Tucker's First Reverse Flow Smoker Build

[SmokinFF]

This has been a great build to follow.

[Smokeone]

Looking good, Matt.
You got to love the cost of these simple projects.

[MattTucker]

Yeah, I am pretty sure I could have bought one from a local manufacturer for about what I will have put in this one. That being said, I haven't seen many that are built out of 5/16 and 3/8 plate....so there is that.

But in the end, if it will hold steady temps, drafts properly, and will cook meat....i will be a happy guy. The guys in the shop are already asking if I am cooking for them first, so we are on the downhill side.

The smoker is now tacked in place on the trailer frame, as we wanted to make sure height and width were ok for cooking (they are). I am a little concerned with a lack of tongue weight when empty (we have the axle as far back as it can go), but can easily fix that with adding some 1-1/2" plate to the trailer frame towards the front. As it stands right now I can easily pick up the trailer with one hand and move it around.

The rib box / warmer box still needs to be added above the firebox (that is what the two holes and slider plate are for on top of the firebox), the door needs to get finished, racks need to be installed, and the baskets and trailer accessories need to be mounted, along with the valves for the cleanouts (the pipes are in, but the valves haven't been put on yet), and a few other things. All in all.....yesterday was a good day.

Finally Tacked To Trailer Frame.....This is Progress!

We had some drops from some HSS 8 x 2 x 3/16 and HSS 6 x 4 x 3/16 that we used for the trailer frame, it helped with the height in a few places and also trying to get the weight where it needs to be. It also gives me 14" of clearance between the ground and the bottom of the firebox. It is definitely one beefy looking smoker.....no L 2x2x1/8 on this thing (unless we need it for the racks....)

Speaking of racks....what is a good dimension for spacing of racks? Is 8" spacing between racks enough?

[Gizmo]

4 inches is nice. rib racks and chicken and such will fit between and skipping one gives you 8 plus the grate thickness for the larger cuts - skipping 2 is 12 plus 2 grates thicknesses which will allow a very large turkey. Put the rails in now and you won't regret it. You can always make the grates as the need arises. jm2cw

However ….. everyone should have the fun experience of being stared at in the meat department while carrying a tape measure from case to case … but it works. I think S1 uses 11 inch spacing but he cooks a lot of yak.

[Rodcrafter]

It is looking like it will be cooking soon. So what are you going to do to help lift that door? It seems like you would need a cable a couple of pulleys and 2 vertical brackets to lift it out of the way enough. I really like the cooker!!!

jm2cw

[Smokeone]

Looks good Matt!
I would get your warmer set, and then check tongue weight. You'll like the light tongue for hooking up and such. I'm gonna guess that you can always add tongue weight with wood, charcoal, coolers, meat and such. Oh yeah and beer! Those 12 ozrs add up pretty quickly. Of course you need to consider the loss of weight from the beer consumed.........and the other stuff too.

Sorry for the ramble............ I had a Rick moment.

[MattTucker]

The door lift is going to be an aircraft cable / pulley system we are dreaming up with a pipe filled with slugs as a counter weight. We haven't worked through that yet, but that is the direction it is going.....because that door is HEAVY.

Thanks for the all comments and pointers guys.

[Rodcrafter]

Yep, that is what I thinking. Just make sure it is well built that rascal would kill you if it failed. Not that it would your doing great!

[MattTucker]

I am kind of at a standstill currently with how to open the door. The door is damn heavy at roughly PL 5/16 x 24" x 3' - 6" and almost 89lbs or so. We were thinking cable pulley and counterweights, but that sort of messes up the storage basket idea i have for the back side of the smoker (or if i want to mount some propane burners on the back side). We are now kicking around the idea of a traditional counterweight design, but not really sure how much weight it will take to move the door. Anyone have an online calculator for that ???? If we can go with a regular counterweight, we are going to burn a design in some 1" plate to use as the counterweight.....it could turn out pretty cool. Just need to figure out how much weight we need and where to put it on the cook chamber style i have.

[The Czar]

There really isn't a formula that I know of....you just have to put your hollow tube/bar on the backside and put filler weight in increments till you find that balance you like....

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[Gizmo]

Did this once and here's how I got through it….

If you're aiming at a counterweight to help with an 89 pound door then you will need 89 pounds offset the same distance from the hinge line as the center of gravity of the door (dead center probably) just to get it to neutral - which you don't quite need.

Draw up your design the size you want it then figure up the minimum rectangle it would fit in.

Figure the weight of that rectangle and reduce it by a SWAG percentage (scientific wild ars guess) to see how much it will likely weigh after deducting the part you cut away to make the design.

Build and install two arms where you want them and C-clamp the cut out design to those and move it in and out from the door to change the leverage to get the "feel" you want. Remember to err on the conservative side because you'll lose the C-clamp weight in the next step.

Mark and remove the C-clamps then cut the arms to mate with the design and weld the design in place to the end of the arms.

[MattTucker]

SWAG percentage (scientific wild ars guess)

I like that.

[Rodcrafter]

If I were going to do this with the shape of your CC, I would begin with a vertical post right out the top using 2 pieces of 3 inch channel back to back, 3 inches apart 18 inches high. I would have a 3/4 inch hole drilled in them (1 1/2" from the top) to use as an pivot pin (3/4" bolt) I would then make an walking beam 28" long, out of 2.5" square tube 1/4" would do. I would drill an 3/4" hole in the center of it and an 1/2" hole on each end about 1 1/4" from the ends. (x2). I would then measure to be sure from the center of the walking beam (beam level) down to just past center of the door to an attachment point (pat eye). Then cut a piece of 3/8 x 2" flat bar to allow for the distance between the two places. Drill an 1/2 in hole in each end. The walking beam will need a notch cut in it to allow the flat bar top be in the center of it with free movement. On the other end of the walking beam I would use another flat bar like the front, but cut that flat bar long enough to stack 6"x1" washers that I would cut from plate. Then slide on as many as I needed to get the desired effect. This would allow you to have the space you need on the back and it wouldn't depend on questionable parts. I would also create a trap for the weight to move up and down in so it doesn't swing around when traveling with the rig. I would also put a safety latch on the door so when it is open it automatically latches and will only come down when you release it.

jm2cw

[MattTucker]

Well, the smoker build saw some progress today. I should be painting it by next weekend after all the fit and finishes go on it.

Our First Attempt At A Counter Weight For the Door

I recently got off my butt and joined KCBS, and apparently because you don't cook for awhile your competition team name goes up (or it did) and we sort of lost ours because we didn't cook in 2013 or were members. So, in a haste to pick a team name and to tie it in with my fly fishing site, i quickly picked Ozark Smoke (also picked up ozarksmokebbq.com). Thought about a design for awhile, and came up with this to burn on our plama table. This was our first attempt cut out of 3/4" plate and it is too heavy, the door wants to open on its own, so we are going to reburn out of 1/2" and see what happens. I think it turned out pretty freakin' cool.

Rear Smoker Box Attached

We got the rear smoker box tacked in place, effectively doubling the size of my cooking space. But adding more weight to the rear of the trailer was not what we were looking to do.

The Main Cook Chamber

We are almost ready to build the frames for the grates. It looks like I am only going to do 3 shelves in the main unit.....not as roomy as i had hoped by the time the baffle plate was put in.

The Rear Cook Chamber & Firebox

This is a look at the rear box tacked in place and the firebox. It is a beast and coming together nicely. There are two 3" holes cut in the top of the firebox with a 1/2" plate that can be opened to allow more heat / smoke into the top box.

So all in all it is coming together. A simple standard counterweight was more than enough to get the door open (i was truly worried about it, but it was for nothing). Looks like i might be ready for painting next weekend.

A couple of questions on firing up the smoker for the first time and painting it.

1. Should the smoker inside get wiped with vegetable oil and then a fire built in smoker and brought up to tempt for several hours. How hot should i let everything heat up to and for how long?
2. Should i do the seasoning burn before or after I paint it.
3. Looking at High Temp Engine Paint for the entire rig.....will this be a good coating?

Thanks again for the help everyone.

[Smokeone]

I would season before paint. That way if you get paint inthe cook chamber, it shouldn't stck, and will come out easily. But that is just my theory. As far as seasoning, buy some cans of cooking spray and coat it all real good, run it to 350 or so and let it bake a couple of hours. After that I like to back the heat down and cook something. Prefer greasy, like sausage or bacon, but chicken thighs work well too.
I have used high temp engine paint on a UDS and it has held up fine. If you can find 12-1500 degree for the firebox, I would go that way.

[MattTucker]

Here is the latest update. After today, all the accouterments will be welded on the trailer / smoker and the shelves will all be built and installed.

The Counter Weight Installed

We were able to go with a 3/8" thick plate (we started with a 3/4" thick plate) to get the proper balance on the door we wanted. It is going to look really good when painted I think and make this smoker stand out. You can also see the expanded metal (3/4 x 9 standard) going down for the trailer as well.

The Business End Of The Smoker

Putting the finishing touches. The expanded metal table that comes out the side of the smoker is removable and will be stored on the back side of the smoker when in transit. It attaches without bolts, but to lock it down tight so it doesn't wobble much requires two bolts (not a bad idea at all).

The Rear End.

Still finishing up the warmer / rib box, but the door is here and the shelves have been put in.

So all in all it is still kicking right along. We are learning alot in the process, and have had to ask for some favors from a couple of suppliers, but it will definitely be an eye catching smoker when it is complete.

The remaining timeline will be to get it to the sandblaster by the end of day today, then hopefully this Sunday it will receive its first coat of paint.

--Matt Tucker

[Rodcrafter]

That is great, looks like a nice rig!

[Gizmo]

Great looking work so far! ME LIKE!

However ….. I was reading along minding my own business and then …. accouterments? Seriously? Talk aobut your literary speed bump ,,, Sheeesh!

[MattTucker]

Thanks for the compliments guys. I ran it over to our coatings / sandblaster that we use quite a bit and he is going to blast it for us. It tows rather nicely and I will get some better photos together as well soon. At his recomendation we are going to use a SW KEM Hi-Temp Coating 850 Series paint for the smoker portion and a harder automotive paint for the remaining. I should be painting it on Sunday.

Off To The Blasters


Thanks for the comments and the help with this. You guys have been a great resource.

[The Czar]

Wow.....nice!

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[uhoh_45]

shes a tank

[SmokinFF]

DAMN!!! That is all I can say...

[Smurf]

Great looking rig you built Tucker.

[maccas66]

love the counter weight Matt !

[MattTucker]

love the counter weight Matt !

This was my / our first smoker build, so I was completely surprised how much fine tuning the counterweight took. We ended up cutting three different thicknesses & sizes of the counterweight, in addition to placement on the door. It was definitely a learning experience. We would have liked for it to be more centered up over the cook chamber but we could not get it to work out. This was also the first time we have burned a design like this with our plasma table (there isn't much artsy stuff in structural steel fab), so that was pretty cool too.

Back From The Blaster & Ready For Cleanup

Sand, sand, everywhere. There is a ton of clean-up that needs to happen before we can paint it, such as hitting it with 220 grit, blowing the sand out, and vacuuming out even more sand......

Another thing that I was grossly misprepared for was the availability of high-temp paint. It seems you can't just walk into a sherwin williams or Porter Paints and pick up a high temp paint these days (at least not in St. Louis), and if they do have it they want $174/gallon for it. I am scared of the engine enamels due to the heat required for proper curing (no way I can cure my smoker to get the steel to 650 without taking a torch to it), so when I was visiting with my painter / sandblaster I showed him the product data sheet forRustoleum 7778502 in Satin Black. He looked at it and said it would work, but gave me some better cleaning / prep instructions and thought it would take two coats.

For you guys that have used the Rustoleum 7778502 Specialty High Heat paint, how many coats do you apply to your builds and what is your time between recoats. Any help is appreciated and thanks for the comments.

--Matt Tucker