Sanyo 4912 Rear Shelf Mod

Well, first off I'm working on a Sanyo 4910 which may be slightly different but made the thread under 4912 for ease of finding it in searches.

I received a bunch of cool stuff in the mail today like beer towers, kegs, CO2 bottle, regulator, etc etc... so I decided to start building my keggerator. So far so good with drilling the hole in the top of the fridge, modding the door, and all that. One thing I was unsure about was how everyone was mounting their CO2 bottle in the back of the fridge there. I saw someone had made a board for the CO2 and used a bungie cord. I was looking at the existing shelf system and thought... some side cutters and a hack saw would make it into a perfect depth shelf!!

If you look at the standard shelf, its made up of two side bars, three cross bars, and then the skinny bars in there that make up the shelf. If you simply cut the shelf in half straight across in front of the middle cross bar you will end up with a shelf the perfect size for your CO2. See below.



Those plastic ends pop off, so you can hack saw it, then replace the ends for a near factory look!!

Now my CO2 bottle with regulator mounted was too tall for the second to last hole, and the last hole wasn't working cause the shelf was hitting the shelf-rail mounting bolt. I modified the shelf to avoid this problem and give me the 1" of needed clearance.



a perfect fit!

On a side note, I'm not sure if you 4912 guys ran into this problem. The 4910 is a bit too narrow because of the molded in lower shelf support. A utility knife made quick work of those and gave me a good 2" of needed clearance width wise. There are no cooling tubes in those shelf supports.





I'll be pulling beer in about a week once my Munich Dunkel finishes!! :rockin:

beer tower installed! Woot!

Looks sharp! I like the idea of the rack in the back there.

JD, that is one cool mod! I know what I will be doing tonight when I get home. Simple, easy and now I can fit both my 5lb CO2 tank, as well as my 2.5 lb back up in there with ease.

Cool stuff man!

Imagine with me.....Where the drip tray forms the V, I cut out a piece of 3/4 inch plywood to make a small shelf. The plywood rest on that little lip right below the V and extends just enough to put a 10 pound tank on it. Right below that, I put a piece of 2X4 for support. None of it's screwed in, it's just really tight. I didn't want to take a chance hitting a coolant line or something. Works well. I got plenty of clearence for two kegs, regulator with two shutoffs coming of a V on the regulator itself, cobra tap and CO2 hoses for two kegs.

Tony said:

JD, that is one cool mod! I know what I will be doing tonight when I get home. Simple, easy and now I can fit both my 5lb CO2 tank, as well as my 2.5 lb back up in there with ease.

Cool stuff man!

Click to expand...

not to mention, its a great place to store random beer stuff like hops and yeast

Hmm, those cornies are dead sexy. Where did you get them? Ha. By the way, that finish is just a green scotchbrite pad with some bar keeper's friend on it. I also finished it off with a light touch of 400 grit wetsand paper. Pretty shiny.

My Sanyo came with glass shelves...

Bobby_M...I was in Parsippany for 2 weeks. Just left this morning and got in about an hour ago...13 hour drive...didn't hook up with Toilet Rocker either. I left him a message and we emailed back and forth, but didn't get together for some brews.

homebrewer_99 said:

My Sanyo came with glass shelves...

Bobby_M...I was in Parsippany for 2 weeks. Just left this morning and got in about an hour ago...13 hour drive...didn't hook up with Toilet Rocker either. I left him a message and we emailed back and forth, but didn't get together for some brews.

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hrmm... well if the rails are the same I have one extra shelf!!!!

One of my shelves was glass, the rest were that metal grate

Fantastic Mod Sirsloop! This puppy needs to be posted in the DIY section for all to see.

homebrewer_99 said:

My Sanyo came with glass shelves....

Click to expand...

Yup, just got home and went to do the shelf thing, and instantly remembered..I had glass shelves. DOH!

Anyway, one of the shelves is a half shelf, so I pulled everything out, and put the half shelf in the lowest spot, and, its just a tiny bit too deep. The CO2 tank will fit easy, as well as my spare tank, with room in between. But, it doesnt let the door shut tightly, as it doesnt allow the kegs to fit in enough. Oh well, so much for the glass shelf.

BUT...the sides of the 4912 that I have, has little runners for the shelves to slide into, so tomorrow morning, I will be measuring and cutting a piece wood to fit in its place, and then I will have a rear shelf. Simple enough!

JD, you still rock though!

Tony, pop the door insert off and you can use the glass shelf, right? Or do you use your door shelves and the can dispenser? I figured I would never use mine, so pull the insert off. Now that I think about it, the glass might not be all that strong for holding the tank & reg...
The metal shelf would be sweet, it certainly won't crack.

I removed mine when I first made it. And you are right, the glass shelf wasnt the most sturdy thing to use either.

what about simply cutting the glass to fit? Ya know, you can cut glass too!!

sirsloop said:

what about simply cutting the glass to fit? Ya know, you can cut glass too!!

Click to expand...

OK, before you go cutting glass give it a real thought for a minute...do you really feel comfortable storing a large metal canister on a glass shelf? I don't.

I'm storing my tank outside the fridge.

yeh... true that...

Well.. if you have a welder you can simply weld some angle iron to the existing metal structure. Thats really a completely separate mod, but definitely a cheap n easy way to do it.

homebrewer_99 said:

OK, before you go cutting glass give it a real thought for a minute...do you really feel comfortable storing a large metal canister on a glass shelf? I don't.

Click to expand...

When I placed my two tanks on it, it did indeed bow a bit, and thats why I decided on a wood replacement shelf instead of getting the glass cut.

well... I pretty much have the thing build. I'm waiting on keg lube, and... uhh... beer ;D. I'm also waiting on a photo that I'm kinda framing behind the piece of plexiglass I cut and drilled to replace the door shelves. My dad has had some hard times with booze in the past so I figured this photo (20"x30") sitting in the door would help keep me in check. Its also a cool shot of me and my pops shooting photos at a jets game at the meadowlands I cropped out the bud light at the top tho...heh heh





I actually picked up CO2 this morning and pulled about a gallon of one step through the left side tap. Works like a champ!! I'm gonna brew up a belgian wit tonight for the right side. I should have at least the munich dunkel in a kegs by next weekend and pouring!!! Woot!

Just need beer!






I also took 150 grit to my co2 tank, sanded smooth, and put a gloss black paint job w/ clear coat over it. BLIIING! :fro:

I used my original glass half shelf, and used it as a template, cutting about 1 1/2" off the leading edge and in less than 5 minutes...a rear shelf was born.



Thanks again JD for the idea.

Nice work, guys!
I'm still in process - lots going on w/kids and projects around here. Hope to say "Done" later! I just realized another issue, I need a splitter, preferably with valves - I like hefeweizen so one of my kegs will always be a hefe and will need about 23psi for proper CO2 volume. Dual reg setup going on the list.

That is over the top cool.
The tower for my 4912 mod should arrive monday.
Thanks for all the tips and tricks.