Any other 320 gallon smokers out there?

[Big T]

You can certainly put one on the door if you'd like but one on each side is sufficient. As for the prices of steel, I think everyone is experiencing the same problems, either it's out of stock or an outrageous price. I was going to build a vertical cabinet smoker until I started pricing materials.

[dacolson]

Yup. It’s painful right now. Even scrap off market place and CL is getting bad.


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[hogaboomer]

I bought some plate last week, the salesman told me prices went up 50% in the last 2 months. I was going to buy some galvanized tubing for my fence that got blown over in the hurricane, but I blew it off when I heard the price.

[towtruck]

Nice work!

[john_az]

so my steel delivery never showed up last week, something about covid etc.... anyway, turned out to be a great thing, I ran down to the local scrap yard and found a bunch of 3/8" steel plate chunks that was in amazing shape! I was shocked... I was very excited thinking I was going to save a ton of money going with "scrap" but the bill was still $750 bucks. so.. saved 150 bucks, ill take it! however I spent a ton of time picking up the plate, cleaning the material, measuring what will fit where.... yada yada... so im not sure I saved any money in the long run.... anyway, the important thing was, I got steel. I was able to load the plate on my plasma table (best craigslist purchase ever) and get cutting.

I cut some holes just shy, and pressed some pins in to later attach handles to, and make all the air vent sliders... i saw this design on another smoker on this forum, whoever that was, hats off to you, because i think it looks super clean to have the air vents inside the FB. as i wanted to reduce the friction of the sliders, I went with a small contact patch instead of full-length angle iron, not sure its any better, but it sure slides like butter!

[john_az]

I also got the hinges done, i think they turned out ok and they swing very nice, so im super happy with that.

I am a bit nervous about the throat size... i cut it exactly as the calc. said, but holy smokes its HUGE!?? I feel like I could climb through there hahah.. I know from the pics, it looks wider than the CC, but its not. the outside of the FB is 30" wide, which is the diam. of the CC.... but i am nervous about how big that opening is.... does it look right to you guys?

Here is what the calc. said... i got that 208 in^2 for the throat from the 1st step of the calc (i posted that earlier in the chat)

should I put a damper on there just in case it's too big?

thanks for the feedback!

[dacolson]

Man those vents look great. I like how you curved them. Your plasm cuts way better than drilling and cutting like I did. Very sharp. Good call on the bent square stock as your slides vs the angle iron. Mine jumps like hell as you work it open and closed. Very nice work.

BTW, the throat is fine. On a standard offset, as long as you are at least at 100%, going over isn’t a problem.

Nice work! [emoji106]


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[hogaboomer]

Man, that thing is sweet! Beautiful work!

I can't say one way or the other about the throat, but why did you use that calculator for a square firebox? Isn't that for a 30 inch pipe firebox?

[Big T]

Super slick work on the intakes!!

[Pete Mazz]

I can't say one way or the other about the throat, but why did you use that calculator for a square firebox? Isn't that for a 30 inch pipe firebox?

No, that's the one for mating a square FB to a tank. The one you're thinking of is shaped like a football (American of course)

[hogaboomer]

Oops, my bad. D'OH. Brain fart from an old fart.

[Dirtytires]

Nice to have all the toys! Sure make for more fun on a build.

[john_az]

two quick questions,

ONE- im about to mount the FB to the CC.... and right before I was going to cut out the "green dotted line" in the pic below....I was wondering.... what if instead of cutting it out.... should I just leave the FB where it is, and plate it in the gap... which would keep the FB further away from the CC.... rather than cutting out the green dots, and sliding the FB into the CC.... the horizontal distance is 8 inches.... I could just cut out the throat shape in the CC, and fill the gap between the FB and CC with plate.... Does anyone have an opinion on this? Would keeping the FB further away by 8 inches really make any difference in making that side of the CC more usable (cook temp-wise) to justify the extra work?

TWO- I was planning on only having a 1" dam between the FB and CC.... but that would put the FB only 1 inch off the ground. Currently, in this pic, its 4 inches off the ground and I think that's about as close as I want it to the ground for a few reasons.... my question is, what would the negatives be for raising the FB 3 inches higher than it should be? Instead of a 1-inch dam.... a 4-inch dam... (the planned one inch, plus the extra 3 inches)

thanks!!!

[dacolson]

2 steps. Figure out how high you want to raise your box. I’d put the top of the throat cut at about halfway up the CC. Then, figure out the minimum cut you’d have to make to get your throat cut in your FB to line up with the throat cut in your CC. That would put the bottom of your throat cut on the CC just 9” or so below center. You’d lift the FB a bunch off the ground and move it further away from the CC. 2 birds, 1 stone. And no crazy fab work. Just my thoughts.


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[hogaboomer]

Is the cook chamber height set in stone already? I raised the whole thing up 4 inches on my latest one.

[john_az]

Is the cook chamber height set in stone already? I raised the whole thing up 4 inches on my latest one.

Yes, both are already set.... I should have mentioned that.... now my options are to cut the throat lower by hand, and then weld in a plate at the top, to basically shift the throat down... or leave it, basically with a 4-inch dam, instead of the 1"dam as planned.... the throat opening would stay the same overall size either way, which is the exact size the calc said to have,,,,

I guess my biggest question is... what is the neg effect of having the throat higher up on the CC.... currently the top of the throat is still 2 inches below the CC grate level.... my exhaust stack is at CC grate level.... I know it would be a lot of work to move it down 3 inches, but I would do it if you guys thought it would really make a difference...?

thanks!

[dacolson]

Is the cook chamber height set in stone already? I raised the whole thing up 4 inches on my latest one.

Yes, both are already set.... I should have mentioned that.... now my options are to cut the throat lower by hand, and then weld in a plate at the top, to basically shift the throat down... or leave it, basically with a 4-inch dam, instead of the 1"dam as planned.... the throat opening would stay the same overall size either way, which is the exact size the calc said to have,,,,

I guess my biggest question is... what is the neg effect of having the throat higher up on the CC.... currently the top of the throat is still 2 inches below the CC grate level.... my exhaust stack is at CC grate level.... I know it would be a lot of work to move it down 3 inches, but I would do it if you guys thought it would really make a difference...?

thanks!

Zero issue having the throat higher in the CC with a traditional offset. Mine are at grate level. Ive seen some above grate level. Franklin's build is a couple inches above. You may want a heat deflector - either deflecting up or down - to avoid the "microwave" effect at that end.

[Big T]

If you don't put some type of deflector at the throat, that area will be almost unusable because of the extreme temperature.

[Cole Leffert]

Amazing work on this build! I love the Fire box!

[john_az]

Added a wood rack inside the fb... 5/8 solid square stock should do the trick... I'm going to add a screen just below it to catch coals.. and still allow ash to fall through... hopefully...

And I got the upper racks in...

I think I will add a deflector plate... Thanks for the suggestion... And preference on deflecting up or down?

And some other fun news... I went to the aviation salvage yard near me... Found this really cool rocket tube from the vietnam war...(or at least that's what the guy told me) Any guesses what I'm going to do with this...

[dacolson]

Holy Sh*t! That is massive! And really cool! How’s it work out in the calculator?

[john_az]

Holy Sh*t! That is massive! And really cool! How’s it work out in the calculator?

HA! you're right! but it's awesome, so im going to make it work.....I have never seen anyone else use a rocket tube for an exhaust stack... so I feel like it's my duty to make it happen.

I initially entered a stack diam of 8" ID , and the calc spit out 22.5" length above the CC... and since this rocket tube is taller than that (and I don't want to cut it down that much) Im going to re-run the calc. with a smaller ID diam. until I get the height I want to match this rocket tube... then run that correct diam. tube on the inside of this rocket tube.... so yes.. the rocket tube will basically be a decoration at that point.... but I will build some internal rings that join the two together, and no one will ever know... plus it will look sweet, kinda matches the who style but better than the stainless stack I was going to put on there anyway... it should look neat... i think....

I also think it will help keep the heat off the rocket tube, which could possibly fade out the cool lettering etc on the tube over time... but it will also help insulate the real exhaust stack.. ha, not sure if that's a thing, or would be of any benefit... but one way to find out!

[dacolson]

Since it’s a rocket tube, I think it’s only right the you figure out a way to shoot rockets from it on occasion.


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[Big T]

It looks great! I would deflect the heat up. I thought I had a picture of one but I couldn't find it, maybe Dave can share a picture of his.

[dacolson]

It looks great! I would deflect the heat up. I thought I had a picture of one but I couldn't find it, maybe Dave can share a picture of his.

This is the back side of the firebox. The baffle chute is on the cook chamber side. My buddy’s been running it for a few months now and the heat holds very evenly across the pit. We made one change from these pics however. The top of the baffle is right at grate level which still let a lot of radiant heat in from the FB. We fixed that by tacking an extension plate on that lip up another 6”. I don’t have pics of that though.


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