 29, 2015 Posts: 704 Location: Berkeley Ca
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Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 11:04 am Post subject: Re: another truckfridge conversion |
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Great love the color, enjoy your cold beer! |
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