First Build. Cart first or later? Centering door

Dirtytires · Post by **Dirtytires** » January 6th, 2019, 10:56 pm

Send a picture of what you have. Is it just a square of plate or do you have flanges or brackets on it?

Chukknob · Post by **Chukknob** » January 6th, 2019, 11:04 pm

Dirtytires wrote:Send a picture of what you have. Is it just a square of plate or do you have flanges or brackets on it?

It’s the bottom left opposite hinge side. Nice little gap. I’m not a “fabricator” by any means and have limited tools.

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MattJ · Post by **MattJ** » January 7th, 2019, 6:12 pm

I would try bending the flange and add some fire black gasket material.

Dirtytires · Post by **Dirtytires** » January 8th, 2019, 12:14 am

Darn. You have a lot of time in that to just start over but I’m not sure it can be straightened. If you wanted to try straightening, I would remove the back X braces and see if you can tweak it a bit with a chain and bottle jack. Your picture makes it look like the door has quite a few waves in it already and it will be hard to keep the weaker open areas from bending first.

I might suggest fabricating a frame for the back outer edge of the flange out of a 0.25 flat bar. You could weld it solid, filing in the gaps and then grind it clean to look like a super thick door. Just be careful not to introduce too much heat or it will warp even more. And yes, this would mess up your hinge alignment.

Chukknob · Post by **Chukknob** » January 8th, 2019, 12:22 am

Dirtytires wrote:Darn. You have a lot of time in that to just start over but I’m not sure it can be straightened. If you wanted to try straightening, I would remove the back X braces and see if you can tweak it a bit with a chain and bottle jack. Your picture makes it look like the door has quite a few waves in it already and it will be hard to keep the weaker open areas from bending first.

I might suggest fabricating a frame for the back outer edge of the flange out of a 0.25 flat bar. You could weld it solid, filing in the gaps and then grind it clean to look like a super thick door. Just be careful not to introduce too much heat or it will warp even more. And yes, this would mess up your hinge alignment.

I can’t believe this little miller 140 created this much heat when I did it. Frustrating for sure.

I think straightening it is a lost cause. I could get lucky but I also could make it worse.

Regarding the flat bar, are you saying to weld another piece on flat bar on the edge that is supposed to touch the firebox when the door closes?

Also, if I attempt another door and just start over, how do I avoid the door warping when I’m welding on the flat bar?

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Dirtytires · Post by **Dirtytires** » January 8th, 2019, 12:46 am

Yes...it might allow you to square everything up and get a good selection on the firebox and would just like a super thick door flange. I like the thought of that actually....lol

You stitched the flange on with nice spacing nd I don’t see excessive penetration heat marks in the metal, tho it’s hard to tell from a picture. Since your issue is in the bottom half of the door, I might be more inclined to think that your torch/plasma was the culprit when cutting the vents. I cut a 2 foot square off of a new 4x8 sheet of 0.25 plate once and warped it. Cutting tools are hot and sometimes metal just warps no matter what you do.

With that said, some people will put damp rags on sensitive areas before your start welding to act as a heat dump. Have your extinguisher ready tho...I always tend to ignite them!

Good luck.

Chukknob · Post by **Chukknob** » January 8th, 2019, 12:54 am

Before I cut the holes for the dampers I had tacked in the flat bar only. Then I cut them with a torch. The door probably warped at that time and then when I fully weld the flat bar I heard a pop and noticed one of the tacks broke off. Ugh.

Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll have to think about this frame idea. Might be worth considering if I can pull it off right.

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Chukknob · Post by **Chukknob** » January 14th, 2019, 7:16 pm

So I heated the door and played whack a mole with it. Made some moderate improvements. Reality is it’s not perfect but that’s ok for now. I bought some gasket rope but I honestly don’t think it’s needed now.

Got the daisy wheels on too.

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Post by **Big T** » January 14th, 2019, 8:52 pm

Dirtytires · Post by **Dirtytires** » January 14th, 2019, 10:49 pm

Nice improvement.

Chukknob · Post by **Chukknob** » January 22nd, 2019, 1:58 am

I got all the expanded metal down on the frame today. Put up the rails for the storage. Still a ways to go. I find this all takes forever as a newbie because I’m figuring as I go and second guessing everything I do.

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Dirtytires · Post by **Dirtytires** » January 22nd, 2019, 11:02 am

It looks great. Keep it up.

Post by **Big T** » January 22nd, 2019, 8:17 pm

Chukknob · Post by **Chukknob** » January 25th, 2019, 12:28 pm

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towtruck · Post by **towtruck** » January 25th, 2019, 12:30 pm

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm chrome!

Chukknob · Post by **Chukknob** » January 25th, 2019, 3:42 pm

This has a 4 foot door. Should I do a long handle to match?

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mp4 · Post by **mp4** » January 25th, 2019, 5:26 pm

Chukknob wrote:This has a 4 foot door. Should I do a long handle to match?

Absolutely!

Chukknob · Post by **Chukknob** » January 25th, 2019, 8:01 pm

Now the dilemma is what to use for this long handle... metal will get too hot right? I don’t want to use wood.

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Chukknob · Post by **Chukknob** » January 25th, 2019, 8:03 pm

Maybe do a metal sleeve??

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Dirtytires · Post by **Dirtytires** » January 26th, 2019, 10:33 am

I used a 1 inch black pipe as it is perfect dia to comfortably grab. It gets warm but not “burn your hands hot”.

Wood is used a lot also. I figured I would have to re-finish it every season to keep it looking nice so avoided it on mine.

Chukknob · Post by **Chukknob** » January 29th, 2019, 12:50 am

So I got my handle tacked in but then noticed my door isn’t sealing right. I’m not sure where I went wrong but here’s the status:

Hinges are tacked in. Flange around the door is more or less welded/tacked on. 1/4” bbq gasket is on the flanges. I had strapped the door down with the gasket on and then tacked on all the hinges. I think when I welded the flanges in the door sprung upwards because I just kept welding and heating it up.

Regardless how do I fix it? Anyway to fix without removing the door or the flanges? Or should I just cut everything off the door and bend it back with a jack and chain?

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Post by **Big T** » January 29th, 2019, 6:00 pm

The jack and chain is probably the best and safest way to go. I have seen some guys run a piece of square tubing across the length of the door opening while the door is open, close the door and put a couple of ratchet strap around the tank to try to squeeze the door back into shape. You risk kinking the door with the straps if you aren't really careful but I have seen them have some luck with this method.

Dirtytires · Post by **Dirtytires** » January 30th, 2019, 11:11 am

Bummer....two steps forward and one step back.

I had really good luck by bending my door with the jack and chain method. It takes a bit of time as you just bend a tiny bit ata time then check. Probably just easiest to cut off your hinges and work with it on the bench.

towtruck · Post by **towtruck** » January 30th, 2019, 1:30 pm

Pull the door off and use the jack and chain method. I would not cut anything off the door and just block it off the floor when you do your magic to it. Go slow and you will be fine. I would bend a piece of stiff wire to the shape you want each edge of the door to match and save those wires to lay against the door as you bend it so you can get it close to the shape you want and not have to keep pulling your chains off and putting the door back on to check so often.

Chukknob · Post by **Chukknob** » May 5th, 2019, 11:51 pm

Well I’m dusting this off because my project is finally complete. Took a while to get me restarted (weather and other priorities). But it’s finally done and I can’t believe I actually made something I’m proud of. It has double racks, tuning plates and an insulated top of the firebox. Thanks for all the help along the way. Ultimately the advice helps but you really need to fail a few times to get the ultimate experience lol.

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First Build. Cart first or later? Centering door

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