160ish gallon RF smoker #1 of 4

[duck killer 1]

i resized my pics on the first post so it would load faster...

 

[duck killer 1]

here's a video of us using the metal devil saw to cut the hole in the fire box for the door opening.

BTW, no charge for the Paul Gilbert tune in the background LOL!

 

[duck killer 1]

video works now, i had it set up wrong 

 

[tom37]

Dang-it Duck......... Thanks alot man, now I gotta go learn how to do the video thing. I've been putting it off for a while now, I guess its time to get off my rear and learn. 

Nice vid, its almost as cool as the saw. 

 

[bigmatt]

Man, that thing cuts sweet.  Makes me messing around with my 4.5" grinder look silly...

 

[duck killer 1]

i found my trailer tonight! i'll post pics and details tomorrow. should be cooking on it saturday!  

 

[bigmatt]

YES!  I have been looking forward to this one!

 

[bob1961]

is that a saw for metal cutting or just a blade in a regular saw...........bob

....

 

[tom37]

The saw is made for cutting ferris material. You can purchase a blade for cutting with a standard low RPM saw such as a worm drive but it can be rather messy and painfull.

The saws that are made for this have a really nice chip collector, that keeps the metal chips away from your eyes and ears.

OK duck, I made myself come over here and check the post since you said you were putting pics of your new trailer find up tonight. LOL  Just giving ya a hard  time man.

 

[duck killer 1]

i cheated.... i got it to the point i could cook on it. i didn't take any pics of the build progress because i was short on time with the amount of work io had to get done in order to use it last weekend. i am going to clean it up where i can get some good pics of the details to post a sort of qview. however it is not complete and i have some more work to do still so i will get back into the swing of things... i promise 

 

[duck killer 1]

I am with you dk, I love the whole fab part.  I am already planning my next build.  If someone wants to buy the one I am building now and I can come out ahead on the deal, then it's all theirs.  I will just build another one.  The wife won't care for that idea, but I am all for it.

i was re-reading the thread and saw this again... i gotta tell ya MattS, they don't like it while your buildin, but Mrs duck killer sure didn't't complain when i served up all that Q i cooked on it last weekend. I know... no qview it never happened LOL. i smoked up 6 racks of ribs, 2 pork butts, a brisket, 12 brats, some baked beans, and 3 fatties. man we ate good!!!   that's the most ! I've ever done at one time and it was a blast!!
 

 

[matts]

haha, I totally know what your talking about.  It happens to me all the time.  I hear complaints all the time when I am building stuff, but she is the first one to brag about to everyone when these projects are done.  Also the first time I used my smoker was for a big party for her family.  She wasn't complaining about that either.

Matt

 

[duck killer 1]

man i've been busy! i hope to pick this project back up in the next week or so, stand by! LOL!

 

[duck killer 1]

well, i have gotten some work done on this project. so here we go,

here it is on the trailer (temporarily) i got for it. i can't decide really how i want to position it tho. i want to fabricate a rail system on the trailer with rollers for sliding the smoker to the edge of the trailer for cooking and back to the center for transport. i am planning to use 2" angle iron for the rails. a machinist friend of mine said he would make me some rollers for rolling on the angle iron. i will be fabricating a "reese hitch" style keeper system for keeping the smoker in place when in either position.

here is a pic with the counter weights started for the doors.

here's a pic with the counterweights assembled. sorry for the junk in the background- makes it hard to pic them out.

doors open

firebox completed

here's the fire wood drawer.

i made "twisty handles" for the cooker doors.

OK- here's the adjustable RF baffle plate system i made for this smoker. i designed the damper and the plate around both gap formulas. the plate gap is designed to match the area of the space under the RF plate when full open, the damper opening is designed to match the area of the inside diameter of the stack when closed to the minimum opening. i used a sawtooth design for the lever positions. it is adjustable from outside the smoker while the doors are closed.

this is a side view of the rails i made for it and the linkage. it is in the open position.

top view open,

gap closed,

hopefully i can make it back up to the shop to work on it some more tonite. more to come.

 

[duck killer 1]

man that trailer needs some help. the guy i bought it from should have been using a heavier trailer. he bent this one perty good LOL.

 

[tom37]

I like it Duck, curious to see the slide setup and all.

I really like the adj damper idea alot. The part I don't care for is the piece of bar sticking out. Cause if theres something sticking out I will run into it for sure. Aside from my preference, how cool would it be to find an old water shut off valve or a boiler valve. Put a bushing or bearing at the location where you have the sawtooth rod exiting the tank. Weld up a threaded rod to the valve handle, a nut with a set screw just inside the tank. At the plate you could have a nut welded in place on the damper.

Ending up with a crank on the handle> spins the threaded rod> in turn sliding the adj plate. I come up with some crazy ideas sometimes and most of the time they are labor intensive. The bad part is that also most of the time I get busy and run out of time and never get to try them.  One of these days or years I will have time, I hope.

 

[duck killer 1]

I like it Duck, curious to see the slide setup and all.

I really like the adj damper idea alot. The part I don't care for is the piece of bar sticking out. Cause if theres something sticking out I will run into it for sure. Aside from my preference, how cool would it be to find an old water shut off valve or a boiler valve. Put a bushing or bearing at the location where you have the sawtooth rod exiting the tank. Weld up a threaded rod to the valve handle, a nut with a set screw just inside the tank. At the plate you could have a nut welded in place on the damper.

Ending up with a crank on the handle> spins the threaded rod> in turn sliding the adj plate. I come up with some crazy ideas sometimes and most of the time they are labor intensive. The bad part is that also most of the time I get busy and run out of time and never get to try them.  One of these days or years I will have time, I hope.

That's actually a great idea! maybe i will expound on that, say use some all thread rod and a rod coupling. thanx Tom!

 

[duck killer 1]

the rod would be alot easier to seal up as well.

 

[tom37]

Maybe the handle from an old cheapo drill press could be in order. It has 3 or 4 handles spaced evenly, and also has the center hub to weld to. Could be an idea. Bad part could be that some kid or even worse some drunk may walk by and give the handle a spin. Sending the smoker in to a tragic tailspin. Still sounds kinda cool.

 

[mitroll]

Hey duck killer, very nice build. I am brand new to this stuff and had a bunch of questions. Is your fire box double walled and insulated? Also is it necessary to put the adjustable sliding baffle on the inside? What is the purpose putting it there.  Haven't seen one of those yet.  Also how do you determine the size of the gap between the drip pan and the end of the tank. I will be using a 250 gal, 30" diam tank. Thanks a lot for your input in advance. Mitroll