Ugly Duckling #2

[hogaboomer]

Starting out rough. This is the last piece of cook chamber material I have, and I have one last piece of 20 inch firebox left. Split the seam and it barely moved. Put a 7/8" strip in it.

[Big T]

That looks like the kind of material that I'm use to working with. What's the plan for this one?

[hogaboomer]

That looks like the kind of material that I'm use to working with. What's the plan for this one?

Put the firebox lower.

[av8bdriver]

That looks like the kind of material that I'm use to working with. What's the plan for this one?

Put the firebox lower.

[dacolson]

7/8” on this one. What was the last one? 3”? And mine was 1.5”. Seems to be worth the effort so far. SheffSmoker’s sprung inward. That’s worth fixing up front too. Feel like we’re on to something here.


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[hogaboomer]

It was closer to 4". Weird how the pipe sprung so much, but the propane tank hardly any.

[SheffSmoker]

7/8” on this one. What was the last one? 3”? And mine was 1.5”. Seems to be worth the effort so far. SheffSmoker’s sprung inward. That’s worth fixing up front too. Feel like we’re on to something here.


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Aye, sprung in almost 3". Had a bit of lumber and a few jacks stretching it back open for a while. Ended up chopping an inch off and rewelding it, so time to redo all the calcs again. Been flat out busy with life so not got the door cut yet.

[hogaboomer]

F my life, can't win for losing. Split the seam to keep the door from springing and the sides sink in. The one side was 4 inches back from the end cap weld, but the other end was in the middle, where I cut the tank in half, and it's just as bad.

[dacolson]

Huh? How in the world? Doesn’t make sense. Wonder is cutting the doors before rewelding the seem would help. Just bizarre.


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[hogaboomer]

The seam is 90 degrees away from the top of the door. The long cuts are lined up great, just the sides. I'm gonna have to go out and see if the top and bottom cut kerfs closed up, maybe it sprang out anyway?

[hogaboomer]

Welp, that's what happened. There's no gap left on top and bottom, so it sprang out, and that sunk the sides in.

[Dirtytires]

There goes the theory of relieving the spring pressure.....bummer.

[hogaboomer]

Yeah well, this is still better than getting a bigass bulge in the middle of the longitudinal cut, like happened on the Cadillac build.

[dacolson]

Figure it's got to be a combo of issues. You've got spring pressure for sure to deal with. That's proved. Then there's got to be a little stress added back in when you re-weld it - if only b/c you add heat which moves metal when you do the re-welding. Then there's cutting heat - angle grinder, plasma, oxy - all add heat. The only options there are the amount of time you take to let heat dissipate or not build up in the first case. Really considering one of those Milwaukee metal cutting circular saws to limit heat input. Or just giving up and working on my jack-and-chain skills lol

[hogaboomer]

I did cut it with a metal circular saw.

The last one didn't do this. It only bowed the sides up when I welded the end plates on. It still had gap top and bottom.

[hogaboomer]

Well, that pulled in no sweat with the baby come along, and tacked some round bar gussets inside to hold it. Little bit of tweaking with the big crescent and cheater bar and everything is looking good.

[towtruck]

Well, that pulled in no sweat with the baby come along, and tacked some round bar gussets inside to hold it. Little bit of tweaking with the big crescent and cheater bar and everything is looking good.

Sweet, nice it did not take a lot to get it out.

[hogaboomer]

Yep, I only had to pull it together about 1/8th inch.

[dacolson]

Yup got it down now boomer. You’ll be cranking out a pit a week soon.


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[hogaboomer]

I don't ever see that happening. I'll be happy to get it under a month.

[hogaboomer]

Desperate times call for desperate measures:

[towtruck]

Desperate times call for desperate measures:

That is sweet! Something I would do in a heartbeat. You will need to leave the exposed welds, add rivets along each seam for looks too! Steam punk that baby!

[hogaboomer]

Well, they want $300 for a 4x8 sheet of 3/16 plate. Last time I bought one it was like $125, somewhere around there. I figured I need to get rid of some of my scraps anyway. And, it is the Ugly Duckling...

[dacolson]

I love it. Totally been there. If the fit up isn’t perfect, fill it with welds! Gotta do it Boomer


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[hogaboomer]

Looking at it, that one piece looks kind of like Nevada, I should have made a map of Texas and the surrounding states. It came out a little warpy, but it's thin, it'll pull in.