Bkndsdl's Insulated Hybrid

[Bkndsdl]

lol......you guys are something else.

Here's my intake design. the bottom of the fb will be open in this area. The two sides of the lower protrusion will have a slide for the intake. the bottom of this protrusion will be removeable, facilitating ash removal.

The 45 degree plates inside the fb are my attempt at a stick warming area. I may square these off. I am planning on making them from 1/4" plate. The idea is to place a few sticks in these areas, and when it's time to add to the fire I don't have to open anything but the fb door, which I'll have to open anyway to add the sticks.

[Bkndsdl]

Got some material, finally! Local steel supplier had shear and plasma cutting capability, so I had them cut up the first plate. Very pleased with price and quality.



Set up a simple stop to cut the tubing. My HF cutter cuts great. I had to replace the blade that came with it, it was junk. If you take it slow and let it cool between cuts, it does just fine. Working out of a 10'x12' shop, so I have to take stuff outside to cut it.



Didn't get much done but got started, sometimes that's the most important thing.

[Rodcrafter]

Here goes

[Puff]

I have a large 2 car garage that I have trouble adding the gas bottle for the mig. Space isfilled... so....yes, everything outside. This really sucks in the winter. Today was below zero out. That cutoff saw was my best friend so many times. Good luck building

[Bkndsdl]

I have a large 2 car garage that I have trouble adding the gas bottle for the mig. Space isfilled... so....yes, everything outside. This really sucks in the winter. Today was below zero out. That cutoff saw was my best friend so many times. Good luck building

Yeah man, I hear ya. Unfortunately I rent so I can't really build a shop. I have an extension cord run to the shop too, as it doesn't have power......it makes for a long day, take everything out, work on it, if it rains put it all back in........it is a pain, but one I can bear for now. We plan on building / buying what we really want in the next two years; we've taken a long time to get debt free and we are just within a few months God willing of seeing that dream come true.

I love my cutoff saw........wouldn't be without it.

Thanks!

[Bkndsdl]

I got all the tubing cut up.



I wasn't able to get any more done because when I picked up my steel Friday it was all palletized and neatly stacked; when I got it all unpacked I realized they didn't give me the drop pieces. I couldn't go back Friday so I went back Monday, and that took a bit more time than I expected because they had already thrown away the drop......Funny because when you get something lofted they make you buy a full sheet; if they make you do that they shouldn't ever throw the drop away. In any case, they made up by giving me a 3'x4' piece which was larger than the drop would've been. Turned out ok then, but I didn't have enough time to do anything else. Plus, my shop lights are out, so it was getting hard to see. I have something to do this afternoon so I prob won't get much done tonight......

I learned something about my cutoff wheel; it can get clogged with metal and not cut. The very edge of the blade, the part that comes in contact with the steel, can pick up tiny bits of metal, and eventually cover the end. When you try to cut with the blade clogged like this, you are basically trying to cut metal by rubbing metal against it. The saw made perfect cuts then started to just not want to cut at all. I remedied this by taking a rat tail file and just lightly brushing the edge, knocking off the impregnated metal. Next cut was like the blade was brand new. Something to look for for sure.

[Rodcrafter]

[Bkndsdl]

I was able to get some stuff done tonight, my small group session at church got cancelled so I got to it as soon as I got home.

First thing I got done was to make the inner firebox and smoke chamber for the vertical smoker. I had to cut these in two so I had a separate piece above and below the 3/8" center divider.



After that I got two sides of the vertical frame made up; nothing much to look at there so no pics. I'll have some tomorrow of the completed frame hopefully.

I'm sure you guys have your own preference in welding wire but I highly recommend this Lincoln InnerShield flux core wire. I get it at lowes. I have a Hobart Handler 140, and I've run this wire through it a lot.



It's some pretty awesome stuff, flows real well and burns very clean and it's relatively cheap, $65 for a 10lb spool. It's E71T-11 and is certified to AWS 5.20. I am using the .035 on this job. One spool of the HF stuff and I'll never use it again; it doesn't follow any regulatory agency. The way it's classed is basically whatever the manufacturer wants it to be. Doesn't follow any specs or codes or anything, it's just basic wire that someone makes. It'll get you through a pinch if you absolutely can't get wire anywhere else but it definitely isn't preferred by any means. Just my .02.

[Bkndsdl]

Made my first duh.....I only needed to notch one side of the two bottom inside FB plates, and I notched both sides. Oh well, easy fix.



I made progress on the frame for the vertical. My table isn't level by any means so shimming and lots of levels were needed. It's as square as I can get it, and welded up.

[Rodcrafter]

[Big T]

[Bkndsdl]

I fixed my duh yesterday.



Laid out the 3/8" plate. This is the divider between the firebox and the vertical smoke chamber, basically the top of the firebox.



Boys and girls, I haven't cut plate with a torch in a while, but I'm gonna tell ya, I am by no means the best at cutting a straight line, but just being able to still do it sure makes me happy. When you cut it and it just falls off with no hammering, it sure feels good.



These are the openings from the fb to the vertical cabinet. First one took a small tap to fall out, second one fell right out.....



Here it is in place. I will cut another hole in the middle, but I want to do that after I have everything else in place. Now the frame is officially too heavy to put on the table, so I'll have to move into the shop from here on out.

[Bkndsdl]

Here's the finished cooking section of the cabinet.





Here you can see the dividers, or smoke channels. I just set them in here for the visual.



They will have a 2-1/2" gap at the top to allow the smoke/heat to get into the upper section; they will also have a 3/8" gap at the bottom, and when I'm in horizontal mode, I will slide a piece of 3/8" plate into the gap to cover up the holes in the 3/8" divider plate. By doing this I can isolate the upper section. If I want to use it as a warmer, I will slide the 3/8" plate out a bit to allow some of the heat from the fb to make it to the upper section.

[Puff]

What is the thickness of the dividers and walls that are in place now?

[Bkndsdl]

What is the thickness of the dividers and walls that are in place now?

11 gauge, roughly 1/8".

[Rodcrafter]

Good work

[Bkndsdl]

thanks. got a lot more done today than I thought I would. Now I gotta get the cc figured out, trying to decide if I want to use the compressor tank or just get the material lofted, it's cheap enough.....

[Mankussm]

Looks great!

[Puff]

So being the weight is rapidly changing, how do you plans to move it around once Comoleeted and do you have any interim tricks to lift, flip or rotate it during fabrication?

That's the part that always comes back to bite me. Need a gantry or hydraulic lift. What is really dumb, I could easily get all the hydraulics from work out of some old hulk of a truck. 12v stuff but it works fine. Just have not done it yet . When it's finished, where do I put it? And for all the effort and steel, will I need it more than a few times?

You've got an interesting thing goin on

[Tom_Heath]

I like it. Its been a few days since I have reviewed post, so many things I want, so much to do, thinking that I will put 5 things on hold and do something else today. LOL

Awesome build.

[Bkndsdl]

So being the weight is rapidly changing, how do you plans to move it around once Comoleeted and do you have any interim tricks to lift, flip or rotate it during fabrication?

That's the part that always comes back to bite me. Need a gantry or hydraulic lift. What is really dumb, I could easily get all the hydraulics from work out of some old hulk of a truck. 12v stuff but it works fine. Just have not done it yet . When it's finished, where do I put it? And for all the effort and steel, will I need it more than a few times?

You've got an interesting thing goin on

Thanks! Interim tricks = brute force. Lol. I plan on putting 6 heavy duty casters on it to move it around when it's completed. Unfortunately they won't roll on grass so I'll have to take it from my shed to my trailer to be able to move it the 75 feet it needs to go to get to the back porch. Shouldn't be too big of a problem, and I can round up a few friends to help if I need it.

You are so right about building something to work on something......I spend just as much time and energy if not more designing and building tools and equipment I want to build what I'm actually working on.

[Bkndsdl]

I like it. Its been a few days since I have reviewed post, so many things I want, so much to do, thinking that I will put 5 things on hold and do something else today. LOL

Awesome build.

I hear ya brother. Always have too many irons in the fire seems like. Thankfully I have a very understanding better half; told me just yesterday when she was surveying the work that she's glad I can do things like this, design something and then make it. Now if I can just figure out how to get the trash to the road on time, I'll be set. Lol.

Thanks for watching!

[Bkndsdl]

Well the financial advisor and I talked about it, and we've decided that the compressor tank idea would be too hard to implement, so we're going all out and fabbing the horizontal chamber in the same fashion as the vertical was. In this way I don't have to try to make the tank work, but it will be a lot more expensive obviously. It will however come a lot closer to what I wanted, a smoker that has the capacity for anything I want to do for home, and for a group of people if I so choose.

Here's the new layout. Looks a lot like BBQE's build, but the vert and horiz cc's are totally separate.

[Rodcrafter]

I know you will like the new style cc. I'm still having questions in my mind about the FB. The air vents seems like it will fill with ash while in use, or am I missing something? I like tapered fire baskets I have one that has the taper to it then flat on the bottom. It seems to cause the fuel to move to the right spot on its own.

[Bkndsdl]

I'm still having questions in my mind about the FB. The air vents seems like it will fill with ash while in use, or am I missing something?

I'm planning on the ash to fall in there; I'm going to have the intakes as high up as they will go, and I will also have a removable bottom on the intake and an ash pan below that. It will have a 2-4" area to fill up before it hits the bottom of the intake vents. When it fills, I'll pull the removable bottom out, and the ash will drop into the ash pan. I am thinking I may actually do it just like the intakes and have holes in the bottom so I only have to slide the bottom out enough to open the holes and drop the ash out.

I like tapered fire baskets I have one that has the taper to it then flat on the bottom. It seems to cause the fuel to move to the right spot on its own.

That's the plan man! I want all the coal concentrated in the center, so I don't have a super hot fire right in the middle and all the outside is having to catch up. This way I figure all the fuel will get used evenly.