Decided to make my own

[Jeremy Mancos]

So after debating buying one I decided to make my own a little bigger. Nothing against the A-Maze-N but I just wanted one that was bigger. I made it 9x8 and also made the dividers taller to eliminate the worry about the fire jumping over to the other rows. Also went to 1/4 holes instead of Im guessing 1/8th in hopes of increasing air flow. What do you guys think?
Im still working on adding some vents and improving airflow as well as putting a plate under it to block it from the burner in hopes of not needing a mailbox mod.

 

[flatbroke]

Nice job.

 

[SmokinAl]

Nice work, but I sure wouldn't put it over the burner like you have pictured, unless your cold smoking with no heat.
I don't think a metal plate under it will help either, the pellets will just burn right up.
Al

 

[Jeremy Mancos]

Nice work, but I sure wouldn't put it over the burner like you have pictured, unless your cold smoking with no heat.
I don't think a metal plate under it will help either, the pellets will just burn right up.
Al

I am I little concerned with that as well however it will have a foil covered plate under it and get to stand it up about a half in off of that, also has some damper vents that I'm installing to bring the temp down as it's already too high on the lowest setting. Worst case I can move it later.

 

[GaryHibbert]

Nice work, but I sure wouldn't put it over the burner like you have pictured, unless your cold smoking with no heat.
I don't think a metal plate under it will help either, the pellets will just burn right up.
Al

That was my first thought too. I'm not sure a plate under the maze would keep the heat down sufficiently.
Gary

 

[Jeremy Mancos]

That was my first thought too. I'm not sure a plate under the maze would keep the heat down sufficiently.
Gary

I agree, I dont know if it will be enough. I'm really banking on the fact that I am adding 2x 8" vents on the back below the tray line to help cool the area and also provide enough oxygen so the pellets dont go out. This is my first smoker and I'm kind of experimenting at this point. I'm having issues keeping the temp down to around 225 (it stays at 250-275 pretty much at the lowest) so I am adding the vents to help cool it down and figured maybe it will kill 2 birds. If this doesnt work I figure I will move it up to the first rack, and if that didn't work I'd make my own mailbox mod setup.

 

[Jeremy Mancos]

So I finally had a chance to get it together and Im about an hour into testing and so far so good. Tray is rolling consistent smoke with no signs of snuffing out and Im finally able to keep the temps below 200.

 

[Bearcarver]

After thousands of hours of testing, I'm betting every change you make was tried by Todd in the last 10 years.
He tested all Tray sizes, Perforation sizes, interior & exterior wall sizes & shapes. You name it, he tried it. I remember how many different kinds of interior walls he experimented with until he settled in with the tapered walls you are using.

Have Fun,
Bear

 

[Jeremy Mancos]

After thousands of hours of testing, I'm betting every change you make was tried by Todd in the last 10 years.
He tested all Tray sizes, Perforation sizes, interior & exterior wall sizes & shapes. You name it, he tried it. I remember how many different kinds of interior walls he experimented with until he settled in with the tapered walls you are using.

Have Fun,
Bear

I agree, I have no intentions of selling or making claims. I just have tthe tools to try to make my first smoker a little better and this is my attempt.

 

[Mop]

I may DIY this also.
What kind of metal did you use?
Where did you get it?

I'm going to search my kitchen for old or pliable metal/aluminium lying around.
- A buffet tray, grilling tray, whatever ...
Maybe get some ideas from a kitchen store, on what could work best.

Hopefully I can find whatever is lying around, and not buy anything.
Cause after a certain price point, best just buy the real thing instead.

 

[Jeremy Mancos]

I may DIY this also.
What kind of metal did you use?
Where did you get it?

I'm going to search my kitchen for old or pliable metal/aluminium lying around.
- A buffet tray, grilling tray, whatever ...
Maybe get some ideas from a kitchen store, on what could work best.

Hopefully I can find whatever is lying around, and not buy anything.
Cause after a certain price point, best just buy the real thing instead.

I used 304 stainless perforated sheet, I'm a fabricator/welder and I used our supplier to get a small drop they had left. You can get it from any metal supplier.
I think it would be hard to modify something to work, main thing your looking for is airflow so they dont snuff out.
The only real reason I made mine was because I wanted it to fit in place of my old chip tray.

 

[Mop]

Thanks for the info, regarding the airflow. I saw on another thread someone potentially using galvanized metal from a home improvement store, which they said is not good. Thus, looking through the kitchen might be safe bet. I think it might be fun to tinker with, but we'll see how much time/frustration it creates.

 

[Mop]

Come to think of it, I might save the tinkering as a side hobby. I'm just interested in getting up to speed quickly (if that's possible) on smoking/creating great tasting food.

 

[nanuk]

shipping to Canada is stupid expensive, and the Canadian suppliers think they are made of gold.

so I too tried to make my own.

I also stripped out an old microwave oven to make a "MailBox Mod" unit to attach to my MES30c.

If I ever get some free time, I'll put it all together.
But for now, I use a home made tube in a 5' duct pipe jammed into the loader hole... works very well!

 

[johnmeyer]

Wow, a mailbox mod built out of the stainless steel microwave enclosure would be very cool. I've repaired several microwave ovens, and so I know that it wouldn't take much work to extract the metal cavity. Pure stainless beats the pants off of painted toolboxes, galvanized or painted mailboxes, or tin-plated popcorn cans (which is what I used).

The one issue I can see is figuring out some way to close up the door opening, but maybe you can just use the door. In that case, all you need to do is remove the electronics and external housing. That wouldn't take long.

Microwave ovens already have the opening at the top for the fan port, so you can probably tap into that and might not have to cut a big hole, which is the only real work in making a "traditional mailbox mod." Heck, you could even put a speed control on the exhaust fan and have a little "fan assist" for cold-smoking.

I will be very eager to see the results of your work, if you ever get around to building it. Your local dump or recycling center probably gets dozens of these very day and you can probably get one for free, if you don't happen to have a junker on hand.

 

[Mop]

With that (microwave mod) in mind, one could also use an old toaster oven. I'd much prefer that over a painted mailbox. It should be safe right, cause a toaster is already made for food? Would smoking do anything different to the inside metal?