First Time Build

[Wet Spaniel]

Looking good. Take a look at my build, I had a similar situation and made a plenum out of an old mailbox. Be sure to get it low in the cook chamber. At or below your grate. Try for smooth transitions think friction.

RG
Lefty RF build

Thank you - I enjoyed reading your build thread, and that was a great bit of fettling using the mailbox!!

 

[Wet Spaniel]

Rookie Error!! I was welding a side cap on to my smoker the other day and it wasn't going so great but I persevered. Afterwards I went online to see if I could find out why my welds looked/behaved like they did... After some reading around gas flow speeds I went to check the flow on my gas - turns out your welds are much better if you turn the gas on!!! what a numpty!

 

[seenred]

Rookie Error!! I was welding a side cap on to my smoker the other day and it wasn't going so great but I persevered. Afterwards I went online to see if I could find out why my welds looked/behaved like they did... After some reading around gas flow speeds I went to check the flow on my gas - turns out your welds are much better if you turn the gas on!!! what a numpty!

That's a painful lesson sir! A word of caution:

All the welds you performed with no shielding gas are suspect. They will have a lot of porosity, and a lack of fusion. Those welds could potentially fail a much higher percentage of the time than properly shielded welds would -especially if they are joints that have any structural significance.

Without being able to directly inspect these welds, it's difficult to say for sure...but if it were my project, I'd have to strongly consider cutting all those welds loose, grinding everything smooth again, and then re-welding them.

Red

 

[radioguy]

Keep on welding. Practice get experience. I can notice gas off within a second or two. Watch the puddle, listen good weld will sound like bacon frying. No gas is loud erractic jumpy arc.

RG

 

[Wet Spaniel]

Keep on welding. Practice get experience. I can notice gas off within a second or two. Watch the puddle, listen good weld will sound like bacon frying. No gas is loud erractic jumpy arc.

RG

Thank you - I really appreciate all of the positive feedback and advice I’ve been getting from you all here!

 

[Wet Spaniel]

I managed to get the plenum cut out and tacked together yesterday. The smokestack is a length of 4.5 inch pipe, or 114mm as we Brits like to call it in new money. A couple of years ago i was helping clear a garage out and I found a bunch of 1/4 inch plates, I kept them because I was sure they’d come in handy - I’m glad I did, so far that plenum is the cheapest part of my build.

Joking about the metric/imperial thing, I work as a LVC in the U.K. for an American client. I can quite easily jump between feet/yards and metres, but when it comes to fractions of inches, my brain simply cannot compute. The smoker build section of this forum is the only forum I have to read with a calculator beside me !

 

[Wet Spaniel]

I’m not far off being finished!. I made a start on the the cooking grates and also the cook chamber handle . I couldn’t easily get any expanded metal so I‘ve been having fun cutting 6mm round bar into lots of short lengths. Obviousl, I’ve just set the handle on the top of the chamber to take a pic, but when it’s mounted in the right spot, it has plenty of clearance so you can open the door fully without catching your forearm.

 

[seenred]

As you guys across the pond say...Brilliant!

It's looking awesome so far Wet Spaniel! Very nicely done! I'm sure it's time consuming to do it that way, but I like the cooking grates made from round bar and angle iron. Looks like you'll be cooking on this pit very soon!

Red

 

[JLeonard]

Your neighbors will be gobsmacked when they smell the smoke and meat going on that thing! Its looking gorgeous!

Jim

 

[ecto1]

Wish i had the talent and time to build something like this. Looking good.

 

[Wet Spaniel]

Your neighbors will be gobsmacked when they smell the smoke and meat going on that thing! Its looking gorgeous!

Jim

Thanks Jim - I really appreciate that!!

 

[Wet Spaniel]

Wish i had the talent and time to build something like this. Looking good.

Thank you very much. I'd never picked a welder up before starting this so don't be put off from trying something like this - she won't win any beauty pageants but it's been great fun leaning as I go along. The lots of support and advice from you guys is certainly helping too!

 

[Wet Spaniel]

I just want to say a huge thank you for all of the advice, support and encouragement I’ve received from you guys across the pond ! I finally got finished up and have managed a couple of cooks so far. I couldn’t help but put a chicken in to roast when I was seasoning the smoker at high temps and then I did a nice low and slow cook last weekend. I was amazed how controllable the heat is, I still need some more practice but it seemed pretty easy to maintain constant temps. I really loved building this, I’m looking forward to plenty more cooks…. And building the next one!

Thanks again!

 

[seenred]

Awesome! I know how gratifying it is to cook on a pit you built yourself - especially when it performs as expected. This project turned out terrific...Way to go Wet Spaniel!

Red

 

[Brokenhandle]

You did great on your build! And some good looking food coming off your smoker!

Ryan