my first smoker

[twodmax]

ok lets see how this works for posting pics:


























i decided to change out the wheels

[DUAYNE B]

That was a fast build, looks pretty darn awesome there Twod. save me a piece of that pie, would ya ,,,,,,,,,,,, ohhh yeah, and

[PvilleComp]

Wow - That certainly catches the eye! LOL I like it a lot!

Food looks great!

How does it hold temps?

[Frank_Cox]

and

dcman cant say
you did plenty for sure! Welcome aboard and that is one heck of a smoker!

[SoloQue]

Nice lookin build.

[TuscaloosaQ]

looks great only one problem I need A great big crimson A in the middle LOL

[The Czar]

The Photo Czar is ....so your life has been spared....

That paint job is just kicking azz!!!!!

The food

Wow....just wow....

[SoloQue]

You might want to keep an eye on TQ, he's pretty quick to offer his skills but that could involve welding an elephant head on your smoker. Now let me say he's an artist but art is in the eye of the beholder if ya know what I mean. Just saying

[hank1965]

great smoker Twodmax.

I really liked your fire box design do you think you might wanna share that for my current build.
I wish I could get about 5-6 feet of 30" steel pipe but the only place I can find it here will only sell 21ft sections
at 20.00 some $ a ft

[Gizmo]

Awesome job on that cooker there twod!

And TQ is right but he's off half the alphabet ... bright red with an "N" in the middle would work much better .... just sayin'

[twodmax]

ok, for anyone interested my barrel is 20'' diameter by 36'' long my firebox is 15 1/2 '' wide by 16 high by 16 deep thats the closest i could come to the fire box to smoker ratio of 1/3 the size. my baffel plate is also the top of my fire box. to make things easier and to save time i figured out the firebox dimentions first ie. the size of each piece minus the thickness of the sides, etc.. for example with the side plates being 16 inches by 1/4 inch thick my baffel plate needed to be 15 1/2'' wide. with 4 inches (the recommened distace from the far end of the barrel also 4'' above the bottom of the barrel. i read somewhere those two should be the same for proper air flow. next since my barrel is 36'' long plus the 16'' of the firebox minus the 4'' i came up with the length of my baffel plate. one issue i ran into was i didnt properly allow for my door .
i e. i didnt consider my thickness of the sides with the width of the plate. so i made a frame from angle iron and welded the plate to the angle iron the frame fits over the firebox opening and after cutting the door out, i then welded the door stop / seals then i welded the frame to the firebox, then laid the door on top and fixed the barrel hinges and heated and pounded the hinges to the proper angle. doing the frame gave me more structural stability as well as a bit of a heat sink at the side. also made an 'X' with 1/4'' steel on the door to prevent warping. anyway i had all the firebox pieces pre-cut to size to save me torch time plus even with a guide to hold the torch to i am still a bit unsteady. the round end pieces i laid on top of the 2'x2' plate and cut around it. it was suggested to me to not only have a hole in the bottom of the barrel for grease removal but also in the baffel plate. however i made a stop at the end of my baffel plate to keep grease from running over the edge of the baffel plate. i also made a grease stop for the firebox to prevent flare ups. this is placed at the bottom of the opening from the firebox to the barrel. next issue was the vent pipe baffle. after cutting and grinding till it fit inside i drilled a two holes straight across for the rod. next i used a round magnet on fishing line attached the metal plate then put the vent baffle inside below the two holes ran the rod inside pulled the strings to raise the baffle to the rod and tack welded the plate to the rod. removed the magnet and finished welding. then cut my rod for my handle and bent it. the whole time i was building this i tried to keep the barrel level only to find out after it was all built there was a bow in the pipe. oh well still pretty much level. i was gonna use two large 16'' metal wheels for the back and caster wheels for the front. but getting them to be in alignment was a pain. so i chose to go with rear wheeels the same size as the front castors each wheel is rated for 400 lbs. man this things moves so easy to be so heavy. when i put the ends on welding around the brackets inside was a challenge. my door although not quite 12:00 and 3:00 is more like 11:00 and 3:00. i figured out what i wanted my making a template from cardboard with the approx. radius of the barrel and found 11:00 offered just enough opening and less weight plus the door didnt have to go back as far, this would be a issue since i made it taller than most people will. the opening comes above my waist. so if the door went back further it would be an issue for anyone not as tall as me and a potential burn issue on the wrist. around here you cant get metal without going with whole 4'x8' sheets, i searched online and found a place online.. (http://www.yalesteel.net). reasonable prices and shipping. inside the firebox i used two pieces of pipe to keep the charcoal box off the bottom and also to insure more air circulation. i also can stack logs inside better this way. keeping the charcoal box off the bottom allows the ashes to fall through as the coals burn down.really important when doing a long 10-12 hour smoke. it hold temp like a champ. first cook was in feb with 24 degree weather for some ribs. held just perfect. next was salmon held 150 just as needed. i used a cd to measure the firebox air dampers. maybe coulda been bigger but the temps run right where i need them and wide open for a turkey gives me 275-300. of course i tried to make sure i didnt go too much on the coals to get too hot. to make this more than a smoker and to use as a grill as well i made a charcoal basket for inside the barrel to sit on the baffel plate, next i made a rack to go over the basket to cook burgers and dogs on. works great and i can throw a chunk of wood in with my coals to give my rotel burgers a bit of smokey flavor. i used 3/4 no9 expanded metal for the racks i didnt use stainless as the cost was more than i cold do at the time. also i use grill grids so clean up is easier. total time invested is months of planning and sleepless nights to figure it all out. but total time fabricating andc welding is around 42 hours then the painting is another 4 hours. total cost of materials alone around $1200. so all in all i think i did pretty good. so any questions. more pics? oh yeah the 'T' on the door is cut from sheet metal and welded to the door.

[Smokeone]

Sweet cooker!

Food looks pretty tasty, too!

[shipyardbecue]

that is nice! great work!

[Baz Senior]

That is Class, absolute Class.
A really nice build, hope you enjoy it.

[maccas66]

great build Twod!, looks like we have a new king of the clamps on board tho! , and the hired help is a bit gun shy by the looks of it!

[twodmax]

thanks for all the compliments. she really does a great job cooking. the '' hired help'' is my sister. she is a bit camera shy.