No Frills Stand for my MES

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GaryHibbert

Epic Pitmaster
Original poster
OTBS Member
★ Lifetime Premier ★
No Frills /No Cost MES Stand

I’ve been wanting to put a stand under my MES for a long time.  I’m getting too old to keep squatting down every time I want to add or remove food—getting down is easy, it’s the getting back up that‘s killing me.   
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So I finally decided to take the time and make one.  The only condition I imposed on myself was the stand had to be built at no cost.  That firmly in mind, I started looking around for material to use.  When my neighbor mentioned that he had a very old patio gas grill that was on its way to the dump—it didn’t take me long to load that puppy in my truck box.  That was a great start to the project--a prefabbed cabinet.  I'm not what anybody would ever call a handy kind of guy, unless I happen to be working on my Freightliner.  I'm more the "measure 10 times, cut once.....and it's still the wrong length.   
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Once back home, I found 2 partial sheets of ¾ inch plywood that had been used as snow boards on my old gravel truck.  Excellent condition, just needed sanding to remove all the weathering.

Only after I had disassembled the old gas grill did I discover just how many holes there actually are in a bbq cabinet—it kinda resembles Swiss cheese.


So after patching all the holes with ¼ inch plywood, attached to the cabinet with 2 part epoxy, and thoroughly washing and sanding the metal cabinet, it was time for paint.  It turned out that I had a partial gallon of black oil based Tremclad sitting in a corner of the garage.  OK, that made for an easy choice---the stand will be black.


I cut the ¾ inch plywood to fit inside the cabinet as a floor (there was a large hole where the propane bottle sat), and into a top for the cabinet , complete with a small counter area to set things on while I am getting the MES ready to put the meat in.  I once had to invoke the 5 second rule on some raw pork chops while trying to juggle the tray and open the MES door.
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     A coat of wood stain, followed by 2 coats of good quality exterior wood oil completed the top. The counter top was attached with 2 part epoxy and wood screws to make sure it stayed firmly in place.   The floor of the cabinet just got a couple of coats of the black Tremclad. 

Four good sized magnets I found in a parts tin keep the 2 cabinet doors securely closed.

I was real pleased with the 4 castors on the cabinet—right up to the point of setting the MES in place.  Just a tad too high to comfortably see the digital readout on top. 

So the castors had to go.  Of course, after lots of years sitting in the wet grass and snow, all the bolts were seized solid and had to be removed with a cut-off wheel and grinder.   Now, without the casters, the height is excellent.

The 2 door cabinet is perfect for storing extra racks, beer can chicken racks, and tinfoil pans of varying sizes.  There’s even a drawer for which I have absolutely no use at present.

So.  Now I have a stand for my MES and my life is a whole lot easier.  I’m extremely pleased with it, although I don’t like the stain color on the top plywood—turned out that was all I had.  Here's the finished stand--pic taken before I removed the castors.


Total cost (all in):  $0.00    Zero    Zip     Nada!!    
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Miss Linda is always telling me I’m a packrat, and I always reply that whatever I’m storing is in “perfect” condition and that I’ll have a use for it someday.  Vindication!!!   “Someday” finally arrived.  I even have 4 perfectly good castors that I will be using “someday” to make myself a garage floor creeper.

Thanks for looking

Gary
 
A man after my own heart. We are FRUGAL and resourceful. I need to build the same thing and also intend to spend very little.You should be proud.
 
Nice recycling, I like it.

A little bit of junk, a little bit of ingenuity and voila.

You have performed magic.

     Ed
 
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Looks great Gary! I'm also an honors student of the measure once, cut twice school of carpentry...

Points for the recycled build!
Thank you sir.  Its really amazing how a guy can measure repeatedly, use a square, and after the cut its the wrong size or shape.    
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Gary
 
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