I got some mig wire yesterday, and made quite a bit of progress today!
First thing I did was finish the fire/coal basket. All welded out, and the expanded metal reinforced with 1/2" round bar in the bottom.
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Just making sure it still fits on the rails and slides in and out like it should.
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So with the bottom basically done (except for mounting and hinging the door), I started working on the top end.
I cut out a cove in the front, to provide easy access to the cooking grate.
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Tacked in the top rails for supporting the cooking grate.
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Here's one of the things that I believe will make this cooker versatile. I designed the coal basket so that it would drop into the top rails. Once I get the cooking grate finished, it can sit right on top of this...to make it a high-heat searing grill. The coals will be about 5 inches below the cooking grate in this configuration.
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Got the cooking grate framed out.
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Again, just double checking that it still fits on the rails.
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Cooking grate is finished. It measures 23 1/2" x 22 1/2", making the total cooking space 528 sq. inches. Maybe enough room for 8 racks of spare ribs, or 6 pork butts, or 2-3 nice big briskets...or a whole mess of chicken parts!
When the top door assembly is complete, there should be about 7 inches of head space above the cooking grate.
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Here are a couple shots that show the coal basket dropped in the top, with the cooking grate slid in on top of it.
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Gotta look close, but you can see the coal basket under the cooking grate.
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That's it for today! I'm fairly happy with how it's going so far. Unless I hit a major snag, I should have it ready to build a fire in it pretty soon!
It'll be a couple days before I get back in the shop...my 7 year old grandson is on spring break this week, and he's coming tomorrow to stay with us for a couple days. So Grandad will be too busy playing to get any work done until he goes home Monday night!
Red