MES Wall Hanging / Flat / Rectangular / Square Mailbox Mod!!!

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tallbm

Legendary Pitmaster
Original poster
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Dec 30, 2016
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Texas
Well I have mentioned I would post my mailbox mod.

I didn't use the standard mailbox I instead used the wall hanging type because I was going for a compact, streamlined, and efficient setup.  

I wanted to be able to add and remove the mod from the MES easily and quickly.  I think I have accomplished my goals BUT I have also learned a lesson or two that has me changing the design a bit and will help anyone else who wants to do a similar mod.

Here is what it looks like.

Gibralter steel mount wall mailbox used:


My front View:


Close up of side mail box ( I taped over two of the 3 holes after some issues today):


Top view (before tape added):


My Mailbox Mod Goals:

- Mod must be easily added and removed from my MES as I will be moving my MES around a bit and do not need he mod causing issues, falling apart, or breaking.

- Mod must be one piece for easy removal and less hassle

- Mod must be compact, I didn't want a bunch of pieces to deal with that were "unruly" to deal with

- Mod must be efficient, fewest and least amount of materials possible

- Mod must be simple, fewest and least amount of materials possible

- Must allow me to open the MES door at least 90 degrees without disturbing the mailbox mod (figure this positioning out before cutting the hole)

- Mod must not void my warranty by being a permanent modification to my MES

- Mod must work!

Materials:   (Total cost approximately $63 because I had none of the stuff before hand.  AMNPS was almost half the total cost.)

- Gibralter wall hanging/mount mailbox ($11.11 - Amazon)

- 3 inch 90 degree duct elbow joint  (Under $4 - Home Depot)

- AMNPS (A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker   $27.74 - Amazon)   

- 3M High Temperature Flue Tape (heat resistant up to 600 degrees!  $7.88 - Amazon)

- 2 Magnets able to hold 16 pounds each ($12.90  - Amazon, $6.45/ea)  - Would not do magnets if had to do over!

Tools used to build:

- Dremel rotary tool with Large Diamond Wheel (to cut the top of the mailbox

- Needle Nose Plyers (to bend the mail box metal as I cut a pie type slits to make the whole for the elbow joint to fit)

- Drill with 3/8 inch bit.  Used to drill 3 holes in door.  - Would only drill the top hole (1 hole total) if had to do over!

Lessons Learned:

- The unmodified Mailbox naturally has a lot of air intake at the door because the door does not sit flush to the mailbox where the hinge of the door is.  There is always about a 1/4 inch of a gap the whole length of the door on the hinge side of the door (bottom side of door where it hinges to open, not visible in picture). The gap lets in plenty of air.  Maybe even the top hole in the door is not needed, time will tell.

- The AMNPS is a tight fit to the mailbox.  SO fill with pellets first.  Put in mailbox to ensure any overly pilled pellets are pushed down tighter into the AMNPS and then pull back out for lighting.  This will make sure the AMNPS and pellets have good clearance before any fire is applied. This is just safe and fool proof :)

- Light and start the AMNPS burning process outside of the box.  See the last image above.  There is so little clearance that you don't want flame burning directly against the top of the mailbox

- Magnets holding the mailbox to the MES seem like a really good idea UNTIL your first serious flame up occurs and the magnets take enough heat to become de-magnetized.  This happened to me today because I was hasty and did a few stupid things like not blow out the pellets very well and then I had the foolish idea of "hey why don't I throw a few pellets on top of the already burned down pellets from the AMNPS startup process.  This caused flamage so I would not recommend adding more pellets on top of already burned down pellets when there is still more of the row to burn hahaha

- Build legs or stuff something under the mailbox to hold it up.  The magnets were amazing until a pellet flame up killed them.  I need something fool proof that still meets my goals above

- There is little to no information on Mailbox mods that use this wall hanging box over the standard dome shaped mailbox.  I hope my lessons learned help people build a more compact and elegant solutions to continue improving and innovating on the mailbox mod :)

Well everyone if you made it this far I hope this helps you out and/or gives you some food for thought on less typical mailbox mods for the MES and other smokers :)
 
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Looks like a good experiment!

For my application, I think I would want more pipe between the smoker & the mailbox.

Al
 
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Looks like a good experiment!

For my application, I think I would want more pipe between the smoker & the mailbox.

Al
Hi Al.  Yeah it is definitely an experiment.  I'm sure I'll learn more things as I go.  I will be sure to report back what I learn just like how I learned yesterday that a flame up not caught early will kill the magnets so magnets are not sure thing for keeping the box up.

I may also learn that I want more pipe.  Most of my smoking will be hot smoking and in TX cold smoking may be an issue for many months out of the year so I'll simply make my attempts and learn how things behave :)
 
Great project.

I hadn't thought about the thermal effect on the magnets in this application.

I did know that neodymium iron boron super magnets have a very low temperature tolerance and will be permanently damaged by temperatures above some fairly low limit. And I knew that various ferrous metals have a "curie point" where they lose their magnetic properties temporarily while they are above that temp (but then regain them when they cool below it again).

But I never really thought about any of that in this application. So that is good information for all of us!

What kind of magnets were they, and are they now permanently ruined? If so, that's a shame. Either way, its something for all of us to keep in mind, because using magnets to make the temporary attachment seems like such a great way to go.

Like Al, I would also probably want a long section of duct between my mailbox and the smoker to get more cooling of the smoke and more condensation and trapping of the heavier tars. That conditioning of the smoke would be my main reason for implementing a mailbox mod since my other mods are giving me reliable pellet burning lately.

You might also want a longer pipe from the mailbox to the smoker. If that's the case, you might be able to use the magnet method to hold the pipe to the inlet of the smoker, which maintains your warranty and means no drilling or permanent mods to the smoker. Since the smoke will be cool by the time it reaches the smoker, the magnets would work well at that end even if you did have flamage in the mailbox itself.

I have a small computer fan with magnets at the corners that I've stuck to the air inlet on my MES, and it sticks there well because the outer surface of the smoker stays fairly cool. I think a magnetic attachment for the duct from a mailbox smoke generator might be really handy. So I like your idea, and think it would be great with that modification of the arrangement.
 
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I may also learn that I want more pipe.  Most of my smoking will be hot smoking and in TX cold smoking may be an issue for many months out of the year so I'll simply make my attempts and learn how things behave :)
TallBM,

As you are in a learning mode, if you are planning on cold smoking, seriously consider lengthening your pipe. Not only will it help cool your smoke, many undesirable deposits will accumulate on it, making your smoke much cleaner by the time it reaches your product.

The mailbox / firebox you are using also acts as a heat sink, the larger the better. A larger mailbox / firebox will also allow you to shorten your pipe if desired. Locate all in a shaded area if possible.

 Have fun experimenting until you get the desired smoke to your product.

T
 
Great project.

I hadn't thought about the thermal effect on the magnets in this application.

I did know that neodymium iron boron super magnets have a very low temperature tolerance and will be permanently damaged by temperatures above some fairly low limit. And I knew that various ferrous metals have a "curie point" where they lose their magnetic properties temporarily while they are above that temp (but then regain them when they cool below it again).

But I never really thought about any of that in this application. So that is good information for all of us!

What kind of magnets were they, and are they now permanently ruined? If so, that's a shame. Either way, its something for all of us to keep in mind, because using magnets to make the temporary attachment seems like such a great way to go.

Like Al, I would also probably want a long section of duct between my mailbox and the smoker to get more cooling of the smoke and more condensation and trapping of the heavier tars. That conditioning of the smoke would be my main reason for implementing a mailbox mod since my other mods are giving me reliable pellet burning lately.

You might also want a longer pipe from the mailbox to the smoker. If that's the case, you might be able to use the magnet method to hold the pipe to the inlet of the smoker, which maintains your warranty and means no drilling or permanent mods to the smoker. Since the smoke will be cool by the time it reaches the smoker, the magnets would work well at that end even if you did have flamage in the mailbox itself.

I have a small computer fan with magnets at the corners that I've stuck to the air inlet on my MES, and it sticks there well because the outer surface of the smoker stays fairly cool. I think a magnetic attachment for the duct from a mailbox smoke generator might be really handy. So I like your idea, and think it would be great with that modification of the arrangement.
Hi Sigmo, I used two of these magnets One Piece of CMS Magnetics Super Strong Neodymium Magnet 3"x 1/2"x 1/8" Grade N45 () 

One magnet is showing no magnetic capability the other is very weak.  I now just glued the two magnets to the right hand side of the mailbox and they now act as legs.  So I plug my box + elbow duct into the hole which holds up the left side of the mailbox mod and the legs prop up the right hand side making the whole thing stand up without issue when attached.  This little fix keeps the mailbox mod in place with ease so I still made good use of the busted magnets hahahaha ).

If I had more magnets I would do as you mention, that would be a much safer design.  I am out of magnets so the leg solution should be a simple no frills solution.

Mr T, 

The beauty of this little setup is that I can always add a hose as needed... and 2 more legs (I have some wood scraps).  I have a 3" aluminum expandable duct when the time comes to add some length.

Did a smoke today and temp was only off by about 80-12 degrees at the highest MES temp.  I got the smoker up to 270, so only short 5 degrees today.
 
After ready the posts became interested in affect of temp on magnets. Found this link which offered some quick comments ... https://www.jobmastermagnets.com/how-does-temperature-affect-different-magnets.

Thanks for the input!
Yep that article explains exactly what happened. I had a flame over using my pellets and it got so hot that the magnets lost all or almost all of their strength permanently.

It was a cool idea but had an inherent flaw that magnets don't like heat lol. These particular magnets sure did make good legs for the Mailbox when they lost magnetism :D
 
Thanks for the input!
Yep that article explains exactly what happened. I had a flame over using my pellets and it got so hot that the magnets lost all or almost all of their strength permanently.

It was a cool idea but had an inherent flaw that magnets don't like heat lol. These particular magnets sure did make good legs for the Mailbox when they lost magnetism :D

Noticed a couple of the magnet types will handle up to 500C (900F+).
 
would it void the warranty to screw two small screws above the intake, make some tabs with keyholes in them, to "Hang" the mailbox... making it removable simply by tipping the duct out, and lifting the mailbox off the two screws?
 
would it void the warranty to screw two small screws above the intake, make some tabs with keyholes in them, to "Hang" the mailbox... making it removable simply by tipping the duct out, and lifting the mailbox off the two screws?
It probably would void the warranty but the MES warranty is only 90 days anyhow so its not a bad idea to let the warranty expire and then go to town with the mods if you want to maximize that small warranty.

If I'm reading what you are saying correctly, the setup you mention would look just like mine (mailbox and elbow joint) BUT the mailbox would be able to cling to the side of the MES. That would work just like the magnets were doing to hold the mailbox to the side of the MES.

In the end it may look much cooler but with hind sight being 20/20 it is really no more beneficial than just slapping legs on the mailbox so it can stand up. As long as both approaches work I would go with the lowest costing and least labor intensive option because in the end all that matters is that the smoke consistently gets into the MES through the chip loader hole and does so with good air flow over the pellets in the mailbox :)
 
I believe MB has a full year warranty but didn't change the manual on 90 days. I think I asked after hearing that but can't remember. Someone else mentioned it as well.
 
I believe MB has a full year warranty but didn't change the manual on 90 days. I think I asked after hearing that but can't remember. Someone else mentioned it as well.
Could be. Mine is out no matter what with all of my wild mods :D
 
Nice project! I'm presently fighting with a mailbox mod myself. Can't seem to keep the pellets smoldering. Get an hour or maybe two out of it before it burns out. I'm sure it's an airflow issue, though I can't keep it smoking in my gas grill either. Running a regular mailbox with a 1/2" hole on each side and now 9 on the bottom. Think I should close those off and put a few in the lid of the mailbox?
 
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