PLANNING FIRST BUILD ( PICS NOW INCLUDED )

[64driver]

DO I NEED TO BEAD BLAST THE INSIDE OF THE CC? IT HAS JUST SOME LIGHT SURFACE RUST ON THE INSIDE OF THE TANK. I THINK I WANT IT AS CLEAN AS POSSIBLE BEFORE SEASONING IT.

I agree with Qwikrnu. I would blast everything clean, especially the inside.

 

[sholmes]

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[sholmes]

I FINALLY GOT THE FABRICATION PART OF THIS BUILD DONE. I TOOK THE SMOKER OUTSIDE AND PUT A MED. SIZE BAG OF CHARCOAL IN THE FIRE BOX TO START WITH. ONCE I HAD A GOOD BED OF COALS GOING I ADDED A COUPLE SMALL CHUNCKS OF HICKORY. IT DID NOT TAKE LONG AT ALL TO GET UP TO TEMP.

THEN JUST AS I WAS UP TO TEMP AND STARTED TO PLAY WITH THE INTAKES I NOTICED THAT THE FIREBOX DOOR THAT I HAD STRAIGHTEN OUT STARTED WARPING AGAIN. IT WARPED BAD ENOUGH TO POP THE LATCH ON THE DOOR. I GRABBED A SMALL CHAIN COME-A-LONG TO KEEP THE DOOR SHUT AS GOOD AS POSSIBLE. I NEVER WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THE DOOR WOULD WARP THAT BAD. NOW WHAT DO I DO?

I AM GOING TO REMOVE THE DOOR AND GET IT STRAIGHT AGAIN THEN WELD SOME ANGLE ON THE INSIDE OF THE DOOR TO HELP IT KEEP IT'S SHAPE.
DO YOU THINK THAT THIS WILL WORK? ANY OTHER IDEAS? OR SHOULD I CUT MY LOSSES AND BUILD A NEW DOOR?

I DID NOT GET TO PLAY WITH THE ADJUSTMENTS MUCH BECAUSE OF THE DOOR ISSUE BUT THE TEMP FROM SIDE TO SIDE STAYED ABOUT 10 OR 15 DEGREES APART FOR THE FIRST HOUR. ONCE THE CC GOT UP TO TEMP THE TEMP FROM SIDE TO SIDE STAYED ALMOST DEAD EVEN. THE TEMP IN THE TOP OF THE CC RUNS 150 DEGREES OR MORE HIGHER THAN THE LOWER TWO GAUGES. WHEN THE LOWER GAUGES ARE RUNNING 225 TO 275 THE TOP GAUGE WAS READING 400 TO 475. MY THOUGHT IS THAT I NEED TO OPEN UP THE EXHAUST PIPE INSIDE THE COOK CHAMBER. I THINK THAT I LET IT DOWN INSIDE THE CC TOO FAR AND THE HOT SMOKE IS NOT GETTING OUT OF THE TOP OF THE CC. AM I ON THE RIGHT TRACK HERE?

I HAVE NEVER BUILT OR COOKED ON ANYTHING LIKE THIS SO THIS IS ALL NEW TO ME. I WAS SUPRISED AT HOW LITTLE FUEL IT TOOK TO RUN THIS THING ONEC IT GOT WARMED UP. I ALSO THINK I AM GOING TO SIMPLIFY THINGS A BIT AND GET RID OF THE DOOR BETWEEN THE FIREBOX AND CC, AND ALSO THE SLIDING DOOR BETWEEN THE FIREBOX AND VERT. CC. AFTER RUNNING THIS THING WHAT LITTLE I DID, I JUST DO NOT THINK I WILL EVER BE ABLE TO JUST USE THE VERT. CC ONLY. I THINK THAT IT IS GOING TO WORK SO WELL AND BE SO GOOD ON FUEL THAT I WON'T HAVE ANY REASON TO RUN JUST THE VERT CC.

ANY ADVICE ON HOW TO MAKE THIS THING RIGHT AND HOW TO RUN IT CORRECTLY WOULD BE GREAT. I DON'T THINK THAT IT WILL TAKE TOO MUCH PRACTICE TO RUN THIS THING. IT SEEMED TO BE VERY EASY TO CONTROL, IT JUST NEEDS SOME MINOR REPAIRS AND ADJUSTMENTS.

 

[daveomak]

sholmes, evening.... It would sure be a lot easier to read your posts if you used lower case letters... at least for these old eyes it would be easier...

 

[gary s]

It's probably in one of your post, but what size (thickness) plate did you use for your door?

Gary

 

[weedeater]

Got to fix that door first.  Leaking as much air as that crack looks like it would will make it very hard to control your fire.  Can't really know what it is doing and how it is reacting to opening and closing the vents if it is leaking that much air.  Just my $.02 worth.  Agree with Dave on the all caps stuff. 

 

[gary s]

I went back and looked at your post you said you used 1/4" for the inside and 1/8" for the skin, not really sure why you are having the warping problem, It didn't look like you had a very big fire in the FB. When we built our vertical RF insulated, we built a pretty big fire in our FB to make sure we wouldn't have a problems no warpage what so ever. Inside was 1/4" skin was 1/8" or maybe less.

Gary

 

[ribwizzard]

Interesting,  was the door vent open or closed? Amazing what a little heat and airflow can do!   I would think a inner skeleton frame made of 1/4" x 1" flat bar would be strong enough to keep it from happening again. Looks like it folded right at the vent.

 

[gary s]

Was the (Door) or damper between the FB and CC open or closed ?  Most of the RF 's I see don't have a damper between the FB and CC we Never use one.  You said it Warped again, when did it warp the first time and what was the cause?

Gary

 

[gary s]

Thinking out loud,  looking at the picture of your door, about how much area is there between the 1/4" inside plate inset,  and the 1/8" outer skin ?  Thinking that since your hinges are attached to the outer 1/8" and there looks to be some room there, the outer skin may be getting hot enough to cause all your problems. 

Gary

 

[ribwizzard]

You could trim off both the left and right outer flanges and replace them with flat bar twice as deep, creating a more rigid door with out having to build a whole new one. You'd have a lip sticking out on both sides, but could make it look alright by moving the handle onto the one side. Also it would give you room to mount your hold down clamp to the door and have the plastic handle where it's easier to grab. With 1/4" x 2" flat bar running up both sides, I wouldn't think that door would warp like that again.

Just an ideal to keep from building a whole new door.

 

[sholmes]

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• sholmes
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• sholmes
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Thanks for all the input guys. Sorry about the caps. Here are a few pics of the door while I was building it. The damper/door between firebox and cc was open the whole time, in fact i think i am going to remove the damper, i just don't think that I will ever use it.

The air intake in the front of the door was open when i started the fire. I figured that i wanted all of the intakes open until i got a good fire going and a good bed of coals. Was that not the way i should start this smoker? I have never even been around a smoker this size so i really have no idea how to run it. Advice wecome.

The door warped pretty bad when i welded it all together even though i skipped around quite abit and tried not to make long welds. I straightened the door out in a press and i did not think it would warp again. Guess i should have welded some braces on after i got it straight.

When i first started the fire i lit a med size bag of charcoal in the front of the basket closest to the door. Should i build the fire in the back of the firebox away from the door?

Also i am not to impressed with the latches that used on the doors. I may try to build something myself.

 

[ribwizzard]

I was just thinking, with the door vent open, the high heat on one side, and cool air flowing toward the other side could have helped cause the warping. But if it warped when welding similar to how it is now, it was already pre conditioned to bend back to where it wants to be,

No big deal, live and learn right?

 

[urbotrimmm]

My 2 cents worth.  I don't think a door can be kept flat without some kind of stiffener.  I welded stiffeners on my doors but my door wall was only 1/4" plate and it warped something terrible.  I used "C" clamps and 1/4" angle to straighten it back out.  Haven't had a problem since.  Rib is right, live and learn.

By the way, excellent looking build, looks like it should be in the sci/fi movies.

 

[sholmes]

I got the firebox door straight again. I welded some braces on the inside of the door. I hope to try it out again tomorrow. I hope that this is enough to keep it from warping again.

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• sholmes
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• sholmes
• Mar 15, 2014

I removed the dampers/doors between the firebox and the cook chambers.

Here are a few pics of my exhaust stack inside the main cook chamber. During my last test run my top temp gauge on the main cook chamber was running way too hot. Do you think that i need to cut some off of the bottom of the pipe to let the heat/ smoke out of the cook chamber?

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• sholmes
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• sholmes
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[gary s]

From the picture doesn't look like enough opening to me, I would open it up some.

Gary

 

[daveomak]

Holmes, morning... Great build...... everyone is learning quite a bit.....

Question about the exhaust stack.... I read somewhere it was 8 1/4" pipe.... Is that what you ended up using..... The pipe in the picture looks small for 8 1/4".....


Dave

 

[sholmes]

Thanks for the help guys. The 8.25" ID pipe i was planning to use ended up being to rusty to use. I ended up buying some 8" OD pipe with 1/8" wall. I added a few inches to both the exhaust pipes to make up for the slightly smaller ID.

The smoker seems to draw really well, it just holds alot of heat in the top of the tank.

 

[sholmes]

I fired up the smoker again the other night. I notched out my exhaust pipe a bit on the inside of the cook chamber. My top temp gauge still runs 150 degrees hotter than the lower two. I am not sure if i need to open it up more, or if I have some other problem. I will get some pics posted later today to show what i notched out.

When i started the smoker this time i used about 1/3 of a bag of charcoal and once it was burning good i started adding wood. It was taking quite awhile to get warmed up so i got impatient and added some more wood. Then the fire got too hot and the temp was running about 350 to 375 and i could not control it until the fire died down some. I shut all of the intakes and opened the cook chamber door a few times and when the fire died down i was able to maintain 225 to 250 by adding a couple small splits of wood every hour or so.

I am starting to learn how to run this thing a little. I need to be patient and make small adjustments. It takes awhile to get all of that steel warmed up but once it is hot it only takes small amounts of wood to keep it happy.

My door still warped a little bit when i got the fire going too big. I hope that if i keep my fire smaller and get my door seal on it will seal up tight. I need better latches also. I can not believe how much things warp. The inside skin of my firebox has warped also.

Hopefully I will figure out how to run this thing with a little more practice and some small adjustments.

 

[daveomak]

Holmes, morning....... Raise the wood basket up above the air intakes.... Are you running the upper air inlet wide open to allow for heat movement into the CC .... Did you remove the damper between the CC and FB.... I'm concerned that damper is causing air turbulence restricting air flow through the smoker and causing the FB to overheat and warp..... Also, if and when you remove the damper, remove that lip so the transition is smooth between the FB and CC....