- Jul 10, 2010
- 7
- 10
After having absorbed the wealth of knowledge here, I thought I would put it to good use and tell a story about what I did.
I've been wanting a smoker for a while and everything I read here about the MES sounded just right to me. As luck would have it, I managed to hit a sale at Canadian Tire and get mine for $199 Canadian including a 1 year exchange warranty from the store.
I live in an apartment and don't have the space for some of the really nice carts that some people have made. Making matters more difficult is the fact that none of it is covered. The first thing I had to do was to make my smoker a little easier to move. Unfortunately I am in a no tool (except for a power drill) situation.
Here's what I did.
Go to Home Depot. Buy:
1 x 8 foot 2x6
4 x casters (2 locking, 2 not, all swivel)
8 x 3 inch screws for holding the wood together
20 x 1 inch screws
2 x little L shaped bracket things
Home Depot said that they would do 3 cuts for free. I got the guy to cut the wood in half, place one on top of the other and make 1 cut at 17.5 inches in and another at 13.5 inches in. This let me go home with 2 x 13.5 inch and 2 x 17.5 inch pieces of 2x6 wood.
Next, I lay the 2 longer pieces down and spaced them out so that the feet of the MES would just catch the end of each piece. Then I put the 13.5 inch pieces along the side lining them up at the back. The front sticks out a bit as you can see in the pic because I didn't want it to catch the door. Next I drilled the pilot holes, 2 in each connection along the side totalling 8.
Flipping my cart around, I screwed on the castors that took 4 screws each. Finally I turned it over one more time and put the L- shaped brackets on along the back where the back feet would be so that it wouldn't fall off.
I was quite happy that it all came together in an hour and that it's sitting on my deck now with my new MES seasoning on it. Using the go big or go home attitude (strange because I am at home), I have already invited a group of people over tomorrow and have 4 racks of ribs and a chicken in the fridge ready to go.
I can't say thanks enough to all of the fine people here that took the time to share their thoughts and notes on improvements.
My next step is making this cover.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/fo...-an-mes-sun-shield-i-ll-show-you-a-sun-shield
I have no idea how I'm going to do it with only a drill, but I'll post if I manage to do it.
Hope everyone had an amazing weekend.
I've been wanting a smoker for a while and everything I read here about the MES sounded just right to me. As luck would have it, I managed to hit a sale at Canadian Tire and get mine for $199 Canadian including a 1 year exchange warranty from the store.
I live in an apartment and don't have the space for some of the really nice carts that some people have made. Making matters more difficult is the fact that none of it is covered. The first thing I had to do was to make my smoker a little easier to move. Unfortunately I am in a no tool (except for a power drill) situation.
Here's what I did.
Go to Home Depot. Buy:
1 x 8 foot 2x6
4 x casters (2 locking, 2 not, all swivel)
8 x 3 inch screws for holding the wood together
20 x 1 inch screws
2 x little L shaped bracket things
Home Depot said that they would do 3 cuts for free. I got the guy to cut the wood in half, place one on top of the other and make 1 cut at 17.5 inches in and another at 13.5 inches in. This let me go home with 2 x 13.5 inch and 2 x 17.5 inch pieces of 2x6 wood.
Next, I lay the 2 longer pieces down and spaced them out so that the feet of the MES would just catch the end of each piece. Then I put the 13.5 inch pieces along the side lining them up at the back. The front sticks out a bit as you can see in the pic because I didn't want it to catch the door. Next I drilled the pilot holes, 2 in each connection along the side totalling 8.
Flipping my cart around, I screwed on the castors that took 4 screws each. Finally I turned it over one more time and put the L- shaped brackets on along the back where the back feet would be so that it wouldn't fall off.
I was quite happy that it all came together in an hour and that it's sitting on my deck now with my new MES seasoning on it. Using the go big or go home attitude (strange because I am at home), I have already invited a group of people over tomorrow and have 4 racks of ribs and a chicken in the fridge ready to go.
I can't say thanks enough to all of the fine people here that took the time to share their thoughts and notes on improvements.
My next step is making this cover.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/fo...-an-mes-sun-shield-i-ll-show-you-a-sun-shield
I have no idea how I'm going to do it with only a drill, but I'll post if I manage to do it.
Hope everyone had an amazing weekend.