Cast iron oven build

bradsmoke

Newbie

Original poster

Jul 31, 2016

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• Aug 1, 2016

• #1

Hi all,

Decided I wanted an electric hot smoker, but I'm in the UK and all the electric ones here are either rubbish, small or expensive so thought I would build/ convert one.

I was convinced for ages that I wanted to do a fridge build. But the insulation (toxic fumes/catching fire issues etc) was putting me off a bit and it looked like a lot of work to remove that stuff. Then I stumbled across this on ebay 20 miles from me. Looks pretty solid.

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• bradsmoke
• Aug 1, 2016

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• bradsmoke
• Aug 1, 2016

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• bradsmoke
• Aug 1, 2016

 

smokin monkey

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Sutton In Ashfield, UK

• Aug 1, 2016

• #2

Hi Brad, that looks really good. What's your plans or ideas for it?

 

dirtsailor2003

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Oct 4, 2012

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Bend Oregon

• Aug 1, 2016

• #3

Looks like a great find! Now let's
See some Smoke!

 

bradsmoke

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Jul 31, 2016

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• Aug 1, 2016

• #4

I'm going for an electric setup, possibly 5kw? total (im thinking 2 x 2.5kw elements) with PID for controlling the temperature. I was hoping it was one big oven chamber, turns out to be two seperate ovens stacked one on top of the other. Good job really, these things are heavy! Needed a forklift to get them in the van. And good old fashioned planks and muscle pain the other end.

Doors off

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• bradsmoke
• Aug 1, 2016

 

bradsmoke

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Jul 31, 2016

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• Aug 1, 2016

• #5

First got rid of all the gas burners and pipework etc. Spanners and angle grinder did the trick here.

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• bradsmoke
• Aug 1, 2016

 

bradsmoke

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• Aug 1, 2016

• #6

Really it needs to be one big chamber not two seperate ovens, so after procrastinating for a while and trying (unsucessfully) to unscrew the lid from the bottom oven, I decided to saw a big hole in it.

First I drilled pilot holes where the corners of the cuts will be to prevent stressing (these things are made out of cast iron which can fracture).

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• bradsmoke
• Aug 1, 2016

 

Last edited: Aug 1, 2016

bradsmoke

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Jul 31, 2016

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• Aug 1, 2016

• #7

Then the angle grinder again

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• bradsmoke
• Aug 1, 2016

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• bradsmoke
• Aug 1, 2016

 

smokin monkey

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Sutton In Ashfield, UK

• Aug 2, 2016

• #8

Looking good so far. I am in on this one!

 

SmokinAl

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• Aug 2, 2016

• #9

I'm in too!

Al

 

pitbulmom

Meat Mopper

May 14, 2016

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Hurricane, Utah

• Aug 3, 2016

• #10

I am more than curious....keep going!

 

bradsmoke

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Jul 31, 2016

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• Aug 3, 2016

• #11

My ebay PID arrived yesterday. I didnt get back in until late, but managed to do a bench test. I wired it to a spotlight for testing purposes. Actual temp shown on screen was accurate (19c) and I set desired temperature at 28c. The light started pulsing on an off. I put the probe in some cold water and probe temp decreased. The light pulses increased in duration, with shorter gaps in between. Hooray! 

pid.jpg

• bradsmoke
• Aug 3, 2016

 

smokin monkey

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Sutton In Ashfield, UK

• Aug 3, 2016

• #12

Hi Brad, I have used the same PID for some of my builds. Have you got full instruction with it? I have a link to them if not.

 

bradsmoke

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Jul 31, 2016

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• Aug 3, 2016

• #13

I think I have it worked out- I managed to find a really helpful video on youtube which explained the basics. Can post the link to the vid if anyone interested. If you have got a link though for the instructions that would be great- it never hurts to have them on file just in case! Mine were all in Chinglish. Also I notice that you used a smokai smoke generator in one of your builds- how did you find it? I'm considering using it as the smoke source for this build. Cheers.

 

bradsmoke

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Jul 31, 2016

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• Aug 30, 2016

• #14

Been busy recently and not managed to update the thread. I have made a base for the smoker to sit on, with castor wheels so I can move it (slightly) to clean behind it etc. Just need to line the top with fireboard.

base.jpg

• bradsmoke
• Aug 30, 2016

 

bradsmoke

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Jul 31, 2016

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• Aug 30, 2016

• #15

I'm using the inside top liner to make a false bottom for the oven. I also managed to salvage some metal from an old oven a friend was throwing out, am going to use this to mount my element. Both sprayed with oven cleaner awaiting a good scrub.

cleaning.jpg

• bradsmoke
• Aug 30, 2016

 

bradsmoke

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Jul 31, 2016

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• Aug 30, 2016

• #16

Holes drilled and element mounted. I'm just going with 1 x 2.5kw element to start with, hopefully this will be powerful enough or I will need to add another.

element.jpg

• bradsmoke
• Aug 30, 2016

 

bradsmoke

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Jul 31, 2016

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• Aug 30, 2016

• #17

Wired the thermostat up and tested. I put a 3ply cardboard sheet over the big hole in the top of the oven (where the second oven will sit once I've worked out how I'm going to lift it on). Set target temp to 85C. It reached this within about 10 minutes and held it there steady. I didn't want to go much above this as I didn't trust my cardboard lid to not catch fire!

Next step is to mount all the electrics/ thermostat inside a project box.