The Great Smoker Build (275-gal. fuel oil tank)

[Rufus T. Doofus]

It's looking really good.

[RouletteRun]

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 her, "If I was worried about getting hurt, I never would have started." The fact is, I know starting out I'm going to get hurt to some degree, the plan is to limit it to the bare minimum possible by working as smart as you know how to. That being said, this isn't my profession, this is my first smoker build, and the first steel project I've ever built, to include welding. I've made a few mistakes that are probably learned only through experience. I haven't been to the hospital and I haven't wasted very much steel at all by making mistakes. There is a big difference in the quality of my welds since I first started, but I've put almost 20# of wire into this thing now, I've been getting my practice.

*Now that I think about it, I do have some steel sitting here that I originally cut to make a 29" x 24" x 24" firebox, then I found a calculator that told me that wasn't big enough, now my firebox is 29" x 28" x 26" (L x W x H) from the working side of the smoker, but I think I'll put that flat steel to use and make a warmer box one of these days to sit on top of the firebox.

[Rodcrafter]

You're not the first to choose that same size rig as his first. Puff did the same thing, he then got hooked on building and made 4 ASAP of all sorts of styles. Yes we all suffer collateral damage working with steel but the pay off is worth it.

jm2cw

[Squiggle]

Yep, they are addictive! I'm already planning another one & I've definitely given myself some damage, burn, cuts & metal in my eye, but as RC said, the payoff is totally worth it!

[RouletteRun]

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 with one hand and once raised it stays up using the counterbalance as a limit preventing the hatch from raising any further than seen in the last picture by it contacting the back side of the smoker preventing it from opening any further. Tomorrow my goal (weather dependent) is to finish welding the arms to the tank and to make end caps for the box tubing. My to-do list is getting smaller and smaller, my goal is the end of the month but I might beat that.

[Squiggle]

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

[RouletteRun]

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.

[Big T]

[RouletteRun]

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.

[Squiggle]

[RouletteRun]

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 from full open to full closed. I welded a tab on the inside of the stack on the damper as a stop at full open or full closed to prevent overtravel of the damper and it sliding down the pivot rod to the first support bracket. Once the smoker is painted I'll add a spring handle to the end of the control rod (it's coming soon, I also had a load of wood delivered today).

[Squiggle]

Very nifty invention dude, love your work!

[Smurf]

Very nice.

[Big T]

Nice

[RouletteRun]

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 put the hatch down when I was done working on them. Other than that, I believe the steel work is done. Tonight I started a fire in it to season the inside, that let me know where I need to do a little tweaking to my openings and make sure I use gaskets but all indications are this thing is going to be fuel efficient and will get plenty hot enough if not paid attention to.

[RouletteRun]

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.

[Rodcrafter]

Cool


Making memories!

[Big T]

[Squiggle]

Great work dude!

[RouletteRun]

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 and one for each of the front doors. Aside from that, I think all I've got left is to add gaskets to the doors and it's all finished except for cooking something in it. Here are some pics, but pics don't rally do it justice because I can't get you close enough for you to see the whole thing in detail.

[Big T]

I'm still digging that top door, you just don't see many of them that use all of that extra space.

[Squiggle]

Very very cool dude, nice work!

[Rodcrafter]

I agree very nice work.


Making memories!

[RouletteRun]

I'm still digging that top door, you just don't see many of them that use all of that extra space.

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 closest to mine but he has to open his front doors to open the top, for lack of a better word I left a bar of the original tank between the front doors and the top door and welded a piece of 2 1/2" x 1" x 1" C-channel in behind it from end to end to give it strength. So mine is really just an improvement on a theme of others work. I put in a lot of research into this thing and over 2 1/2 months of actual work trying to get it right. The biggest problem I had with this thing was learning how to patch holes and the thinness of the sheet metal of the tank itself and its tendency to warp from the heat produced while welding. There's been a lot of tweaking done using a wedge and a sledge hammer to take warpage out of the doors and to keep the top door rounded to the contour of the sides. The front doors fit perfectly now but I might do a little more work on the top door on the left side yet.
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-MLUlylnWY[url]
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVed2MLiYes[url]

[forty_creek]

Strong Work!


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