Ugly Drum Smoker Charcoal Basket Question

Welcome to the ugly side!  Don't forget to post pictures of the build!

As for the charcoal basket, I didn't have a welder, therefore I bought the expanded metal and bent it around a replacement weber charcoal grate (size I think its 13.5 inches) and bolted it together.  Thereafter I had some thick gauge metal wire and twisted it to the grate to the expanded metal.  After dozens of smokes it still holding strong. 

For the ash pan, we cut out the bottom of the cheap kettle I bought at Big Lots and put the basket on top and the ash just falls down.  We also intalled the legs of the kettle but cut them down to an inch so the kettle/ash pan sits off the bottom of the drum.  We also plugged the holes in the vent so nothing drops all the way to the bottom.

Below is a pic of how it sits in the drum.  Let me know if you have any more questions...have fun with the build!

That's very similar to mine. I used wire as well. Only difference is that I bought a cheap 16" pizza pan to use as the ash tray.