OK... so finally did the two mods I have been meaning to make to my WSM. I have been wanting to put in the hole thru grommets so I can feed in the wires for temperature probes....... But being a cheap-skate I really didn't want to shell out $10 or $15 for the ones from Cajun Bandit. So after wasting many afternoons at work (
) I finally came across parts for repairing lamps, and the rest as they say is history!
Bought 1/8-IP threaded rod ($2.75) at Home Depot and the matching hex nuts ($1.50).
(Sorry not pictures of this part) Drilled two 3/8" holes in WSM, one just below the upper rack and the other just above the lower rack. Drill process was: apply two layers of blue painters tape right were I was going to drill. Hit it with a center punch to keep the drill bit from wandering. Drill holes, then used a chamfering bit to enlarge just a hair and de-burr the holes.
OK... back to pictures. Cut a chunk of the threaded pipe approx. 3/8 long.
Threaded the pipe into the cut hole.... yes threaded, it was such a perfect fit that it threaded in. Then put a nut on the inside and outside of the smoker - mostly for looks. The nuts really don't hold it in place since it threaded in... lol.
Finished look.... did two for now, but I have lots of rod left and lots of nuts, so I could easily make several more if I so desired..... not bad for under $5!
Some of you may recall a while back I had a problem where if my upper rack was loaded with lots of weight and it got pushed all the way to one side it would slip off the supporting bracket and dump everything onto the bottom rack. So I measured across the brackets.... on way was 22-3/8", the other was 22-3/4"..... and my rack is 22-1/2".... so you can see where the problem arose
. I pulled off the nut on the inside of the smoker and put 3 washers between the support bracket and the wall of the smoker. Now I don't have to worry about the rack flipping and dumping a fully loaded pan of Dutch's Wicked Baked Beans onto my chicken below and into the water pan! That was not a fun clean-up.
Bought 1/8-IP threaded rod ($2.75) at Home Depot and the matching hex nuts ($1.50).
(Sorry not pictures of this part) Drilled two 3/8" holes in WSM, one just below the upper rack and the other just above the lower rack. Drill process was: apply two layers of blue painters tape right were I was going to drill. Hit it with a center punch to keep the drill bit from wandering. Drill holes, then used a chamfering bit to enlarge just a hair and de-burr the holes.
OK... back to pictures. Cut a chunk of the threaded pipe approx. 3/8 long.
Threaded the pipe into the cut hole.... yes threaded, it was such a perfect fit that it threaded in. Then put a nut on the inside and outside of the smoker - mostly for looks. The nuts really don't hold it in place since it threaded in... lol.
Finished look.... did two for now, but I have lots of rod left and lots of nuts, so I could easily make several more if I so desired..... not bad for under $5!
Some of you may recall a while back I had a problem where if my upper rack was loaded with lots of weight and it got pushed all the way to one side it would slip off the supporting bracket and dump everything onto the bottom rack. So I measured across the brackets.... on way was 22-3/8", the other was 22-3/4"..... and my rack is 22-1/2".... so you can see where the problem arose
