Building my first fire pit

h2orescuemedic · Post by **h2orescuemedic** » September 9th, 2018, 3:55 pm

Now days we all seem to be too busy for our own good. So my thought is, if I start this thread It will jump start my building a Fire pit cooker. Only way to make pictures is to do it or it never happen right?

I just got the hard part out of the way, talking about it and starting this thread

nothing left to do but take pictures

h2orescuemedic · Post by **h2orescuemedic** » September 9th, 2018, 4:11 pm

only thing I have done so far

h2orescuemedic · Post by **h2orescuemedic** » September 9th, 2018, 4:50 pm

LP tank used for build

h2orescuemedic · Post by **h2orescuemedic** » September 9th, 2018, 4:59 pm

I have to give a tip of the hat to my buddy that lives down the road JPinSTL is his username on the forum. He hooked me up with the 2 rolled rings. Thanks John.

Post by **Big T** » September 9th, 2018, 5:04 pm

Well I guess you're committed now. What's the overall vision for the finished product ?

h2orescuemedic · Post by **h2orescuemedic** » September 9th, 2018, 5:18 pm

Big T wrote: ↑
September 9th, 2018, 5:04 pm
Well I guess you're committed now. What's the overall vision for the finished product ?

I have no idea. Current plan is to build 2 of them. 1 is going to a guy I work, He doesn't want to spend much money on it and he wants it cheap as I can make it. There was one I was seen on this forum were a guy used large angle iron and made 4 legs when added a top and great, Thinking what would be super easy to lay out and keep the cost down for the guy at work. Then build a half cooking rack that lays on one side of the fire pit

The 2nd one I am going to run wild with. I am thinking about making into a Cowboy cauldron with a cooking grate and disco that swing out from the fire, screw in legs with a full cooking rack thats removable that goes on top incase you need it. Oversize handle for looks. Just want it cool looking

Plans are subject to change with metal prices.

Post by **Big T** » September 9th, 2018, 8:22 pm

Dirtytires · Post by **Dirtytires** » September 9th, 2018, 11:26 pm

Good start....don’t stop now!

JPinSTL · Post by **JPinSTL** » September 10th, 2018, 1:01 pm

Chris this is how I do most of mine. If you want the ring to be more of a guard for kids mount it high. For a footrest about 12in off the ground works well. Make it high enough you can still get the mower deck under it!!

To build flip the bowl upside down on your table with the ring. Then measure the difference between the OD of the Bowl and the ID of the ring. I cope/notch the tabs into the pipe for the ring. Most of the rings I roll end up around 53-55in OD. I like to allow at least a 6in air gap between the ring and the bowl. More if you have kids running around. For the tabs ((OD-ID)/2)+3/8=LengthofTab but cut a little longhand grind to fit. 3 tabs is plenty with that 1in pipe, but I use 6, because overkill.

This following is a bit different than how I do mine since I've made a few jigs to speed things up: To get your support tabs all lined up and perpendicular takes some fidget work. Mark a 45º line coming off the corner of your table. Measure the circumference of your bowl and divide by how many support tabs you want. Layout the marks on your bowl. (Now would be a good time to test fit your tabs between the bowl and the ring) Now rotate the bowl so the mark lines up with the 45º line on the table. Bring the edge of the bowl up flush to both edges of the table and tack weld your support tab in place using the 45º line as a guide. Rotate and repeat for each tab. Once everything is tacked in place I'd clamp the ring down really well to the table before doing the final welding.

Overall Height- 20-22in seems about right for a "sitting" fire pit. 25in is too high and you end up looking "across" and not into the fire. Too low though and the grass catches fire.

Some examples:

h2orescuemedic · Post by **h2orescuemedic** » September 10th, 2018, 6:50 pm

Thanks jp. The bottom one is cool looking. I am about to send some pics to the guy at work that's getting one so he can pick what it going to look like

h2orescuemedic · Post by **h2orescuemedic** » September 10th, 2018, 7:02 pm

John do you have, Any recommendation for making a vent in the bottom or just pop a small hole in it for a drain or what I usually do?

Do you guys make clean outs or air shutters?

JPinSTL · Post by **JPinSTL** » September 11th, 2018, 3:35 pm

The bottom pic is our personal one. The cobblers kids finally got some shoes. Someone would always show up desperate the week of Halloween, I'd be out of stock, and then buy ours. So I specifically built ours non-standard. Its from an OLD tank, is a dished not domed head, and might have been an inground as its 3/8in thick.

I had Haslag in WahsMO CNC the grate out of stainless. I've got the DXF file if you want it? Its setup for a 37in tank. Mine clocks/rotates in to different levels but really you can accomplish the same thing by tending the fire. Or these guys make one in carbon/stainless that is less than $150 that looks good and you could hardly buy the material and have it cut for that price: https://pilotrock.com/aspx/Shop/Series. ... riesid=705

As to clean outs or a vent, I don't think they are needed. I tip to the side and shovel out the ash the next day. I do drill a 1/2in or 3/4in drain hole to keep the skeeters out. Anything to big and the coals fall through. Also after a couple hours burning the bottom vents will be covered in ash anyway.

h2orescuemedic · Post by **h2orescuemedic** » September 13th, 2018, 3:43 pm

Thanks John for the info. Something come up and I get sent out of town, it's going to be a couple weeks before I get back home. Will just half to work on it in a few weeks

h2orescuemedic · Post by **h2orescuemedic** » October 2nd, 2018, 7:45 pm

After being out of town for business for 3 weeks I finally was able to get back to work and started building again. I only put in a few hours today but I am very happy with how its coming along. Current plan is to place 3 legs off the ring supports next to the bell end. Then I will be tying in the legs with 3/4 bar stock to keep them from moving. At least that's the current plan.

Still working on how to make the grate swing and stand stay level. that's for another day to worry about

Post by **Big T** » October 2nd, 2018, 8:00 pm

Nice work

h2orescuemedic · Post by **h2orescuemedic** » October 2nd, 2018, 8:11 pm

missed a couple of photos

JPinSTL · Post by **JPinSTL** » October 2nd, 2018, 10:15 pm

Looking good!! Thats ALOT of fish mouths and coping. Knowing you you will TIG it too!!

For your grate pivot the slickest setup I saw used a junk side wind round tube trailer jack. Where the tube just has pressed in grooves/knurls on one side. You could turn the grill to the side, raise it to the desired height, then pivot back into place and lock it in. So the jack leg is welded to the fire bowl and the jack body is welded to your grate.

Mine has about 8 in of adjustment height, but really you can accomplish the same thing with fire management. So I would think the pivot function is more useful than the height adjustment.

h2orescuemedic · Post by **h2orescuemedic** » October 3rd, 2018, 7:57 pm

used my little harbor freight band saw on the table I built, It worked super slick. didn't take very long to cut the fish mouth openings then just hit the ends on the grinding wheel for a bit just to make them smooth. super easy and pretty fast for not having a clue what I was doing. Thank goodness for youtube that's how I figured out how to do it.

Dirtytires · Post by **Dirtytires** » October 4th, 2018, 12:25 am

Nice...just checked out the trusty internet and learned that little trick. Thanks for sharing.

JPinSTL · Post by **JPinSTL** » October 5th, 2018, 4:43 pm

For quick and dirty coping use a bandsaw, chopsaw, etc. Slice a 30º cut from both sides of the tube "about" a 1/3 of the diameter in from the edge. Then clock it 90º to fit the fish mouth up against the other tube. You have to play around with the depth of the slice. But really if you are using a MIG the fit up will likely be close enough.

h2orescuemedic · Post by **h2orescuemedic** » October 11th, 2018, 3:38 pm

started back on the fire pit today

h2orescuemedic · Post by **h2orescuemedic** » October 11th, 2018, 3:43 pm

Got it up on its own legs, Finished the cooking grate mount.

First coat of paint is on i am waiting for it to dry so i can flip it over and finish painting.

Dirtytires · Post by **Dirtytires** » October 11th, 2018, 4:43 pm

Looking pretty nice.....

Post by **Big T** » October 11th, 2018, 7:24 pm

h2orescuemedic · Post by **h2orescuemedic** » November 28th, 2018, 4:33 pm

I was tasked to build one more fire pit for a coworker. Hoping this is the last one for awhile. Its on the simple side but its really growing me, I might start a fire in it just to make sure it will hold a fire. Its about 30 degrees out side so it too cold to paint it. I might as well use it

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