Do-it-yourself cooler bag: step-by-step instructions, care tips.

One of the useful things in the household is a cooler bag. It’s quite simple to make such a thing yourself - with the observance of uncomplicated technology, even a novice master will cope with the task. Financial costs are minimal, and the result will be quite high-quality mobile thermal box.

Purpose of the cooler bag

A cooler bag will help to bring food to the picnic place intact and safe

There are many situations in life whenParts Required to protect the products from damage. Mobile equipment with a cooling effect is sold in stores, while it costs a lot of money. But why buy something you can do yourself? In addition, it is unknown how regularly it is planned to use thermobox.

Evaluate the list of possible situations - how often they occur in your family:

1. Camping with the use of soft drinks, semi-finished meat and home-made vegetable salads.
2. Driving a car for a few hours.
3. Hours-long train ride by a large, friendly company of students or summer residents. It is expensive to pay for drinks to a conductor, at stations or in a restaurant. Homemade fridge will be the best solution.
4. You work long hours on a remote facility where there is no cooling equipment, but you need to eat during the day. You can take along food from home and have lunch without interruption from the work process.
5. Departure to the cottage, where there is no refrigerator as such. For long hours you will not have to worry about high-quality food - the products are stored in the mobile thermobox.

The temperature inside is kept due to the insulating properties of the material of the walls, bottom and cover. The homemade cooler bag does not have an electric unit with a condenser, due to which its production is possible even for a housewife.

From which you can make a cooler bag with your own hands

Several of the most popular materials are known, from which you can make a cooler bag:

• a plywood box with a lid, decorated with insulation from the inside. The model will require time to design and carpentry directly( cutting, installation, sizing).Outside the container is finished with oilcloth;

A plywood box can be selected ready or assembled on your own

• travel bag or sports bag that will become the outer shell for a portable refrigerator( all handles, pockets and zipper locks are already there, you do not need to sew anything).The internal space is heated by foam rubber and other thermal protective materials;

The bag can be selected suitable for dimensions

• specially buy fabric to sew a bag in the form of a bag with handles from it, a separately made plastic or wooden container with insulation is placed inside. Fabric desirable to use easily washable, dense and with a water-repellent effect. This is a practical solution for transportation to nature, even in inclement weather;

This cooler bag requires a lot of effort to make, but you can choose the most suitable

• fabric option for advanced design masters - with a fan. Thick container of foam, painted with insulating paint outside. A cooling element with an outlet for automotive charging is mounted in the cover.

A cooler bag with a fan has an outlet for car charging

Materials and tools for work

Consider the classic method of manufacturing a cooler bag. In this case, you will manage even without a sewing machine. You will need to work:

We find a convenient travel or sports bag

• sports travel bag with a simple configuration, without complicated “architectural” excesses;
• a piece of foil-insolone( this is the name of foamed polyethylene with a layer of foil, which is sold in hardware and hardware stores). Pre-measure the necessary amount of folgoisolone in order not to buy a whole roll. Do not forget to make a small reserve for a possible "marriage" in the work of inexperience;

We select a piece of the folgoisolone

• ruler( or elastic centimeter);
• cutting tools - scissors, large stationery knife;
• paper for patterning, preferably graph paper. If not, tracing paper or even an old newspaper will fit;
• wide scotch tape for fixing fragments of the pattern. Foil( metallized) better reflects heat and does not pass it on the joints. If you do not find such a tape with a shiny coating in the store, use the regular one;

Scotch is better to take a wide foil-coated

• needle and strong colorless threads, preferably from durable lavsan.

Step-by-Step

Fabrication Workshop The production of a mobile refrigerator will take only a few hours, if you follow the plan and follow the sequence of work. First, measure the whole bag. You need to know only three values: height, width and length.

From the pattern to complete the assembly

To create a cooler bag, measure the height, length and width of the bag

1. Transfer the dimensions to the paper. Connect all points with a ruler so that you get a solid part. Carefully trim around the edges.
2. Place the paper pattern on the spreading insulation. Circle the contour. Cut with scissors.
3. Whether to make seam allowances to overlap parts is up to you. In fact, high-quality scotch copes with the task much better( but the threads, it is possible, can diverge with intensive use of thermobox).
4. Assemble the model box from the pattern. It is recommended to glue on both sides. Duplicate seams are much stronger. The metallic side of the tape must be turned to the inside from the inside and to the outside from the outside. So you strengthen the protection against external heat and keep the container cool inside for a longer time.
5. Place the soft container inside the bag, carefully smooth all wrinkles and creases, distribute the material evenly.
6. Fasten the foam "stuffing" so that it does not crawl inside the bag.

At the last stage, we firmly fasten the foam rubber “filling”

The upper edge of the container and the hinged lid deserve special attention. These places are supposed to have a maximum load while using a portable refrigerator. Sew them with reinforced seam.

How to sew a complicated version with the use of foam

For the summer season, it is desirable to make a cooler bag with more impressive insulation.

For this:

• sew the internal capacity not in one, but in two layers. The detail of the inner pattern needs to be done a little less as compared to the outer one, about 3-5 mm( depending on the thickness of the folfoisolone purchased);
• make the outer pattern of the soft container 1.0–1.2 cm smaller compared to the size of the bag. Fill the voids formed with pieces of batting, foam rubber, foam plastic and other similar materials. This will enhance the effect of preserving coolness and protecting products in the thermal box from heat.

Tips for the care and operation of

Homemade thermobox will please maximum efficiency, if properly use them:

• before you start using the cooler bag, create in advance cool conditions inside it. To do this, it is recommended to put a few bags of ice on the bottom of the container, and the cold will last for the maximum amount of time;
• If you travel by transport, take with you an “ice filler” in the form of plastic bottles with frozen water, later it can be used as a cool drink;

Frozen bottled water will allow you to pre-create cool conditions in the

• cooler bag during periods when the product is not in use, carefully rinse it from the inside and keep it always open - so that the seams do not accumulate moisture and do not lead to stale smell from various products.

A cooler bag at low temperatures can serve as a thermos bag

A solidly made cooler bag keeps cool for at least 12 hours. And it can also be used as a thermos at low temperatures outside, that is, to give the opposite effect: take home food with you for a winter walk, warm food in the cold will warm you and will not allow you to freeze.