Just got a Highland

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jimbuck

Newbie
Original poster
Jul 13, 2015
11
10
I jsut picked one up at Lowes, they had them for $199 and then a military discount was 184 out the door.  Could not pass it up.  I have looked at all the mods and will do the dorr gaskets and then see how it runs.  I may then end up weldiing it all together.  

Has anyone tried to use combustor gasket material when putting the two halves of the firebox together?  I say it swells up with heat.  I do not have data on it but there are no off gas problems that I can find.  I might order some of that and give it a try.

Thanks,

Jim
 
Just starting the mods. Am going to use some combust or gasket material on the firebox. If that does not work wil just weld it all up. Trying to figure the deflector plate and how much to block coming from the firebox. Then will use plumbers smoke and see the air flow.
 
Getting ready to fire up the plasma cutter and welder to make the plate.  I figure to block off about ⅓ of the opening between the firebox and cooking chamber.  Does that sound about right?

I also got the combustor gasket material that I am going to try.  

I will use a width of 15" for the plates.

Thanks for all the help.  Hopefully will do the first burnin on Tuesday.

 
Good to see you got some tools to do the mods. How thick are your plates going to be?
I would think 1/4" once warmed up would retain some heat and help even temps.
 
Bouncing back and forth between 3/16 or ¼. The block off will be 3/16 or ⅛ just easier to work with.
 
Ok, plates in and diverter installed (cut off 2 " of the opening).

Fired it up and have a few leaks to contend with.  Bottom corner of the cooking chamber door for one and a few others.  Have the plates covering about half way from firebox.  After getting to temp and playing around, have about a 16 degree difference.  Waiting on the secon thermometer and another probe for my temp controller.  Then to see if it is worth it to put the stub for the fan.  He holds temp good, about 1.5 hours on a handful of charcoal and a small split.  I am actually going to do some pork chops on it tonight after it has burned since 0730 this morning.  Harder to control temp than my Egg but I think it is doable.
 
NICE! I just got the exact one from Lowes...I can't wait to use it this weekend! Does anyone know if the steel gauge is thicker on the old ones with the flat gold label? Also, is that red sealant for the firebox going to withstand the temps? I'm going to do the same thing before I fire my first cook, but wouldn't some sort of fire retardant wool gasket be better? This is my first real smoker so apologies if these are dumb questions.
 
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