Start of a mini

[JKalchik]

The pocket on my double pan GF is recessed in above the firebox. The steel (now that I've got it better insulated...) gets pretty warm to touch, but not burn territory, and not enough to soften PLA. As far as a probe port goes, I cut a circular hole in the cook chamber, and one in the pocket, and joined them with a short piece of frame tubing. The ports themselves are covered with high heat silicon rubber gaskets from Weber for thermoprobe ports in grills and smokers. Everything is hidden.

[jsbm]

Your post must be the one I saw. I don’t want to recess it like you did just make a frame on the outside for the controller and port. I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t a heat issue. What did you do for the cable for the fan?

[JKalchik]

Cable for the fan just hangs down & outside the smoker. Another gent over on the HM forums built a passthrough port from his recessed pocket all the way down to the air inlet for a nicely dressed appearance.

[jsbm]

Didn’t get as much done as I wanted but made some progress today.
I’ve been thinking about putting a 90 on the inlet pipe to minimize how far it will stick out with the ball valve and fan. I can’t for see any but are there any issues with doing that?

[pr0wlunwoof]

I put the ball valve on the firebox inlet and the hm on the other side. It allows me to shut the air off completely to the firebox and choke the fire out to save charcoal after the cook.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[jsbm]

Got a little work done today. I got all the cook chamber panels welded in. Damn that’s a lot of welding. I kept the welds to 2-3 inches and let cool and still ended up with the sheet metal dancing around.

[h2orescuemedic]

I run the BBQ Guru CyberQ Cloud with the biggest fan they had think it was the pit vipper 25cfm fan i am probably wrong on the name but it was the biggest they had i do know that. I Run it on my double pan gravity feed smoker, and its performance is spot on. Its a little funny at first getting it to connect to your home wifi, but after that super easy to use, sends text to your phone and easy to adjust from your phone from anyplace you have cell service,

Please keep the photos coming of your build

[jsbm]

Like I mentioned before sheet metal dancing around. I’m going to add 2-3 pieces of 1/2” square stock on the outside of the cc along with the channel for my grates on the inside hoping to get the bow out. If not I’ll add a couple pieces of 1 1/2 square tube to get it out.

I’ve decided to put a recess on the firebox side for my controller like JKalchik did. Even though I plan on stuffing as much insulation into the firebox side as I can I’m still a little concerned about heat. Since I can’t find any firebrick thin enough what about lining the recess with tile since it has heat resistant qualities?

I’m also going to put a 90 on the inlet pipe and run it up to the recess for two reasons. One so the fan will be close to the controller so I won’t have a cable dangling around and second so i won’t have 10” of pipe, valve, and fan sticking out. I pie cut the 90 so I should be able to keep it to about 3.5”. I know it’s a little anal but I’m trying to keep a clean look.

[mp4]

I think your efforts to keep a clean look will pay off for sure. My fan hangs out quite a bit and it does get banged sometimes. It's just a matter of time and I'll forget it's there and it will knocked clean in two and I'll be buying another fan!

[jsbm]

I think your efforts to keep a clean look will pay off for sure. My fan hangs out quite a bit and it does get banged sometimes. It's just a matter of time and I'll forget it's there and it will knocked clean in two and I'll be buying another fan!

That’s exactly why I’m doing it. At first I was going to run it to the right then I decided to go up so I can keep the cable to the fan out of the way too.

[bjustison]

I welded in a 1/2" pipe with a probe port on the outside of the smoker on my mini. I didn't like the look of the recessed shelf on the front. It's large enough for my pit probe and three temperature probes.

[jsbm]

I don’t want all the wires hanging out so that’s why I’m going with the recess. Keep in mind I’ve added 10 inches to the height so I have little more room for placement and think it’ll look and work good.

Why hasn’t anybody complained about how fast these things get heavy?
I got my panels straightened out and the firebox assembly installed today.

[Big T]

Why hasn’t anybody complained about how fast these things get heavy?

Haha, Puff built a big GF a few years ago and he must've said it about a thousand times.

[ajfoxy]

You've clearly not gone through the forum's DP GF builds... just about everyone mentions how quickly they get heavy.

Good idea to get them on wheels early on. You can take the wheels off for painting etc, but to move the thing around without wheels is a pain.
Another thing to incorporate is lifting lugs on the top.

[jsbm]

You've clearly not gone through the forum's DP GF builds... just about everyone mentions how quickly they get heavy.

Good idea to get them on wheels early on. You can take the wheels off for painting etc, but to move the thing around without wheels is a pain.
Another thing to incorporate is lifting lugs on the top.

I was joking. I’ve read plenty. That’s the next step, get the bottom plate on and wheels.

[Dirtytires]

I seem to recall that everybody has a hoist, forklift or tractor at their disposal so weight isn’t a factor.

Everyone, except me, that is!

[MrsSmokerBuilder]

I've never actually seen a mini GF. Pretty cool!

[jsbm]

I seem to recall that everybody has a hoist, forklift or tractor at their disposal so weight isn’t a factor.

Everyone, except me, that is!

I have all of those at my disposal too. Like a dummy I chose to build at home instead of at work.

[Chromeski]

I seem to recall that everybody has a hoist, forklift or tractor at their disposal so weight isn’t a factor.

Everyone, except me, that is!

I don't have any of the above. I may buy a hoist just to put the legs on my mini.

[jsbm]

Is it just me or do your wife’s throw a wrench in any free time you think you have to work on your smoker? Knowing I have a project going on do you think she would put a pause on hers so I could finish mine. I’m just venting and love her to death so I guess I’ll always put her first. On top of that I agreed to build a Santa Maria grill for a friend. Just shoot me now.

[Chromeski]

Is it just me or do your wife’s throw a wrench in any free time you think you have to work on your smoker? Knowing I have a project going on do you think she would put a pause on hers so I could finish mine. I’m just venting and love her to death so I guess I’ll always put her first. On top of that I agreed to build a Santa Maria grill for a friend. Just shoot me now.

My wife 100% cannot understand why I want to build a smoker. I have to work to get any free time to work on mine.

[JKalchik]

<chuckle> My g/f more or less beat me around the head & neck area a year and a half ago and told me in no uncertain terms to build the damned thing. She's been reaping the benefits thereof......

Yes, she's my enabler.

[jsbm]

Got some hood time in today. I went with 1/4” plate for the bottom. I got the legs and gussets welded plus the back and one side panel.

[Big T]

I like the look of the legs with the gussets. I believe it was Weldun that done something similar but he used angle iron that he cut down.

[JKalchik]

I did something similar, taking inspiration from a few others here, I used extra frame tubing cut on 45 degrees, and butted right up into the corners. The frame tubing goes straight up from the caster feet/mounts up to the top.