RF Build In Slow Motion (Sinks are done!)

[solaryellow]

Thanks Bob! Hopefully we can get the racks built next weekend and then some finishing work like counterweights, paint, handles, latches, etc. We went to the scrapyard yesterday looking for some channel and struck out. Trailer work will probably begin in a couple weeks.

 

[sunman76]

 still lookn good

 

[solaryellow]

 still lookn good

Thanks! It is slowly getting there.

 

[whtplainssmoker]

Been watching this build for a while. It's awesome. Keep up the good work. Getting close now!

 

[solaryellow]

Thanks WhtPlains! I can't wait to actually cook something on it.

 

[boykjo]

looking good joel................. that is a freekin monster..................

 

[jjwdiver]

sweet build Solar!

 

[solaryellow]

looking good joel................. that is a freekin monster..................

Thanks! It sure is a monster Joe. Based on the metal we have added to it, I am guessing it is about 2500 lbs right now.

sweet build Solar!

Thanks!

 

[daveomak]

Since a few people on another board that I frequent seem to think I am full of crap about what we are paying for scrap steel for our build, here is this week's update on the 500 gal RF smoker.

 

Solaryellow, mornin'.....They are jealous....don't worry about what "those" folks think.......Great build and well thought out....including purchasing materials.

Dave

 

[alelover]

Excellent progress since I last checked. That thing is looking awesome. When you finally do a big smoke I will look to the northeast for smoke signals.

 

[solaryellow]

Since a few people on another board that I frequent seem to think I am full of crap about what we are paying for scrap steel for our build, here is this week's update on the 500 gal RF smoker.

 

Solaryellow, mornin'.....They are jealous....don't worry about what "those" folks think.......Great build and well thought out....including purchasing materials.

Dave

I wasn't worried about what they thought. I just wanted to show folks there are good deals out there if you kick over enough rocks.

Thanks for the compliment Dave!

Excellent progress since I last checked. That thing is looking awesome. When you finally do a big smoke I will look to the northeast for smoke signals.

Hopefully we will be able to cook on it in a couple weeks. I can shoot you an invite when we are certain if you want to come up for some free food.

 

[alelover]

That would be great Joel.

 

[roller]

That does not look like slow motion to me. Man what a smoker...

 

[gramason]

Looking Great!!!

 

[solaryellow]

That would be great Joel.

Will do Scott.

That does not look like slow motion to me. Man what a smoker...

If I had my way we would have built it in a couple weeks instead of 4 months and counting.

 

[alelover]

Hell I got a friend that's been building a '35 Chevy coupe for 30 years. Finally got it rolling last year.

 

[hdflame]

Thanks for the heads up Joe. I was starting to feel cocky.

I had a pretty sobering moment today that I think you can relate to. We were at DH Griffin's scrapyard in Greensboro and they had this giant mound of building materials interlaced with Kobalt tools roped off by caution tape. Turns out that the Sanford Lowes that got leveled by a tornado two weeks ago had been scraped up and dropped off at the scrapyard. DH Griffin employees were combing through it and separating merchandise from the rubble. Every tool you could think of was in that pile. It was a strange feeling to see that debris and to match it up to the images in my head that were shown in the news a couple weeks ago.

Regardless, we are doing the real welding next weekend. Right now everything is just tacked into place. We broke a couple of the welds today fitting the door straps under our homemade hinges. Those welds will become permanent next Saturday. You are more than welcome to come out if you have nothing going on.

Nice build you've got going!

I noticed your comment about the tools from Lowe's.  I live in Sanford but was lucky and didn't receive any damage from the storms.  About 2 miles from my house was a different story!

There were so many other commercial buildings that were hit equally hard but they didn't show them on the news...don't know why??  Everything was moved out from the Lowe's so quick.  It was all just sold to the highest bidder for scrap.  I didn't know where it wound up, but sounds like your junkyard got it.  They started building over from scratch and it'll be ready to open by the end of this month.

Back to your build, I haven't reached the end of the thread yet, but looks like you put it on the fast track too!  You said this was going to be a slow build.

I'm wanting to build one myself, and had a question about your hinges.  Just curious why you went with this design over the ones I see a lot just using a piece of pipe welded on with a piece of 90* bent rod?  I would think the last method would be a lot easier and just wondered why you chose your method.  It's looking good...now I need to finish the thread!

Bobby

 

[solaryellow]

Nice build you've got going!

I noticed your comment about the tools from Lowe's.  I live in Sanford but was lucky and didn't receive any damage from the storms.  About 2 miles from my house was a different story!

There were so many other commercial buildings that were hit equally hard but they didn't show them on the news...don't know why??  Everything was moved out from the Lowe's so quick.  It was all just sold to the highest bidder for scrap.  I didn't know where it wound up, but sounds like your junkyard got it.  They started building over from scratch and it'll be ready to open by the end of this month.

Back to your build, I haven't reached the end of the thread yet, but looks like you put it on the fast track too!  You said this was going to be a slow build.

I'm wanting to build one myself, and had a question about your hinges.  Just curious why you went with this design over the ones I see a lot just using a piece of pipe welded on with a piece of 90* bent rod?  I would think the last method would be a lot easier and just wondered why you chose your method.  It's looking good...now I need to finish the thread!

Bobby

It isn't moving fast enough for me.

The hinges are really a matter of practicality. We used the materials we had on hand rather than purchasing new as part of our goal with this build is to build it as inexpensively as possible on a shoestring budget. This weekend is the first time we will be working with new materials instead of scrap. I wish we could have found scrap since it is much much cheaper.

 

[solaryellow]

Some more progress today. We built the racks for the warming box and got started on the ones in the smoke chamber. Dennis and I are gonna put some more work into it tomorrow morning.

 

[boykjo]

 

 

 

 

 

    Looks great Joel..... Keep it comming. cant wait to see it finished

Joe