Brother-in-law Budget Build

mp4 · Post by **mp4** » July 20th, 2018, 2:14 pm

My brother-in-law wanted a small reverse flow and was going to buy a farm-n-barn cheapy special. I thought it would be fun to build one on the cheap with stuff I had laying around. He has a new grandson so insulating the firebox was an easy sell...I have enough roxul for it but he'll have to pony up for some steel to wrap around it.

The cook chamber is a 16" x 48" pipe that I acquired last summer. It's 0.438 wall pipe so its HEAVY for a little smoker.

mp4 · Post by **mp4** » July 20th, 2018, 2:17 pm

The baffle plate will be 1/4" plate that our nephew acquired for his demo car...he left it laying around just a fuzz too long! I burned the paint off while burning out the barrel for my UDS so it's almost like I'm building two smokers at the same time. [emoji16]

mp4 · Post by **mp4** » July 20th, 2018, 3:52 pm

I'm trying to keep some of the grinding mess outside...and it started to rain, so my son helped me put together a rolling stand with some other things I had laying around. The dolly kit is from my old tranny jack, the uprights are from the tongue of my old boat trailer and the plate steel I think might be left over from my mini build. We installed a brake for the table in the middle of the dolly - the acme screw and nut is from something that we parted out but I'm not remembering what exactly it came from...it's been a while.

Post by **Big T** » July 20th, 2018, 4:05 pm

ajfoxy · Post by **ajfoxy** » July 20th, 2018, 5:53 pm

Necessity is the mother of invention. Nice rolling stand.

mp4 · Post by **mp4** » July 20th, 2018, 10:31 pm

It morphed into a plasma table/cart. I've been trying to come up with something to make my plasma cutter more accessible and this ended up being the perfect thing for it.

mp4 · Post by **mp4** » July 20th, 2018, 10:33 pm

I sent the pipe off to the sand blaster because the coating was quite thick and the blaster guy was firing up this weekend for some other local customers. With any luck I'll have it back tomorrow or Sunday.

The Czar · Post by **The Czar** » July 22nd, 2018, 3:52 am

Sweet!!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Dirtytires · Post by **Dirtytires** » July 22nd, 2018, 11:22 am

Interesting idea....

mp4 · Post by **mp4** » July 23rd, 2018, 8:40 pm

I managed to get the gasket flanges welded in today.

JKalchik · Post by **JKalchik** » July 23rd, 2018, 9:39 pm

Nice!

Post by **Rodcrafter** » July 24th, 2018, 7:46 am

I like it! I also think you may be a hoarder. I say that because I believe I am one too. I keep stuff that I might use some day, then forget where it came from. But if you use it it gives us reason to believe we were right. It’s like paranoia isn’t paranoia if it’s true. LoL

Making memories!

ajfoxy · Post by **ajfoxy** » July 25th, 2018, 1:26 am

It’s like paranoia isn’t paranoia if it’s true. LoL

Ahh shoot RC, you crack me up... nice!

mp4 · Post by **mp4** » July 25th, 2018, 6:01 pm

Rodcrafter wrote:I like it! I also think you may be a hoarder.

You're only a hoarder if you never use the stuff, right? Or is it time for me to confess that I have a problem??? [emoji848]

mp4 · Post by **mp4** » July 25th, 2018, 6:04 pm

I cut out the baffle plate, most of the firebox and tacked things in place today. I did learn one thing for sure...piecing things together takes up a lot of time. If I was billing out my time it sure wouldn't be a budget build!

Post by **Big T** » July 25th, 2018, 6:08 pm

I know exactly what you mean. The material for all of my personal builds has came from a friend who owns a fab shop and lets me dig through his scrap metal bin. There's some great stuff in there but it always has to be put back together.
:LG:

akjeff · Post by **akjeff** » July 25th, 2018, 10:37 pm

Looking good! That is one seriously heavy duty cook chamber!

Jeff

Post by **Rodcrafter** » July 26th, 2018, 5:52 am

Don’t admit to anything until it causes you trouble.

Making memories!

YouTube · Post by **Frank_Cox** » July 26th, 2018, 5:17 pm

awesome! yep, that sucker is not gonna warp!!

mp4 · Post by **mp4** » July 31st, 2018, 6:58 am

I learned one more lesson in why one would not use powder coated used metal...it comes off HARD. I burned all the plates and wire brushes them and thought they were to bare metal until I tried welding them. There was a 2nd layer and even with the welder turned up it didn't want to burn thru it. After 3 hours of grinding and sanding and where wheeling I was ok putting it together.

mp4 · Post by **mp4** » July 31st, 2018, 7:01 am

I welded the cart together and bolted the wheels on. I think it may be the 1st time in my life that I welded something together square. All 4 wheels actually contact the floor equally! [emoji41]

mp4 · Post by **mp4** » July 31st, 2018, 7:03 am

Next was to weld the fire box on.

mp4 · Post by **mp4** » July 31st, 2018, 7:07 am

And last step was to set it on the cart to see how it would handle the load. All in all I'm pretty stoked with how it is coming together.

Next steps include insulating the firebox, finish welding the baffle plate, place the shelf racks and build the racks. With any luck I can get that done today.

Dirtytires · Post by **Dirtytires** » July 31st, 2018, 6:11 pm

mp4 wrote: ↑
July 31st, 2018, 7:01 am
I welded the cart together and bolted the wheels on. I think it may be the 1st time in my life that I welded something together square. All 4 wheels actually contact the floor equally!

I don’t mean to trash talk you here but the picture makes it look like the floor is just un-even.

Just kidding...making some great progress. It’s fun when it starts to look like a smoker and actually stands (mostly) on its own. Keep it up!

mp4 · Post by **mp4** » July 31st, 2018, 10:02 pm

I didn't get too much time on it today. I did finish welding the baffle plate, fit the chimney and started working on framing out the firebox for insulation.

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