Backyard cooking area and smoker build.
- Thread starter Starwise
- Start date
-
Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
i'd weld those corners where the material meets and fill it with refractory cement
Well, I realized the structure is far too flimsy. So, I built a skeleton of 1" square tubing to support in between the layers of the wall. Then tack welded the outer layer on so that it wouldn't bend too much.
Little update here, I finished the fire chamber for the smoker, now I need to source a hefty piece of metal for the door. Well sort of, couple of the seams need little touch-up and brushing to clean everything up. I've spent all spare time over-engineering the actual smoker box, I'll post pics about that soon.
What's better than a smoker? Smoker with a rotisserie of course! And not permanently fixed in place, so that it can be removed when off chance you want to smoke something big, or two big things. This is the design I came up with for easy on - off and cleaning up as few parts as possible.
These mounting plates had to be made and welded in place between the walls before I mated the sections together. The purpose of those metal and aluminum sleeves you'll see in later pics. It took far more fabrication than I predicted to get the tolerances just right. I wanted barely an air-gap between each part, so there was a lot of drilling, fitting, filing, fitting, sanding, fitting, spot welding and then more filing and sanding. This is how the bigger sleeve looks like from the outside.
The round iron sleeve is welded on both sides of the wall, so it provides full enclosure to the walls and no chance of grease etc. ever seeping inside. I sanded them sort of flat, you can tell from the weld marks around the ring clip. With the clip in place and bearing over it, it has no room to move or fall out.
In the inside, the aluminum sleeves sit flush to the walls. With 27" bar, I think I can fit three chickens on it at the same time. With 1/2" stainless steel bar, supported by the bearings on the outside, they can be BIG chickens too.
I completely forgot to take pics before I put the ceramic wool in and set the inside wall in place and once it was seated, there was no wrestling it out anymore. It literally bound itself to the square bars and I had to use bar clamps to force it 1/8" either way to make things flush. I will run a full bead on both front corners and with insides riveted to the skeleton with 3/16" stainless blind rivets, it made the whole setup super rigid. Not to mention heavy. I think this thing weighs north of 250lb already and I'm still missing the roof and the door.
Some dimensions... when I did the trig for the rotisserie bar entry, it came to just shy of 28°. Which meant I needed 1 1/8" clearance to fit the 1/2" bar through 1 1/8" thick wall. So I made the larger aluminum sleeve from 1 1/4" round bar. The iron sleeve was made from 1 1/2" round stock to give me solid 1/8" wall for easy welding. On the other end, aluminum sleeve is from 3/4" bar and iron one from 1".
When inserting the bar, all I have to do is unbolt the bearing on the right side, push the 1 1/4" aluminum sleeve out and insert the rod. Slip the sleeve in and bolt the bearing in place. Reverse for the removal. When not in use, I will have the 1/2" holes plugged by 1" long pieces of aluminum round stock, keeping things nice and tidy.
The inside cooking area has supports for 11 shelves, in 2.5" increments. That should make enough bacon for couple meals in one sitting.
These mounting plates had to be made and welded in place between the walls before I mated the sections together. The purpose of those metal and aluminum sleeves you'll see in later pics. It took far more fabrication than I predicted to get the tolerances just right. I wanted barely an air-gap between each part, so there was a lot of drilling, fitting, filing, fitting, sanding, fitting, spot welding and then more filing and sanding. This is how the bigger sleeve looks like from the outside.
The round iron sleeve is welded on both sides of the wall, so it provides full enclosure to the walls and no chance of grease etc. ever seeping inside. I sanded them sort of flat, you can tell from the weld marks around the ring clip. With the clip in place and bearing over it, it has no room to move or fall out.
In the inside, the aluminum sleeves sit flush to the walls. With 27" bar, I think I can fit three chickens on it at the same time. With 1/2" stainless steel bar, supported by the bearings on the outside, they can be BIG chickens too.
I completely forgot to take pics before I put the ceramic wool in and set the inside wall in place and once it was seated, there was no wrestling it out anymore. It literally bound itself to the square bars and I had to use bar clamps to force it 1/8" either way to make things flush. I will run a full bead on both front corners and with insides riveted to the skeleton with 3/16" stainless blind rivets, it made the whole setup super rigid. Not to mention heavy. I think this thing weighs north of 250lb already and I'm still missing the roof and the door.
Some dimensions... when I did the trig for the rotisserie bar entry, it came to just shy of 28°. Which meant I needed 1 1/8" clearance to fit the 1/2" bar through 1 1/8" thick wall. So I made the larger aluminum sleeve from 1 1/4" round bar. The iron sleeve was made from 1 1/2" round stock to give me solid 1/8" wall for easy welding. On the other end, aluminum sleeve is from 3/4" bar and iron one from 1".
When inserting the bar, all I have to do is unbolt the bearing on the right side, push the 1 1/4" aluminum sleeve out and insert the rod. Slip the sleeve in and bolt the bearing in place. Reverse for the removal. When not in use, I will have the 1/2" holes plugged by 1" long pieces of aluminum round stock, keeping things nice and tidy.
The inside cooking area has supports for 11 shelves, in 2.5" increments. That should make enough bacon for couple meals in one sitting.
Netspyder,
I considered that but then opted using ceramic wool as a lining.
Great cooking area!
Well done and you'll definitely have it for a long time.
Nice report, stay tuned.
Well done and you'll definitely have it for a long time.
Nice report, stay tuned.
Finished putting together the floor and the roof. Made a 6" smoke stack starter section first, then attached 4 'legs' which welded to the sides and then superficial rods to help welding the 4 roof sections. Those rods have really no other purpose but to soak some heat off the welding process so that I wouldn't punch holes through all over the place. My poor Harbor Freight mig welder got put to its paces with these long beads but it performed well enough.
The roof is angled 15° and beveled the same to create false flat section for the weld line.
The roof is angled 15° and beveled the same to create false flat section for the weld line.
And then all cleaned off the weld spatter, sanded with a flapdisk and primed. I left the seams proud on purpose, not to weaken them and it is an accent to the look. The eye-hooks thread into the nuts I had welded onto the skeleton structure. Once I lift the whole thing in its place, I'll replace them with bolts.
I took my time with the painting, applied 2 layers of high-heat enamel on all sides. Then yesterday we rigged it up and hoisted onto the platform for a dry fit. I still need to attach the gasket underneath before final seating. Work on the doors continues.
Does anybody else feel like this summer went by far too quickly? My chore list sure hasn't gotten any shorter lately. But back to the task at hand. To give you an idea of the door constructions, they are near identical. First I made an inside rectangle from 1"x1" square tubing, welded that onto a rectangle made from 2"x1/8" flat bar and then on the opposite side another rectangle from 1"x1/2" rectangle tubing. That way it has a solid 7/8" flange that extends over the edge of the door opening and provides good area for the heat gasket. Inside is a cross section to give support and then the cavity filled with ceramic wool.
I opted using stainless steel threaded bar for the mountings, epoxied 2.5" or more into the concrete. Then attached 3/4" gasket on the inside edge of the firebox and the outside edge, to keep bugs and dirt out. IF I had had blueprints of the whole thing beforehand, I would have welded those mountings into the rebar before pouring in the concrete but since the whole thing is made just by 'winging it', this will make do.
The firebox door is hinged onto a rectangle form made from 2"x1/8" flat bar, sealed to the concrete by 1/8"x3/4" flat gasket. I've yet to complete making T-handle bolts to secure that door with the constant power outages which seem to happen only during the weekends when I have time to fabricate. I also made a sausage hanging grid from 1/4" rods, freely hanging by couple chain loops. I will seal both doors with 1/4" rope gasket once it arrives.
Both thermometers are mounted on the door with 1 1/4" aluminum bar with 3/4" center hole, which I tapped with 1/2" NPT thread. If I ever get different kind of thermal probes, all I need to do is change the round bar inserts, which are fixed by a small stainless screw.
One of my main design concepts from the start was to have a fully opening door with no side edges to worry. Trays will slide straight in and out.
Does anyone have a source for decently priced 6" chimney materials? It seems to be more pricey than I imagined lately.
I opted using stainless steel threaded bar for the mountings, epoxied 2.5" or more into the concrete. Then attached 3/4" gasket on the inside edge of the firebox and the outside edge, to keep bugs and dirt out. IF I had had blueprints of the whole thing beforehand, I would have welded those mountings into the rebar before pouring in the concrete but since the whole thing is made just by 'winging it', this will make do.
The firebox door is hinged onto a rectangle form made from 2"x1/8" flat bar, sealed to the concrete by 1/8"x3/4" flat gasket. I've yet to complete making T-handle bolts to secure that door with the constant power outages which seem to happen only during the weekends when I have time to fabricate. I also made a sausage hanging grid from 1/4" rods, freely hanging by couple chain loops. I will seal both doors with 1/4" rope gasket once it arrives.
Both thermometers are mounted on the door with 1 1/4" aluminum bar with 3/4" center hole, which I tapped with 1/2" NPT thread. If I ever get different kind of thermal probes, all I need to do is change the round bar inserts, which are fixed by a small stainless screw.
One of my main design concepts from the start was to have a fully opening door with no side edges to worry. Trays will slide straight in and out.
Does anyone have a source for decently priced 6" chimney materials? It seems to be more pricey than I imagined lately.
Last weekend I did 3 curing fires for the firebricks, mortar and the paint. First one brought the cooking chamber to below 300F, next one around 450F and then third well over 500F something. No cracks anywhere so I think it is sound to operate.
This morning I started small fire and been keeping temperature fairly consistent between 220-280F. Using lump charcoal and cherry blocks and just random alder firewood for containment. The rebar grid has 1/2"x1" openings, it works really well to let ashes fall through and provides enough air from below so it burns evenly.
The 7lb pork butt is half-way there after almost 5 hours. Just added halved chicken next to it and will let them simmer another 4 1/2-5 hours.
I will need to make a more permanent water pan, I'm not going to juggle with the foil pans too long. And maybe a separate drip pan above that... but can't wait for the Christmas dinner to be ready. Merry Christmas to ya'll.
This morning I started small fire and been keeping temperature fairly consistent between 220-280F. Using lump charcoal and cherry blocks and just random alder firewood for containment. The rebar grid has 1/2"x1" openings, it works really well to let ashes fall through and provides enough air from below so it burns evenly.
The 7lb pork butt is half-way there after almost 5 hours. Just added halved chicken next to it and will let them simmer another 4 1/2-5 hours.
I will need to make a more permanent water pan, I'm not going to juggle with the foil pans too long. And maybe a separate drip pan above that... but can't wait for the Christmas dinner to be ready. Merry Christmas to ya'll.
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.
Similar threads
Hot Threads
-
Throwdowns and such
- Started by bmudd14474
- Replies: 73
- General Discussion
-
New Weber WOW
- Started by 912smoker
- Replies: 43
- Wood Smokers
-
Tri-Tip - My favorite way to make it.
- Started by Chris_in_SoCal
- Replies: 17
- Beef
