I looked through all the sub forums and did not see one for grill building and I guess that makes sense, so I just put this in General Discussion.
Over the past several years there have been a bunch of times I wished I had a welder. Finally broke down and bought one a couple weeks ago. Did one little thing (smoker wood grate for my big smoker) and you sure could tell that I'd never welded anything in my life
Not to be discouraged I decided to undertake a little project just for the fun of it and to see if I could do it. Please bear in mind that my metal working tools are very rudimentary at best. Basically I have a Sawzall, a 4" grinder, and a drill. That's about it so did the best I could with what I had.
Here's what I started with. An assortment of stock steel.
A rusty old charcoal pan that came with my smoker. It was included so you could use the smoker as a grill also. Don't need it and never used it. Been sitting in the garage for several years
A light duty cooking grate that I have no idea where it came from but it too has been in the garage for years
First thing was to cut the handles off the charcoal pan, somewhat sand it down, cut the legs, and weld them onto the pan
Build the vertical tower and install it
The steel on the cooking grate was really lightweight so I tore it apart, cut the diamond shaped grate material down to size, and built a new grate with much heavier steel
Then was to fabricate the cradle that the grate would sit in
Perfect fit after one modification to the cradle. Had it just a bit too small the first time
The spindle and crank handle. This is 1/2" round steel
Mark where the holes are to be drilled on the tower for the spindle and drill them. Please note the guides welded onto the sides of the cradle.
Sanded, primed, and first coat of finish paint. The color of the charcoal pan is actually matte black high temp grill paint. It looks gray in the pic but it's not. The spindle and crank handle are over sized here and will be cut to fit when the rest of the goodies show up that I need.
Cut things down to correct size, install cables, spring handle, ratcheting gear, and lock mechanism for the gear.
Last thing was to cut the fire retardant material to line the inside and we're done
You sure can tell that I need a LOT more practice welding but the confidence level came up a lot as I went through all of this. It was a ton of fun and a heck of a great learning experience. I will not be cooking on this though. It is intended to be a Christmas present for somebody, most likely a forum member who I do a gift exchange with. I know that my friend John (
SmokinVOLfan
) is gonna want one of these as soon as he sees it, but he's gonna want one considerably bigger. He LOVES the SM grills and this is sure to get his attention. I'm already thinking through the nest project with will probably be a larger version of this with a rotisserie setup. Now I just need to find some larger plate steel but I think I know where I can get some. Will probably drop by there a bit later today with fingers crossed.
Oh well, this one was an interesting endeavor and am really looking forward to the next one. Y'all take care and stay safe.
Robert
Over the past several years there have been a bunch of times I wished I had a welder. Finally broke down and bought one a couple weeks ago. Did one little thing (smoker wood grate for my big smoker) and you sure could tell that I'd never welded anything in my life
Not to be discouraged I decided to undertake a little project just for the fun of it and to see if I could do it. Please bear in mind that my metal working tools are very rudimentary at best. Basically I have a Sawzall, a 4" grinder, and a drill. That's about it so did the best I could with what I had.Here's what I started with. An assortment of stock steel.
A rusty old charcoal pan that came with my smoker. It was included so you could use the smoker as a grill also. Don't need it and never used it. Been sitting in the garage for several years
A light duty cooking grate that I have no idea where it came from but it too has been in the garage for years
First thing was to cut the handles off the charcoal pan, somewhat sand it down, cut the legs, and weld them onto the pan
Build the vertical tower and install it
The steel on the cooking grate was really lightweight so I tore it apart, cut the diamond shaped grate material down to size, and built a new grate with much heavier steel
Then was to fabricate the cradle that the grate would sit in
Perfect fit after one modification to the cradle. Had it just a bit too small the first time
The spindle and crank handle. This is 1/2" round steel
Mark where the holes are to be drilled on the tower for the spindle and drill them. Please note the guides welded onto the sides of the cradle.
Sanded, primed, and first coat of finish paint. The color of the charcoal pan is actually matte black high temp grill paint. It looks gray in the pic but it's not. The spindle and crank handle are over sized here and will be cut to fit when the rest of the goodies show up that I need.
Cut things down to correct size, install cables, spring handle, ratcheting gear, and lock mechanism for the gear.
Last thing was to cut the fire retardant material to line the inside and we're done
You sure can tell that I need a LOT more practice welding but the confidence level came up a lot as I went through all of this. It was a ton of fun and a heck of a great learning experience. I will not be cooking on this though. It is intended to be a Christmas present for somebody, most likely a forum member who I do a gift exchange with. I know that my friend John (
SmokinVOLfan
) is gonna want one of these as soon as he sees it, but he's gonna want one considerably bigger. He LOVES the SM grills and this is sure to get his attention. I'm already thinking through the nest project with will probably be a larger version of this with a rotisserie setup. Now I just need to find some larger plate steel but I think I know where I can get some. Will probably drop by there a bit later today with fingers crossed.Oh well, this one was an interesting endeavor and am really looking forward to the next one. Y'all take care and stay safe.
Robert
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