uds mods starting in a few days

[preston897]

well after using my uds a fair amount of times ive decided it is time for some mods. well really more fixes then anything. first i'm going to drill the holes for my pipe nipples a little bigger so i can put a larger pipe in and get a tighter fit. currently the holes are drilled slightly to big for my 3.4in pipe nipples and the permatex i had on it didnt hold up with screwing the caps on and off. so this time ill get the pipe to fit very tight. also im replacing the black steel with stainless steel so the vents wont rust. im also planning on cutting the rim off of my drum so the dome lid fits better. i may put some oven gasket or high temp silicon on it too. just to seal it up even more. i think with all this my temps will hold much better. any other ideas or advise would be much appreciated! ill post pics in a few days when i get done. 

 

[kandl]

I haven't seen your UDS but I'll tell you the best additions I made to mine after the initial build was a shelf on the side (actually I'm going to add another one on the other side soon) and the last addition was wheels!!!  I was so tired of carrying it in and out of the garage so I went to harbor freight and bought 4 cheap casters and bolted them to the bottom.  

 

[preston897]

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• preston897
• Oct 30, 2013

mine is about as basic as you can get. i would love a table on the side. what did you use to do it? would you mind posting a picture of it? and i leave mine on the back deck so the wheels are not a huge issue to me but i would like to find a cover for it. 

 

[kandl]

Sure you can find some pics in here.  Basically I used the lid to trace a curve in the plywood and cut it out.  used two shelf brackets to attach it.  very simple and its so handy I'm going to put one on the other side now.  

Pics are in this thread:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/149178/finshed-the-uds-shelf-and-some-random-pics

 

[preston897]

i really need to do that. great looking setup you have. i was forced to steal a table from our back porch to hold all my stuff. the wife isnt thrilled that i made it my own. id really like to make a table sort of like a BGE for the uds to sit in. i also need to figure out somthing for my dome lid vent. its a cheap hobby lobby grill lid and the nut gets lose and wont hold it closed all the time. fine when im cooking because i just leave it open but doesnt help when i try to shut her down. 

 

[kandl]

Thank you!  I like yours as well the Yellow looks great!  You don't want the wife on your bad side, I know how that is.  For your vent could you get a locking nut to put on instead?  I wish I had a dome lid but haven't come across one yet.  It is very nice to close all the vents and save your left over charcoal for the next cook! If I had a permanent spot to keep mine like you have there the BGE table thing would be awesome!  However I don't really have a good permanent spot yet and I don't want it to sit out in the rain and snow so I store it in the garage.

 

[preston897]

fortunately here in texas where i am it doesnt rain or snow to often here so im not to concerned with keeping it inside. and i realized how poor my seals are after my last cook. the coal burned for another 24 hours after i closed it off. 

 

[kandl]

Yeah you are lucky not to have the snow and rain we often see. And yes you have a serious leak! Haha. Mine cools down completely in about 20 or 30 min after closing all the holes.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

 

[preston897]

yea i realized the other day that 1 of my pipe nipples can just be pulled straight out now. it screwed in find with the permatex on it but that that its broke it falls out. its pretty bad. but thanks to good ol' amazon ill have all my pipes and step drill bit to fix it on friday. 

 

[kandl]

Sounds like you got it covered! I love amazon! LOL

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

 

[wudy]

THey make conduit washers thet might solve the nipple problem.By the way I was born in Weatherford,on the old army base but moved as a baby. I drove through with my dad several years ago,nice area.

 

[preston897]

I really enjoy it out here. Much better then fort worth where i used to live. Ive actually used the conduit washers on my ball valve. Worked out pretty good. But ive got one pipe that i can pull straight out of the hole with a little wiggling. I was concerned with still not getting a good seal. All this really boils down to sloppy work on my part. I took the easy way out on areas i shouldnt have. Has anyone used 1 in pipe nipples and ball valve as their air valves? I may still put the washers on with the new pipe though just to give ot extra hold. Do you use 1 on the inside and outside?

 

[kandl]

Yes people have used 1" pipes and had good results.  You could always enlarge the one out to 1" and leave the rest.  I run 4 3/4 holes on mine with a ball valve on one.  I used the magnets on the rest to see how much I really needed.  I can safely say now that most times two 3/4 holes are all I would need.  I hardly ever open the other two up.

 

[preston897]

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• preston897
• Dec 20, 2013

I went ahead and did 3 holes up to the 1in. I just wanted them to all be the same. Slight ocd maybe. I made the holes big enough so it would fit but i still had to tighten the pipe down with pliers. Im waiting on my last piece of pipe for the ball valve. It shipped seperatly since i ordered it an inch shorter then the rest. Ohh and still waiting on the caps. So far im happy with it.

 

[kandl]

Nothing wrong with that! I think it will work great!

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[pc farmer]

I installed my pipes my just screwing them in, I had one work loose.

I am ether going too weld the in or get nuts for on them.

I also thought about going all 1 inch.

 

[preston897]

I think the 1 inch will work well. I may be getting a wire welder soon. If i do ill be welding them in. Until them i think ill use a conduit nut. Id never use anything but stainless for the pipes again in future builds. Thats one lesson i learned. Anyone know of any places who sell uds covers?

 

[kandl]

mine screwed in pretty tight but I also put conduit nuts on to make sure it didn't go anywhere.  I did not use washers because i couldn't find them at the time and I'm sealing good enough to snuff the fire so I guess its good.

 

[preston897]

Im thinkin ill pick some up. Did you just put the nuts on the inside?

 

[knitmar]

For a good UDS cover go to Home Depot http://www.homedepot.com/p/Brinkmann-Dome-Smoker-Cover-812-7090-S/203077121#.UsPeFJt17fg