Some of y'all saw the thread I posted a couple weeks back asking if anyone had any ideas for a new build...and if there was anyone here who wanted me to build them something. Well Jim
JIMSMOKES
took me up on that! He has decided he wants a custom-built Santa Maria Grill. After talking back and forth for the last week or so, we've landed on a basic design. This will be a 24" x 48" Santa Maria grill on a rolling cart, with a brasero attached to one end.
So I went to the steel yard yesterday to make the first big materials purchase.
Not that it has a thing to do with this build, but I'm also showing off my new trailer. My old trailer had gotten in bad shape - it was pretty old. So I just recently traded for a new one. First time I've ever had a brand new one - always bought used in the past.
Spent most of the this morning offloading all the steel. Here's a nice big pile of angle, tubing, rods, flat bar, etc. If I've figured everything correctly, I can build the main body of this grill out of a 4x8 and a 4x4 sheet of 10 gauge smooth plate, framed out with 1" square tubing. The rolling cart will be framed out with 2" square tubing with and expanded metal storage shelf in the bottom. You can see the 4x4 sheet in this shot, behind the expanded metal.
The biggest - and most dangerous - challenge is always the full sheets of steel plate. They're too heavy for a man to lift by himself. So it took some time with my pick-up magnet and my chain hoist to get this heavy sucker off-loaded and up on sawhorses so I could prep it for cutting. I always take great care and plenty of time to do this, so I don't tear something up or hurt myself.
As I did with my last build, I'll be using my new laser to help lay out and mark the steel for plasma cutting into panels. Sure makes layout easier!
After getting all the steel offloaded, and the 4x8 panel up on sawhorses and ready for layout, I was about all in for today. Been battling lower back pain for over a week, and decided not to try to overdo it on the first day of a new build! Jim has mentioned he's is in no big rush...which works great for me, because I'm slow!
Anyway, that's all for now. But we're off and running! I'm excited about this one - something new and different for me, and I think it'll be a real fun build!
My next step will be to spend the time to lay out all the cuts on the big sheet. This is definitely a step where taking some extra time and having patience can save me some headaches later. Then I'll be ready to dust off the plasma cutter and cut some panels.
More updates to come...and thanks for checking it out!
Red
JIMSMOKES
took me up on that! He has decided he wants a custom-built Santa Maria Grill. After talking back and forth for the last week or so, we've landed on a basic design. This will be a 24" x 48" Santa Maria grill on a rolling cart, with a brasero attached to one end. So I went to the steel yard yesterday to make the first big materials purchase.
Not that it has a thing to do with this build, but I'm also showing off my new trailer. My old trailer had gotten in bad shape - it was pretty old. So I just recently traded for a new one. First time I've ever had a brand new one - always bought used in the past.
Spent most of the this morning offloading all the steel. Here's a nice big pile of angle, tubing, rods, flat bar, etc. If I've figured everything correctly, I can build the main body of this grill out of a 4x8 and a 4x4 sheet of 10 gauge smooth plate, framed out with 1" square tubing. The rolling cart will be framed out with 2" square tubing with and expanded metal storage shelf in the bottom. You can see the 4x4 sheet in this shot, behind the expanded metal.
The biggest - and most dangerous - challenge is always the full sheets of steel plate. They're too heavy for a man to lift by himself. So it took some time with my pick-up magnet and my chain hoist to get this heavy sucker off-loaded and up on sawhorses so I could prep it for cutting. I always take great care and plenty of time to do this, so I don't tear something up or hurt myself.
As I did with my last build, I'll be using my new laser to help lay out and mark the steel for plasma cutting into panels. Sure makes layout easier!
After getting all the steel offloaded, and the 4x8 panel up on sawhorses and ready for layout, I was about all in for today. Been battling lower back pain for over a week, and decided not to try to overdo it on the first day of a new build! Jim has mentioned he's is in no big rush...which works great for me, because I'm slow!
Anyway, that's all for now. But we're off and running! I'm excited about this one - something new and different for me, and I think it'll be a real fun build!
My next step will be to spend the time to lay out all the cuts on the big sheet. This is definitely a step where taking some extra time and having patience can save me some headaches later. Then I'll be ready to dust off the plasma cutter and cut some panels.
More updates to come...and thanks for checking it out!
Red
