Hello everyone, my name is Brandon and this is my first build. I finally acquired a tank (old craftsman tank) and thanks to my awsome
wife I got a 125 flux core welder for my birthday. I am on a tight budget, so needless to say is that the local scrap yard is my best friend. Also this is the first time I have ran a MIG so my welding skills are not the best. I have been putting my boys to work on this one and so far they are up to the task and loving it. Anyway here is some of the pics that I have so far and hopefully this weekend I will be getting the metal to build the firebox.
when I got the tank home their was some surface rust but not bad, it is an older tank so I was actually surprised by the thickness of it.
got the lid cut and framed and found some old galvanized pipe for the legs
stepson doing a little cleaning on the exhaust standoff
got a drop piece of 70x3 inch from the yard for $8 for the exhaust. I only needed 37" but when I called to get a quote it was gonna be around $50 new.
a pic of the pipe and the stand off. to get the side pieces on the stand off correct took some time and cardboard but the boys learned some pointers from the old man, such as cardboard is cheaper than metal when test fitting.
back supports for the door, nothing fancy but they work
handle mounts in place
doing the burnout, used redoak and it got hot. also in case your wondering that is a firepit built out of a dryer drum in the bottom left of the picture, looks cool at night with all the little holes in the drum
got the cool touch handle on and notice the color change from the burnout. I had some warpage issues on the lid but I expected it I will address that in the future. Well this is where I am at for now, I am going with a 17 squared firebox which is at 106% according to the calculator. I am also gonna frame up the legs so I can put a catch all on the bottom. Hope everybody likes it so far and all ideas are welcome, good or bad.
when I got the tank home their was some surface rust but not bad, it is an older tank so I was actually surprised by the thickness of it.
got the lid cut and framed and found some old galvanized pipe for the legs
stepson doing a little cleaning on the exhaust standoff
got a drop piece of 70x3 inch from the yard for $8 for the exhaust. I only needed 37" but when I called to get a quote it was gonna be around $50 new.
a pic of the pipe and the stand off. to get the side pieces on the stand off correct took some time and cardboard but the boys learned some pointers from the old man, such as cardboard is cheaper than metal when test fitting.
back supports for the door, nothing fancy but they work
handle mounts in place
doing the burnout, used redoak and it got hot. also in case your wondering that is a firepit built out of a dryer drum in the bottom left of the picture, looks cool at night with all the little holes in the drum
got the cool touch handle on and notice the color change from the burnout. I had some warpage issues on the lid but I expected it I will address that in the future. Well this is where I am at for now, I am going with a 17 squared firebox which is at 106% according to the calculator. I am also gonna frame up the legs so I can put a catch all on the bottom. Hope everybody likes it so far and all ideas are welcome, good or bad.
