New - Oklahoma Joe's Highland Smoker

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Vslvsl,
#2 and #3 are related. The goal is to keep the airflow of heat coming out the FP from following path of least resistance. Heat rises, so it will exit the FP and go UP to the lid riding the lid until it exits at the top of the left side. The plates help direct the airflow. Moving the exhaust lower also does this.
#4 The fire basket allows you to put a lot more charcoal in, also keeps it from rolling out the vent, also maintains an air vent beneath the lit charcoal.
 
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The exhaust box looks a lot nicer now, I washed it, scrubbed out the rust, coated it in oil and baked the oil in (same way one would season a cast iron pan).
How do you like the box exhaust? I currently am using the dryer elbow method but like the look of the box better...
 
 

Instead of the diffuser plate with holes, I used this method.  Much less expensive, and easily adjustable.  Seems to work really good, can balance out the heat flow from end to end within 10*F.


The deflector plate covering the variable damper and directing the heat in the firebox to the smoke chamber.
THood, also curious about your tuning plates... How think are they? your baffle also, how think? Did this one work well? I know you changed it for the variable one, but did this one work?
 
Sorry for the delay in responding.  Hectic holidays.  Regarding my baffle and diffuser plates...  I'm not positive but I think the main baffle was 12ga, and the baffles were 14ga.  I just bought these at Home Depot in the same area with the expanded metal I used to make the fuel storage box.  It all seems to work very well.  Keeps a nice even cooking temperature all the way down the cook chamber.  
 
This post (and question) was quite a while ago, but a good question about "why the variable damper".   When I put all this together I thought it was going to be necessary to limit the heat going into the cook chamber so I made this plate on a hinge so that I could control that opening.  But after 4 or 5 long cooks on this rig I'm finding that the variable damper isn't necessary at all.  I can control the temperature from the firebox using the damper and variable speed/flow blower system.  So I'm removing the variable damper.  It was a cheap experiment.  
 
 
This post (and question) was quite a while ago, but a good question about "why the variable damper".   When I put all this together I thought it was going to be necessary to limit the heat going into the cook chamber so I made this plate on a hinge so that I could control that opening.  But after 4 or 5 long cooks on this rig I'm finding that the variable damper isn't necessary at all.  I can control the temperature from the firebox using the damper and variable speed/flow blower system.  So I'm removing the variable damper.  It was a cheap experiment.  
Will you be going back to the previous set up with the 14ga steel bolted into the side?
 
 
Sorry for the delay in responding.  Hectic holidays.  Regarding my baffle and diffuser plates...  I'm not positive but I think the main baffle was 12ga, and the baffles were 14ga.  I just bought these at Home Depot in the same area with the expanded metal I used to make the fuel storage box.  It all seems to work very well.  Keeps a nice even cooking temperature all the way down the cook chamber.  
I've been trying to find everything I can in regards to the tuning plates and baffles. Seems for the plates people are going with thicker stuff, 1/4" - 1/2" steel. Not sure how thick on the baffles though.... But you said you have just as good control with the thinner stuff? Have you changed up your setup at all since this you posted the pictures ?
 
 
How do you like the box exhaust? I currently am using the dryer elbow method but like the look of the box better...
I like it because it takes up so little space.  I'm losing 4" (Maybe it's 3", I'll have to go back and check) into my cooking surface, the dry elbow goes a lot further in.  If you have a cut off wheel or other way to cut sheet steel and a way to bend sheet steel it can be made out of much thinner steel than the stuff I used... it could even be made from aluminum and it would bend easier too.  I was thinking of making something a lot narrower, like maybe only 1" deep, but open it up on the bottom so it runs the entire front to back... More ideas for another time.
 
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Something doesn't sound right here... 1/4" to 1/2" steel?  1/2" would be like armor plating for a tank.  Most smokers are somewhere around 10 gauge material.  The internal baffles we are talking about, I don't see any reason to use very heavy gauge material.  They are simply in place to diffuse the heat.  Here's a link to the ones I bought at Home Depot.  They are 16 gauge and they seem to work fine.  The heat is very evenly distributed across the entire cook surface when I space them out. Good luck.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-6-in-x-18-in-16-Gauge-Plain-Steel-Sheet-Metal-801467/204225705 
 
 
Something doesn't sound right here... 1/4" to 1/2" steel?  1/2" would be like armor plating for a tank.  Most smokers are somewhere around 10 gauge material.  The internal baffles we are talking about, I don't see any reason to use very heavy gauge material.  They are simply in place to diffuse the heat.  Here's a link to the ones I bought at Home Depot.  They are 16 gauge and they seem to work fine.  The heat is very evenly distributed across the entire cook surface when I space them out. Good luck.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-6-in-x-18-in-16-Gauge-Plain-Steel-Sheet-Metal-801467/204225705 
The Tuning plates are what I have been reading are a thicker metal. I think the Idea behind that is that they are able to distribute the heat better due to radiant heat coming off the plates as well as going around them.. I will try it first with the thin stuff.. no need to drop a bunch of money on 1/4" steel if the cheap stuff will work! Thanks for the info. 
 
 
Finally got around to getting some pics posted. 


Outside pic with 4 thermos to monitor heat at the grill plate and the top of the chamber, and front to back. 
Another question for you,

When you installed the extra thermometers, did you have to do any sort of RTV on the inside? Or were the holes you driller tight enough that no smoke leaks out?
 
The holes were tight, but I used o'rings too.  I had a Greenlee punch that was the exact size of the hole so that made a nice fit. 
 
Just a few thoughts. To me 4 gauges is a little bit of overkill. Use a Maverick with a portable probe to check the grate temps.
My gauges run 30 degrees hotter than the grate temp. That has always stayed pretty consistent. So I just figure my gauges minus 30 degrees for grate temp.

I used this gasket to seal my cooking chamber door.
1/2" x 1/8" Nomex High Temp BBQ gasket smoker pit seal, self stick I don't worry about sealing anything else.

I made a baffle plate out of 1/4 steel for under 20.00 I did weld it. You can buy convection plates made to fit for your smoker. You will just have to do a search.
The only difference is, I had a longhorn.
 
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Question Opinion..
I had LPG Dynaglow delivered Thursday and going back to Amazon because of damage..
I'm having second thoughts.
I need an opinion on a charcoal or LPG.

Do LPGs smokers guzzle gas?
Is the OK Joe flavor worth the extra work watching it..
Seems like it would last longer than most smokers..

I owned a Brinkman for ten years and hated feeding it charcoal all the time..
I guess they were unsealed and the bottom coal pan was wide open to air..
I'm guessing the OK Joe would be efficient on using charcoal because of good sealing and dampers..
 
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Just a few thoughts. To me 4 gauges is a little bit of overkill. Use a Maverick with a portable probe to check the grate temps.
My gauges run 30 degrees hotter than the grate temp. That has always stayed pretty consistent. So I just figure my gauges minus 30 degrees for grate temp.

I used this gasket to seal my cooking chamber door.
1/2" x 1/8" Nomex High Temp BBQ gasket smoker pit seal, self stick I don't worry about sealing anything else.

I made a baffle plate out of 1/4 steel for under 20.00 I did weld it. You can buy convection plates made to fit for your smoker. You will just have to do a search.
The only difference is, I had a longhorn.

The 4 gauges could be overkill however it gives you the cooking temps at the grate level on the hot end and the cool end so you can see how the heat is diffusing. With the multiple moveable plate setup it's easy to redirect some more heat where you need it. And the 16 ga plates are plenty thick enough to redirect the heat. No doubt the top end of the cook chamber will run 20-30* hotter than the cook surface. I too use the remote temp probes to monitor the meat temps but the big gauges are easy to see from across the yard to monitor that the cook temps are staying where they're supposed to. And that's the idea behind sealing the firebox, not just the cook chamber. The escaping smoke from the cook chamber is a visual where the sealing isn't working but that's not really much of a big issue, unless all of your heat and smoke is escaping. However if there are air leaks on the firebox side it makes it difficult to control the fire temperature and those air leaks let it burn hotter and burn up your fuel faster.
 
Hey guys new to this site. I just have a few questions about the OK joe. Looking into getting one myself. Why does everyone move the exhaust pipe lower to the grates. And what do yall use to seal up some of the leaky connections. Why do yall close off some of the inlet flow? Any info will helo thanks guys.
 
TXsmokin I've tried the whole vent lower thing and I didn't like how it performed. I sealed my hot box with rope gasket. It should be on here in the previous posts somewhere. It has worked out great and I love my Oklahoma Joe.If it's not on this one it's in one of my posts if you want to check it out.
 
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