RF Build In Slow Motion (Sinks are done!)
- Thread starter solaryellow
- Start date
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Today we built the rest of the racks for the smoke chamber and put in our removable slides. We made the top two middle rack slides removable so we can do whole hogs (or even whole cows I suppose) without having to fight those slides. With the new metal we bought this weekend our total cost is a little over $1200 now.
More to come...
More to come...
Thanks Joe. Hopefully the weather will give us a break soon.
Looks great Joel..... Keep it comming. cant wait to see it finished
Joe
Thanks Al!
More than you and I put together could eat.
Major construction is over! At least on the smoker. The trailer on the other hand, not so much. We now have finishing work to do.
Today we build our fire box grates. We built two of them so that we can remove them if needed to repair the expanded metal. We also reinforced the expanded metal with 1/2" rebar.
It is a nice snug fit in the firebox.
The warming box chimney was installed.
From there we went to work on fixing our smoke chamber doors that had warped slightly when welded on the strapping. We used a 2 1/2 ton floor jack, some chain, a couple pieces of lumber, a maul (aka The Persuader), and a weed burner to get them fitting much better.
Then it was on to finishing up the rack slides for the smoke chamber. 7,200 sq. in. of cooking surface on full display.
With another 6,000 sq. in. of cooking surface available in the warming box if needed.
We sprayed the racks down with cooking spray and then it was time for seasoning run #2.
Using the weedburner method I learned from Jerry in FL, we had the temps up to 400* in about 45 minutes. I then began to play with the air intakes to figure out how to run this beast.
About 45 minutes later we got exactly what we were hoping for. Perfectly even temps across the smoke chamber. The unit on the left was monitoring just an inch or so above the middle rack on the far left side. The unit on the right was also monitoring just above the middle rack but on the far right.
The air intakes on both sides were open the exact same amount.
From there it held temp perfectly with each side staying within a degree or two of the other. And the thin blue smoke was there to help us celebrate.
We threw nine pieces of fatback on for a few hours to get some fat on everything as well. Counterweights, handles, paint, probe ports, rack handles, and chimney dampers are all that is left. Trailer construction should begin soon.
More to come.
Today we build our fire box grates. We built two of them so that we can remove them if needed to repair the expanded metal. We also reinforced the expanded metal with 1/2" rebar.
It is a nice snug fit in the firebox.
The warming box chimney was installed.
From there we went to work on fixing our smoke chamber doors that had warped slightly when welded on the strapping. We used a 2 1/2 ton floor jack, some chain, a couple pieces of lumber, a maul (aka The Persuader), and a weed burner to get them fitting much better.
Then it was on to finishing up the rack slides for the smoke chamber. 7,200 sq. in. of cooking surface on full display.
With another 6,000 sq. in. of cooking surface available in the warming box if needed.
We sprayed the racks down with cooking spray and then it was time for seasoning run #2.
Using the weedburner method I learned from Jerry in FL, we had the temps up to 400* in about 45 minutes. I then began to play with the air intakes to figure out how to run this beast.
About 45 minutes later we got exactly what we were hoping for. Perfectly even temps across the smoke chamber. The unit on the left was monitoring just an inch or so above the middle rack on the far left side. The unit on the right was also monitoring just above the middle rack but on the far right.
The air intakes on both sides were open the exact same amount.
From there it held temp perfectly with each side staying within a degree or two of the other. And the thin blue smoke was there to help us celebrate.
We threw nine pieces of fatback on for a few hours to get some fat on everything as well. Counterweights, handles, paint, probe ports, rack handles, and chimney dampers are all that is left. Trailer construction should begin soon.
More to come.
- Dec 6, 2007
- 3,854
- 552
Great outcome Joel!! It looks fantastic... I truly believe all yours labors will pay off. Please tell the gang they all done real fine.
I wonder what this beast is going to weigh after it is finished....... looking great Joel.............. Will you be adding a guru?
Joe
Joe
Joel, evening.......mighty impressive.......great planning and forethought..........at 8 oz per person I suppose you could cook for 500 or so....have you got your crew lined up yet ????..... You are goin' to have soooo much fun.....wish I was there.........Dave
Thanks Bob! I can't wait to cook some butts, briskets, sausage, ABTs, lamb, and all manner of things on this. My patience is running thin. lol
My best guesstimate is 2500 lbs at the moment based on how much scrap steel we bought and the original weight of the tank. I don't know about the guru. For now we will do things the old fashioned way. The Black Walnut Festival is only 5 weeks away so the important thing is to get it done so we can meet that obligation. However, if I had a blank slate and the experience of this build behind me with no hard deadlines I think I would take a stab at a gravity feed RF with a homemade stoker/guru. Even so, I am very pleased with the performance of what we have built so far.
Thanks Dave! Actually, this was built with the goal of being able to feed 4000 with a single cook. That would of course mean that the meat(s) were packed in there tightly but it is doable. While our first showing is a vending event, we really want to do some weekend roadside Q. We already have a few locations along busy surface streets to pick from but we need to get HD sign off which means a "commissary" by NC law for all prep work. This event we are about to do fell into our lap and was hard to turn down since our only competition is boiled hot dogs and attendance is expected to be around 2,000. The crew is lined up with 8 helpers and 5 more wanting to help that we are placing on standby so to speak. It has been fun getting to this point but the real fun is still unfolding. I have about another 100 lbs of from scratch baked beans to make, 100 lbs of homemade kielbasa, and 150 lbs of coleslaw that we will make the night before while the butts and briskets are cooking. Trying to figure out how many we can expect to vend to without taking a lot of food home has been very challenging. I am sure we would sell more if we used some of that homegrown garlic of yours. :o)
Thanks Bear! It was surprisingly easy to do it this way other than having to unbolt the 100 lbs doors and lift them off. The floor jack did most of the work.
I don't the have the time or the patience for this, but looks like you pulled it off!!
Lots of guys asking about a welder, and looks like you have a Hobart Handler 180. How about starting another post about the welder, so guys can reference it?
Great Job!
I'm curious how much this BEAST weighs!
Todd
Lots of guys asking about a welder, and looks like you have a Hobart Handler 180. How about starting another post about the welder, so guys can reference it?
Great Job!
I'm curious how much this BEAST weighs!
Todd
Thanks mag409!
Man this is a great build .you can feed a platoon on one smoke
Hopefully we can feed a few companies or a small battalion.
It is actually a Hobart 187. We have exceeded the duty cycle on it several times and run 3 10lbs spools of wire into the smoker and another 4 tanks of shielding gas.
Since the weight thing seems to be popping up let's run through the numbers.
500 gal propane tank - 900lbs
RF plate and angle iron for the drip rail - 250 lbs
Smoke chamber door strapping - 10 lbs
Homemade hinges - 5 lbs
Barrel hinges for warming box and firebox - 5 lbs
3/8" steel for firebox/warming box construction - 800 lbs
1/4" steel for remaining warming box construction - 300 lbs
8" pipe for both chimneys - 150 lbs
1 1/4" angle iron - 100 lbs
Expanded metal - 100 lbs
Welding wire - 30 lbs
Our materials alone are at 2,650 lbs.
Leftover scrap from the build this far is around 200 lbs (3/8 is heavy stuff!)
So our net is around 2,450 at this point.
The trailer I am guesstimating to be around 2,000 lbs when it is finished plus we will still need to add fryers, sinks, potable and greywater tanks, RV tankless water heater, and a grill. When it is all said and done I am expecting to be in the 7,000 - 8,000 lbs range.
Serving 2-4000.......with that beauty of a smoker.....and good friends to lend a hand.......it sure looks do-able to me.......Take lots of pics......I want to see SMILES and
when you and your comrades complete your mission..........Dave
We sure have. We have also been using a small 110v MIG with fluxcore to do some of the non-structural welding like the expanded metal to the frames, tacking some things into place, etc so we can be more productive.
Serving 2-4000.......with that beauty of a smoker.....and good friends to lend a hand.......it sure looks do-able to me.......Take lots of pics......I want to see SMILES andwhen you and your comrades complete your mission..........Dave
I am sure there will be lots of pics since the wifey will be there helping.
kcbluesnbbq
Meat Mopper
I can't believe I haven't seen this build till today. Using phone too much instead of computer, I guess.
Sure is looking great. I had to fix my warped door also. I used a chain, a large turnbuckle, some 4x4's, and a persuader. I never thought a weed burner would get the metal hot enough, or I would have used mine.
How is the trailer coming?
I will definitely stay tuned to this build to see it done. Keep the post coming.
Sure is looking great. I had to fix my warped door also. I used a chain, a large turnbuckle, some 4x4's, and a persuader. I never thought a weed burner would get the metal hot enough, or I would have used mine.
How is the trailer coming?
I will definitely stay tuned to this build to see it done. Keep the post coming.
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