First offset build! Have some questions.

[thejm]

My 2nd build was a trailer on a single axle. My build was a 80 gallon tank w/ a warming chamber and a 33 gallon charcoal grill on the back side. I built it offset from center, which is part of the reason I built the grill on the back side. My suggestion is if you are going to build it offset of center, build the other side with walls so you can store things and offset the weight. Logs, coolers, beer, etc. Chances are you'll bring enough crap to even the load.

Good suggestion, thats actually my plan. I want to build a wood box for the other side and see whatever else fits.

[Dirtytires]

Door warpage is everyone’s fear. I am a believer that a tank/pipe is pre-disposed to springing based on how it was built. Remember that a certain amount of energy is stored in the metal and it will try to return to the shape it wants to.

Try not to let your cutting heat build up in the door is about all you can do. I let a little on each corner to hold the door till the end then cut it out completely. If you have to straighten it, it is a pretty easy process with a chain and bottle jack so don’t let it ruin your day.

Mounting the hinges now means that you will have to use internal tank flanges. I like to put mine on the door so proper space has to be accounted for the flange and half the gasket thickness before mounting the hinge. If it’s too tight, the gasket at the top of the door will bind.

[thejm]

Door warpage is everyone’s fear. I am a believer that a tank/pipe is pre-disposed to springing based on how it was built. Remember that a certain amount of energy is stored in the metal and it will try to return to the shape it wants to.

Try not to let your cutting heat build up in the door is about all you can do. I let a little on each corner to hold the door till the end then cut it out completely. If you have to straighten it, it is a pretty easy process with a chain and bottle jack so don’t let it ruin your day.

Mounting the hinges now means that you will have to use internal tank flanges. I like to put mine on the door so proper space has to be accounted for the flange and half the gasket thickness before mounting the hinge. If it’s too tight, the gasket at the top of the door will bind.

Ya these tanks are usually made by rolling a flat piece of steel into a cylinder so the steel will have a lot of built up tension. That’s why the doors warp. Good to know about the method to fix it though!

I am a little confused on what you mean in your last paragraph. I actually hadn’t thought about using a gasket but it makes sense that you would need one.

I plan to put my straps on my doors. Not on the inside of the cooker and bought some 1.5” by 1/8” flat stock to use. Is that what you are calling the flanges?

What do most people use for a gasket?

[thejm]

To add further to my previous post here is a picture of the door form my 3d model. The straps sit on top of the door.

[thejm]

Okay actually i get it. You are saying that I should 'float' the door by the gasket thickness and that would effect my hinge design. In understand now. Ill have to find the rope you were talking about in this thread https://smokerbuilder.com/forums/viewto ... et#p114293

[dacolson]

Nailed it in one. The flanges go on before the hinges do. And if I’m using a 1/8” gasket, it will compress to 1/16” when the door is closed so I will use a 1/16” shim under the flanges when I put the hinges on.

[Big T]

shim the door half the thickness of the gasket that you plan to use.

[thejm]

shim the door half the thickness of the gasket that you plan to use.

Okay so just to be clear, the door will sit such that its slightly above the rest of the tank? I made this quick drawing showing the cross-section of what I think it will look like according to your posts.

Im thinking of using a 1/4" rope gasket so ill offset my doors by 1/8" according to the sketch. Let me know if i misunderstood what yall are talking about.

[dacolson]

Correct

[Dirtytires]

You got it....the main point here is do not attach hinges until the completed door is ready to attach back to the tank.

Then it is easy. Simply place a shim that is half the thickness of your gasket (I tape small flat-washers to the tank) and place the door on top. Hold it with a ratchet strap or two wrapped around the tank. Once you get your door centered on the opening where you want it, attach the hinges.

It seems a little sloppy at first but will fit perfectly once you get the gasket in.

You might want to see how much gap you need to fill before you purchase a gasket. I managed to get my door straight to within 0.0625” so used a thin flat gasket (a lava rock self stick 0.25 wide by 0.125 thick, if I remember correctly). If you have larger gaps, you would obviously want a thicker gasket.

[thejm]

You got it....the main point here is do not attach hinges until the completed door is ready to attach back to the tank.

Then it is easy. Simply place a shim that is half the thickness of your gasket (I tape small flat-washers to the tank) and place the door on top. Hold it with a ratchet strap or two wrapped around the tank. Once you get your door centered on the opening where you want it, attach the hinges.

It seems a little sloppy at first but will fit perfectly once you get the gasket in.

You might want to see how much gap you need to fill before you purchase a gasket. I managed to get my door straight to within 0.0625” so used a thin flat gasket (a lava rock self stick 0.25 wide by 0.125 thick, if I remember correctly). If you have larger gaps, you would obviously want a thicker gasket.

That makes sense. I’ll fit the door before I buy a gasket.

Has anybody ever tried one of these style gaskets on an offset? I have one of these on my big green egg and it works great.

[thejm]

I know I’m only a portion of the way through the build but wanted to say how much is appreciate the wisdom and advice y’all are giving me!

[dacolson]

I use ones that are like the BGE gaskets. Check out the smoker builder mfg site. They’ve got some too.

[thejm]

Just picked up 3 TelTru 3" thermometers with 4" stem. How will I attach these to the smoker? Obviously i will drill a hole but do i need the installation kit that is separate from the thermometer? Just want to make sure I have the right parts for when Im ready for this.

[Big T]

I used to drill a hole in the door and mount them through the door with the washer and nut. My last couple of builds I bought a threaded pipe coupler that fit the threads on the thermometer from the hardware store, I blew a hole through the door and welded the coupler into the door. If you choose to use a threaded coupler be sure to mount it flush to the outside of the door.

[dacolson]

[Dirtytires]

The hardware kit they sell with the thermometers is a bit pricy but works pretty nice. It has two nuts wit flanges on them that thread onto the thermometer and then fit snug in your drilled hole. Any method will work as long as the threads match.

[thejm]

I used to drill a hole in the door and mount them through the door with the washer and nut. My last couple of builds I bought a threaded pipe coupler that fit the threads on the thermometer from the hardware store, I blew a hole through the door and welded the coupler into the door. If you choose to use a threaded coupler be sure to mount it flush to the outside of the door.

Makes sense. Thanks!

[hogaboomer]

Buy a tap, drill your hole and make your own threads.

[thejm]

Not a major update but i did have a little time this weekend and made some progress. Basically I got the doors measured and marked out and plugged the holes where the valves were.

Marking out the doors

When I modeled the smoker, I made the doors 26" wide leaving 3" on the outsides to the tank cap weld and about 6" between the doors. I adjusted the height of the doors till i was happy with it which turned out to be a 75 degree angle from horizontal. Measuring along the outside of the tank its 19".

I obviously wanted to make sure my doors were straight, level and the same size. I started out by marking a line 4" on the door side of the top center line i marked in previous posts with a chalk line and a sharpie. This is the top of my doors. I also took my angle cube and checked that the angle was what it should be, 15 degrees (90-75=15).

There was a little inconsistency but thought it may have been in the tank itself. You'll see below that this turned out to be a reason for that.

After that I went about marking the bottom line. I did this by taking my angle cube and marking 0 degrees on the tank in a few places and drawing a line between them.

To make sure it was an even height across the face of the tank, I found the angle of the tank itself by placing a level and my angle cube on top of the tank and duplicating it on the ruler from the below pictures. In my case, my tank was at 0.8 degrees so my ruler should also be at 0.8 degrees.

It turned out that the marks i made when i found 0 degrees above formed a line that matched the tank level, in other words, the 2 methods yielded the same line.

Then I took a measuring tape and measured between the lines in several places to make sure my doors were of a consistent height and that my lines were parallel. From above this should be 19". Unfortunately was off by a bout a 1/4' from end to end. Based on the fact that my bottom line was checked using 2 methods, i knew my top of door line was probably off. It turned out that my top of tank line was off by a 1/4" on one end and therefore my top of door line was off since it was just a 4" offset. After making this correction, all was good on my horizontal lines. Now onto the vertical ones. Turns out that inconsistency on the 15 degree angle above was telling the truth!

For the vertical lines I had to rely on the weld as my datum. It has an inconsistent width which caused issues when i was making the throat cut. For this reason, i decided to measure to the center of the weld as opposed to from one edge. This was pretty straightforward. I measured 3" from the center of the weld inward on either side of the tank and drew my lines. Then i used my ruler to measure 26" inward from the new line. This left me with about 5.5" from door to door.

I measured diagonally across each door and found i was only an 1/8" off from through all 4 measurements. I am happy with that especially since I will have straps on the doors.

Filling in Valve cutouts

I had previously used my plasma cutter to cut out the valve threads that were on the tank and need to fill them in

I started by placing the cut outs on the remaining half of tank 2 and tracing them out with a sharpie. I made it easier on myself by numbering the holes and also marking which way they were facing. This helped me in matching the angle of the tank when i welded them in place.

I then cut that out, welded it in the corresponding hole and ground it down.

[thejm]

I then took a flap disk to it to make it more smooth. Ill probably hit it with a finer flap disk later on too.

Next I knew i needed to get the reinforcing bars on the inside of door 1. I want to weld these in place before cutting the door out to avoid any warping. I started my making a quick sketch of them in 2D in autocad and cutting them out. I then printed it out and will cut that out to trace onto a piece of 1/4 " plate.

Next I plan on cutting 4 of those supports out, prep the inside of the tank, weld them in place, and cut door 1 out. Then ill do the same with door 2.

Should have another update this weekend.

[thejm]

Buy a tap, drill your hole and make your own threads.

Thats what im leaning towards.

[dacolson]

[Pete Mazz]

FYI: An electric romex connector thin nut screws onto the thermos thread.

[dacolson]

Buy a tap, drill your hole and make your own threads.

Thats what im leaning towards.

I do the same thing. Thread the drill hole in the door itself.