Ever have one of those days where everything went perfect then realized you FUBAR something significant. That was me today
Started with removing camber in front wheels. Removed hub and spindle and decided to heat up the ears and hammer those to a position the spindle sat level. After a while I got them both level. Then was time to mount rear spindle. Measured how far front stuck out and matched that in back. Welded in both sides completed and added plate over end of tube. Put a level from back to front and side to side and everything was perfect. Mounted wheels and thats when I saw it. The rear hubs are different than the front and it sits 2” deeper on spindle than front so my front wheels stick out 2” further than back. FML moment. Now I have to completely cut out back and re do all over again
Yes wheels are rather large. They are 8.5 but will be moving to 8s with 12” matte black rims once everything complete. No lawn mower tires here
I have those kind of days quite often. The best one was when I was fabbing the base and legs and the firebox door, all upside down, so I could weld on top. Everything went great, until I forgot to put the firebox door on upside down, then welded it all the way out.
I've been welding for a living for a long time, but that's pretty much all I ever did. Only had to fabricate on rare occasions. Lots of fabricating on a smoker, makes me feel like a doofus.
Turned out to be a little blessing. Now I can shorten frame a few inches to give me more room by FB. Also will likely put extended tube on backside to counter the extra depth of hub. This way the spindle isnt extended the full shaft length.
Hoping to get everything mounted tomorrow and start on uprights for tank support. I still have a lot to do on FB pieces. Once all of that is prepped I will rent plasma cutter to cut FB pieces and tank ends. Still need to buy 4x8 sheet of 1/8” for outer FB and that will be tough pill swallow.
You don't need 0.125 for outer skin. Something in the range of 18-20 ga will work fine and save you 50% on both cost and weight. It is thick enough to resist dings and really only has to hold in the insulation.
I have to order steel anyways to seal up Cc and stack damper so going to go ahead and get for FB and not skimp out
Was able to cut down frame 2” today and add back on rear spindle. All wheels now stick out within 1/32” of an inch of each other. Also drilled hole for steering bracket which I hope to mount tomorrow
Where I am at now is deciding to do CC supports at an angle like the outlaw cookers or just do vertical. Angle would be harder but looks better IMO.
Steel need to figure out exhaust stack. Due to size not going with 6” pipe I had. I have access to 4” ID but that seems to small. Thoughts?
Able to do mock up of steering. Looks like poo but wanted to get an idea. Going to eliminate original tabs on spindle and weld on new
Making everything level. Tie rod are 3/8” SS. Going tk be about week until can get more work done. Next step is risers to hold tank. Plasma should be in next week as well so we can cut open tank. Let me know thoughts on 4” ID exhaust stack. Not sure if that will be big enough
Anyone know what the gold things are called that outlaw uses?
So taking a few days away has helped get some new creative juices going but has not helped the bank account. I found something similar that Outlaw uses in the photo above that is for marine applications. Should be in tomorrow but will make a nice SS tie rod. I plan to rework that entire front end because it didnt sit well with me on how it looks. I was in rush to get it together.
On separate note I was thinking of ways to put some unique touches in the smoker and came up with two.
-I may have mentioned previously but going to have a 6-8" square window on the door of the FB out of ceramic glass. Nice to see how fire burning at all times. Glass will be easily replaceable
-2nd item is going to be the hardest. just messing around on youtube and started viewing blacksmithing videos. With my personality of wanting to try new things I have decided to build a forge and make my own damascus billets and then forge all the hinges and handles out of them. Will likely take a significant amount of time but will provide some cool finishing touches I think
Was able to get a little work done. SS tie rods came in and got those fab’d up loosely. Also got uprights on and one face covering welded in place
The spindle were PIA. Decided to take them off and hammer everything back level. I then cut off spindle and re welded straight. Took a while but much better
Plan was to use plasma cutter I just got to cut open tank but keeps tripping house and generator breaker so prob return it and stock up on cut off wheels
Yeah I was excited to give it a go but failed. One thing found tho is review videos on the Lotos I got shows setting at 1/2 for 1/8” steel. It was very spotty at that setting so not sure if it could have been my smaller compressor or ground cable to far away with dirty steel
Plasma cutters use a crazy amount of energy and couple that with an air supply and you can quickly run into problems. I had to wire in a dedicated 220v circuit for the air compressor and a separate dedicated 220v circuit for the cutter. I use mine pretty regularly but that can be a huge expense for a temporary project.
One thing you might try is to see if your breaker can be up-sized. If the receptacles and wiring are properly rated you might be able to increase the standard 15 amp breaker to a 20amp. Many garages are pretty close to the electrical panel and could possible be rewired.
My electrical superintendent at our fab shop is going to wire in a 50amp breaker. My dad has been wanting to buy generator for house anyways so we will likely get one with 50amp breaker in it. Will use that until new outlet installed
50 amp seems a little high....you might want to check with the manufacture of the cutter to make sure all is ok. I'm running a max of 20amp on my 220 lines and 30 amp on a dedicated 110 line.
Going to try and make some more
Progress late this week. Had a few questions before I do
-Ill be cutting off tank ends and doing burnout. For safety reasons doing this in backyard of neighborhood is it ok to do burn out with both ends off or should I just do one to prevent large draft thru tank sending coals etc into neighbor yards
-In order to get an extra 2” I was going to cut on outside of endbell welds. Since this is weld how hard would it be to grind smooth to match rest of tank. I dont mind putting in work but dont want it to be noticeable after
-Should I frame FB with angle iron to help with outer skin?
My brand new amazon plasma cutter sh*t the bed so back to amazon it goes and ordered 50 pack cut off wheels. Between tank and 3/8” FB my forearms are going to be toast
Progress since last post:
Tightened up tie rod so no play in lateral movement. Just need to make temporary handle. Added 1/8” plate on other side for tank uprights. One of kingpin had worn threads from me hammering in it so cut off threads and welded on section of 3/4” bolt. Need to do serious cleaning of all weld areas but will probably wait until right before paint.
Instead of getting a 50 pack of cheap cut off wheels, I would suggest picking up about 5 good quality disks. I'm using either cubitron 2 or dewalt hp and can attest that that last an incredible amount of time, cut faster and throw off less cutting dust than the garbage disks. More expensive per disk but they will be less expensive in the long run. Grinding and flap wheels benefit from quality as well.
Yes, you can cut off both ends and do your burnout. Just watch the fire so it doesn't get out.
I'm guessing that smoothing out the bell welds will still allow you to see the joint as the two pieces probably weren't a perfect fit to begin with. Best thought is to smooth out a few inches before you cut to see how it looks and then decide if you want to mess with all the effort of 2" longer tank.
I will test smooth a weld to see how it looks before cutting. Didn’t think of that
Also I previously bought a quality cut off wheel for like $20 that had carbide diamond tips on it. It worked but kept cutting slower and slower. Through on standard cheapo and went right through 1/4” flatbar. Ill look at other brands but since then I thoughg I would stick to the $1 piece kind and replace every 5-10min
After 6 hours, 15 cutting disks, and 5 breaks because grinder got too hot the ends finally came off. Measuring thickness it is very close to 1/4”. About 1/32” shy
After seeing it on frame it is massive. It is exactly at 52” tall which I planned on but big difference seeing in person vs on paper. Rolls very well on grass and finally get to do burn out tomorrow.
Had to use 3.5” bimetal saw on one of the calves to get hose in to drain. Will likely cut same size hole on others and fill in with 1/8” scrap plate have laying around
