Pitfaced BBQ's DP Gravity Feed Build

[bvbull200]

First off, I have to give a HUGE thanks to Maner (BigDaddy4760) and his amazing generosity. I don't have the tools, space, or expertise to pull off something like this, but Maner has graciously offered up all three to help get this thing built. He's a really, really good friend for doing all of that.

Plan is to use 8" casters, use a different form of latching/handle set up, add a temp controller (more later), add a recess to house the temp controller, increase the capacity and height options for the racks (allow for closer spacing of more racks if desired), and custom paint (more on that later, too).


Day 1 of building:

The boys ready to go:


First step was stuffing insulation in the square tubing of the frame:





Next came starting framing the thing:




Frame side one complete:


Framing out the rest of it:



Interior skins starting to be applied:




Interior skins nearly complete:


Hoisted out of the way to work on the charcoal chute/firebox:


Not a ton of in-progress pics of the chute/firebox, but it is a HEAVY SOB.






Pretty much left it there after day one. Frame 95% complete (three pieces drop in after the firebox gets attached) and the firebox done.




Day two update.

Visually, it doesn't look like a whole lot got done, but I assure you that today was very productive, despite my late arrival due to a number of failed stops looking for 2" schedule 40 pipe.

Here's what we got done today:

Angle iron was cut to make slides to hold the coal grate for the firebox:


Cold roll and flat iron for the grate:


Maner had a clever design for a handle and this was the end result:


Here's where it fits in:



And slid all the way in:



Here is Maner realizing that we're about to have a fitment issue:



I was a little confused as to why the plans don't call to leave out the cross-member at the top of the frame. We left the lower three pieces out as per the plans, but that top piece (that the chute framing will go on) prevents the chute/firebox from going in at all. What did we overlook? Either way, we had a chuckle, got to grinding, then fixed it all up.



Chute/firebox in place:



Next was the most tedious part so far and I give FULL credit to Maner for shouldering the load. The seams for rear interior skin were welded. I worked on grinding a few pieces we were going to need and cutting insulation, but Maner was a BEAST at the welding:



Once that seam was completed, the first panel of insulation went in:



Outer skin tacked and grinded:



We have a side completed!




One mod we did was adding extra support to the inner skins that will be supporting the cooking racks. Here is one side:



Did two supports on either side of the chute for the other side:



Here's a peek at what sort of cooking capacity we're going to be looking at. It can cook a whole bvbull200:



Spitballing signage options for the back of this thing. It's HUGE and needs a little something to break up the space.



You know how you can count the rings in a treek truck to see how old it is? We have something similar. You can count the rings to see how long we've been working .



More coming on Sunday, hopefully. Let me know what you think and if you have any tips/tricks/etc. that I should keep in mind as we go forward!

[JKalchik]

<Bob> Damn, boy!</Bob>

I know what you mean about that top cross member, I learned from other folks' "experiences."

Nice looking shop, and awfully nice to be building that with 3.

[Big T]

It looks like y'all are off to a great start!! It's definitely nice to have friends to help out.

[Chromeski]

Looks great, almost done.

[Pete Mazz]

[Weldun]

Looks like ya'll are having some serious fun and making some great memories, can't wait to see more.

[Dirtytires]

Wow....moving along nicely. Having all the right tools makes a huge difference.

[bvbull200]

Thanks, all! It's coming along quite nicely. Here is the update from today.

We managed to put a few hours in today.

Maner sealed up the lower inner skin:



The inner skin for the left side was also sealed up, then got some insulation. You can see the insulation poking out from the bracing in the middle. We forgot to stuff it before we tacked it on, so we just notched a few spots and loaded it up. That brace was a REALLY good idea. The inner skin had a slight tendency to bulge in the middle. Using that brace as an anchor point for some tack welds, we were able to ensure that the inside skin was nice and flat.



The outer skin was about to go on, but it was cut to go exactly edge to edge on the frame. The problem there is it makes it hard to tie the outer skin in to the frame. Solution? Offset it on two sides to expose the frame just a tad (it'll get covered with a weld and polished down), the use this big ass grinder to grind the edge back on the two sides where the skin was now 1/8th past the frame. If...nay...WHEN we build another, I think the plan is to get the outer skins cut about 3/16ths shorter on both length and width to make it slightly smaller than the outer size of the frame and, thus, easier to tie in together.

Did I mention that this was one big ass grinder?



Here is some insulation laid out for the bottom of the smoker. I took the Tetris approach to try and get the most out of that bundle of insulation :laugh:.



Did a little spitballing with Maner after we decided on a stopping point. We came up with a nifty idea for the door mounted thermometer. More on that when we get to that point.



We got about 4 hours of work in and made some pretty nice headway. These first three days of building have been really productive and a HELL of a lot of fun. I could spend the day welding, cutting, and grinding with Maner anytime. A cold beer or five along the way doesn't hurt ;). Looking at that thing in the shop, it's pretty amazing how far it's come already.

I think we're in a holding pattern for the next 3-4 weeks with Maner heading back out in the field. That gives some time for more brainstorming of other ways I can send this build down another tangent.

[towtruck]

Nice! That is coming along pretty well.

[ajfoxy]

Looking good... yep the top strut has caught out quite a few builders.

[bvbull200]

Thanks! We're enjoying the build.

[Chromeski]

Be done in no time.

[Boston]

That is coming along awesome!!

[bvbull200]

Update!

Yesterday's goal: Skin the bottom and mount the casters so this SOB can roll on it's own.

I showed up with a cooler full of 12 oz cans of Coors Light as per the usual gift I bestow upon Maner prior to entering his sanctuary .

He was already getting the mounting plates welded to the feet for the casters.

The plan for mounting the feet was a little outside of the plans as we wanted to tie in to the frame as much as possible. The plans called for putting on the outer skin, then mounting the feet/casters to that. Felt like a potential point of failure on a rig this big and heavy. I got to cutting out squares in the bottom skin to accommodate the new course of action. Ended up stripping about 1/4" off of each side of the skin, too, to allow for more room to tie in to the frame.



Maner got the feet welded together, then mounted up. Insulation added as well.



We put the bottom skin on and welded it all the way (as opposed to just tacking), so other than some cosmetic cleanup which we'll do before paint, the bottom is pretty well complete. For the record, I welded the entire bottom skin on myself. With a lot of advice from Maner, I've gotten pretty comfortable under the hood. Not gonna lie, nearly that entire line of welds on that bottom skin were pretty damn good. I build the welds up a little so that we had something to square off with the grinder, per Maner's recommendation, and most of the welds turned out pretty nice if I say so myself.




Here is the firebox side. We had to do a little finagling on the intake pipe nipple and seam welding it was a bitch, but got it in there, then started loading up insulation.





Then we loooaddddeeeddd that side with insulation. The middle strip ended up getting cleaned up a bit and covered with the firmer insulation, but it is otherwise fairly well stuffed with high-temp insulation that we were able to work in to all of the nooks and crannies around the firebox and fuel chute:





I mean loaded...



Once that was done, we tacked up the skin then it rose to its feet and stood on its own for the first time:







Here's one with me next to it for size reference - I'm 6'2". Not sure what sort of goofy ass half smirk thing Maner caught me in with this picture :



Getting that skin on the firebox side was a bonus for us. Only skins left are the narrow one to go on the side that has the intake (still need to build in a recess for the temp controller) and the top skin. Then we need to build and mount the door, of course. That would get all 6 sides up. Plenty of other finishing items to do (build/mount racks, chimney, shrouds, temp gauges, etc.), but this thing is coming together!

[Big T]

I'd be smiling too if that was my build.

[Dirtytires]

Looks good—-lotta work!

I think you owe your buddy a monthly smoked prime brisket....for life!

[ajfoxy]

and perhaps an annual Coors delivery truck...

[Chromeski]

Coming along very nice. That shop is something I dream of having one day

[ajfoxy]

That shop is something I dream of having one day

One day? Every single day mate...

[bvbull200]

Looks good—-lotta work!

I think you owe your buddy a monthly smoked prime brisket....for life!

I've vowed to keep Maner steadily supplied with our Meat Massage and On Point rubs. He's a hell of a cook in his own right, so taking over the cooking portion would almost be an insult to him .

Schedules don't always sync and he's about an hour from me, so progress happens whenever we can, but we're having a hell of a good time together.

[bvbull200]

and perhaps an annual Coors delivery truck...

A case of Coors is my self imposed price of admission each day I go out there to work .

[BigDaddy4760]

This has been a fun build!!! Hell anytime you can spend time in the shop is fun especially with friends. We going to redline the drawings to make it a lot easier on the next ones. This pit should only take 3 days to build plus a day to prep and paint. This was a learning curve on my part as I have never built a gravity cooker. We have found a lot of improvements to make it go faster.

[towtruck]

Looking good so far!

[bvbull200]

This has been a fun build!!! Hell anytime you can spend time in the shop is fun especially with friends. We going to redline the drawings to make it a lot easier on the next ones. This pit should only take 3 days to build plus a day to prep and paint. This was a learning curve on my part as I have never built a gravity cooker. We have found a lot of improvements to make it go faster.

Yessir!

We're going to rock out with the next ones. Will be done in no time!

[bvbull200]

I've been slacking on the updates. We took a little time off from the build due to a couple of things going on at home (each of us) and with the holidays happening, but the ambition didn't wane. We've been back at it, though, in the new year. Here are a few updates!

Update! First of the new year!

We got a bunch done today. First thing we attacked was getting the wire channel added for getting cords from the temp controller to the fan. We knew about this all along, but had a little oversight when putting on the front skin, so we had to retrofit. Minor speed bump that we solved fairly quickly.

Wires go in here where the temp controller sits:



They come out near the intake. Pic of it cleaned up a bit and in relation to the intake. This will be shrouded, so the symmetry wasn't important. The flexibility and clearance of the wires was much more so.




Some seams were finished up, the intake was welded in fully, the door was adjusted for a better fit and to better accommodate the gaskets.

Finishing touch on the day was getting the top thermo mounted.



5" diameter on this bad boy. Took a little while to get in as I wanted to order the one with the calibration dial on the back. Pics don't do it justice. Maybe my sexy ass does, though. ;)



Getting damn close!