First build - 100 gal tank

[Shadrock]

Finished the damper for the fire box. Well, I need to add spring handle...


Tacked the hinges in place and added a counter balance to the cooking chamber door. I should have added a littel more angle to the counter balance, but it works pretty well.


I got several little things to tie up and she'll be ready for a fire....

[Big T]

It won't be long now.

[The Czar]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Gizmo]

So close now it's scary!

[Smurf]

Nice

[Smokeone]

I can almost see the smoke rolling!

[Rodcrafter]

[bluecatfish]

Really looking good. I know you are anxious to fire it off.

[dwwantasmoker]

[Shadrock]

Pulled the rig to the house to run a fire through it...






I've been running it for about 5 hours on oak sticks... I can keep it pretty steady, but there's a 30-40 degree difference between the two sides. Any suggestions...

[Big T]

How do you have your adjustable dampers set ? I would open the end of the BP as wide as I could and close the throat damper to the smallest. Did you use the pit calculator to get the openings recommended sizes ? I noticed that your FB was 6'' to 8'' inside the CC and sits a little higher than the BP so that is probably causing some of the difference. You might try to put another piece of plate on the inside of your FB on the part that's sticking in the CC as a heat sink. I'm sure others will come along that know more than I do and try to help you out.

[Clover Ridge Smokers]

[Shadrock]

The fire box positioning probably is the culprit. I adjusted BP and CC opening sizes to the calculation, but I think I will close up the fire box side a little bit on the next fire to see how it affects it. I did add a 1/4" plate to aid as a heat sink with a small gap in the top corner of the fire box hoping that would help, but I could add another if I can't get it closer with the dampers.

Time to cut some fire wood and retry...

[Big T]

I'd try that and see what happens. What temp were you running at and how big of a fire did you have ?

[Rodcrafter]

One thing to consider is an over several hours burn not just the first hour. The shell of the whole tank has to come to operating temp before anything real is being seen. The preheat time is not anything to pay attention to except for how long it takes to get the whole cooker up to temp. I would say it would take a good amount of charcoal then a few splints to get her up to temp, then throwing in a couple more after those were almost gone would be the time to start the temp testing. I would also agree the height of the FB is the biggest culprit.

jm2cw

[Frank_Cox]

Exactly what I was gonna say Rodcrafter.
First off that is a very very nice pit! perfect size for every day cooks!
I will add that I once had a guy call me with a similar issue. he could make temp but could not obtain thin blue smoke. he did have some temp variance from left to right. his firebox was mounted 3" above the firebox and nothing he changed would fix that issue. I would say if you continue to have problems with it then cut the FB loose and cut the rest of the endbell off. you will have more room for the warming cabinet as well. RodCrafter is right, to get a good feel for the cookers sweet spot you will need to run it consistently for several hours. go by time and not by fire size. start with 2 lit chimneys and add 2 1/8th splits then wait 45 minutes and add 2 more 1/8th splits. repeat this for at least 4 hours and the cooker will find its spot. give at least an hour between adjustments at the first couple burns. here's a link to the video....

[shskr]

[Shadrock]

Frank, I've watched that video, it's pretty good. I need to get a charcoal chimney,it would really help getting the fire going. Not sure how much it's effecting it, but I'm mainly just burning splits. It takes so much charcoal, it gets expensive, but that may just be the nature of the beast. I learned it was better to have a larger fire(More coals) with smaller air inlet than it was to a have a small fire with a large flame. With a larger fire, I could run the inlet damper about 25% open, it burned more efficient, and pretty much cut out all the white/blue smoke coming out the chimney.

I really didn't even start looking at the temp variation until about 2 hrs into it and I ran it for about 8 hrs. I was able to play with the baffle plate opening but not the throat during the cook. Closing up the baffle plate opening seemed to make the variation worse. Next fire, I'll cut throat opening down some and leave the bridge plate baffle wide open.

If that'll get it within 20 degrees end to end, I'll leave it be. If not, I'm going to weld in a vertical plate to block out the firebox section inside the cooking chamber.

[Shadrock]

Did some of the small things today... modified the counter balance so it would work better, added the handles, added temperature gauge guards, and jack stand.





I scored a jack and mount from a buddy that does LED trailer signs....


Picked up some paint, going to clean her up tomorrow add some color...


I've ran a few fires threw it. There is some temp variation from side to side due to the design, but I'll hold off on trying to correct it for a while. First cook will be Christmas Eve...

[Shadrock]

Deviated from the smoker build for a bit to make dad a small Christmas gift. He's hard to shop for because he's already acquired pretty much anything affordable. So I made him him a spatula to handle his butts and beef briquettes with...


Not quiet as nice at the BBQ Buttula, but I already had the materials laying around...
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[Shadrock]

I priced a chord of wood the other day, WoW... I've lost touch with reality, it was $200 a chord. So I went to dads and cut a half chord of cherry and oak.
It should dry out in the next few months...

[Big T]

Nice spatula . I know what ya mean on the price of wood, a local supplier gave me a price on some hickory and pecan and I just about fainted. I have access to all I can cut but I figured if it wasn't too much I'd just buy some. It's going to look great when you get some paint on it.

[Gizmo]

Shadrock you got it going on man! Good looking rig and good looking Christmas present. If you have a wire feed handy, use it to write the year under the handle - it'll be interesting in years to come…..

[Shadrock]

Thanks for the comments... I thought about etching his name into the Spatuala, still debating on that.

Added some cheap latches from Harbor Freight and threw some paint on it. Probably one of the worst paint jobs I've ever done, but I reminded myself it's a smoker, not a car... It's amazing what a difference a little paint makes.



I plan to build a wood rack out of the left over expanded metal and angle during my cook on New Years Eve...

[Big T]