School Smoker

[Rodcrafter]

Nice


Making memories.

[thague90]

So I've got some questions about the hopper. How big should I make it and how much of an angle do I need to allow the pellets to slide to the center?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rodcrafter]

I don't own one, but I have seen factory built hoppers, stop flowing (bridging) so I would say try to not make it a last minute change in shape or they will pile up on it like a shelf. My thoughts on it is that these devices should have a vibration device mounted on the hopper to turn on once an hour for five seconds. This would change everything and it shouldn't be a big deal to set up, you already have power just need a timer and vibrating device.

I know this can be a tough crowd sometimes. So I will just say I meant nothing dirty when suggesting this.


Making memories.

[Dirtytires]

Dirty? I don't get it......lol

A little spur gear on the auger and you could run a shaft straight up thru the hopper to spin slowly.

[thague90]

The majority of the pellets in the hopper will be flowing straight down. And once upon a time that cutter cup on this pellet feeder was advertised to feed whole wood chips to the auger. It was sort of a last resort that the wood stove was capable of.
(I did try it too) it cut right through a 1" stick of maple and turned it into a chunk that was small enough to feed through the auger. So I guess I'm really not worried about jam ups. It's just the last bit of pellets that would be nice to make sure that they will slide into the feeder.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Squiggle]

I think RC was talking about gravitational jamming, not mechanical jamming. If you have the hopper walls too steep then it will create a cavity under the jammed area(hence the suggestion of a shaking device) & if you have the wall angle to slight then the last bits won't fall. I would think that between 45-60deg would be the sweet spot, this is what most of the hoppers I have worked with in the food & grain industry are at. HTH

[thague90]

Oh I see. I never even thought about the walls being too steep. I've got them at about 49 to 52 degrees right now so my worry was that they were going to be too shallow. But, from what you are saying I should be alright?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[thague90]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[thague90]

A shot of the whole frame in drafting if anyone was interested.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Squiggle]

Looks pretty good dude & I see what you mean by too shallow, maybe alter the drawing to 60deg & see what you think. Drawings are much easier to alter than metal.

[thague90]

So I changed it to 55-58 degrees. Looks better. Still gives me a bit over 1.8 cubic ft of pellets. If 1 cubic foot is 20lb then I think this will be fine. Also, I just finished the last of my drawings tonight. Here's the final shot. Doesn't look like much but everything is in there; tabs, supports, welds, nuts n bolts. The casters even spin if I drag them. Lol.

https://vimeo.com/159665883





I'm back in the lab on Monday so we'll see how far I get with sheeting. Our break blew a piston seal so I may be welding all the bends I have drawn in here.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Squiggle]

[mp4]

Very cool!

[Rodcrafter]

That's nice. I would say the one straight side is your saving grace if you have bridging, nothing will sit on that side. I know people don't think pellets will just sit in a pile but they will.


Making memories.

[thague90]

I got in the lab today and yesterday. Managed to get the inner walls put up and somewhat welded. 14GA sheet inside and outside.









I don't have insulation yet but I've been looking at the roxul mineralwool stuff they have at Lowes. $50 for a vat of the stuff but it would do the trick nicely. I put some under a direct MAP gas flame for over a minute and it only charred the surface. Even protected the wood2x4 underneath it.








Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Squiggle]

That's the stuff I want to use, I had a similar result.

[thague90]

Have you used it in anything yet? How well did it work?

I went to Zoro.com and found it by the sheet for less than $10.
https://www.zoro.com/roxul-insulation-w ... /G8546772/
I'll have to do the math but I think I can do the whole thing with just two sheets. ($20)

I really wish I had filled the frame tubes with insulation before I started welding it up. It's just going to bother me now. It's almost like I'm going to have to build another smoker once I'm done with this one just so I can get everything right. ;)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Squiggle]

Oh damn, that's a shame dude, lol.

[thague90]

Fired up the pellet drive yesterday. I ran it on the smoke setting since there was no cabinet to hold a temperature. I got a lot of smoke out of it but it did flame up a lot. I was trying to find a good setting for the blower since I have full control over how much air it moves. There is a piece of sheet metal on a rivet that I can rotate to cover more or less of the opening on the blower. It can be adjusted from absolutely no air movement at all to blowing whole pellets right up and out of the burn cup... So I know the right setting has to be in that range somewhere. Lol. It would be nice to have the stock induction fan from Traeger but this will work once I figure it out. If someone could give me an idea on how much air should be moving through there that would help a lot!!!












Here's a video of it just starting up.
https://vimeo.com/161022175

And then just fire
https://vimeo.com/161021652

After a while it would smoke nicely but then ignite and stay lit for a while. I trimmed the video clip to spare you all from the boredom but the breakdown is like this: 3:00 min of smoke--> 3:30 min of fire--> 3:00 min of smoke--> 3:30 min of fire --> ect...
https://vimeo.com/161022796

Also... The drive is not as noisy as the video makes it out to be. For whatever random reason my phone picked up the noise of the blower motor and amplified the hell out of it. In reality you can hardly hear the blower at all. The cup and auger motors are the only things that you hear when it cycles on.

[thague90]

I have looked all over, and tell me if I missed it, but how exactly is a pellet smoker supposed to operate? Just smoke? Always a little fire? Lot of fire? Off and on fire and smoke? Lol. I'm pulling my hair out. This conversion project, in retrospect, should have been my second smoker build. BUT... I am here now an I ain't no quitter!
ANY insight on this would be great. I guess what I'm looking for is;

when the pellets drop in the burn cup what should be happening to them?

-smoke for a bit then catch fire?
-catch fire, burn out, and then smoke?
-just smoke the whole time with no fire?
-fire the whole time with a little smoke?

Also, The P settings on my controller go from 0 to 5. I didn't even see anything after 5; it just went back to 0. In the videos the setting is at 5 and the pellets would flame up just about every time it cycled on.

Que in the brilliant answers... Now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[thague90]

Doors installed










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Squiggle]

the only pellet smoker I've in action was burning but I didn't watch it for long, there was a heat deflector over the cup during the cook & I couldn't see in, sorry I can't be much more help.

[Smurf]

I know nothing about pellet poopers but it sure looks nice. Good luck.

[Dirtytires]

I'm always the negative nancy, but without full airflow thru the fan, I might me worried about overheating and fan burnout. I'll bet a quick trip to radio shack, a $20 bill and a little luck you could wire in a variable speed dial. I know cost is an issue but so is safety.

[thague90]

Oh, that's a reeeeeally industrial blower. Motor is completely separate from the fan and has its own cooling fan. It can run completely blocked off without any issues. Also, It is rated for continuous operation, only requires oil every 6 months. Not that I would need to run it for 6 months straight. Lol... Or maybe I will? one can hope