The micro smoker

[Dirtytires]

Are you hoping the latch will pull out the warp in the door and seal it?

[McBroom]

Are you hoping the latch will pull out the warp in the door and seal it?

Yes kinda what I'm looking for.
I can deal with the war page but to have them seal to hold the heat and smoke is most important

Claud

[McBroom]

I thought about trying to find some J latches that are used on pop up campers but have had no luck locating any.
I'm gonna go to Tractor Supply and Orsheilins this afternoon see what I can find on the cheap

Claud

[McBroom]

Update I found some latches for small hand carry toolboxes (the kind that are pop riveted on) that will work beautifully on this lil dude and easy to use and attach.
I think these will work perfectly.

Claud

[Dirtytires]

Yep....as long as the bail can hold the pressure.

[McBroom]

I think it will. I'm gonna try to figure out the warped door issue.
I got some door seal tape today as well. So now to dress it and start the seasoning process. 1st cook is gonna be a pork loin on one side and 3 baked potatoes on the other. If it will run good itll be plenty to feed 3-4 ppl. And my bigger smokers for larger groups of people.

Claud

[McBroom]

Well folks I think its finished in the build department.
10:45 lit 1st fire. 24 briquettes and 4 pecan twigs.
11:00 --- 150*
Good looking smoke. The goal is 300* for as long as possible.
I should've made the air inlet larger!! I'll fix that.
Claud

[Big T]

What were the overall results ?

[McBroom]

What were the overall results ?

Not good.
1st off I couldn't get it above 115*
Air inlet too small.
Throat had a blockage.

I removed the baffle plate cut the pieces that I thought were blocking the throat.
I changed out the air inlet from the 1×1" to a 1×4"
I need to figure out a way to build a small ash pan and so far nothing has came to mind.



Claud

[McBroom]

Old air inlet
New air inlet

Claud

[McBroom]

Ideas on an ash pan are needed. Please.
It would need to be on the outside of the FB.
I put a charcoal rack in the fb to allow the air to get under the coals. Problem is that the ash builds up in front of the inlet blocking all the air.

Claud

[McBroom]

Fired it up at 1230 this morning and got up to 180* then bout an hour later its fallen to 150* 30 min later its 120*
I added 2- 2×8" pieces of pecan and 4 more briquettes 30 min and temp to 135* 30 more minutes and at 110*

Baffled at why it won't come to temperature...

I guess I'm gonna scrap it and call it a dont attempt this again as itll never work.

Claud

[Dirtytires]

Bummer on the results.

I can’t see the detail to confirm this in the pictures but I’m going to throw out an idea. I feel in order for this you work properly that you need to have it set up as 2 completely separate smokers. I can’t tell how well you separated the firebox but, from looking at your air inlet, it does not appear to be air-tight between the two. I’m wondering if the heat is just circling in the firebox and leaking out the top rather than being pulled thru the cook chamber.

My thoughts would be to try completely dividing in into 2 halves and just operate one half to see how it heats up.

But that’s just a thought....I could be really off......lol.

[Overspray]

With my micro, I also couldn’t get it up to temp. Haven’t messed with it in a while.

[McBroom]

The one firebox operates both
c/c's. I could make a new fb kid as its top loading. I think my other problem is not having a ash pan under it. I noticed the ash would build up at the air inlet choking the fire out.
I didn't make a divider to separate the fb in 1/2 probably should have though.
I did put 2- 1" pieces of pipe between the two tanks to help balance the smoke and temps between the two c/c's.

Claud

[Dirtytires]

Maybe stuff the two cross over pipes with aluminum foil balls to lock the off and fire it up for a test.

Worth a try before you scrap it....

[McBroom]

Maybe stuff the two cross over pipes with aluminum foil balls to lock the off and fire it up for a test.

Worth a try before you scrap it....

Thanks. I'll do just that when the rain in texas goes away. Probably this weekend.

Claud

[McBroom]

Ok been thinking about this pos.
If the baffle plate is too wide...

Will that keep it from coming up to temp.

It was said the heat/fire could be swirling in the firebox... would a divider or some kind of baffle shield stop the swirling effect??

I'm also thinking that I may need to make an interior wall to help make the firebox a little smaller.
What do ya'll think???

Claud McBroom

[Big T]

I would put a wall in the center of the FB to basically make it 2 FB's, shove tin foil into the crossover tubes in the CC and fire it up with a decent amount of charcoal and see what happens. I wouldn't start making drastic changes right off the bat, you can probably get by with a few tweaks. You may end up having to get the charcoal up off of the bottom of the FB but I'd try the above mentioned first.

[towtruck]

Take it from me....I've been there done that......the fire box has to be over sized and feed only one cc. try blocking off one throat and letting the current fire box run only one side...it will be enlightening

For the record my tiny smoker only gets up to 125* on the far end but it has enough heat before the air goes out the stack to make it all work. My temp gauge is past the exhaust outlet so not ideal.

[McBroom]

Thanks @Big T n @towtruck

Claud McBroom