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This summer after I finished my smoker build I built a set of portable concession sinks with hot and cold running water using a 12-volt water pump and a propane on-demand hot water heater designed for an outdoor shower. It works beautifully after I worked out a couple of bugs, mostly water leaks. I ...

That turned out awesome. :kewl: Have you cooked on her yet? I'd love to see the Q-View. :rulz: Oh, yeah! I've been cooking on it since last fall, long before it was put on the trailer. The cooking racks are clean because I had taken them out and pressure washed them and my tuning plates in the bott...

After13 months, 9 actual because I didn't work on it in the winter I finally got it finished this past week. If I started all over there are a few things I'd change but not a lot, in general, I'm ecstatic with the way it turned out. Even though this project morphed a lot along the way a project like...

It's been awhile since I posted anything on this build but since my last post I've smoked all the usual stuff (ribs, pork butts, brisket, and chicken) in this thing and I did a couple turkeys for Thanksgiving and I brined and smoked a whole ham for Christmas (which got rave reviews). I am, however, ...

Sorry, I'm a little behind on my welcomes but I've been putting every spare minute into my smoker outside of full-time work and a full-time student. Welcome to the gang,

I'm still digging that top door, you just don't see many of them that use all of that extra space. :LG: I wish I could take total credit for the top door but I got the idea from two other guys' smokers that I found on YouTube, I tried to improve upon the theme as I think the second video series is ...

Almost there, guys, I spent all day yesterday getting it stripped down, then today I got it painted and added nickel plated wire spring handles that really set this thing off beautifully by giving it an antiqued look. Sometime this week I've got 4 thermometers being delivered, 2 for the top hatch an...

Today I'm making my last dry run, I sprayed everything down with cooking spray and going to get it good and hot to season everything. Sometime in the very near future, I'm going to work on getting it stripped and painted.

*They're not silver anymore.

My smoker is virtually done as far as the steel work is concerned, I've got to cut off two handles on the front doors and weld them onto the posts at 180* from where they're at now because when I try to open them with the top hatch down they hit the handle for the top hatch. I didn't find it until I...

These pics just made me hungry.

OK, here's the invention I was talking about and may be my one new contribution to smoker design since I haven't seen anything like it before, this allows me to control the stack damper from the front of the smoker simply by pushing or pulling the control rod. There's about 2.25" travel distance fro...

Another day and a little more accomplished, tonight I was able to get the ends of the counterbalance capped. One more thing scratched off my "To-do list", it keeps getting smaller. Only a few projects before stripping and painting.

Oh, and I put the new 3500 lb axle under it. Was able to move the axle back about 8". Not enough to balance the tongue. I'll need to add somwhere around 5 lbs of weight to the tongue end to keep it on the ground. oops. I've been trying to figure out how to figure axle placement for my trailer when ...

Ever spray muratic acid? Not something I want to play with. Besides, the acid will chemically etch the metal leaving all sorts of extra crevices for rust to start in. I hate rust. Muriatic acid specifically? No, I haven't, I do have, however, 17 years as a heating, air conditioning, and ventilation...

Squiggle wrote:Very nice dude, love your work. Gotta love the light at the end of the tunnel!

Thanks, I appreciate the compliment, just wait, last night I designed (in my head) something for the stack damper that I think is going to be extremely cool, something I've never seen before.

I love your drawings, that's very cool. Mine is being designed in my head as I go.

Another day and some more progress, today I was able to make and partially weld the counterbalance onto the top hatch. You can't see it in any of these photos but I added some scrap steel pieces into the box tubing to add a little more weight to the counterbalance, now I can lift the hatch easily wi...

I've been watching some YouTube videos and reading some other forums on welding and metal work and it seems the easiest and cheapest way is to use muriatic acid to remove the scale, you've got to keep it wet down for 15-30 minutes then wash it off and dry immediately and paint as soon as possible. I...

A couple weeks ago I had a woman ask me if I wasn't afraid of getting hurt building this smoker? I"ve been working on this thing for over 2 months, putting all the spare daylight time I can into it, in that time I've been cut, burned, showered with slag, and sparks from cutting and grinding. I told ...

A little more completed today, I got the reverse flow plates cut and installed. The one on the left just above the firebox is semi-permanent and is stitch welded in place, the other two are movable, interchangeable, and can be spaced if I want to. The gap between the far left plate and the middle tw...

If anybody would have a want to see this build a little more in-depth I've got seven videos of this posted on youtube, the most recent one posted about 3 a.m. this morning. My video editing has gotten much better from this first one, I finally took the time to learn how to use my video editor I've h...

I made some huge progress on the smoker today I got the door mounted onto the firebox using my simple hinges that work great, they're made out of 1/2" box tubing and 3/8" rod bent at a 90* angle coming out of the box tubing. Unlike the rest of my doors this one I can take off if I want/need to. This...

Today/tonight I was able to get a nice rack built for my firebox, it's 24" x 24" with two 8" high sides and slightly over 5" underneath for air and ash with plenty of room to pull ashes out if need be.

Big T wrote:I normally have mine sand blasted before I paint them but at the very least I clean them with a wire wheel on a grinder.

Wow! How much does it cost you to have something the size of a 275-gallon fuel oil smoker sand blasted?

Most all of the steel aside from the 275-gallon tank is new steel and coated with mill scale, I've noticed where I have welded the mill scale wants to flake on the opposite side of the piece of steel being welded and comes off pretty easy with a wire brush on an angle grinder. My question is, do I n...