This project is a downsized example of how soda machines and bar guns function. At the time, these were what I installed for a living. At work I was able to recover a long abandoned bar gun with only two buttons, refurbished it, and from that this project was born. The rest of the parts I bought online, the water jug from my company and the wood is all recovered from my property.
Sarah and I built this in one night, eagerly cutting and throwing pieces together to make a functional rolling table to house all of the equipment. The final coats of paint went on much later. If you decide to build something like this yourself you can go with a much smaller Co2 tank. I have poured over 50 gallons of water with this dispenser and the gauge on my regulator has not budged from full.
Of all my projects I had more fun putting together this one than any other, and am so happy with the way it turned out. Every part of putting together the table was improvised as we went along, starting from cutting out the base which we knew we wanted to hold both the co2 canister and the 5 gallon jug to draw water from. The ropey pieces used as pylons (below) I cut off of a headboard years earlier thinking, “I don’t know what I can possibly use these for, but when I do it’ll look beautiful.” The table tops are offset from each other to avoid an awkward space above the shorter water jug. And the base has two 1/4″ slots routed into its sides because, fuck it.
The table surfaces are sealed with kilz wood penetrating primer to prevent water damage to the particle board tops, give a nice clean surface for paint and because I use kilz wood penetrating primer on everything.
The wooden body is painted in blues reminiscent of water. The inside of the base and the casters are spray painted with a hammered metal color. The spirals are brush painted and the rest was done with one of those adorable 3″ brush rollers.
