Latest build is concrete / masonry base with flower pot saucer as lid. (Dunno exactly what the pot is made of, but it is not terracota, and it's PITA to drill through.)
Electric control via PLC.
While taking pictures of it's maiden job. It exploded!. Not a catastrophic thing, rather, the lid blew straight up about 1/4 or 1/2 inch. I felt a warm blast at my knee caps. I am at a loss to explain the phenomenon that could have led to this.
prior to the explosion it was like any other day with my terracotta builds....
I packed the hot plate element tray with dry apple wood chips to get a immediate intense smoke.
Resting on the element I had a throw away chicken roaster pan - aluminum foil construction like many disposable turkey roasters you see around thanksgiving. This pan was filled with a single layer of soaked apple wood chips, I poked holes in the side of this pan to allow smoke out. I also bent the sides in and placed another identical chicken roaster on top of it. That pan was filled with warm water.
Above all that was a commercial grate from an old charbroil bullet type smoker, this grate is supported from the sides of the smoker (see threaded rod and wing nut in last photo).
How in the hell could something in this build raise the lid like it did????
Anyways on to the build....
Element...
Controller...
From left to right.
Blue circles are Thermocouple transmitters from Acromag. These are nice because you can set scaling via USB port, with a free utility. 32 deg F = 4ma, 400 deg F = 20ma out of these. Not so nice is the price for such convenience.
Beige stuff is wiedmuller terminals and hard jumpers (boring)....
Grey box is Siemens S7-1200 micro PLC. Which does the PID, and the web front end. On board I/O handles two temperature inputs (analog from Acromag transmitters) Grill and Payload Temp. As well as relay output of PID to solid state relay.
White box on end = 25A solid state relay from Automation direct that switches house voltage 120VAC to hot plate element.
Web Front End...
Some day I'll get around to hosting my own custom front end with nice graphics etc....till then this does the job.
And lastly the explosive guy himself....
My daughter painted the lid. Lid is flower pot saucer, and is glazed on the other side, under side was unglazed so I painted with grill paint, and had my daughter brighten it up with it's favorite payload.
Electric control via PLC.
While taking pictures of it's maiden job. It exploded!. Not a catastrophic thing, rather, the lid blew straight up about 1/4 or 1/2 inch. I felt a warm blast at my knee caps. I am at a loss to explain the phenomenon that could have led to this.
prior to the explosion it was like any other day with my terracotta builds....
I packed the hot plate element tray with dry apple wood chips to get a immediate intense smoke.
Resting on the element I had a throw away chicken roaster pan - aluminum foil construction like many disposable turkey roasters you see around thanksgiving. This pan was filled with a single layer of soaked apple wood chips, I poked holes in the side of this pan to allow smoke out. I also bent the sides in and placed another identical chicken roaster on top of it. That pan was filled with warm water.
Above all that was a commercial grate from an old charbroil bullet type smoker, this grate is supported from the sides of the smoker (see threaded rod and wing nut in last photo).
How in the hell could something in this build raise the lid like it did????
Anyways on to the build....
Element...
Controller...
From left to right.
Blue circles are Thermocouple transmitters from Acromag. These are nice because you can set scaling via USB port, with a free utility. 32 deg F = 4ma, 400 deg F = 20ma out of these. Not so nice is the price for such convenience.
Beige stuff is wiedmuller terminals and hard jumpers (boring)....
Grey box is Siemens S7-1200 micro PLC. Which does the PID, and the web front end. On board I/O handles two temperature inputs (analog from Acromag transmitters) Grill and Payload Temp. As well as relay output of PID to solid state relay.
White box on end = 25A solid state relay from Automation direct that switches house voltage 120VAC to hot plate element.
Web Front End...
Some day I'll get around to hosting my own custom front end with nice graphics etc....till then this does the job.
And lastly the explosive guy himself....
My daughter painted the lid. Lid is flower pot saucer, and is glazed on the other side, under side was unglazed so I painted with grill paint, and had my daughter brighten it up with it's favorite payload.
